Direct Examination: To Lead or Not to Lead
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 416: Listen and Learn -- Service of Process (Civ Pro)
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 224: Listen and Learn -- Service of Process (Civ Pro)
The Only Rule of Multidistrict Litigation Is...
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 208: Listen and Learn -- Motions to Dismiss a Case
Practicing Before the U.S. Supreme Court | Kannon Shanmugam | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Amended Rules Five Months Later: Early Trends in Case Law and What It Means
Proposed FRCP Changes: Effect on eDiscovery, RIM & IG (CLE)
The Federal Trade Commission has pursued aggressive and creative expansion of its antitrust enforcement efforts under the Biden administration, and the pharmaceutical industry is no exception. Indeed, in a recent interview,...more
In most cases, the grind of litigation moves forward under the careful scrutiny of courts and within the applicable rules of civil procedure. Settlement, on the other hand, is often separate and secretive; hammered out after...more
In Gilstrap v. Sushinati LLC, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio rejected the notion that the parties’ private agreement to settle claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) required court...more
On December 13, 2023, Variety reported that Luke Combs stated he was “sick to [his] stomach” to learn he won a $250K judgment in Illinois federal court against a Florida woman who earned $380, selling 18 handmade Luke...more
The question of how to resolve mass torts is one that occupies the minds of all modern commercial litigators. Whether those mass torts involve personal injury or the mis-selling of financial products, resolution is a subject...more
As total adjudication is a lofty finish line for many mass and class disputes, settlement is a crucial factor. As class actions continue to rise in prominence in the UK, the United States offers many lessons to emulate and...more
The Second Circuit and Ninth Circuit recently issued opinions vacating class action settlements, with both courts taking issue with the attorneys’ fees awarded to class counsel. These decisions — Lowery v. Rhapsody Int’l,...more
On September 25, 2023, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued its first set of amendments as part of a multi-year project to update and modernize its rules. Generally, the amendments made stylistic changes that are consistent...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded a district court ruling, finding that the district court failed to properly apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) in granting injunctive relief....more
Blessedly, this is not a frequent event. And as law has migrated from handwritten to typewritten to telecopied and emailed agreements one might think this kind of dispute would be headed to the dungeons of history. 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 Seventh Circuit recently clarified an important distinction between offers of judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 and non-Rule 68 offers of settlement, and explained the role rejection of such offers plays...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
The final months of 2021 saw a flurry of noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) activity. Among other developments, appellate courts issued important decisions concerning materiality, the government’s qui tam dismissal authority,...more
What is the right way to dismiss a case the parties have settled, and are FLSA cases different? Typically, when parties to a lawsuit settle a case, they merely alert the court of the settlement and then file a stipulation of...more
While the FINRA arbitration system certainly is not perfect – just see Alan’s troubling blog from last week regarding the Motion to Vacate that was granted by a Judge in Atlanta – we like to think that when cases go to...more
Last week, the plaintiffs in three related children’s privacy class actions sought preliminary approval of proposed settlements with sixteen defendants in those coordinated actions. The matters—known as the Kiloo Action, the...more
Judges presiding over multidistrict litigations, known as MDLs, must walk a tightrope between individual and collective needs. ...more
Congress designed federal multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) to “promote the just and efficient conduct” of civil actions pending in different districts. By just about any measure, though, the litigation device has failed to...more
The Situation: Under the Class Action Fairness Act, the Department of Justice may object to federal class action settlements it believes are unfair or inequitable to unnamed class members. The Result: In the past year,...more
The Situation: Recently amended Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e)(2) requires courts to analyze several factors in evaluating whether to approve class settlements. The Result: Class action settlements that would...more
The United States Supreme Court recently approved and adopted amendments to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 concerning class action practice as proposed by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. The amended rule went into...more
On November 6, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered post-argument supplemental briefing in Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961 (U.S.). The primary question on which the Court granted certiorari in Frank is whether a class action...more
Since almost all certified class actions settle, a Circuit Court of Appeals decision affecting the viability of such settlements is certain to receive a lot of attention from class action practitioners. This is particularly...more
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to take a more active role in reviewing and objecting to class action settlements under a rarely used procedure established by the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) more than a dozen...more