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

Mealey's Class Actions

May 15, 2025
Health Care Firm’s Data Breach Suit Settlement Provides Up To $5,000 Per Claimant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge on May 14 granted an unopposed motion for preliminary approval to the settlement of class claims over a health care provider’s 2023 data security incident, giving an initial thumbs up to an agreement that would provide for payments of up to $5,000 for each claimant in a settlement class he said “is likely to include millions of people.”
May 15, 2025
Company Mislabeled Products As Domestic And ‘Cold Pressed,’ Consumer Claims

SAN DIEGO — A consumer filed a putative class action in California federal court alleging that a sugar and body product company’s products are deceptively advertised in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, including due to being labeled as “cold pressed” and “crafted with LOVE in Southern California” when in fact the products are not cold pressed and made with “foreign-sourced ingredients and components.”
May 15, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Bars Transfer Of Noncitizen Class Under Alien Enemies Act

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York issued a preliminary injunction order on May 14 in a class case by immigrant detainees currently being held in the Southern District of New York pending their removal from the United States due to a presidential proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act (AEA); the order enjoins enforcement of the proclamation, bars the transfer of the named petitioners under the AEA and directs that class counsel be provided information about the class members.
May 15, 2025
Wells Fargo Petitions 9th Circuit Over Class Certification In Stock Loss Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo & Co. petitioned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for permission to appeal a California federal judge’s order granting class certification to a group of shareholders in their suit filed against Wells Fargo and certain of its executives after news of the company’s practice of using fake interviews to give the impression of complying with internal diversity hiring practices led to a drop in stock value, arguing the investors had not provided evidence that their damages can be measured on a classwide basis.
May 14, 2025
Immigrants Facing Removal Under AEA Tell High Court Class Relief Is Necessary

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Immigrants facing removal from the United States after the federal government invoked the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a May 14 response to a supplemental memorandum that without “class relief, there will be nothing prevent the government from giving AEA notices to dozens or hundreds more people going forward and then removing them to El Salvador if they do not manage to state their intention to file a habeas petition within 12 hours notice, or file a pro se petition within 24 hours after that.”
May 14, 2025
Immigrant Separation Class Asks Court For Continuation Of Existing Legal Services

SAN DIEGO — Immigrants who reached an agreement with the federal government in 2023 settling class claims over the separation of families argue in a renewed motion in a federal court in California that current legal services provided pursuant to the settlement agreement must be extended until a resolution is reached between the class and the federal government.
May 14, 2025
2 Classes Partially Certified In Immigrant Detainee Suit Over Bond Denial

TACOMA, Wash. — A detained immigrant’s motion for class certification was partially granted by a federal judge in Washington who certified bond denial and bond appeal classes in a case accusing federal officials of denying bond requests by the lead plaintiff and others being held at the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center (NWIPC).
May 14, 2025
Class Denied, University Pandemic Closure Suit Dismissed Following Remand

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia denied certification of a previously certified class in a lawsuit by the parent of an Emory University student and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the complaint that sought money back after classes and services were impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
May 14, 2025
Citing ‘Sufficiently Pleaded’ Allegations, Judge Won’t Toss Online Consent Dispute

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington federal judge denied motions to dismiss and to strike class allegations in a putative class action suit against ZoomInfo Technologies LLC, a company that provides a database with information about businesses, alleging that ZoomInfo wrongfully uses individuals names without their consent to advertise its products, finding “that the class allegations are sufficiently pleaded” and that the plaintiff has shown “that her name is used by ZoomInfo to do more than merely describe its goods or services.”
May 14, 2025
Government Dismisses TRO Appeal In Immigrant Removal Class Suit After Injunction

DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion by President Donald J. Trump and other federal government parties to voluntarily dismiss their appeal of a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued in a class case by immigrants subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) after the trial court granted a motion for preliminary injunction; that trial court injunction order was issued the same day class certification was granted.
May 14, 2025
Attorney Fees Clarified In Clearview Settlement While Objectors Appeal

CHICAGO — Almost two months after final approval was granted to a settlement of claims against the creator and curator of a massive digital photo database under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the Illinois federal judge who presided over the consolidated class action granted the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for amended judgment, clarifying that she also approved their request for an award of attorney fees.
May 14, 2025
$8.25M Class Settlement Wins Initial OK In ERISA Recordkeeping Fees Row

BOSTON — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly excessive recordkeeping fees would be resolved under a proposed $8.25 million class settlement that a Massachusetts federal judge granted preliminary approval; the plaintiffs say the deal would represent 20% to 30% of their estimated “maximum potential damages.”
May 13, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Ruling In Air, Space Force Members’ Vaccine Case

