That’s a possibility raised by Alan Kaplinsky in his analysis of the Supreme Court’s universal injunction case, Trump v. CASA, at Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Finance Monitor Blog. Because CASA will make it harder for consumer financial service companies to seek injunctions against CFPB regs, etc., Mr. Kaplinsky suggests they may resort to class actions, though […]
Category Archives: Class Actions
In Pickett v. City of Cleveland, the defendant appealed the district court’s certification of a class of Black homeowners or residents who had been obligated to pay certain debts to a water utility that were secured by their property, pursuant to both Rule 23(b)(2) and Rule 23(b)(3). A panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously affirmed the […]
In an opinion issued today, the en banc Ninth Circuit held that Shopify, an e-commerce platform, could be sued in California based on allegations that it had installed tracking software on a California consumer’s device. The court concluded that personal jurisdiction could be exercised constitutionally, as Shopify’s conduct was expressly aimed “at California through its extraction, maintenance, […]
The Sixth Circuit today vacated a district court’s certification of 10 classes relating to claims about Nissan’s automatic electronic braking systems. The court first held that the district court had inadequately considered commonality and predominance. It then went onto address a question that has divided the circuits over the past decade- whether expert testimony considered […]
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Heckman v. Live Nation Entertainment, where it affirmed a district order denying a motion to compel mass arbitration of a consumer antitrust class action about online ticket sales practices by Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Finding the arbitration agreement “borderline unintelligible,” the panel majority held that both the […]
The Class Action Fairness Act provides for federal jurisdiction over “any civil action … in which monetary relief claims of 100 or more persons are proposed to be tried jointly on the ground that the plaintiffs’ claims involve common questions of law or fact.” But what constitutes a “proposal” that cases be “tried jointly”? Today, […]
Travelers United is a DC-based nonprofit that has sued a number of travel and hospitality providers for putative violations of DC’s consumer protection laws. In one recent case, the organization sued Hilton for their “deceptive Junk Fee practices” that “trick consumers into paying more” to book a hotel room “than they otherwise would.” Travelers United […]
The parties in consolidated class actions against GoDaddy brought under the TCPA negotiated a settlement, under which Go Daddy would provide up to $35 million to pay both class members’ claims and up to $10.5 million to their lawyers as attorney’s fees. The district court certified a settlement class. The day Rule 23(c)(2) notices were […]
In 2015, consumers sued the manufacturers of KIND products –first over the company’s use of the word “healthy” in describing its products, and then over the “All Natural/Non-GMO” claim on product packaging. The class action included claims for violation of several state laws. After class certification and discovery, the district court excluded the testimony of […]
In 2019, a group of former for-profit college students brought a class action against the Department of Education, based on the agency’s failure to rule on their applications for borrower defense relief to their loans–or anyone else’s–for more than a year. After years of litigation, the parties reached a settlement, which was approved in November […]