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

Mealey's Class Actions

August 04, 2025
D.C. Circuit Partially Stays Orders In Asylum, Noncitizen Removal Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Aug. 1 per curiam order stayed pending appeal a trial court’s rulings on an Inauguration Day proclamation that limited asylum and withholding of removal applications.
August 04, 2025
Jury Finds Meta Liable For Intercepting Communications On Menstrual-Tracking App

SAN FRANCISCO — One day after a group of plaintiffs announced a mid-trial settlement of their privacy claims against the maker of an ovulation tracking app, a California federal jury on Aug. 1 found co-defendant Meta Platforms Inc. liable under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) for participating in the interception of the app users’ personal communications.
August 04, 2025
Judge Gives Preliminary OK To $4.7M Settlement Of Deceptive Discount Claims

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval of a $4.7 million settlement of class action claims accusing an underwear and apparel company of deceiving online customers with “fake timers that countdown fake limited time sales” in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, with the amount of attorney fees sought by plaintiffs’ counsel not yet specified.
August 04, 2025
Johns Hopkins University’s $18.5M Price-Fixing Financial Aid Settlement OK’d

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval of an $18.5 million settlement by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), one of more than a dozen schools accused in a class case of “participating in a price-fixing cartel that is designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid as a locus of competition.”
August 01, 2025
Judge Approves $10 Million Settlement In NFT Securities Class Row With DraftKings

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge issued an order approving a $10 million settlement between parties in a class suit accusing DraftKings Inc. of violating securities laws through its sale of nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
August 01, 2025
OnlyFans Operators Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of Subscribers’ Class Suit

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The entities that operate the adult website OnlyFans on July 31 filed a motion asking a California federal judge to reconsider a ruling refusing to dismiss on forum non conveniens a suit brought by California subscribers who claim that they were deceived into paying to communicate with “professional chatters” instead of adult content creators, writing that the court’s “public policy rationales” were recently overturned.
August 01, 2025
Mass. Federal Judge Says Expert Can Testify In Dispute Over Rental Car Coverage

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has ruled that an expert retained by policyholders suing their insurers for prematurely terminating their rental car benefits can testify, finding that he is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and that any potential bias goes to the weight or the credibility of his testimony (Diane Watts, et al. v. Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Co., et al., No. 23-12845, D. Mass., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145918).
August 01, 2025
3rd Circuit Affirms Class Certification In J&J Asbestos Stock Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A judge properly certified an asbestos talc securities class after finding that each of six disclosures about the safety of talc or the presence of asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talc led to a drop in the company’s stock price, a divided Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a divided nonprecedential opinion affirming class certification.
July 30, 2025
Privacy Claims Against Meta, Google Over Prescription Website May Proceed

SAN FRANCISCO — Consolidated claims that Google LLC and Meta Platforms Inc. intercepted and used the protected health information (PHI) of users of a health services website mostly survived a dismissal motion, with a California federal judge finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged claims for invasion of privacy, unfair competition and unjust enrichment, among other things.
July 31, 2025
Women’s Dating Advice App ‘Ignored’ Data Security Before Hack, Plaintiffs Say

SAN FRANCISCO — Two women filed separate putative class action lawsuits in California federal court against the developer of the Tea app, where women post anonymously about dating men, accusing it of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after its database of users’ identity-verification photos and drivers’ license pictures was hacked and posted online.
July 31, 2025
Judge: Biotech Company’s Misstatements Inactionable, Not Material To Stock Drop Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a stockholder’s class action complaint alleging that a biotechnology company and its top officer misled investors through certain financial disclosures that when corrected caused the stock’s price to drop, finding the subject misstatements inactionable or not material.
July 31, 2025
Class Members To Net Over $3,400 Apiece In COBRA Notice Deal Granted Initial OK

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A $1 million proposal to settle a suit over allegedly deficient Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notice on a class basis won preliminary approval in Michigan federal court; in the granted motion, the named plaintiff estimated that about 184 class members would net approximately $3,451 apiece in a recovery “significantly higher than many other class action settlements in cases involving similar alleged violations.”
July 31, 2025
University Of Pittsburgh’s $7.85M Pandemic Closure Class Settlement Approved

PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh’s $7,850,000 class settlement to end a case by students who sued over the school’s failure to refund tuition and housing, dining and student fees paid for the spring 2020 semester when classes were moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic was granted final approval by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.
July 31, 2025
Appeal Dismissed After Indicative Class Ruling In Birthright Citizenship Case

