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

Mealey's Class Actions

May 30, 2025
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Student Loan Class Settlement Standing Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by a for-profit university after a split panel ruled that that school and two others failed to show that they had standing to challenge a final class settlement approval in a student loan dispute based on their inclusion in a settlement exhibit.
May 30, 2025
Ex-Employees’ Claims Over Duty-Free Shops’ Data Breach Partly Survive Dismissal

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Negligence and breach of implied contracts brought by two former employees against the operators of airport duty-free shops may proceed, a New York federal judge ruled, while dismissing unjust enrichment and fiduciary duty claims related to a 2023 data breach.
May 30, 2025
U.S. High Court Stays April Order In Class Suit Challenging Immigration Changes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on May 30 granted an application by the federal government and stayed an April order by a trial court in Massachusetts that granted temporary relief on a classwide basis in a case alleging that changes to immigration policies via President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive orders (EOs) and a memorandum issued the same day by the acting secretary of Homeland Security have dismantled “legally established and Congressionally authorized pathways to the United States.”
May 30, 2025
Judgment Partly Granted To Meta, App Maker In Ovulation App Privacy Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge delivered a mixed summary judgment ruling to Meta Platforms Inc. and Flo Health Inc., as he partly dismissed privacy and consumer protection claims in a class action over allegations that users’ personally identifiable information (PII) was shared when they used the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker app.
May 30, 2025
Nonprofits Whose Grants Were Canceled Sue DOJ, Seek Preliminary Injunction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five justice-related nonprofit organizations have filed a civil complaint against the U.S. Justice Department and related officials saying they violated the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional guarantees of due process by canceling, without notice or explanation, more than 370 agreements and contracts with private organizations worth more than $820 million.
May 29, 2025
E-Cig Maker Accused Of Deceiving Vapers With ‘Greenwashing’ Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Three e-cigarette users filed a putative class complaint on May 28 against R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and its affiliates, accusing them of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting their e-cigarette products to consumers as “carbon-neutral” to boost sales as part of an allegedly deceptive “greenwashing” campaign.
May 29, 2025
Ex-Employee’s Beef With Meatpacker’s Data Breach Response Sent To Arbitration

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Finding a beef producer’s arbitration agreement to be binding on a former employee that sued the company over a 2024 data breach, a Georgia federal judge directed the plaintiff to submit her putative negligence and breach of contract class claims to an arbitrator.
May 29, 2025
Final OK Given To $3.25 Million Settlement Of Class Action Over USAA Data Breach

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An almost 4-year-old suit over a 2021 data breach experienced by United Services Automobile Association (USAA) was resolved when a New York federal judge approved a $3.25 million settlement between the insurance company and a lone lead plaintiff, disposing of claims including negligence and violation of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA).
May 28, 2025
$8.9M Settlement By Soda Company For ‘Prebiotic’ Claims Gets Preliminary OK

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted an unopposed motion for preliminary approval of an $8.9 million settlement by the manufacturer of a soda product that was sued by consumers for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws due to the product being deceptively labeled as “Prebiotic” and “gut healthy” and approved the plaintiffs’ plan to request a 30% attorney fee award.
May 28, 2025
Golden Corral, Employees Settle Data Breach Class Action For $1.85 Million

RALEIGH, N.C. — A $1.85 million settlement of class claims over a 2013 data breach experienced by Golden Corral Corp. received final approval from a North Carolina federal judge, who deemed the restaurant chain’s agreement with a class of employees whose personally identifiable information (PII) was compromised in the breach to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the” class.
May 28, 2025
High Court Gets More Feedback On Review Bid Concerning ERISA Benchmark Issue

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retirement plan participants and an amicus curiae underwriter offer divergent views in briefing an Employee Retirement Income Security Act review petition, with the participants telling the U.S. Supreme Court that “participant-led ERISA fiduciary breach litigation has reduced by nearly 50% the expenses of retirement plan investments” and the underwriter contending that “lower courts’ failure to strike the right balance in fiduciary breach cases has been hugely disruptive and wasteful.”
May 28, 2025
Another ERISA Case Over A Health Plan Tobacco Surcharge Survives Dismissal

RICHMOND, Va. — Calling Mehlberg v. Compass Grp. USA, Inc. “analogous and compelling persuasive authority,” a Virginia federal judge declined to dismiss a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over health plan tobacco surcharges.
May 27, 2025
U.S. High Court Won’t Review Summary Judgment Reversal In Parking Fine Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 27 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Los Angeles after a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed summary judgment for the city in a putative class complaint challenging the city’s parking fee and late payment penalty.
May 27, 2025
2nd Circuit Finds It Has No Jurisdiction To Review State Labor Class Judgment

