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Class Action
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April 26, 2013
Celebrity Chef Can't Dodge FLSA Suit Over 'Side Work' Pay
A New York federal judge on Thursday denied a bid by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud to escape a claim alleging tipped restaurant employees are being underpaid for performing nontipped tasks, finding the issues were “too complicated” to be resolved early in the litigation.
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April 25, 2013
Kodak Securities Fraud Suit Underdeveloped, Judge Says
A federal judge on Thursday threw out a putative investor class action alleging Kodak’s leadership hid plans to file for bankruptcy, saying the claims are too weak to go forward.
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April 25, 2013
Merrill Lynch To Pay $2.9M To Settle Wage Delay Suit
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. has agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle a class action filed by ex-financial advisers who said their former employer made them wait an unlawfully long time to receive commission checks after they had left the company, according to a motion filed Thursday in California federal court.
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April 25, 2013
Brooklyn Law Ducks Grads' Suit Over Jobs Data
A New York state judge has tossed a lawsuit brought by five Brooklyn Law School graduates who claimed they were duped by the school's graduate employment and salary numbers, saying that everything students needed to know about the shrinking legal job market was provided by the school.
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April 25, 2013
NY Appeals Court Lets J-51 Overcharge Actions Continue
Two New York state appeals panels affirmed Thursday that groups of tenants alleging rent overcharges in connection with New York City's J-51 tax abatement program were allowed to bring class actions against building owners, the first time the state Appellate Division has taken a stance on the controversial matter.
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April 25, 2013
US Open Umpires Win Class Cert. In OT Suit
A New York federal judge on Thursday granted class certification to a group of U.S. Open umpires in a suit alleging the U.S. Tennis Association misclassifies them as contractors and regularly cheats them out of overtime pay.
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April 25, 2013
Lender Denied $28M Slice Of Alioto Attys' Fees In LCD Case
A California federal judge on Thursday shot down LFG National Capital LLC's bid to force plaintiffs' attorney Joseph M. Alioto to repay a $28.2 million loan debt from attorneys' fees awarded in multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing among liquid crystal display companies.
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April 25, 2013
Moelis To Pay $5M To End Claims Over Rural/Metro Buyout
Moelis & Co. LLC has agreed to pay $5 million to former Rural/Metro Corp. shareholders to settle class claims that the financial adviser helped push through a lowball private equity bid for the medical transport company in 2011, according to a letter filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court.
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April 25, 2013
Toyota Escapes Most Claims In Steering Defect Suit
A California federal judge on Wednesday trimmed most claims from a proposed class action accusing Toyota Motor Corp. of hiding dangerous steering defects in two of its car models, saying the allegations were too vague but leaving the door open for a revised suit.
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April 24, 2013
Expedia MDL Won't Wait For Pending High Court Ruling
A Texas federal judge on Wednesday refused to delay multidistrict antitrust litigation against online travel booking companies including Expedia Inc. and Priceline.com Inc., ruling that a consumer group fighting arbitration waited too long to suggest an unresolved U.S. Supreme Court case could affect their suits.
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April 24, 2013
Hershey Sales Reps' Class Cert. Bid Flops In OT Action
A California federal judge refused Tuesday to certify a statewide class of Hershey Co. retail sales reps who claim they were misclassified as exempt from overtime pay, citing concerns over the lack of action taken by potential class members in a parallel opt-in collective action.
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April 24, 2013
Penguin Can't Get Jury Trial In States' E-Book Antitrust Suit
Penguin Group USA Inc. must take part in a bench trial of claims that Apple Inc. helped publishers fix e-book prices, a New York federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the publisher forfeited its jury trial rights in a damages dispute with several states.
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April 24, 2013
Pharma Cos. Get Cert. In MDL Over Generic Prograf Delays
A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday certified a class of pharmaceutical companies in multidistrict antitrust litigation that accuses Astellas Pharma US Inc. of keeping a generic version of its immunosuppressant Prograf off the market, forcing the plaintiffs to pay higher prices for the drug.
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April 23, 2013
NJ Train Derailment Suit Stays In Federal Court
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the amount at stake in a putative class action against Consolidated Rail Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Transportation Inc. over a train derailment and vinyl chloride spill near Paulsboro, N.J., was big enough to prevent the case from being sent to state court.
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April 23, 2013
News Corp.'s $139M Deal May Make For Pricier D&O Coverage
News Corp.'s insurers will be picking up the tab for a record-breaking $139 million settlement that ends shareholder derivative litigation over its phone hacking scandal, likely sending other carriers scrambling to rethink the pricing and design of their directors and officers policies.
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April 23, 2013
11th Circ. Puts Brakes On $5M Geico Auto Repair Suit
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday tossed a $5 million class action lawsuit filed by a Florida resident claiming Geico cheated customers by deducting its payments to auto policyholders when repairs increase the value of their vehicle, ruling that the company's policy clearly allows for such adjustments.
