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Posts Tagged ‘Class Action Settlements’

Check Out HB’s Data Breach & Privacy Litigation Conference 2016, Coming to San Francisco in February

Posted in CLE Programs, tagged , , , , , on December 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I’ll be speaking at a data breach and privacy litigation conference on February 11, 2016 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom, 465 California Street, San Francisco.  The program is sponsored by HB Litigation Conferences and features an all-star faculty (present company excluded) of plaintiffs’ and defense litigators, insurers, settlement administrators, coverage lawyers, and other key stakeholders in this exciting and emerging area of the law.  For more information about this can’t-miss program, see the link below.  Hope to see you there!

http://hblc.litigationconferences.com/data-breach-privacy-litigation-request-agenda-2016-0?utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Flitigationconferences.com%2F35252%2F

 

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Facebook Sponsored Stories Settlement Preliminarily Approved Second Time Around

Posted in Class Action Settlements, Data Privacy Class Actions, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Those of you who enjoyed the recent CAB summary of the presentation on privacy class actions at the ABA’s 16th Annual Class Actions Institute will be interested to know that the re-submitted settlement agreement in Fraley v. Facebook, No. No. C 11-1726 RS (N.D. Cal) was preliminarily approved Monday by Judge Richard Seeborg.  Here is a link to a Reuters article by Jessica Dye summarizing the settlement and the court’s decision.

 

 

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The Seventh Circuit is Serious, All Writs Act Allows District Court to Enforce Collateral Estoppel Effect of its Class Certification Denial – Or – Don’t $%#& with Posner

Posted in class action reform, Class Action Settlements, Class Action Trends, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

In a case rife with lessons, a lawyer learned another valuable one today:  If you’re going to dish out the vitriol in your briefing with certain judges, be ready to be put in your place. 

The case of Thorogood v. Sears Roebuck & Co. is already famous for the suggestion made by plaintiffs’ counsel in oral argument that the Seventh Circuit panel’s three male judges poll their wives to see if they agreed whether the possibility that a stainless steel clothes dryer contained non-stainless components made them fearful of rust damage to their laundry.  The panel conducted the poll as suggested and the unanimous “no” result helped to solidify Judge Posner’s conclusion that the proposed fraud claims was not susceptible to common proof.

Today’s decision was an unusually lengthy denial of a rehearing petition, following an appeal of an earlier panel decision holding that the all Writs Act permits a federal district court to enter an injunction against future putative class actions in other courts on the same grounds in which the district court previously denied certification.  Judge Posner, also the author of the three previous decisions in the course of the litigation, explained the lengthy opinion by saying that it might be helpful to readers of the panel’s previous opinions in the case, as well as to the author of the petition for rehearing, “whose accusations are over the top, as we shall now explain, and who may wish to moderate his fury.”

Aside from being an exceedingly entertaining read (for anyone other than the petitioners’ counsel), the opinion is of interest for Judge Posner’s additional discussion of the potential (with an emphasis on the word potential) abuses of class action settlements by both plaintiffs’ attorneys and defendants.

No doubt there will great discussion about this opinion across the web in the coming weeks.

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Reader Mail: “Do You Think this is for Real?”

Posted in Class Action News, Commentary, tagged , , , on February 6, 2009| 4 Comments »

I got the following query by email yesterday from Erik Cansler of Class Action Administration, Inc., probably my most loyal reader (maybe my only loyal reader), and got his permission to share with the world.  Unfortunately, I can’t confirm the story, but I can say that other reputable blogs, such as Overlawyered, seem to have picked it up, maybe for its entertainment value more than for its news-worthiness.  I’m hoping to convince Erik to contribute some guest posts for ClassActionBlawg.com, so stay tuned.

Paul,

I hope you’re doing well.  Over here at Class Action Administration we’ve been working on our usual variety of cases. Lately we’ve been seeing more settlements of California class actions brought under the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, which prohibits merchants collecting personal information (like address and phone) from customers who pay with a credit card.

The California Civil Justice Blog is reporting a new twist. I thought I’d see if you’d heard of this, and if so, whether you’ve found it to be legit (the blog entry is at http://www.cjac.org/blog/2009/01/attorney-earns-gift-cards-inst.php):

A southern California attorney who brought a class action against a clothes retailer will be paid $125,000 for his legal services — in gift cards.

Yorba Linda attorney Neil B. Fineman brought a class action lawsuit against Windsor Fashions, alleging the company was committing routine violations of the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, according to the Metropolitan News-Enterprise.

Per the settlement agreement, class members won’t receive cash, only a $10 gift card. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brett Klein also provided that Fineman will be paid his fee with “12,500 ten-dollar Windsor Fashions gift cards.”

It seems unlikely to me. What do you think?

