Mealey's Class Actions : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Class Actions

June 25, 2025
Widower Can Replace Dead Wife In Google Gift Card Scam Suit, Judge Says

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a dead plaintiff’s widower’s motion for leave to substitute himself as plaintiff, add new plaintiffs and amend the dead wife’s putative class action against Google LLC and affiliates for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to protect customers from Google Play gift card scammers.
June 25, 2025
Final Approval Given To Settlement Between Investors, Startup Over Stock Drop

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California gave final approval to a $7.25 million settlement between an electric vehicle startup, its predecessor and its CEO and investors who alleged that the companies provided false or misleading statements regarding a reverse merger that led the startup’s stock price to be artificially inflated.
June 25, 2025
Judge Issues Final Approval Order For $69M Settlement Of Target Date Funds Case

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on June 24 entered final approval and awards orders in a case concluded by a $69 million deal that the class representative called “the largest-ever ERISA settlement alleging breach of fiduciary duty for failure to remove underperforming investment options.”
June 25, 2025
2nd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of NFL Videos VPPA Class Lawsuit

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s dismissal of a putative class complaint accusing the National Football League (NFL) of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing personal data about users of the NFL’s website, mobile application and video service with a third party, citing Solomon v. Flipps Media, Inc. as “‘binding and dispositive.’”
June 24, 2025
Plaintiffs In Shrinking Crocs Suit Can Amend Claims, Judge Says

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part Crocs Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of misrepresenting its Crocs-brand shoes as resistant to weather, finding that the claims were sufficiently pleaded in part and that the court’s denial of class certification in a separate suit involving similar claims against Crocs does not bar the present plaintiffs from seeking certification.
June 24, 2025
Government Asks U.S. High Court To Clarify Stay Order In Noncitizen Removal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed a motion June 24 in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking clarification of a June 23 stay order in a case by a class of noncitizens who are challenging a policy or practice by the federal government of removing members of the class to a country other than the initial or alternative countries identified in immigration proceedings without first providing an opportunity for them to apply for protection from removal; the motion states that hours after the June 23 order, a federal judge in Massachusetts “issued an order asserting that its related ruling enforcing that injunction ‘remains in full force and effect,’ ‘notwithstanding todays [sic] stay of the Preliminary Injunction.’”
June 24, 2025
2 AT&T Data Breach MDLs Preliminarily Settle For Total Of $177 Million

DALLAS — A Texas federal judge granted preliminary approval to two settlement funds, totaling $177 million, to resolve multidistrict litigations in Texas and Montana related to two data security incidents experienced by AT&T Inc.
June 24, 2025
Split U.S. High Court Stays Injunction In Third-Country Noncitizen Removal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 23 stayed a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Massachusetts in a case by a class of noncitizens who are challenging a policy or practice by the federal government removing members of the class to a country other than the initial or alternative countries identified in immigration proceedings without first providing an opportunity for them to apply for protection from removal.
June 23, 2025
9th Circuit Orders Briefs On Skrmetti In Appeal Of Ruling That TPA Discriminated

PASADENA, Calif. — The same day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered supplemental briefing in an appeal where a third-party administrator (TPA) seeks reversal of a ruling that it violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care; the parties are to address “how, if at all, this case is affected” by Skrmetti.
June 23, 2025
After Claims Of Info Sharing For Class Actions, OIG To Look At DOL Practices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Plans have been revealed for an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of “how the U.S. Department of Labor [DOL] has shared investigative information with non-governmental entities involved in class action litigation and the extent of any related controls.”
June 23, 2025
High Court Development Is Flagged In Challenge To Class Certification In TDF Row

RICHMOND, Va. — Filing a notice of supplemental authority in the interlocutory appeal, an employer that was sued over the decision to offer BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs) in its retirement plan told the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a recent U.S. Supreme Court development means that Alig v. Shea “remains controlling and requires reversal of” the certification of a mandatory class.
June 23, 2025
Initial Approval Given To Settlement Of Data Breach Suit Against Health Care Firm

BALTIMORE — Extending an existing stay on discovery and other proceedings in a consolidated lawsuit over a health care provider’s 2023 data breach, a Maryland federal judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of a $1.35 million settlement of negligence, contractual and other claims against the firm.
June 20, 2025
Split U.S. Supreme Court: Hobbs Act Doesn’t Require Agency Deference In Fax Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal district courts are not bound under the Hobbs Act to the Federal Communications Commission’s interpretation of what constitutes faxes prohibited by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 20.
June 19, 2025
Louisiana Majority Affirms Certification Of Class Action Prompted By Hurricane Ida

