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

Mealey's Class Actions

January 07, 2025
11th Circuit ERISA Ruling Rejecting Burden-Shifting Is Focus Of Certiorari Bid

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Home Depot Inc. and related respondents have waived their right to respond to a certiorari petition in which 401(k) plan participants ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on “whether, consistent with trust law, burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
January 07, 2025
Class Certified In Worker’s WARN Act Case Against Digital News Company

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York certified a class of workers terminated by a now-defunct news organization, The Messenger, who allege that the mass layoff by JAF Communications Inc. violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
January 07, 2025
N.J. Federal Judge Partially Dismisses Claims In Amended Insulin Pricing Dispute

NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a motion to strike a fourth amended complaint alleging that three drug manufacturers engaged in an unfair and unconscionable pricing scheme for their analog insulin products but agreed to dismiss certain claims.
January 06, 2025
More Than $60M In Settlements Preliminarily OK’d In No-Poaching Class Case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut on Jan. 3 granted preliminary approval of more than $60 million in settlements reached in a class case by workers who accuse aerospace engineering firms and executives of conspiring to not solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval or otherwise compete for engineers and other skilled employees.
January 06, 2025
Texas Ranch Owner Dismisses Class Suit Over Smokehouse Creek Fire

AMARILLO, Texas — A Texas ranch owner and the three utility companies he accuses of controlling or maintaining an electrical line pole that snapped due to high winds and caused a February 2024 fire that burned more than 1 million acres in the Texas panhandle filed Jan. 3 in a federal court in that state a stipulation of voluntary dismissal of the class complaint.
January 06, 2025
Meta, Users Oppose Objector’s Certiorari Bid Over Service Awards, Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A class member who initially objected to the $90 million settlement of a privacy class action over the use of tracking cookies by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) did not present any questions meriting attention by the U.S. Supreme Court in his petition for certiorari protesting service awards and attorney fees that were approved as part of the settlement, Meta and the lead plaintiffs argue in briefs opposing certiorari.
January 06, 2025
U.S. As Amicus Supports Health Company In Appeal Over FCC Orders

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the position of a medical supply company that argues that the Hobbs Act provides courts of appeal the jurisdiction to decide whether an order by the Federal Communications Commission concerning what constitutes faxes prohibited by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) “is correct.”
January 06, 2025
Apple Settles ITunes Gift Card Scam Class Suit For $35 Million

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $35 million settlement to be paid by Apple Inc. and Apple Value Services LLC (together, Apple) to end a class complaint alleging that the company knowingly participated in an iTunes gift card scam and kept stolen money for itself was granted final approval by a federal judge in California.
January 03, 2025
Respondents, Amici Urge High Court To Affirm 2nd Circuit ERISA Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Jan. 3 amicus curiae briefs have been filed in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the respondents on the question of what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for a prohibited transaction between a plan and a party in interest.
January 03, 2025
Standing Is Among Issues Raised In Motion To Dismiss ERISA Suit Over Surcharges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Arguing in part that the plaintiffs lack standing, a company sued over surcharges imposed on participants in its self-funded health plan for tobacco use and for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has moved in North Carolina federal court for dismissal.
January 03, 2025
RTX’s $34M Settlement In No-Poaching Class Case Brings Total To More Than $60M

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Workers who accuse aerospace engineering firms, senior executives and managers of conspiring to not solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval or otherwise compete for engineers and other skilled employees filed a motion in a federal court in Connecticut seeking preliminary approval of a $34 million settlement with RTX Corp., Pratt & Whitney Division.
January 03, 2025
Trimmed Class Certification Motion In Blackbaud Data Breach MDL Rejected

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Seven months after a South Carolina federal judge declined to certify several subclasses in a privacy multidistrict litigation against a data maintenance firm, he denied the lead plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a renewed certification motion, finding that they had “not offered sufficient grounds for reopening class certification and further postponing resolution of [the] matter.”
January 02, 2025
$2.45M Class Settlement In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case Wins Final Approval

MILWAUKEE — A class of about 500 individuals whose joint survivor annuity (JSA) benefits were calculated using a 1971 mortality table and 6% interest rate will receive increased benefits under a $2.45 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act settlement that a Wisconsin federal judge granted final approval.
January 02, 2025
Siri Users Seek Initial Approval Of $95 Million Eavesdropping Claims

