ClassActionBlawg.com

Here are some blog postings from the week that was that might be of interest to class action practitioners.  The topic headings may or may not be a permanent addition to this weekly column.  They made sense this week given logical groupings in the topics being discussed around the blogosphere.  Let me know what you think.

Class Action Decisions

The Complex Litigator discusses the latest California appellate decision addressing the test for employment and provides a more general analysis of trends in wage and hour class action litigation surrounding alleged misclassification of employees as independent contractors.

http://www.thecomplexlitigator.com/2008/06/the-borello-rig.html

Class Action Defense Blog summarizes a recent Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision affirming the dismissal of a class action lawsuit, holding in part that the alleged violation of a licensing statute is insufficient to support a claim for unjust enrichment.

http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/2008/06/class_action_defense_casesvan.html

Drug and Device Law Blog reviews the latest in medical monitoring class action decisions:

http://druganddevicelaw.blogspot.com/2008/06/first-thoughts-on-sinclair-v-merck.html

Class Action Trends

The UCL Practitioner provides a link to a powerpoint presentation from a recent CLE course discussing the California Unfair Competition Law (UCL or Section 17200) after Proposition 64.

http://www.uclpractitioner.com/2008/06/california-unfa.html

The D&O Diary provides a summary of rulings on motions to dismiss subprime and credit-crisis-related lawsuits

http://www.dandodiary.com/2008/06/articles/subprime-litigation/the-list-subprime-lawsuit-dismissals-and-denials/

If you’re interested in tracking the latest trends in the useof technology in class action settlements, see this Class Reactions posting discusses a recent class action settlement permitting the online submission of claims:

http://classreactions.com/?p=34

Class Action News

Classified summarizes the latest class action news:

http://www.carltonfields.com/classactionblog/blog.aspx?entry=216

Mass Tort Litigation Blog reviews an interesting article of general interest to litigators, discussing an emperical study of trends in summary judgment orders:

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2008/06/new-emprical-st.html

Legislation Impacting Class Actions 

Point of Law reviews an editorial in The Examiner praising Senator John Cornyn’s securities class action reform bill (see my earlier discussion of the bill here)…

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/06/classaction-transparency.php

… and reports on the demise of a Senate Bill that would have resulted in a tax deduction on expenses advanced by lawyers in contingency fee cases:

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/06/tax-break-for-trial-lawyers-bl.php

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/06/tax-break-for-trial-lawyers-mo.php

Here’s more critical commentary on the same bill from RejectSociety.com:

http://www.rejectsociety.com/index.php/2008/06/09/republic-in-distress/

Class Action Scandals

Ideoblog provides a thoughtful and thorough response to St. John’s Law Professor Michael Perino’s paper on the Milberg Weiss kickback scandal…

http://busmovie.typepad.com/ideoblog/2008/06/another-perspec.html

…while Law and More critiques William Lerach’s somewhat-less-than-confessional essay “I am Guilty”

http://lawandmore.typepad.com/law_and_more/2008/06/bill-lerach—a-con-in-full.html

For a report on developments in the phen-fen corruption trial in Kentucky, see this Folo posting:

http://www.folo.us/2008/06/10/their-lips-were-legally-sealed-says-phen-fen-witness/

Internet and Tech Issues

Slashdot reports on a class action lawsuit filed in Quebec against a telecom company on behalf of DSL subcribers and other recent legislative developments in Canada implicating Net neutrality…

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/31/0148221&from=rss

…more on the same case from Michael Geist:

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2979/125/

…while TechCrunch comments on a class action lawsuit accusing an Internet business and services directory of online advertising “click fraud”:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/27/citysearch-sued-for-click-fraud/

Arbitration Clauses and Class Action Waivers

Tort Deform provides a lengthy criticism of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer agreements…

http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2008/06/businessweek_on_consumer_arbit.html

… and Wage Law discusses the results of a recent opinion poll of American consumers regarding binding arbitration and attitudes toward potential legislation banning binding arbitration clauses in consumer agreements:

http://wagelaw.typepad.com/wage_law/2008/06/poll-says-americans-do-not-want-binding-arbitration.html

Potpourri

Overlawyered contributor Ted Frank chronicles his experiences as a pro se objector to a class action settlement involving video game purchasers.

http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/grand-theft-auto-class-action-the-frank-brief/

Finally, Bits and Pieces columnist Emory Schley laments the frustration and disappointment of participating in class action settlements:

http://www.ocala.com/article/20080610/COLUMNISTS/806100303/-1/NEWS