GRETNA, La. — A majority of a Louisiana appeals court panel on June 18 affirmed a lower court’s judgment certifying a class action lawsuit arising from Hurricane Ida property damage and remanded for further proceedings, finding that the plaintiffs have satisfied the class certification requirements under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 591(A)(1).
June 19, 2025
$7.5 Million Settlement Of Digital Pharmacy Data Breach Class Action Approved

OAKLAND, Calif. — Almost seven months after preliminarily approving a $7.5 million settlement of a class action over a 2023 data breach experienced by PostMeds Inc., a California federal judge made his approval final, granting a motion by the plaintiffs in the consolidated lawsuit, while also giving his thumbs up to requests for attorney fees, costs and service awards.
June 19, 2025
Class Denial Affirmed, 2 Claims Reinstated In No-Coins Suit Against Chipotle

PHILADELPHIA — A consumer who sued a fast food chain for withholding change in coins due to a coin shortage during the coronavirus pandemic may proceed with his individual breach of contract and Pennsylvania consumer protection law claims only, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, upholding summary judgment for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. on the remaining claims and upholding denial of class certification.
June 19, 2025
Attorney Fees, Costs Awarded In Acura Bluetooth Settlement As Honda Appeals

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California issued final approval order and judgment after a settlement was reached between consumers in four states and American Honda Motor Co. Inc. in a class case alleging defective HandsFreeLink (HFL) Bluetooth systems in certain Acura vehicles that cause excessive electric drain, approving more than $9.5 million in attorney fees and costs while the total value of claims is estimated to be less than $540,000.
June 18, 2025
Meta Must Provide Privacy Plaintiffs With Analyses Of Users’ Time On Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO — A putative class of Facebook users who sued Meta Platforms Inc. over the purported sharing of their protected health information (PHI) via its pixel tool are entitled to certain analyses and reports correlating users’ time spent on the social network with Meta’s revenue, a California federal magistrate judge ruled, finding the requested info relevant to the plaintiffs’ proposed damages theory.
June 18, 2025
Judge Allows Claims That Apple Unfairly Blocked ICloud Competitors

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by consumers accusing it of monopolization for unfairly barring users of Apple devices from using competitive cloud storage services in violation of the federal Sherman Act and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
June 18, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms RICO TPP Class Certification For Actos Cancer Risk

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a district court did not err in certifying a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos, agreeing with the lower court that the predominance requirement for certification was satisfied.
June 18, 2025
9th Circuit Won’t OK Interlocutory Appeal In Class Row Over Reprocessing

SAN FRANCISCO — Without substantive explanation, two Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges denied permission to appeal the addition of a subclass in a case seeking reprocessing of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims; disputes concerning the impact of certain rulings in the similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act case Wit v. United Behavioral Health figured largely in the petition and opposition.
June 18, 2025
Chrome Users Again Denied Class Certification In Google Data Collection Suit

OAKLAND, Calif. — Two and a half years after a California federal judge declined to certify a class of Chrome browser users in their privacy suit against Google LLC, the judge handed another defeat to the plaintiffs as she found that individualized issues regarding each class member’s knowledge of, and consent to, Google’s data collection practices would predominate over common questions.
June 18, 2025
Judge Approves $10.5 Million Settlement Of Biopharmaceutical Stock Drop Suit

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted final approval to a $10.5 million settlement in a case brought by shareholders against a biopharmaceutical company and certain executives alleging that misstatements they made about the company’s manufacturing possibilities and approval prospects for its lead product candidate unlawfully inflated the company’s stock price, which dropped after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the company’s license application for the product candidate.
June 18, 2025
Judge Lets Class Definitions Stand In ERISA Case Over Retirement Benefits

PHILADELPHIA — Denying what he construed as a motion to alter judgment in the class action where he recently entered final judgment for the plaintiffs after a bench trial, a Pennsylvania federal judge briefly rejected the defendants’ arguments that he had improperly expanded two class definitions; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute centered on corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits.
June 18, 2025
HHS Federal Workers File Class Suit Over Erroneous Record Sharing, Firings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seven employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its subcomponents filed a class complaint in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleging that “hopelessly error-ridden” personnel records were wrongly turned over to U.S. DOGE Service, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) without being verified and were incorrectly used to fire 10,000 workers in violation of the Privacy Act.