OAKLAND, Calif. — A proposed $95 million settlement with Apple Inc. over the purported unauthorized recording of private conversations of Apple device users by its digital assistant Siri represents “the product of more than five years of litigation and months of negotiations” and merits preliminary approval, a group of plaintiffs tells a California federal judge in a Dec. 31 motion, in which they call the agreement “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”
January 02, 2025
Pension Risk Transfer To Prudential Is Focus Of ERISA Lawsuit

NEW YORK — The wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) has taken a turn with the filing of a complaint in New York federal court that focuses on transfers to Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and RGA Reinsurance Company (RGA).
January 02, 2025
Netflix: Wrongful Death Class High Court Petition Presents No Sufficient Question

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A petition presenting jurisdictional questions in a putative class complaint filed by the estate and family members of a minor who died by suicide “does not raise any question warranting a hold” or review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Netflix Inc. argues in its opposition filed in the case accusing the streaming service of strict liability, wrongful death and negligence in connection with its release of a show depicting a suicide.
January 02, 2025
22 States Support College’s Rehearing Request After Ruling On Loan Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — Ohio and 21 other states filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting Everglades College Inc.’s petition for rehearing en banc that was filed after a split appellate panel ruled that three for-profit universities failed to show that they had standing to challenge a final settlement approval based on that their inclusion on a settlement exhibit in the class case over the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) alleged backlog of hundreds of thousands of unprocessed applications for borrower defense relief.
December 31, 2024
Jury Demand Is Struck In ERISA Case Over Alleged Imprudence, Cross-Selling

NEWARK, N.J. — Saying that under Pane v. RCA Corp., the “causes of action do not establish a right to a jury trial because they are claims of equity jurisdiction,” a New Jersey federal magistrate judge struck the jury demand in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s fees and funds and service providers’ purported use of participants’ confidential data in cross-selling.
December 30, 2024
Chamber, Others Want To Support Rehearing Of 6th Circuit ERISA Case

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 30 ordered a response to a petition for rehearing en banc concerning a 2-1 decision reviving a suit over a retirement plan’s retention of the passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes; six entities are seeking permission to file a combined amicus brief supporting the petition.
December 30, 2024
Dismissal Stipulated In Substance Use Treatment Case Where Class Bid Failed

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dismissal with prejudice has been stipulated in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit alleging underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health services where a California federal judge denied class certification.
December 26, 2024
Judge Finds ‘Dream Kabobz’ Pet Food Label Not Misleading, Dismisses Class Suit

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed without leave to amend a consumer’s putative class complaint accusing a pet food maker of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by misrepresenting its product as being made primarily of meat, writing that the product’s labels would not confuse a reasonable consumer.
December 23, 2024
Settlement Of Just Over $1.4M Proposed In Suit Over Insurer’s Denials

UTICA, N.Y. — A New York federal court has been asked to preliminarily approve a $1,415,000 settlement in a class action over allegations that United Behavioral Health violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by issuing blanket denials for residential treatments for mental health and chemical dependency claims when it considered even a single aspect of the facility’s treatment experimental.
December 23, 2024
Judge Finds For Plaintiffs On 3 Of 5 Claims In ERISA Benefits Suit Over Spinoff

PHILADELPHIA — After conducting a bench trial, a Pennsylvania federal judge found the defendants liable on three of five counts in a class action over corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits, then appointed a special master over a variety of opposition and alternate suggestions from the parties.
December 23, 2024
5th Circuit Appeal Is Filed Over ERISA Dismissal Based On Promise Not To Sue

NEW ORLEANS — A former retirement plan participant has filed a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge to a ruling that he lacks standing to bring a putative class action because he signed a promise not to sue that applies to his Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.
December 20, 2024
After Partial Dismissal, Garda Data Breach Suit Settled, Stayed, Closed

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On the heels of a ruling in which she partly granted a security firm’s motion to dismiss privacy and negligence claims over a data breach that exposed employees’ personally identifiable information (PII), a Florida federal judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion to stay the suit in light of a postruling announcement that the parties reached a conditional settlement of the putative class action.