Mealey's Class Actions
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April 21, 2025
Consolidated Donation Misuse MDL Against Mormon Church Dismissed With Prejudice
SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah dismissed with prejudice a consolidated multidistrict litigation accusing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of misusing donations, finding that the donors’ claims were barred by the statute of limitations and were “not adequately pled.”
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April 21, 2025
Split U.S. High Court Bars Removal Of Putative Class Of Texas Immigrant Detainees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on April 19 ordered the U.S. government to not remove under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) any member of a putative class of immigrant detainees in Texas until further order by the high court.
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April 21, 2025
Jury Awards $2.36M In ‘Made-In-The-U.S.’ California Tea Class Action Trial
LOS ANGELES — A California federal court jury awarded $2.36 million to a class of Californians who purchased tea from R.C. Bigelow Inc. after the jury found that the defendant violated the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) through unfair and deceptive trade practices, beached its express warranty and made false representations about the tea being made in the United States.
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April 18, 2025
Citing High Court, Judge Dissolves TRO In DOGE Fair Housing Grants Case
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Following U.S. Supreme Court precedent in a similar case, a Massachusetts federal judge dissolved his temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the federal government from terminating the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), saying the case belongs in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
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April 18, 2025
Tobacco Surcharge Suit That Is Part Of Recent Wave Survives Dismissal
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Saying in part that there is precedent under which the named plaintiffs “have adequately alleged that Defendant’s tobacco surcharge violated [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act] because it did not offer a retroactive reimbursement,” a Missouri federal judge declined to dismiss a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar suits.
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April 18, 2025
$20 Million Global Settlement Of Fortra Software Data Breach MDL Gets Initial OK
MIAMI — The Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 security breach, experienced by users of Fortra LLC’s file-transfer app, granted preliminary approval to a $20 million global settlement that encompasses eight of nine putative class actions filed against the software company, its clients and their customers that provides for payments of up to $5,000 for affected class members.
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April 18, 2025
OnlyFans’ California Profits Create Jurisdiction, Subscribers Tell 9th Circuit
SAN FRANCISCO — Two subscribers of adult website OnlyFans urge the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a California federal judge’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction of their lawsuit accusing OnlyFans’ foreign owner of unlawful subscription renewals in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), writing that the website purposefully avails itself of California and makes $400 million in annual revenue from the state.
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April 18, 2025
Pennsylvania Federal Judge Awards Reduced $982,998 In Fees In Denny’s Settlement
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge has awarded a plaintiff in a wage and hour class settlement involving Denny’s restaurants $982,998 in attorney fees, reducing the requested amount by 11% for a variety of reasons, including reasonable fees for the Pittsburgh legal market.
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April 17, 2025
$5M Deal Gets Final OK, With Trimmed Awards, In ERISA Fees, Funds Case
PHILADELPHIA — A $5 million class settlement including an agreement to conduct requests for proposals (RFPs) has been granted final approval in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging a multiemployer retirement plan’s fund choices, share classes and record-keeping, but a Pennsylvania federal judge awarded reduced incentive awards and attorney fees of $1,000 and $950,000, respectively, instead of the $8,000 and $1,666,500 requested.
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April 17, 2025
Colorado High Court: Discovery Sought In Hospital Lien Class Suit Isn’t Relevant
DENVER — In its second time considering a trial court’s order compelling discovery responses from an accident victim, the Colorado Supreme Court determined that the items sought by a hospital operator were not relevant to the plaintiff’s class claims under Colorado’s hospital lien statute and were not proportional to the needs of the case.
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April 17, 2025
Final Approval Granted To $4.75M Plus Bitcoin Settlement In Crypto Mining Suit
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York gave final approval to a settlement in which a cryptocurrency mining company agreed to pay $4.75 million in cash and the U.S. dollar equivalent of 25 bitcoin to settle a suit brought against it, certain executives and underwriters, by shareholders who alleged that the value of the company’s stock dropped after its initial public offering because it made misstatements and omissions in its offering statements in violation of the Securities Act of 1933.
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April 17, 2025
Defendant Seeks Immediate Appeal After PRT Challenge Survives Dismissal
GREENBELT, Md. — Requesting that denial of its dismissal motion be certified for immediate interlocutory appeal in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), Lockheed Martin Corp. told a Maryland federal court that a sister court’s contradictory ruling highlights the need for review by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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April 17, 2025
U.S. High Court Reverses 2nd Circuit On ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Issuing a unanimous reversal and accompanying concurrence in a dispute concerning what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim involving a service provider, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 17 ruled that a certain exemption is not a claim element that a plaintiff must negate but rather an affirmative defense for which the burden falls on the defendant.
