Class Action & Mass Torts

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A disclosure form that included other, state-mandated disclosure information violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) standalone document requirement, the Ninth Circuit held. Gilberg v. Cal. Check Cashing Stores, LLC, No. 17-16263 (9th Cir. Jan. 29, 2019). In doing so, the Ninth Circuit relied on Syed v. M-I, LLC, 853 F.3d 492 (9th Cir. 2017), where the Court held the plain language of the FCRA requires that the disclosure be “in a document that consists…
Privately, companies have long self-regulated supply chains to prevent human trafficking, forced labor, and child exploitation. Meanwhile, governmental efforts have lagged in the public sphere. But the past few years have shown a marked change. California, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia have enacted legislation requiring companies to publicly disclose the steps they are taking to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in their operations and supply chains for each financial year. Canada…
Seyfarth Synopsis: The impact of the #MeToo Movement was the fifth major class action development of 2018, as well as the newest trend in our 15th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report (“WCAR”).  By way of its groundbreaking emergence on social media, the #MeToo Movement profoundly impacted the workplace and made its way into the class action arena.  Today, we conclude our exclusive video series by posting WCAR author Jerry Maatman’s analysis of this trend…
FCRA
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals interprets the FCRA[1] On January 29, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a far-reaching opinion that will likely impact the hiring process of prospective employers who conduct background checks on applicants. Desiree Gilberg (“Gilberg”) brought a class action suit against prospective employers (collectively, “CheckSmart”) alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”) and California’s Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (the “CICRAA”). The FCRA requires employers…
Seyfarth Synopsis: Of the five major class action developments in 2018, the decline in class action settlement numbers may have been most the striking shift.  In fact, when compared to the 2017 numbers, the value of the top class action settlements in 2018 decreased by over $1 billion.  In today’s blog, our readers can see and hear Workplace Class Action Report (“WCAR”) author Jerry Maatman outline what he called “a very significant marker of class…
Empty congress hall
Just over 50 years ago, Congress passed the Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Act, with the intent to make it more efficient for parties to litigate factually similar but geographically dispersed complex cases. While the statute today is virtually unchanged from the original version, what has changed is the number of cases in MDLs. Ten years ago, MDLs represented only 15 percent of the civil caseload. By 2018, however, that number had more than tripled, and MDLs…
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…
Seyfarth Synopsis: Governmental enforcement litigation increased in 2018 despite the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) first full year under the presumably business-friendly Trump Administration.  However, while the EEOC’s filing numbers went up, the value of the top 10 governmental settlements dropped by more than $350 million.  As a result, these developments represent the third trend of the 15th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report (“WCAR”).  In today’s post, our blog readers to see and…
consumer protection, Law and justice concept
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a public hearing next month to solicit ways to improve www.saferproducts.gov, the agency’s public consumer product information database. Mandated by Congress and not meaningfully altered since its launch nearly eight years ago, the database provides a centralized location for consumers and stakeholders to report potential product-safety incidents and conduct searches for product-safety reports or recalls. Its current form was approved on a party-line commission vote after heated…