Eric R. Magnus

Blogs: Employment Class and Collective Action Update, Wage & Hour Law Update

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Employment Class and Collective Action Update

U.S. Supreme Court: Employment Class Arbitration Must Be Expressly Addressed in Contract

By Eric R. Magnus, Samia M. Kirmani, David Nagle, Brendan Sweeney, Collin O'Connor Udell, Stephanie L. Goutos & Abraham N. Saiger on April 25, 2019

Class action arbitration is such a departure from ordinary, bilateral arbitration of individual disputes that courts may compel class action arbitration only where the parties expressly declare their intention to be bound by such actions in their arbitration agreement, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision. Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, No. 17-988 (Apr. 24, 2019). The Supreme Court said, “Courts may not infer from an ambiguous agreement that parties have…

Wage & Hour Law Update

Supreme Court Holds Availability of Class Claims Must be Expressly Declared in Arbitration Agreements

By Jeffrey W. Brecher & Eric R. Magnus on April 24, 2019

Class action arbitration is such a departure from ordinary, bilateral arbitration of individual disputes that courts may compel class action arbitration only where the parties expressly declare their intention to be bound by such actions in their arbitration agreement, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision. Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, No. 17-988 (Apr. 24, 2019). “Courts may not infer from an ambiguous agreement that parties have consented to arbitrate on a…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

Illinois BIPA Defendants May Soon Be Getting Relief

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, Eric R. Magnus & David R. Golder on March 28, 2019

Many businesses currently are defending a wave of class action lawsuits filed under the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, popularly known as “BIPA” ). The floodgates to litigation were opened earlier this year when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that individuals need not allege actual injury or adverse effect, beyond a violation of his/her rights under BIPA, in order to qualify as an “aggrieved” person and be entitled to seek liquidated damages, attorneys’ fees and…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Zappos Data Breach Litigation to Proceed

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, Eric R. Magnus & David R. Golder on March 26, 2019

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari by Zappos requesting the Court to review a Ninth Circuit Court decision which allowed customers affected by a data breach to proceed with a lawsuit on grounds of vulnerability to fraud and identity theft. The ruling stems from a 2012 breach that affected over 24 million Zappos customers, which including hackers accessing customer’s names, account numbers, passwords, email addresses, billing and shipping…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) Is Not Subject to Equitable Tolling

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, David R. Golder & Eric R. Magnus on February 27, 2019

In a decision important to class action practice, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f), which establishes a 14-day deadline to seek permission to appeal an order granting or denying class certification, is not subject to equitable tolling. Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert, No. 17-1094 (Feb. 26, 2019). Please click here to access our article discussing this recent decision.…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report Winter 2019

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, David R. Golder & Eric R. Magnus on February 27, 2019

Below is a link to the latest issue of the Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report. This report is published on a quarterly basis by our firm’s class action practice group in conjunction with Wolters Kluwer. We hope you will find this issue to be informative and insightful. Using our considerable experience in defending hundreds of class actions over the last few years alone, we have generated another comprehensive, informative and timely piece with practice insights…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

Fifth Circuit Rules District Court Erred in Ordering Notice of Collective Action to Employees who Signed Arbitration Agreements

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, David R. Golder, Stephanie L. Goutos & Eric R. Magnus on February 27, 2019

In a significant case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just held it to be in error for a district court to order notice be sent to employees as part of a certification who, by a preponderance of the evidence, entered into a valid arbitration agreement. If the employer fails to establish the existence of a valid arbitration agreement as to a particular employee, that employee would receive the…

Wage & Hour Law Update

USDOL’s Wage & Hour Division Issues Internal Guidance Regarding Elimination of the “80/20” Tip Credit Rule

By Jeffrey W. Brecher & Eric R. Magnus on February 20, 2019

Last November, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) issued Opinion Letter FLSA2018-27, rescinding the so-called “80/20” Tip Credit Rule, a provision that during the last decade had spawned a cottage industry of “80/20” cases. These cases sought to dissect the duties of a server between those that allegedly generated tips and those that did not (e.g., refilling condiment bottles while waiting for customers to arrive), and to invalidate the tip credit for the period…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

Standing in Data Breach Litigation: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Weigh In?

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, David R. Golder & Eric R. Magnus on February 12, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court may finally weigh in on the hottest issue in data breach litigation, whether a demonstration of actual harm is required to have standing to sue. Standing to sue in a data breach class action suit, largely turns on whether plaintiffs establish that they have suffered an “injury-in-fact” resulting from the data breach. Plaintiffs in data breach class actions are often not able to demonstrate that they have suffered financial or other…

Employment Class and Collective Action Update

Second Circuit Sheers Cosmetology Student’s Claims in Intern-or-Employee Case

By Stephanie L. Adler-Paindiris, David R. Golder & Eric R. Magnus on February 11, 2019

Concluding that a student at a for-profit cosmetology academy was the “primary beneficiary” of the hours he spent training at the academy’s salon, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the district’s court’s determination that the student was an intern, and not an not employee entitled to minimum wage or overtime under the FLSA or the New York Labor Law. Velarde v. GW GJ, Inc., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 3536 (2d Cir. Feb. 5,…

Eric R. Magnus

U.S. Supreme Court: Employment Class Arbitration Must Be Expressly Addressed in Contract

Supreme Court Holds Availability of Class Claims Must be Expressly Declared in Arbitration Agreements

Illinois BIPA Defendants May Soon Be Getting Relief

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Zappos Data Breach Litigation to Proceed

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) Is Not Subject to Equitable Tolling

Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report Winter 2019

Fifth Circuit Rules District Court Erred in Ordering Notice of Collective Action to Employees who Signed Arbitration Agreements

USDOL’s Wage & Hour Division Issues Internal Guidance Regarding Elimination of the “80/20” Tip Credit Rule

Standing in Data Breach Litigation: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Weigh In?

Second Circuit Sheers Cosmetology Student’s Claims in Intern-or-Employee Case

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