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain an appeal of a judgment on state law wage and hour class claims because the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ unadjudicated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims to allow for intermediate appeal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) was conditional.
May 23, 2025
9th Circuit Agrees That Lack Of ‘Meaningful Benchmarks’ Dooms ERISA Funds Case

HONOLULU — Saying that retirement plan participants “did not plausibly allege that [Intel Corp.]’s funds underperformed other funds with comparable aims,” the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 22 affirmed dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging retirement plan investments in hedge funds and private equity; the ruling was accompanied by a nine-page concurring opinion that aimed “to clarify the role of comparisons and circumstantial allegations in duty-of-prudence claims.”
May 23, 2025
Recommendation For Individual Arbitration Flagged In Effective Vindication Row

ATLANTA — A recent report and recommendation from a Florida federal court has been flagged as a supplemental authority in an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge to use of the effective vindication doctrine in a putative class action filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; the appeal has drawn amicus curiae input from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and an advocacy organization.
May 22, 2025
Class Mostly Certified In Privacy Suit Alleging Tracking By Ovulation App

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of women in a consolidated suit alleging privacy violations by the creator of the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker app saw their motion for class certification mostly granted by a California federal judge who found that the plaintiffs satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 “with a few specific, claim-related exceptions.”
May 21, 2025
23andMe Reports Bankruptcy Asset Sale, Suggests Global Settlement Of Privacy Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two months after a consolidated privacy suit over a breach of 23andMe Inc.’s network was stayed for bankruptcy proceedings, the financially troubled DNA testing company informed a California federal court in a March 20 joint case management statement that “substantially all” of its assets had been purchased in a three-day auction pursuant to Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.
May 20, 2025
$6 Million Settlement Of Class Suit Over Union’s Data Breach Gets Final Approval

NEW YORK — Two union members were granted final approval of class negligence and breach of contract claims against a labor union over a 2023 data breach, with a New York federal judge deeming the $6 million settlement to be preferable to the expenses and “uncertainties of continued litigation.”
May 20, 2025
Pension Fund Seeks Rehearing En Banc Of Securities Case Against Gaming Company

PASADENA, Calif. — A pension fund filed a petition for rehearing en banc with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that a panel was wrong to affirm the dismissal of its class action suit alleging that a gaming company it invested in falsely inflated its share prices by finding that it needed to plead loss causation as part of its stock scheme claims.
May 19, 2025
Judgment Proposal, Fee Request Are Disputed In ERISA Spinoff Benefits Case

PHILADELPHIA — Following a bench trial and numerous posttrial rulings in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits, the parties are briefing disputes over the plaintiffs’ proposed final judgment, with their disagreements generally centering on whether certain groups of employees are included in the certified class.
May 19, 2025
‘First And Only’ Forfeiture Row To Reach Stage Could Settle For Nearly $2M

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Calling the Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit “the first and only case to reach settlement on this novel theory of recovery,” a plaintiff whose key claims regarding the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s future matching contributions survived dismissal asked a California federal court on May 16 for preliminary approval of a $1,995,000 class settlement.
May 19, 2025
Privacy, Computer Fraud Claims Against Musk, Agencies Voluntarily Dismissed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A putative class complaint brought by six U.S. citizens in District of Columbia federal court against Elon Musk and two U.S. government agencies over the purported “unlawful ongoing, systematic, and continuous disclosure of personal and financial information” was voluntarily dismissed without explanation before the government could respond to the complaint.
May 19, 2025
Judge Certifies Collective Action In Workday AI Hiring Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Any differences between members of an employment discrimination case related to Workday Inc.’s use of artificial intelligence to sort and rank job applicants are meaningless at this stage because the members are “alike in the central way that matters,” a federal judge in California said May 16 in granting conditional certification after finding that the sorting and ranking of job applicants creates a unified policy and that its rankings could constitute a hiring recommendation.
May 19, 2025
Coal Miner Insists RFK Jr.’s Cuts To NIOSH Black Lung Program Violate The Law

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two days after a federal judge in West Virginia issued an injunction enjoining the reduction in force (RIF) notice at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Respiratory Health Division in Morgantown, W.Va., a coal miner with black lung filed a brief arguing that the judge should deny a motion to dismiss his putative class action against Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., insisting that he has standing for his claim that Kennedy violated federal law when he terminated the majority of staff at the NIOSH office.