ClassActionBlawg.com

Here are some blog postings from the past week (and a day) that might be of interest to class action practitioners:

 

Class Action Decisions

 

CAFA Removal

 

CAFA Law Blog provides a case summary of an Illinois federal court decision declining removal jurisdiction under CAFA pursuant to CAFA’s permissive abstention provisions.

 

http://www.cafalawblog.com/-case-summaries-illinois-court-finds-permissive-abstention-under-28-usc-1332d3-to-be-appropriate-and-declines-jurisdiction.html

 

See Drug and Device Law Blog for this guest article by Sean Costello reviewing a recent Seventh Circuit decision holding that the phrase “not less than 7 days” used in 28 U.S.C. §1453(c)(1) to describe the time to appeal a remand order of a case removed under CAFA really means “less” than 7 days, contrary to the rulings by other federal circuit courts of appeals that “less” was a typographical error that really meant “more.”

 

http://druganddevicelaw.blogspot.com/2008/07/shocking-ruling-from-seventh-circuit.html

 

Class Action Arbitration Waivers

 

Class Action Defense Blog discusses a recent California federal court decision on class action arbitration waivers and preemption under the Federal Arbitration Act.

 

http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/2008/07/faa_class_action_defense_cases.html

 

Attorney’s Fee Awards

 

How Appealing highlights a “must read decision” by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals addressing the appropriateness of an enhanced attorney’s fee award for achieving “exceptional” results in a class action, calling it a “must read for

 

http://howappealing.law.com/070308.html#029512

 

Class Certification

 

The New York Daily News gossip column reports on class certification in a wage and hour class action filed against a club owned by rapper Jay-Z (there were a multitude of music and pop culture blogs commenting on this decision, but most of them simply quoted or paraphrased this article):

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/07/02/2008-07-02_jayzs_club_faces_pay_rap.html

 

Class Action Scandals

 

Overlawyered reports on comments made by the jury foreman in the trial of three Kentucky lawyers accused of mail fraud in connection with a fen-phen class action settlement.  As the article reports, the court declared a mistrial after the jury became deadlocked 10-2 for acquittal in deliberations of charges against two of the defendants after previously acquitting the third defendant, Milbourne Mills, Jr.

 

http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/ky-fen-phen-foreman-theres-a-lot-of-people-that-should-have-been-on-trial-that-werent/

 

The Paul Corio Weblog comments on the granting of a special license for a racehorse to race in New York because two of the horse’s minority owners are the remaining defendants in the Kentucky fen-phen fraud case.

 

http://paulcorio.blogspot.com/2008/07/curlin.html

 

Commentary on Class Action Issues

 

The Complex Litigator examines cases addressing the potential disastrous consequences of plaintiffs’ class action counsel failing to do a thorough conflicts check.

 

http://www.thecomplexlitigator.com/2008/07/class-action-co.html

 

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has a recent article with the fairly self-explanatory article “Are Consumer Class-Actions Bans Going the Way of the Dodo?”

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/07/03/are-consumer-class-actions-bans-going-the-way-of-the-dodo/

 

InjuryBoard.com discusses a highly anticipated case pending before the Seventh Circuit of Appeals involving the Truth In Lending Act (TILA) and analyzes the potential impacts of a ruling one way or the other…

 

http://losangeles.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/truth-in-lending-ruling-could-jolt-banking-industry.aspx?googleid=243324

 

…and more on the same case from The Big Picture:

 

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/07/uh-oh-courts-ac.html

 

SCOTUS Blog comments on the potential impact of actions by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission on an appeal to the United States Supreme Court in a lawsuit involving advertising of “light” cigarettes:

 

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/a-second-blow-to-tobacco-appeal/#more-7649

 

Class Action Legislation and Reform

 

Wage Law reports on the California Supreme Court’s decision to grant review in a class action lawsuit to address whether the attorney-client privilege protected against disclosure of a pre-litigation memorandum from outside counsel to corporate counsel.

 

http://wagelaw.typepad.com/wage_law/2008/07/supreme-court-to-review-ruling-on-attorney-client-privilege.html

 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation comments on the passage of the FISA Amendments Act, which grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies sued in numerous class actions for alleged actions in connection with the Bush administration’s domestic wiretapping program…

 

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/07/09

 

… and Point of Law offers a response to EFF’s statement…

 

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/07/fisa-so-thats-the-end-of-the-l.php

 

…as well as a summary of the Senate vote:

 

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/07/fisa-legislation-passes-6928-t.php

 

The Association of Corporate Counsel provides links to a position paper by ACC Europe, the European chapter of that same organization, critical of proposals to introduce US-style class action legislation in Europe.

 

http://www.acc.com/feature.php?fid=1587

 

International Class Actions

 

Mass Tort Litigation Blog provides a link to a recent Federalist Society article by John Beisner, Allison Orr Larsen, and Karl Thompson, Canadian Class Action Law: A Flawed Model for European Class Actions.

 

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2008/07/canadian-class.html

 

http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/pubid.1100/pub_detail.asp

 

The Yeshiva World and Shalom New York report on a successful Israeli class action involving fees charged for text messages sent to kosher cell phones.

 

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=20743

 

http://www.shalomnewyork.com/uncategorized/israel-successful-class-action-suit-against-charges-for-sms%E2%80%99-to-kosher-phones/ 

 

The Jurist reports on proceedings on remand in a class action filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) by South Africans seeking relief from several businesses for alleged complicity in the former South African government’s system of apartheid and provides links to various resources relating to the case.

 

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/07/class-action-apartheid-case-to-resume.php

 

Summaries and Roundups

 

The D&O Diary summarizes recent news in the areas of options backdating lawsuits, subprime-related litigation, securities class actions, and other topics.

 

http://www.dandodiary.com/2008/07/articles/options-backdating/headline-news-settlements-lawsuits-dismissals/

 

Consumer Law and Policy Blog offers a roundup of recent news relating to consumer law, including recent decisions on class action arbitration waivers.

 

http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/07/npr-interviews.html

 

The North Carolina Business Litigation Report offers a listing of interesting issues on appeal from the Business Court, including issues relating to class actions and derivative suits.

 

http://www.ncbusinesslitigationreport.com/2008/07/articles/about-the-business-court/north-carolina-business-court-decisions-on-appeal/