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that dismissal of an appeal by the federal government rather than a limited remand was appropriate in a case challenging the January executive order (EO) that purportedly ends birthright citizenship following a federal judge’s indicative ruling that classwide preliminary injunctive relief would be issued should the appellate court return the case.
July 30, 2025
Judge Certifies AI Class; Plaintiffs Say No Reason For Immediate Fair Use Appeal

SAN FRANCISCO — After a judge certified a class in an artificial intelligence copyright suit, the plaintiffs pushed back on Anthropic PBC’s request for immediate appeal of a fair use ruling, saying an interlocutory appeal will prevent the company from having to go to trial.
July 30, 2025
Reconsideration Denied In Putative Class Suit Over PFAS In Costco Baby Wipes

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on July 29 denied Costco Wholesale Corp.’s motion for reconsideration of a ruling denying its motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that Costco’s Kirkland Signature Baby Wipes contain unsafe levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), writing that Costco failed to show a “change of law” that would merit reconsideration.
July 30, 2025
College Tennis Player Class Certified In Suit Challenging NCAA Prize Money Rules

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina denied motions to exclude opinions from two experts and certified a class of college tennis players challenging the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s rules that limit the amount of prize money Division I players can accept when they win noncollegiate tennis tournaments.
July 30, 2025
Biometrics Claim Over Eufy Security Products Sufficiently Pleaded, Judge Rules

CHICAGO — A year and a half after she partly dismissed a claim against the manufacturer of “eufy” security cameras under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), an Illinois federal judge denied the defendant’s attempt to fully dispose of the claim, finding that the plaintiffs adequately alleged that the purported misuse of their biometric identifiers occurred in Illinois.
July 30, 2025
Putative Class Suit Alleging ‘Huggies’ Baby Wipes Contain PFAS Dismissed By Judge

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action against the maker of “Huggies” baby wipes for failing to disclose that the product contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), writing that the plaintiffs did not allege that the amount of PFAS found in the product by independent testing renders the wipes defective, dangerous or toxic.
July 30, 2025
Driver AI Surveillance Data Collection Class Suit Settled With Lytx For $4.25M

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A $4.25 million class settlement between a class of drivers and a technology company was granted final approval by a federal judge in Illinois ending a lawsuit that accused a transportation company and a machine vision and artificial technology company of collecting and holding truck drivers’ biometric data when scanning their faces via a camera that employs artificial intelligence to monitor drivers in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA); the transportation company previously paid a settlement of $56,800 for the benefit of 71 settlement class members.
July 30, 2025
Part Of ERISA Putative Class Action Over Tobacco Surcharge Survives Dismissal

ST. PAUL, Minn. — As the number of recent cases challenging health plans’ so-called tobacco surcharges continues to grow, a Minnesota federal judge on July 29 ruled that one of three claims in a putative class action over such surcharges survives dismissal “to the extent that it is premised on the failure to notify Plan participants that recommendations of an individual’s personal physician will be accommodated.”
July 30, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Issued In Case Challenging Closure Of DOL Job Corps Centers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The closure of 99 Job Corps centers by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) was halted by a federal judge in the District of Columbia who granted a motion for preliminary injunction filed by Job Corps center students who filed a putative class complaint under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and called the shutdowns “unprecedented” and “inconsistent with its historic ‘standard of practice.’”
July 30, 2025
Truck Drivers’ BIPA Claims Over In-Cab Cameras Partly Remanded

CHICAGO — Two truckers’ claims against their former employer under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) were partly remanded for lack of jurisdiction under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, with an Illinois federal judge retaining jurisdiction over part of the claims while denying the trucking company’s motion to dismiss.
July 29, 2025
1 Emergency Injunction Motion Partially Denied In Canceled Grants Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal filed by five justice-related nonprofit organizations after a federal judge dismissed their putative class complaint against the U.S. Department of Justice and related officials for canceling, without notice or explanation, more than 370 agreements and contracts with private organizations worth more than $820 million was partially denied by a federal judge in the District of Columbia; meanwhile, a second motion by the nonprofits seeking the same relief is still pending in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
July 29, 2025
Tow Truck Driver, Employer Stipulate To Dismissal Of Wage-And-Hour Class Suit

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A tow truck driver and the employer he accused of violating New York Labor Law by failing to pay timely wages and unlawfully deducting wages stipulated to dismissal of the putative class complaint in a federal court in New York with prejudice following an undisclosed settlement.