Class Action

Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  Equifax Breach Reminds Us Why We Need The 7th Amendment

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule restores transparency and accountability to our justice system and allows people to exercise their Seventh Amendment rights. However, the House of Representatives has voted to block it and the rule is now in jeopardy, says Jean Sternlight, director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at the UNLV Boyd School of Law.

• Keys To Estimating Damages In Deceptive Pricing Cases

  

  The liability fundamentals of deceptive pricing cases are easy to understand: To the extent that consumers are influenced by the perception of a bargain, a false or misleading reference price can result in higher prices and greater sales. But providing defensible estimates of classwide damages has remained a stumbling block, say Stephen Hamilton and Dan Werner of OnPoint Analytics.

• Why A Subway Sandwich Class Settlement Didn't Measure Up

  

  The Seventh Circuit recently rejected a class action settlement involving Subway sandwich purchasers who sued for alleged consumer fraud, calling the settlement "worthless" in terms of alleged relief to the class. Companies defending such litigation cannot expect to "buy peace" by simply paying off plaintiffs lawyers, say Gerald Maatman Jr. and John Marrese of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

• The Role Legal Finance Can Play In Firm Year-End Collections

  

  Payment collection delays have caused law firms to seek new options, one of which is litigation finance. In this context, litigation finance can offer alternative avenues to firms as they approach the end of a fiscal year or partnership distribution dates, says Travis Lenkner of Burford Capital LLC.

• Applying Delaware Contract Law To LPA Safe Harbors

  

  The Delaware Chancery Court's opinion in Morris v. Spectra Energy provides a road map for the litigation of safe-harbor provisions in limited partnership agreements and invites close review by both private fund litigators and drafters of Delaware LPAs, says Darren Kaplan of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP.

• 'Per-Doc' Pricing Can Improve Document Review

  

  Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering your steak medium-rare. The steak arrives burned. You expect the kitchen to bring you another one properly done, right? And you don’t expect to pay for two steaks, do you? Paying a vendor for document review should be no different, says Lisa Prowse, an attorney and vice president at e-discovery firm BIA Inc.

• Opinion

  We Must Protect Consumers From Illegal Debt Collectors

  

  Companies are allowed to collect the money they are owed, but they cannot break the law or cheat people in the process. Some of the biggest players in the debt collection industry are not focused on getting it right, says Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

• Financial Crisis Anniversary

  Trends In Credit Crisis Settlements

  

  Between 2007 and July 2017, settlements related to the financial crisis totaled $133.2 billion. Ten years after the onset of the crisis, members of NERA Economic Consulting analyze the “settlement ratio” for select mortgage-backed securities settlements and other trends.

• Implicit Bias' Questionable Role In Employment Litigation

  

  Implicit bias has enjoyed a sustained focus of research and analysis in academia, and it is an increasingly popular topic of discussion among employment lawyers. However, whether implicit bias as a concept has any usefulness in employment discrimination litigation is not at all clear, says James McDonald Jr. of Fisher Phillips.

• Failure To Show Personal Jurisdiction In 'Show Me' State

  

  A federal judge recently said “show me” when 83 plaintiffs from 30 different states claimed personal jurisdiction in Missouri over a New Jersey-based talcum powder manufacturer. This ruling appears to be part of a trend that will likely lead to less talc-related litigation tourism in Missouri, says Steven Boranian of Reed Smith LLP.