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April 17, 2025
Judge Declines To Reconsider Opinion In Class Action Against Crypto Platform
NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge denied a cryptocurrency platform’s motion for reconsideration of his opinion and order mostly denying its motion to dismiss a putative class action brought by investors alleging that the company and several of its executives and directors misrepresented material aspects of the platform’s business, holding that he did not overlook any legal issue when issuing the opinion.
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April 17, 2025
Government Appeals Criminal Contempt Probable Cause Ruling In Removal Class Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed a notice of appeal on April 16 immediately following a ruling by a federal judge in the District of Columbia that probable cause exists to determine that the government’s actions in an immigrant removal class case constitute criminal contempt.
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April 17, 2025
Plaintiffs Lack DUFTA Standing, Insurance Holding Company Says In Delaware Court
WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that the plaintiffs in a putative class suit lack standing to bring a Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (DUFTA) claim, an insurance holding company and its affiliates seek summary judgment in the Delaware Chancery Court over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits.
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April 17, 2025
$195,000 Class Deal Gets Final OK In Suit Over Allegedly Fraudulent Policies
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Noting the absence of objections and that “the average class member payment will be $467.77, and the highest payment will be $5,204.40,” a California federal judge granted final approval to a $195,000 class settlement that resolves a suit over allegedly counterfeited insurance policies sold through a captive reinsurance arrangement.
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April 16, 2025
Driver’s License Swiping Row Remanded To Oregon Court Without Attorney Fees Award
PORTLAND, Ore. — A putative class action over a gas station chain’s practice of swiping customers’ driver’s licenses for age-restricted purchases was remanded to state court, with an Oregon federal judge fully adopting a magistrate’s recommendation to grant the plaintiff’s motion to remand for lack of standing.
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April 16, 2025
Federal Judge Dismisses Securities Suit Against Cybersecurity Company
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed investors’ putative class action complaint against a cybersecurity company and its executives for allegedly violating federal securities laws by making materially false or misleading statements about the company’s financials, finding that the investors failed to state a claim.
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April 16, 2025
Apple Says Smartwatch PFAS Plaintiffs Fail To State Injury In Fact, Seeks Dismissal
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. has filed a motion to dismiss a putative class action in California federal court for lack of standing, arguing that the plaintiffs who sued the company claiming that Apple’s smartwatch bands contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) do not allege an injury in fact.
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April 15, 2025
Harm From Mattress Maker’s Strike-Through Pricing Unclear, Magistrate Judge Says
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge recommended granting a mattress manufacturer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, writing that the plaintiff sufficiently alleged that she was deceived by “strike-through reference pricing” but failed to plead that she suffered damages as a result.
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April 15, 2025
7th Circuit Denies Petition Over Refusal To Transfer ERISA Mortality Table Row
CHICAGO — Citing a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a mandamus petition concerning denial of a motion to transfer a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case challenging pension calculations that used a mortality table from 1984.
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April 15, 2025
Effective Vindication Rule Is Focus Of ERISA Imprudence Appeal In 9th Circuit
SAN FRANCISCO — In separate briefs, a former 401(k) participant and amicus curiae organization Public Justice urge the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm that a nonseverable arbitration provision is void because it contains a class, collective and representative action waiver that they say prevents effective vindication of plan participants’ substantive right under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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April 14, 2025
Dismissal Bid Fought In Dispute Over Disability Policy ‘Age 65’ Language
PHOENIX — Arguing in part that the defendants’ “desired interpretation runs counter to the well-pleaded facts, the parties’ expectations, any reasonable consumer’s expectations, and decisional law,” a plaintiff on April 11 urged an Arizona federal court to deny dismissal of his putative class complaint over whether certain individual long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be paid through eligible insureds’ 65th birthdays.
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April 14, 2025
Federal Judge Rules GoDaddy TCPA Class Settlement Ruling Is Appealable
MOBILE, Ala. — A February order declining enforcement of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement must be appealable as the decision involved a controlling question of law, “‘substantial’” differences of opinion exist and “‘immediate appeal may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation,’” a federal judge in Alabama ruled, quoting from 28 U.S. Code Section 1292(b).