Class Action Procedure

Despite a lead plaintiff with unique injuries, the Northern District of Indiana recently certified a class seeking economic damages under Indiana’s consumer protection statute in a case challenging contaminated hand sanitizer manufactured by 4e Brands North America, LLC.  Callantine v. 4e Brands North America, LLC, 2024 WL 4903361 (N.D. Ind. Nov. 27, 2024). 

In June 2020, Defendant 4e voluntarily recalled all of its hand sanitizer lots due to the presence of methanol.  The plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit two months later, alleging that she had suffered both economic and personal injuries, and that she was entitled to statutory damages.  The individual class members’ damages, however, would be “largely limited to statutory damages.” Continue Reading Unique Injuries No Bar to Class Certification Pursuing Economic Damages

            An important issue in class action practice is how courts are to evaluate the reliability of expert evidence that purports to support class certification.  On November 22, the Sixth Circuit joined a majority of circuits in holding that a full Daubert analysis is required at the class certification stage where the expert evidence is material to class certification.

            In In re Nissan North Am., Inc. Litig., — F.4th —, 2024 WL 4864339 (6th Cir. Nov. 22, 2024), Nissan owners brought state law claims alleging various defects with automatic braking systems in Nissan vehicles.  The district court certified 10 statewide classes under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). Id. at *1. On interlocutory appeal, the Sixth Circuit reviewed three aspects of the district court’s certification decision:  (1) whether the case involved common questions of law or fact under Rule 23(a)(1); (2) whether common questions predominated over individual ones under Rule 23(b)(3); and (3) whether the court could rely on expert evidence without ensuring that it satisfied the Daubert standard. Id. at *3. While it found error in the district court’s determinations on each of these issues, this post focuses on the expert-related question.Continue Reading No Evading Daubert at Class Certification Stage, Sixth Circuit Rules

The First Circuit recently held as a matter of first impression that denial of class certification does not strip a federal court of jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), consistent with earlier decisions from the Second, Third and Seventh Circuits.  The opinion also addressed two exceptions to CAFA—the “home state” and “local controversy” exceptions—ultimately finding that the latter did defeat CAFA jurisdiction in the case before it and required remand to state court.  See Kress Stores of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Puerto Rico, Inc., — F.4th —-, 2024 WL 4750774 (1st Cir. Nov. 12, 2024).Continue Reading First Circuit Agrees with Other Circuits that CAFA Jurisdiction Survives Class Certification Denial

On Wednesday, November 13, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case NVIDIA Corp. v. Ohman J, a class action suit filed in the Northern District of California alleging securities fraud under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5.  Early signals from the Justices’ questions have led observers to believe that the Court may affirm the Ninth Circuit’s decision to reverse and remand the decision granting Nvidia’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Continue Reading Supreme Court Expresses Skepticism Regarding Nvidia’s Motion to Dismiss Securities Class Action

In certain circumstances and states, class action waivers may mitigate the exposure risks inherent in class action lawsuits. A decision from the Eastern District of New York illustrates some of the procedural challenges defendants may face in seeking to enforce a waiver at the outset of a case in some circumstances. See Berger v. JetBlue Airways Corp., 2024 WL 4107243, at *4 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 6, 2024).Continue Reading New York Federal Court Declines to Find Class Claims Waived at Pleadings Stage

The Seventh Circuit has added its voice to a growing circuit split on Rule 23(c)(4) issue classes.  In Jacks v. DirecSat USA, LLC—a long-running class action alleging wage and hour violations by DirectSat satellite service technicians—that court weighed in on the scope of Rule 23(c)(4) and its interplay with Rule 23(b).  Jacks v. DirectSat USA, LLC, __ F.4th __, 2024 WL 4380256 (7th Cir. Oct. 3, 2024).             

Jacks had a lengthy procedural history.  After initially certifying a Rule 23(b)(3) class, the District Court decertified it following a 2013 Seventh Circuit decision.  Id. at *2.  Thereafter, the District Court certified “fifteen liability-related issues to proceed on a classwide basis under Rule 23(c)(4).”  Id.  Nearly four years later, the case was assigned to a new judge.  Id. at *3.  Three years after that, defendants moved to decertify the issue classes.  Id.  The new judge agreed, decertifying the issue classes because “defendants’ liability [could not] be determined on a classwide basis” and so the classes did not satisfy Rule 23(b)(3).  Id. Continue Reading What’s the Issue? Seventh Circuit Clarifies Scope of Rule 23(c)(4) Issue Classes

With the growing popularity in cryptocurrency investments, class actions related to crypto assets have soared.  These lawsuits raise a host of novel legal questions, including how established personal jurisdiction principles apply to crypto companies.  A Colorado federal court recently provided guidance on this question, dismissing a lawsuit involving crypto wallet Atomic Wallet for lack of personal jurisdiction.  See Meany v. Atomic Protocol Sys. OU, 2024 WL 4135762 (D. Colo. Sept. 10, 2024).Continue Reading A Closer Look: Court Applies Established Personal Jurisdiction Principles to Dismiss Crypto Wallet Companies In Class Action Filed After $100 Million North Korean Crypto Hack.

On August 6, 2024, Judge Jorge L. Alonso of the Northern District of Illinois issued an order dismissing Brantley v. Prisma Labs, Inc., a proposed class action suit against the creator of the “Magic Avatar” AI app for lack of standing and lack of personal jurisdiction over the representative plaintiff Tyrone Brantley.Continue Reading Judge Makes Class Action Claims Against “Magic Avatar” AI App Disappear

Website analytics tools targeted in wiretapping lawsuits, such as pixels, often allow businesses to shield or mask collected data to avoid the transmission of sensitive data.  A California federal judge recently dismissed a wiretapping complaint filed against Google that glossed over this nuance “to the point of seeming intentionally slippery” in John Doe I, et al. v. Google LLC, 23-cv-02431, 2024 WL 3490744 (N.D. Cal. July 22, 2024).

The twelve plaintiffs in this case claimed that their healthcare providers installed Google technology on their websites, including Google Analytics, to track and collect data about their website activity for advertising purposes.  Among the data allegedly collected was the plaintiffs’ “personal health information.”  Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Google, asserting a mix of privacy claims, including under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”).  According to the plaintiffs, Google unlawfully wiretapped the plaintiffs’ communications with their healthcare providers’ websites, obtaining allegedly sensitive health data in the process.Continue Reading Court Tosses Google Pixel Wiretap Complaint: Plaintiffs Fail to Allege How Pixel Was Configured or Intent to Collect Health Data

Earlier this summer we reported that federal courts of appeals are more closely scrutinizing class action settlements that award class counsel outsized sums not reflecting counsels’ time spent on the litigation.  Last week, the Eighth Circuit joined the trend by reversing an attorneys’ fee award of almost $80 million in a “megafund” case that “had barely gotten off the ground before it settled.”  In re T-Mobile Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., — F.4th —, 2024 WL 3561874, at *1 (8th Cir. July 29, 2024).Continue Reading Eighth Circuit Reverses “Windfall” Fee Award to Class Counsel