In April, we told you about about a decision from the Third Circuit — the court that has given the strictest reading of ascertainability — in which the panel refused to extend the doctrine further and one judge suggested it should be cut back. (See here.) On Tuesday, we flagged a Seventh Circuit opinion taking […]
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday weighed in on the “unsettled” question whether a district court should stay a case or dismiss it, when it grants a motion to compel arbitration. The court held that the case should be stayed. The opening paragraph summarizes the issue and the reasoning: In an effort to more […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acted yesterday against Paymap Inc. and LoanCare, LLC for deceiving consumers with advertisements for a mortgage payment program that promised tens of thousands of dollars in interest savings from more frequent mortgage payments. Under the terms of the orders, Paymap will return $33.4 million in fees to consumers and pay […]
On the heels of news that D.C. voters will likely have the opportunity to vote in a $15 minimum wage in November 2016 (see the Washington Post's story here, from last week), an analysis from Brookings takes on claims from business that the region can't afford it. The short answer from Brookings is that we […]
We've covered numerous times the rise of a heightened "ascertainability" requirement in the Third Circuit. (See, for instance, here, for a summary and a recent development. Brief summary: ascertainability is the court-developed notion that a class must show an administratively feasible means of identifying class members; the test is particularly strict and plaintiff-unfriendly in the Third […]
by Paul Alan Levy A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a Ninth Circuit decision, Multi Time Machine v. Amazon.com, that undid a great deal of progress made in that court undoing the adverse effects of that Court's decision in Brookfield Communications v. West Coast Video; last week, I noted that Amazon had sought […]
The judge rejected a motion for a broad protective order but issued a narrower one. Reuters reports: A federal judge overseeing litigation over multiple General Motors recalls last year will allow plaintiffs' lawyers to share some nonconfidential material gathered during discovery, rejecting the company's bid to broadly ban public pretrial dissemination of the material. On […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced: Medicare Card Scheme Took Money from Seniors’ Bank Accounts A group of scammers who falsely promised consumers new Medicare cards in order to obtain their bank account numbers and debit their accounts will be banned from selling healthcare-related products and services under settlements with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlements […]
After discussing various cases against Chipotle based on misclassification and off-the-clock work, the story goes on to claim that private wage/hour enforcement is rising in general. The reaction of the industry representative interviewed for the story is telling: “Plaintiffs’ attorneys, the employees’ attorneys, became aware that this was sort of lucrative ground for them to […]
Brian posted earlier this morning about cyber-security concerns leading to some of the recalls. Two other notable aspects of today's recall and $105 million fine, the largest in U.S. history, are: -The company will offer to buy back up to half a million Dodge Ram pickups because of suspension problems that can result in a […]