Class Action & Mass Torts

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With the Epic Systems case broadly supporting employers’ rights to use arbitration agreements with class waivers, what is now emerging is the result of the necessary trade-off. Employers can, in the wake of Epic Systems, use arbitration agreements to compel the arbitration of putative class claims on an individual basis. But the quid pro quo is that they must then deal with the case in arbitration. A recent case suggests the perils of arbitration once…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved modifications to the video game industry’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) program. Earlier this year, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) proposed several substantive changes intended to take account of recent FTC COPPA rules and guidance. To receive FTC approval, COPPA safe harbor programs must “implement substantially similar requirements that provide the same or greater protections for children as those contained in the Rule; (2) an effective…
No shocking outcome here. In Gaffers v. Kelly Services, Inc., Case No. 16-2210 (6th Cir. Aug. 15, 2016), the Sixth Circuit held that the Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1632 (2018) [which we blogged here] applies to claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Gaffers itself was a garden-variety FLSA collective action in which a call center worker argued that he was not properly paid for the time…
J.B. Hunt Transport Inc., one of the largest transportation logistics companies in North America, recently prevailed on a motion to decertify a class of around 11,000 current and former truck drivers, just six weeks before trial.  The drivers alleged claims under California law for failure to pay the minimum hourly wage, unpaid wages at the agreed rate, meal and rest break violations, wage statement violations and waiting time penalties. The drivers claimed the company’s Activity-Based…
For a company that does 100 percent of its business in California and employs workers who perform 100 percent of their work in California, it would not be surprising for the workers’ employment to be governed by California’s labor laws. But what if the employer operates in multiple states and the employees work in multiple states, with only a small fraction of their work performed in California – do California’s labor laws apply then? That…
Plastic surgeons are noticing more and more women contracting anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCA), a rare type of cancer distinct from breast cancer, in those that have received breast enhancement surgeries. In 2011, the FDA noticed this trend but stated that one’s chance of contracting the disease was extremely low. This statement has since changed as the medical community has seen the rate go steadily upward, and surgeons suspect that textured breast implants are to blame.…
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Lauren E. Becker Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey recently issued a ruling with respect to Defendants’ “compelling” exhaustion argument that Plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies with respect to their disparate treatment and disparate impact theories of Title VII claims relied on to support their motion for class certification, as those claims were outside the scope of Plaintiffs’ underlying EEOC charges. In rejecting…
The Toshiba Securities Litigation stems from alleged violations of the Exchange Act, as well as the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan, against Toshiba Corp., in connection with its alleged accounting fraud and accompanying restatements of its financial reports. The plaintiffs represented a class of investors who had purchased Toshiba’s American Depository Shares or Receipts (ADRs) on the over-the-counter (“OTC”) market, rather than direct purchases of Toshiba common stock, which trade…
A recent decision by the Eighth Circuit in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action provides an important pointer for defendants and their counsel with respect to strategy in defending a putative class action. The key takeaway is to take into consideration whether the case was originally filed in federal court or removed from state court, and consider whether you want to raise lack of standing as an issue in federal court if a…