Supreme Court Closes CAFA Loophole in Standard Fire v. Knowles
Suppose that the central issue in a putative class action is a legal issue pending before the Supreme Court. Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, the plaintiffs will recover either nothing or up to $600 million. But...more
Last year saw courts, particularly federal courts, continue their close scrutiny of class action settlements to ensure that they are fair and reasonable to class members, and do not unfairly prioritize the interests of class...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in McKnight v. Hinojosa, No. 21-16623, 2022 WL 17333820 (9th Cir. Nov. 30, 2022) considered whether the proposed class action settlement was a "coupon settlement" and therefore...more
Class actions for money damages that involve class members who do not have Article III standing in the Eleventh Circuit are improper even if such members would have standing in other jurisdictions. In a unanimous decision...more
Ninth Circuit decision prohibits use of lodestar-only methodology to calculate a fee award for class action settlements involving coupons. The decision contemplates coupon class action settlements where coupons are...more
Attorney fee awards are a major driver of class action litigation – both in the employment and other contexts. How they are awarded, and what is “reasonable” has been an ongoing source of contention in many cases. A recent...more
Fourteen years ago, Congress enacted legislation intended to protect consumers and investors from settlements in which plaintiffs' attorneys pulled in large fees while their clients (the class members) received little. In one...more
Companies may be inclined to offer “coupons” or similar benefits to settle consumer class actions. While offering coupons is permissible, in In re Easysaver Rewards Litigation, No. 16-56307, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 28000 (9th...more
For the first time in more than a decade, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has exercised its authority under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) to file an objection to a proposed settlement of a consumer class action....more
As class action litigation has continued to proliferate, we have seen efforts to rein in the perceived abuses of the system on multiple fronts. Over a decade ago, Congress passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA)...more
Lawyers seeking to settle class actions pending in federal court by dismissing and refiling in state court beware! In two recent orders, a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas ruled that the attorneys...more
As we’ve commented before, class actions frequently take on a life of their own. They involve large sums of money, frequently raise difficult discovery and case management issues, and are subject to surprises for all the...more
In In re: HP Inkjet Printer Litigation, Case No. C05-3580-JF, 2013 WL 1986396 (9th Cir. May 15, 2013), the Ninth Circuit recently held that attorney fee awards in class settlements involving coupons must be “attributable to”...more
On May 15 a Ninth Circuit panel reversed the district court’s approval of a class action settlement, holding that attorney’s fees awarded in connection with a coupon for the class members must be tied to actual redemption of...more