Arbitration Consumer Class Actions Privacy Class Actions US District Court - Mass
November 15, 2019 / November 18, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
On November 4, 2019, in Wainblat v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, et. al., No. 19-cv-10976, the District of Massachusetts ordered that a consumer privacy class action against Comcast must be arbitrated on an individual basis because the claims are subject to a valid and enforceable arbitration provision. Against a backdrop of rapidly expanding consumer class […]
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Class Action Settlements
June 23, 2019 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico
Most class actions resemble three-act plays. In the first act, the players are adversaries – fighting to kill the case or keep it alive, and if kept alive, to keep it limited to a solitary dispute or allow it to burgeon into the combined claim of large numbers of absent parties. If the case survives […]
Consumer Class Actions Legislation Privacy Class Actions US District Court - Mass
May 29, 2019 / May 30, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
As we have recently reported, the Massachusetts legislature is currently considering a comprehensive data privacy law that would create a private right of action for consumers who allege a violation of any provision of the proposed law. Last week, a Massachusetts federal court dismissed a data privacy class action, concluding that the plaintiffs failed to […]
Class Representative Lead Plaintiff Securities Class Actions Standing US District Court - Mass
May 20, 2019 / May 22, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
On May 16, 2019, the District of Massachusetts denied a lead plaintiff’s motion to amend a complaint that sought to overcome standing deficiencies of the original class representative by adding a new named plaintiff. The Court dismissed the putative class action without prejudice, holding that if a class action has only one representative, and that […]
Class Arbitration Supreme Court
April 24, 2019 by Josh Dunlap
Class arbitration came back before the Supreme Court this term in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela. Today, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Lamps Plus, holding that, under the Federal Arbitration Act, “courts may not infer from an ambiguous agreement that parties have consented to arbitrate on a classwide basis.” Rather, class arbitration […]
Class Action Settlements Supreme Court
March 20, 2019 / March 20, 2019 by Josh Dunlap
Today, in a case that was being watched closely for its potential ramifications for class settlements, the Supreme Court opted not to address the merits of the cy pres issues that were presented to it. Frank v. Gaos involved a settlement that would have distributed millions of dollars to cy pres recipients and class counsel, […]
Appeals Supreme Court
February 27, 2019 / May 17, 2024 by Katherine Kayatta
Yesterday, the Supreme Court in Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert unanimously held that Rule 23(f) is not subject to equitable tolling. After the District Court for the Central District of California decertified a class of consumers who alleged that Nutraceutical’s marketing of a dietary supplement violated California consumer-protection law, plaintiff Lambert filed a motion for reconsideration, […]
Class Certifications First Circuit Decisions
February 19, 2019 / February 19, 2019 by Josh Dunlap
The Supreme Court meant what it said in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh – that is the primary lesson from the First Circuit’s January 30th decision in In re Celexa and Lexapro Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation. As my partner, Don Frederico, explained in a blog post last year, the Supreme Court observed in China […]
Appeals Class Action Settlements Class Notice
February 12, 2019 / May 17, 2024 by PAMarketing
On December 1, 2018, the amendments to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 took effect, principally altering portions of the Rule governing class action notice, settlement, and appeals. Although the amendments were approved earlier in 2018 by the United States Supreme Court, they had been in the works for some time. In 2014, a subcommittee of […]
Antitrust Class Actions Class Certifications First Circuit Decisions Jurisdiction
November 6, 2018 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico
In his October 17th post, Josh Dunlap describes in detail the First Circuit’s landmark ruling in In re Asacol Antitrust Litigation concerning classes that include uninjured members. As Josh points out, although the district court had referred to ascertainability in its decision certifying the class, the First Circuit opinion reversing class certification did not, and for good reason. […]
