Today, the Tenth Circuit issued a divided opinion in Dunn v. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a consumer class action brought against the manufacturers of Natural American Spirit (NAS) cigarettes. The consumers allege that they were misled into believing that the company’s cigarettes were less harmful than those produced by other companies. On interlocutory review of […]
Category Archives: Class Actions
State class actions in Virginia are not happening yet. This week, Va. Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed SB229/HB449, a bill that finally would have established a state-level class action process. Although Va. consumers can participate in federal class actions, the bill would have filled a gap for them to band together to pursue claims that are […]
So Amanda Bronstad reports at Law.com in Federal Roundup Judge Refuses to Step Into ‘Mind-Boggling’ $7.25B Class Settlement. Excerpt: [Judge] Chhabria said, “You have a meeting with the judge on the day you filed it, a prearranged meeting with the judge on the day you filed it. You say it was in open court, but it […]
Last month, we published a guest post by Hofstra consumer law scholar Norm Silber expressing serious concerns about a proposed Roundup class action settlement. Professors Silber and Myriam Gilles of Northwestern have coauthored an amicus brief urging a federal court to grant injunctive or declaratory relief to enable the court to evaluate aspects of the […]
Here, by Zach Despart. Excerpt: Three years later, the Trump administration and Colony Ridge are on the verge of resolving the case. But the $68 million proposed settlement provides no money for victims of the alleged scheme. Instead, it sets aside $20 million for policing and immigration enforcement — a provision that may be used […]
A comprehensive settlement of Roundup herbicide litigation is marching through the Missouri courts and scheduled to be finalized within the next three months. There will be a flurry of media reports soon, emanating chiefly from the companies and the compensated class counsel who recommend the proposed deal. This settlement is extremely disturbing to many affected […]
In Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union, decided today, the Fourth Circuit clarified both the procedure and substantive standards that govern when defendants ask a court to deny class certification before discovery. Oliver was a putative class action challenging Navy Federal’s underwriting process for loan applicants as racially discriminatory. Navy Federal moved to dismiss under Rule […]
After James Healy sued Milliman, a company that sells reports containing consumer’s medical histories to third-party insurers, alleging that the reports were inaccurate and violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the district court certified a class of consumers who were the subjects of inaccurate reports. Milliman moved for partial summary judgment on the grounds that […]
David Eliiot claims Humana called him numerous times despite not being a Humana customer, and after he informed Humana that it had the wrong number. He brought a class action alleging this violated the TCPA. Humana opposed class certification on the grounds that whether individuals had actually consented to repeated calls was not ascertainable on […]
Just after Thanksgiving last week, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion reversing a district court’s certification of a class in one of several actions brought by a consumer against Folgers and consolidated by the JPML. In the action on appeal, the consumer had alleged that representations on coffee containers featured misrepresentations about the number of […]