Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Corvello v. Wells Fargo that when a bank tells a borrower it will modify his loan if certain conditions are met under the Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”), that promise is enforceable. When Phillip Corvello applied for a home loan modification, Wells Fargo set up a trial […]
Author Archives: Scott Michelman
The introductory paragraphs of the Third Circuit's opinion in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. HHS sum it up: A Mennonite-owned wood-manufacturing business and the family that owns it allege that regulations promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services, which require group health plans and health insurance issuers to provide coverage for contraceptives, violate […]
A clear and forceful explanation from Emily Bazelon of what's at stake in the fight over class actions. Pass it on. (We've previously discussed one aspect of the Whirlpool case here.) UPDATE: We previously discussed other aspects of the Whirlpool case here, including some of those addressed by Bazelon as well an absurd argument advanced […]
In a victory for class action plaintiffs, the Sixth Circuit has affirmed the certifcation of the class in In Re: Whirlpool Corporation Front-Loading Washer Products Liability Litigation, and distinguished the Supreme Court's decision in this Term in Comcast v. Behrend. The Sixth Circuit joins the Ninth in rejecting the argument that Comcast requires a classwide […]
Check out this Fresh Air interview with NYT Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak. Starting at 14:40, it gives more air time and more detail about economic justice issues and corporate power than most coverage of the Court. Liptak mentions Italian Colors by name, explains why class actions are important, and describes contracts of adhesion. As […]
In an era in which privacy is under attack on many fronts, it's welcome news whenever members of Congress introduce bills to protect consumer privacy. One such effort is that of Rep. John Duncan of Tennessee, who this week proposed legislation to protect minors against misappropriation of their likenesses for advertising. (See here for further […]
To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And to a Court bent on diminishing the usefulness of Rule 23, everything looks like a class action, ready to be dismantled. -Justice Kagan, dissenting today in Amex v. Italian Colors. She doesn't cite Walmart v. Dukes, Comcast v. Behrend, Genesis Healthcare v. Symczyk, or AT&T v. […]
A stunning revelation this week about consumer privacy: the federal government has obtained a secret order from a secret court to obtain "telephony metadata" — i.e. who's called whom when and for how long — for all Verizon calls made to or within the United States. The Washington Post story quotes an anonymous expert as […]
We've written before about the potential effects on class actions of the Supreme Court's decision this Term in Comcast v. Behrend: see here, here, and here. Yesterday's Ninth Circuit opinion in Levya v. Medaline Industries is a welcome development in the growing body of post-Comcast jurisprudence in the lower courts. The opinion, written by the […]