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April 23, 2013
Pfizer Escapes Shareholder Suit Over Wyeth Alzheimer's Drug
A New Jersey federal judge on Monday threw out an amended shareholder class action contending Pfizer Inc. deceived investors about the efficacy of Wyeth Inc.'s Alzheimer’s drug bapineuzumab, finding the plaintiffs had not sufficiently alleged that Wyeth's statements about the drug were affirmatively false.
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April 23, 2013
5th Circ. Speeds Up BP's Appeal Over Spill Claims Process
The Fifth Circuit on Monday agreed to expedite BP PLC’s challenge to how a claims administrator is handling payments to Deepwater Horizon victims, granting the company’s request that briefing be concluded by the end of May but declining to halt payments before the appeal is heard.
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April 23, 2013
7th Circ. Won't Review Wage Class In Light Of Comcast
The Seventh Circuit on Monday refused to review the certification of a class of tipped employees accusing Honey-Jam Cafe of violating wage-and-hour laws, despite the restaurant chain's argument that the class could not survive the Supreme Court's decision in Comcast v. Behrend.
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April 23, 2013
Office Space Giant Dodges RICO, False Ad Claims
A California federal judge on Monday tossed several claims including allegations of racketeering and false advertising from a proposed class action alleging Regus Management Group LLC failed to disclose certain fees when advertising office properties for rent.
Expert Analysis
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Collection Letters Must Clearly Convey Validation Notice
The Third Circuit’s ruling in Caprio v. Healthcare Revenue Recovery Group LLC is a reminder to debt collectors that, even where the technical requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act are met, a debt collector must be sure that its notices to consumers do not cause any confusion to the very consumers that the statute was designed to protect, say attorneys with Day Pitney LLP.
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Getting The Wrinkles Out Of Anti-Aging Products
Lately, the cosmetics industry — particularly with respect to anti-aging products — has been a popular target for both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and plaintiffs. Since the cosmetics industry may remain a target for some time, there are steps that companies should take to help avoid FDA warning letters and prepare for the possibility of class action litigation, says Isabella Lacayo of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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Tips For Defending Against Data Breach Class Actions
Faced with negligence, fraud, breach of contract and a slew of other claims typically asserted in consumer class action data breach litigation following hacking or a cyberattack, companies should consider a number of best practices to better defend themselves, says Gerry Silver of Sullivan & Worcester LLP.
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Novel Approach To Opposing Class Certification Rejected
Current and former student-athletes are one step closer to forcing the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its member institutions to share their profits with them now that the Northern District of California ruled they can proceed to class certification. Lawyers should take note that the judge made it clear that the defendants' motion to strike the certification motion was not the correct avenue to take, say attorneys with Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP.
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Recession-Era Loss Causation: Disentangling Under Dura
The Second Circuit recently hinted that loss causation principles could result in the elimination of any recovery for losses that cannot be distinguished from “the global financial crisis” and related factors. Several courts have entertained this kind of disaggregation analysis at the pleading stage, say attorneys with Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP.
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How Not To Plead A Multistate Class Action
The plaintiffs’ class counsel can be their own, and their Bar’s, worst enemy. Thomas v. UBS AG and the Seventh Circuit decision should not be taken as precedent — or its ambiguities stretched to stare decisis. Instead, it is an example of what a frustrated judge can do, when given his reins by a case truly not well thought out before the complaint was filed, says Fred Isquith of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.
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Proxy Season Brings More 'Gotcha' Shareholder Litigation
There have been two distinct waves of shareholder litigation since the passage of Dodd-Frank. Now there is a third, consisting of derivative shareholder suits alleging that companies approved executive compensation in violation of stock plans. If the allegations are true, these suits stand a higher probability of success than the two prior litigation waves, say attorneys with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
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6 Areas Often Underestimated In Law Firm Mergers
While mergers in other industries are driven by cost efficiencies or economies of scale, law firm mergers are typically focused on the potential to leverage clients and the overall quality of the attorney population, branding and market position. As a result, full disclosure of third-party vendor or support function operating costs can be a secondary concern until after the deal closes. Firms need to hit the ground running the moment the merger is inked, says Matthew Sunderman of HBR Consulting LLC.
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1st Thoughts On Supreme Court's Amgen Ruling
From a securities plaintiff’s perspective, the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds will delay the burden of proving materiality to a later stage in the case — summary judgment or trial — in those jurisdictions that formerly required materiality to be proven at the class certification stage in order to invoke the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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The Next Big Thing In Securities Litigation
The New York Times recently reported that a Chinese military unit had hacked more than 140 organizations over the last several years, stealing valuable intellectual property such as technology blueprints, proprietary manufacturing processes, business plans and pricing documents. The revelation raises the possibility of a new wave of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions, class actions and derivative lawsuits related to cybersecurity, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.