CINCINNATI — A trial court properly dismissed as moot a class complaint by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated as moot the preliminary injunction previously issued in the case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 12 in an unpublished opinion.
May 13, 2025
Government Argues High Court Relief Is Not Warranted In Immigrant Removal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Interim and permanent relief are not warranted in an immigrant removal case in which the federal government invoked the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), and a temporary injunction issued by a divided U.S. Supreme Court halting the removal of any member of a putative class of immigrant detainees in Texas must be modified to permit “unlawfully present aliens” to be removed from the United States under authorities other than the AEA, the federal government tells the high court in a May 12 supplemental memorandum.
May 12, 2025
Live Nation, Ticketmaster Seek High Court Review Of FAA Reach In Online Sales Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) protects all or only certain arbitration agreements and whether the federal act preempts California’s severability doctrine in a petition for writ of certiorari filed after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s denial of arbitration in a putative class complaint accusing the two companies of engaging in anticompetitive practices in online ticket sales.
May 12, 2025
DOE, Secretary Oppose Rehearing After 9th Circuit’s Loan Settlement Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel properly ruled that three for-profit universities failed to show that they had standing to challenge a final settlement approval based on their inclusion on a settlement exhibit in a class case over the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) alleged backlog of hundreds of thousands of unprocessed applications for borrower defense relief, the DOE and Education Secretary Linda McMahon argue in response to a petition for rehearing en banc filed by one of the schools.
May 09, 2025
RFK Jr.: Coal Miner’s Class Action Over Cuts To NIOSH Black Lung Program Fails

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved in West Virginia federal court to dismiss a putative class action filed by a coal miner with black lung who says Kennedy violated federal law when he terminated the majority of staff at the Respiratory Health Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, W.Va., arguing that the plaintiff lacks standing under the U.S. Constitution and the claims are barred by sovereign immunity.
May 09, 2025
Philadelphia Inquirer Users Will Receive $27.30 Each To Settle VPPA, Wiretap Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge decreed the settlement of class claims against the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC under the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) and a state wiretap law to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” granting final approval to the agreement, under which the newspaper operator will pay more than $1.1 million to cover class members’ claims, costs and attorney fees.
May 09, 2025
Judge: No Showing That Federal Government Breached 2023 Immigrant Separation Pact

SAN DIEGO — Immigrants who reached an agreement with the federal government in 2023 settling class claims they brought after being separated from their children failed to show that the agreement was breached when the government changed its method of providing legal services, one component of the agreement, a federal judge in California ruled, denying the immigrants’ motion to enforce the settlement agreement.
May 09, 2025
Tesla Owners’ Automatic Software Updates Case Dismissed After Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed with prejudice a putative class lawsuit accusing Tesla Inc. of rolling out automatic software updates that “deplete the battery and reduce the driving range of the vehicles by at least 20%” after the named parties stated that they reached a settlement agreement as to the named plaintiffs’ individual claims.
May 08, 2025
Final Approval Given To Settlement In Alleged Ponzi Scheme Involvement Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon granted final approval to a $90,000 settlement between investors who lost money to an alleged Ponzi scheme and two of the entities they allege aided the scheme.
May 08, 2025
$46M Pharmaceutical Company Stock-Drop Suit Gets Final Approval

TRENTON, N.J. — A $46 million settlement between current and former executives and members of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company that went bankrupt during the proceeding and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities law by making material misstatements that caused the price of the company’s stock to be artificially inflated has been granted final approval by a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Given To $9 Million Settlement Of Parking App Data Breach Suit

ATLANTA — Six months after a Georgia federal judge preliminarily approved a $9 million settlement of a class action over a 2021 data breach experienced by the operator of mobile parking apps, he granted a motion for final approval of the deal on May 6, finding it to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class.”
May 07, 2025
Claims Against Burger King For Deceptively Advertising Large Burgers May Proceed

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge denied Burger King Corp.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of deceptively advertising its burgers including the “Whopper” with ingredients overflowing the bun to make the burgers appear 35% larger than they are, finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that Burger King violated the consumer protection laws of 11 states, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 07, 2025
Citing Smith, 6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ERISA Row Over Recordkeeping Fees

CINCINNATI — Citing Smith v. CommonSpirit Health and saying that “many of our sister circuits have found implausible similar complaints,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 6 upheld dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class action over 401(k) recordkeeping and administrative (RKA) fees.