Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court accepted certiorari to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Campbell-Eward Co. v. Gomez, 768 F.3d 871 (9th Cir. 2014), which involved a TCPA class action brought by the recipient of a text message that a contractor, defendant Campbell-Eward, sent on behalf of the U.S. Navy in May 2006. The text message read: Destined for something big? Do it in the Navy. Get a career. An education. And a…

On Tuesday, the Seventh Circuit decided Myrick v. Wellpoint, Inc., Nos. 12-3882, 13-2230, 2014 WL 4073065 (Aug. 19, 2014), which held that plaintiffs were required to produce evidence—and not merely assumptions—about the citizenship of class members to establish the “home-state exception” to CAFA jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(4). The case arose when a health insurer offering policies in Illinois was bought out in 2001 and, in 2002, withdrew from the Illinois market and canceled all…

In case you missed it, the ABA’s Class Actions and Derivatives Suits, Consumer Litigation, and Mass Torts Committees are hosting a Regional CLE conference on June 19th at the University of San Francisco Law School in San Francisco entitled “Who’s in Charge Here?: The Role of Lawyers, Clients, Insurers, and Judges in Class Actions and Mass Tort Litigation.” Paul Karlsgodt, BakerHostetler’s national Class Action Defense Team practice chair and blog contributor, will be co-chairing the conference,…

On April 7th, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Company, LLC v. Owens, a case originating from the Tenth Circuit. In that case, the Court will resolve a circuit split over the pleading standard applicable to determining CAFA removal jurisdiction. The question presented is: Whether a defendant seeking removal to federal court is required to include evidence supporting federal jurisdiction in the notice of removal, or is alleging the required “short and…

On March 19th, Law360 published an article by our colleagues Casie Collignon and Jennifer Benda titled “Tea Party v. IRS: Tax Trouble or Class Action Nightmare?” The article addresses growing litigation by tea party groups arising out of the alleged additional scrutiny the IRS applied to the groups’ petitions for tax-exempt status as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. While the press has covered these stories as being about campaign finance, the litigation raises significant class action, tax, and privacy questions that every practitioner should be following. We will continue…

We are pleased to announce that BakerHostetler’s 2013 Year-End Review of Class Actions (…and what to expect in 2014) has been posted.  The Year-End Review offers a summary of the major developments in class action law from 2013 and key insights into the cases and trends that are likely to shape class action practice in 2014. The Year-End Review is a joint project of BakerHostetler’s Class Action Defense, Antitrust and Competition, Privacy and Data …