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Mealey's Class Actions

  • October 15, 2025

    Judge: Failure To Disclose Executives’ Misconduct Doesn’t Make Statements False

    CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed investors’ class action complaint alleging a drug design company, its former CEO and former chairman of the board violated federal securities laws by not disclosing the former CEO’s and chairman’s misconduct in public filings about the company’s code of conduct and its fostering of an inclusive workplace, finding that most of the challenged statements were inactionable puffery and that the company’s failure to disclose the misconduct did not render the statements misleading.

  • October 15, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Life Insurance Beneficiary’s Certifying Questions Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a life insurance policy beneficiary who brought a putative class complaint against the insurer and presented to the high court two questions regarding certifying state law issues to state high courts.

  • October 15, 2025

    6th Circuit Upholds Class Settlement In Property Foreclosure Surplus Case

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s final approval of a class settlement between former property owners and 43 Michigan counties in a case over former property owners’ rights to any amount from tax foreclosure sales that was above and beyond the amount of unpaid taxes, rejecting arguments by objectors over the adequacy of class counsel and approval of the agreement.

  • October 15, 2025

    Disney’s And Sodexo’s Wage Settlements Of Nearly $235M Granted Final Approval

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California judge in separate orders granted final approval of settlements totaling $234,750,000 by The Walt Disney Co. and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts US Inc. (Disney) and Sodexo Inc. and SodexoMagic LLC (together, Sodexo) in a wage class lawsuit by workers.

  • October 15, 2025

    Class Complaint Alleges Popular Running Shoes Come With Unwanted Squeak

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Running shoes that cost nearly $200 per pair are defective as technology intended to provide cushioned support causes “a noisy and embarrassing squeak with each and every step,” two consumers allege in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Oregon.

  • October 14, 2025

    6th Circuit Majority Affirms Class Certification Order In Suit Against Auto Insurer

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority affirmed a district court’s class certification order in a suit alleging that an auto insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith in determining a vehicle’s total loss value after determining that the insured had standing to bring the suit and met the necessary requirements to certify a class.

  • October 14, 2025

    U.S. High Court: U.S. May Participate In Arguments In Forced Labor Class Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 granted a motion by the U.S. solicitor general for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument in an appeal by the operator of a private immigration detention facility in Colorado that seeks a ruling on whether interlocutory orders holding that a federal contractor does not meet the requirements under Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. for a defense to liability for damages are immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.

  • October 14, 2025

    Microsoft Accused Of Harming Competition With OpenAI Partnership

    SAN FRANCISCO — A group of ChatGPT Plus subscribers on Oct. 13 filed a putative class action in California federal court against Microsoft Corp., seeking treble damages and injunctive relief — including “the divestiture or segregation of Microsoft’s Generative AI” business — based on allegations that Microsoft limited OpenAI’s access to computational power and drove up ChatGPT prices while promoting its own chatbot in competition with OpenAI.

  • October 14, 2025

    Judge Clarifies Partial Dismissal Of Data Sharing Claims Against LinkedIn

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge issued an amended order clarifying a prior order partially dismissing claims under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and dismissing one of four putative class complaints in its entirety regarding allegations that LinkedIn Corp. used a tracking pixel to intercept and share users’ personal data with third-party advertisers.

  • October 13, 2025

    Shutdown Pause Denied In Putative Class Suit Over Los Angeles Patrols

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Oct. 10 denied the federal government’s motion to pause due to the government shutdown a putative class case over “Operation At Large” being carried out in Los Angeles by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel who detain individuals in publicly accessible places to question their legal status based on the location, type of work being done, language being spoken, accent and race or ethnicity.

  • October 13, 2025

    Judge: Individuals Who Sued Over U.S. Centralized Database May Face Retaliation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Oct. 10 granted a sealed motion to proceed under pseudonyms filed by individuals who, along with several nonprofits, sued the federal government on behalf of a putative nationwide class seeking to enjoin the use of their personal data in a centralized database of Americans’ personal data; the judge ruled that the individuals “have demonstrated specific retaliation risks that far outweigh any prejudice to Defendants.”

  • October 13, 2025

    $332M Deal To End Residual Annuities Class Action Wins Preliminary Approval

    NEW YORK — A long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over residual annuities would be resolved under a proposed $332 million settlement that a New York federal judge has granted preliminary approval.

