Takeaway: We have written frequently about the different approaches of the Courts of Appeals when addressing certification of a class that includes uninjured class members. See, e.g., En banc Ninth Circuit reinstates class...more
On February 12, 2025, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina not to grant class certification in a 17-year-old lawsuit accusing...more
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Davis, No. 24-304, to decide “[w]hether a federal court may certify a class action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil...more
On December 17, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit handed down its published opinion in Stafford v. Bojangles’ Restaurants, Inc., 2024 WL 5131108 (4th Cir. 2024). In a rare move, the Fourth...more
Class Action Regime Modern class action litigation began with the United States’ 1966 adoption of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which more efficiently allowed for claims to be pursued, in appropriate...more
Class Certification Recipe Needs More Flavor: The Fourth Circuit tossed out a class certification order for Bojangles’ shift managers, citing a high level of generality in identifying common policies and overly broad class...more
Takeaway: The Sixth Circuit recently emphasized how demanding Rule 23’s commonality requirement can be. In In re Nissan North America, Inc. Litigation, --- F.4th ----, No. 23-5950, 2024 WL 4864339 (6th Cir. Nov. 22, 2024),...more
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Lytle v. Nutramax Labs, Inc., finding that a class action plaintiff may rely on a model to demonstrate that damages are susceptible to...more
When a class action lawsuit ends, class counsel typically seek a fee award. Under Rule 23(h), the district court must make findings of facts and conclusions of law to support an award of “reasonable attorney’s fees and...more
Standing. The D.C. Circuit held that plaintiffs do not have Article III standing to appeal an adverse class certification decision after those individual plaintiffs prevail in their individual suit....more
Standing. The Fifth Circuit declined the opportunity to determine whether it would follow the “class certification” or the “standing” approach to standing....more
On May 28, 2024, Chief Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, certified a class of consumers in an action against Barilla Foods....more
Life has its disappointments. Sometimes, you think you’ve won a free car, but it turns out that you’ve won only a couple of dollars. And sometimes, you think that an appellate court will clarify a thorny issue of class-action...more
One of the key issues at class certification is whether plaintiffs have met their burden to establish commonality and predominance: that “questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions...more
On January 18, a court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin denied class certification in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case concluding that the factual issue of whether the proposed class members had suffered an...more
On January 3, 2024, the defendant in Heppard v. Dunham’s Athleisure Corporation filed an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...more
Fourth Circuit Holds That Class Action Waiver Issue Must Be Decided Before Certification and Questions Narrow Issue Classes - In In re Marriott International, Inc., 78 F.4th 677 (4th Cir. 2023), a panel of the U.S. Court...more
Joining every other circuit to address the same issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently ruled that a consumer does not have to prove actual damages to recover statutory damages for willful...more
Court also holds that arbitrability questions must be resolved by the arbitrator - The 10th Circuit has decided two significant issues in an otherwise garden-variety off-the-clock case, one relating to arbitration and the...more
On October 12, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied certification of a putative class action asserting that TransUnion violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Missouri...more
A recent case from the Eastern District of California emphasizes the importance of employers having facially neutral and lawful wage-and-hour policies – as such policies can help in defeating class certification. In Tavares,...more
Takeaway: When evaluating the fairness of a proposed class settlement, Federal Rule 23(e)(2) requires a district court to take into account, among other considerations, the terms of any proposed award of attorneys’ fees and...more
Several appellate decisions addressed the “implicit” class action requirement of ascertainability during the second quarter of 2023, with the Third, Tenth and D.C. Circuits weighing in. Meanwhile, the Fifth Circuit maintained...more
Nearly three years after its decision in Johnson v. NPAS Solutions LLC, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals remains the only circuit in the nation to categorically bar class representatives from receiving incentive awards....more
Limiting exposure to future claims is a crucial aspect of settling class action litigation. A recent opinion out of the Northern District of Georgia serves as a reminder that the definitions of settlement classes and released...more