Best Regards,

Erik Cansler

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Class Action Blogosphere Weekly Review

Posted in Class Action News, Class Action Trends, Other class action blogs, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2008| 2 Comments »

Here are some blog entries from the week that was that might be of interest to class action practitioners:

Class Action Decisions

For a “brief” commentary on a case addressing the removability under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) of a class action counterclaim by a plaintiff/counterclaim defendant, see this guest commentary from Dallas attorney Jonathan Bridges on CAFA Law Blog:

http://www.cafalawblog.com/-case-summaries-guest-commentary-fourth-circuit-to-decide-whether-to-let-att-pull-up-its-shorts-class-action-to-federal-court.html

Class Action Defense Blog summarizes a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that a state’s parens patriae action brought on behalf of its citizens was removable under CAFA:

http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/2008/09/cafa_class_action_defense_case_19.html

Mass Tort Defense summarizes a Kentucky federal court decision denying class certification in a toxic tort lawsuit in part based on plaintiffs’ ability to articulate an appropriate class definition:

http://www.masstortdefense.com/2008/09/articles/federal-court-rejects-toxic-tort-class-action/

Consumer Law & Policy Blog summarizes a September 8, 2008 decision of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals applying Missouri law in upholding a class arbitration ban in a consumer class action involving prepaid gift cards:

http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/09/eighth-circuit.html 

Class Action Commentary

Training Marketer discusses potential impacts from a class action settlement involving claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) seeking access to a retail store’s website for persons with disabilities…

http://trainingtime.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/target-settles-class-action-ada-lawsuit-is-your-site-compliant/

… more on providing online access to visually impaired users from That Credit Union Blog…

http://thatcreditunionblog.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/providing-online-accommodations-for-the-visually-impaired/

… and The Industry Standard:

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/09/15/target-pact-wont-lead-web-access-standards

The Defense Base Act Blog discusses possible impacts that the Defense Base Act could have on pending class action litigation involving claims that a company’s acts of not training its employees properly for work in Iraq has led to injuries to other employees:

http://defensebaseactblog.com/2008/09/12/will-the-defense-base-act-foil-the-recent-class-action-law-suit-against-kbr/

Class Action Scandals

Health Care Renewal comments on the University of Minnesota’s recruitment of a health insurance company executive who resigned in the wake of a stock option backdating scandal:

http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2008/09/university-of-minnesota-courts-mcguire.html

Class Action Reform

Watchdog Blog endorses proposed legislation that would prohibit class arbitration waivers in credit card agreements:

http://citizen.typepad.com/watchdog_blog/2008/09/arbitration-wil.html

Class Action Settlements

Overlawyered updates earlier commentary on a $688 million attorneys fee awarded in an Enron class action settlement:

http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/coughlin-stoia-amlaw-daily-and-prof-john-coffee-contd/

The Consumerist reports on frustrations in trying to participate in a class action settlement after receiving notice:

http://consumerist.com/5048989/join-the-verizon-etf-class-action-if-they-would-only-let-you

Class Action (and Related) Scholarship

California Punitive Damages provides a synopsis and brief commentary on a recent scholarly work entitled “Punitive Damages and Class Actions” written by Professors Fransesco Parisi (Minnesota) and Marta Cenini (Milan)…

http://calpunitives.blogspot.com/2008/09/law-review-article-punitive-damages-and.html

… and more on the same article from Mass Tort Litigation Blog:

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2008/09/parisi-and-ceni.html

Point of Law reviews a paper entitled “The Use of Litigation Screenings in Mass Torts: A Formula for Fraud?” authored by Cardozo Law Professor Lester Brickman:

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/09/brickman-of-1-m.php#more

Wage Law recommends the paper “Class Certification in the Age of Aggregate Proof” by Vanderbilt Professor Richard A. Nagreda:

http://wagelaw.typepad.com/wage_law/2008/09/class-certification-in-the-age-of-aggregate-proof.html

Class Action News

Fitz & Jen, Luke Ford.net, paidContent.org, and Portfolio.com discuss an ERISA class action filed by editors, writers, and other employees of a major newspaper recently acquired through the alleged misuse of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP): 

http://www.fitzandjen.com/2008/09/jen-if-you-thin.html

http://lukeford.net/blog/?p=5006

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-jack-nelson-among-current-ex-tribune-co-staffers-trying-class-action-su/

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/09/16/la-times-refugees-sue-for-control-of-paper

Class Action Trends

The D&O Diary discusses the latest in options backdating settlements:

http://www.dandodiary.com/2008/09/articles/options-backdating/options-backdating-settlement-news-apple-and-unitedhealth/

Real Lawyers Have Blogs discusses a well-known plaintiffs’ class action firm’s use of social networking website Twitter to find prospective class representatives:

http://kevin.lexblog.com/2008/09/articles/social-networking-1/law-firm-using-twitter-to-find-plainitiffs-for-class-action-law-suit/

Rhondak discusses the use of small claims court as a “poor man’s class action” to vindicate consumer’s rights:

http://rhondak.livejournal.com/1036526.html

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