  • October 10, 2025

    Past Settlement Of Kombucha Mislabeling Suit Dooms New Class Claims, Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge dismissed four plaintiffs with prejudice from their class action accusing a kombucha maker of misleading consumers as to its beverage’s alcohol and sugar content in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) because they are members of a class that previously won a settlement against the same defendant for similar claims, but allowed putative class claims by other plaintiffs who didn’t start drinking kombucha until after the previous settlement.

  • October 10, 2025

    $150 Million GM Defective Engine Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a $150 million settlement between General Motors LLC and consumers who sued over allegedly defective engines, opining the “[a]greement resulted from extensive arm’s length, good faith negotiations.”

  • October 10, 2025

    Immigrant Class Opposes High Court Review Of Now-Rescinded Metering Policy

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should not grant a petition challenging a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on a border metering policy as the policy has since been rescinded, the appellate panel majority’s ruling was proper and the petition presents a poor vehicle, a nonprofit and the immigrant class it represents argue in an opposition brief.

  • October 10, 2025

    Partial Dismissal Granted In Data Breach Suit Against Chicago Children’s Hospital

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois partially granted a Chicago children’s hospital’s motion to dismiss a consolidated amended class complaint filed by patients and parents after nearly 800,000 patients’ personal and medical data was accessed by cybercriminals.

  • October 10, 2025

    $2.62M Settlement Over Debt Collection Company Data Breach Gets Final OK

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has granted final approval of a $2,625,000 settlement in a consolidated class action over a 2023 data breach experienced by a national debt collection and accounts receivable management company, finding it “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

  • October 09, 2025

    Man Files Class Action, Alleges Sleeping Supplement Contained Addictive Sedative

    ATLANTA — A recovering addict who unknowingly consumed a psychoactive sedative while taking a dietary supplement for sleep has filed a putative class action in a Georgia federal court, alleging that the label failed to list the sedative, which is banned in the United States; he also seeks to represent a subclass of California consumers alleging violation of the state’s unfair competition law (UCL) (Jason McCool v. Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. 25-5668, N.D. Ga.).

  • October 09, 2025

    Reconsideration Denied After 2nd Circuit’s Arbitration Ruling In NFL Coach’s Suit

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by the National Football League (NFL) and three teams after a panel ruled in August that rulings denying arbitration of a coach’s race bias claims against the Denver Broncos and NFL based on his employment agreement with the New England Patriots and denying reconsideration were proper.

  • October 09, 2025

    Interlocutory Appeal In Pandemic Closure Suit Granted As To Promises And Contracts

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California partially granted Pepperdine University’s motion for interlocutory appeal in a class action by students seeking partial refunds for tuition, fees and room and board after the school transitioned to online learning in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge Gives Final OK To $15M Class Settlement In Pipeline Securities Fraud Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 8 gave final approval to a settlement in a securities fraud class action related to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline, ruling that the deal, which provides a cash payment of $15 million to the plaintiffs, is “in all respects, fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

  • October 09, 2025

    Pa. Federal Magistrate Recommends Dismissing Pension Risk Transfer Case

    PITTSBURGH — Agreeing with two of the five recent rulings in similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class actions and citing Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A., a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing a pension risk transfer (PRT) challenge for lack of standing on the grounds that none of their three claimed injuries pass muster.

  • October 09, 2025

    Women Alleging Embryo Tests Were Faulty Say Clinic’s Dismissal Motion Fails

    DENVER — A fertility clinic company that moved to dismiss a complaint filed by a putative class of women who say the company made false and misleading representations to consumers about its preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) mischaracterized the “straightforward consumer fraud case” as a medical malpractice action, the women say in opposing the motion.

  • October 08, 2025

    5th Circuit: Conflict Over Securities Class Certification Adequately Addressed

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s interlocutory order that partially granted and partially denied class certification in a case brought by investors in an offshore development company that allegedly made misstatements in connection with a merger that caused the company’s stock to artificially increase, finding the lower court adequately addressed an intraclass conflict by dividing the class into two subclasses.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge Tentatively Orders Sanctions For Disclosures To U.S. Labor Department

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Days after granting the plaintiffs’ third motion for class certification in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over alleged underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health treatment, a California federal judge issued a tentative order on Oct. 7 for a law firm representing the plaintiffs to pay $50,000 for disclosures to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that she found constituted “a knowing and intentional breach of” a stipulated protective order in the case.