Class Action Countermeasures

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11th Circuit Ruling Calls Text Message TCPA Class Actions Into Question

By David Reidy & Anthony Le on August 30, 2019

TCPA class actions based on the receipt of unsolicited text messages have grown more common in recent years. However, the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Salcedo v. Hanna, may upend that trend by holding that a single unsolicited text message did not generate the harm necessary to satisfy Article III standing to sustain a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) claim. In Salcedo, the Eleventh Circuit reviewed its own precedent, the legislative history of the TCPA, and…

Class Action Countermeasures

Class Untethered: Court Strikes Class Allegations on Pleadings due to Insufficient Predominance Allegations

By Alexander Martin Madrid & Allison L. Ebeck on July 19, 2019

When and how can a defendant in a putative class action defeat a proposed class? Defendants served with class action complaints frequently struggle with this question. Typically, defendants wait until class certification briefing following lengthy discovery to contest class treatment. This waiting game carries a high cost – discovery in class action cases is usually lengthy (even when bifurcated to address class certification first), expensive, and contentious, carried on while potentially ruinous exposure dangles over…

Class Action Countermeasures

9th Circuit Saves Nationwide Settlement Classes

By Bethany Gayle Lukitsch, Bryan A. Fratkin & Anthony Le on June 7, 2019

Sometimes settlement with a putative class of nationwide consumers is the best option for resolution. However, since the initial ruling of the Ninth Circuit in In re Hyundai & Kia Fuel Econ. Litig., the mechanism to go about doing so has been in flux. On June 6, 2019, the full en banc Ninth Circuit finally answered class action practitioners’ questions and affirmed the district court’s June 2015 final settlement approval order and certification of a…

Class Action Countermeasures

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Third-Party Removal Under Class Action Fairness Act

By Diane Flannery, Trent Taylor & Drew Gann on May 31, 2019

On Tuesday May 28, 2019, the United State Supreme Court declined to afford state court third-party, class action defendants the ability to remove a class action to federal court. See Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. Jackson, 17-1471 (May 28, 2019). In Jackson, Citibank, N.A., filed a debt-collection action against George Jackson in North Carolina state court. Jackson answered this action and filed his own claims: (1) an individual counterclaim against Citibank and (2) a third-party…

Class Action Countermeasures

California Court of Appeals Joins FCRA’s Mad Tea Party

By Heidi Siegmund & Bryan A. Fratkin on April 24, 2019

The roller coaster of employer liability under the background check provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) recently took an upswing with the California Court of Appeals’ decision in Culberson v. Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. The Culberson court considered two class claims, both of which are now-familiar spindles ready to prick the fingers of unwitting employers. First, Culberson alleged that he received a pre-background check notice from Disney that contained extraneous information,…

Class Action Countermeasures

Hyper-Technical Interpretation: 9th Circuit Increases FCRA Reach

By Heidi Siegmund, Bryan A. Fratkin, Joel Allen, Sabrina A. Beldner, Matthew C. Kane, Christopher M. Michalik & Bruce M. Steen on February 5, 2019

On Jan. 29, 2019, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a strikingly broad decision, raised the bar for employers’ compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In Gilberg v California Check Cashing Stores LLC, the court held that an employer violates the FCRA by including, in a pre-background check notice form, information about a job applicant’s rights under various state laws. This decision will require significant revision of many employers’ FCRA…

Class Action Countermeasures

Snap Removals – An Often Unconsidered Path to Federal Court

By Alicia A. Baiardo & Aaron R. Marienthal on January 16, 2019

Any good litigator can tell you that removal is proper where there is diversity of citizenship and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Diversity generally requires that no defendant be a citizen of the same state as the plaintiff. By way of example, consider a lawsuit filed by Paul, a Pennsylvania citizen, in Pennsylvania state court against Daniel from California and David, also a Pennsylvania citizen. At first glance, it would seem there is no…

Class Action Countermeasures

The Most Important Class Action Decisions of 2018 and a Quick Look at What’s to Come

By R. Locke Beatty & The Editors on January 2, 2019

As the new year begins, this is a good time to recap two of the major Supreme Court decisions from the past year impacting class action law, and to look ahead to a couple big decisions on the horizon. Looking Back Arbitration and Class Actions First, in Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis, the Court confirmed that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are enforceable in employment contracts, even where the employee is covered by…

Class Action Countermeasures

Amendments to Rule 23 Are Now Live

By Matthew D. Fender on December 4, 2018

A number of changes to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 took effect on December 1, 2018. They’ve been in the works for some time, so no surprises, but now is a good time to summarize them. The changes deal primarily with class settlements and objections: Rule 23(c) Rule 23(c)(2)(B), which deals with class notice, has been expanded to encompass proposed settlement classes. Giving notice of proposed settlement classes is now discretionary under Rule 23(e) as…

Class Action Countermeasures

Seventh Circuit Allies With FCRA Class Action Plaintiffs on Spokeo Grounds.

By The Editors on September 25, 2018

Below, Richmond-based litigators Bryan A. Fratkin and Heidi E. Siegmund examine the Seventh Circuit’s recent holding that an employment applicant’s missed opportunity to address a background check constitutes sufficient injury to confer standing. On August 29, the Seventh Circuit reentered the multi-front fray that has broken out among lower courts in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Spokeo v Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016). Robertson v. Allied Solutions began with…

Class Action Countermeasures

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11th Circuit Ruling Calls Text Message TCPA Class Actions Into Question

Class Untethered: Court Strikes Class Allegations on Pleadings due to Insufficient Predominance Allegations

9th Circuit Saves Nationwide Settlement Classes

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Third-Party Removal Under Class Action Fairness Act

California Court of Appeals Joins FCRA’s Mad Tea Party

Hyper-Technical Interpretation: 9th Circuit Increases FCRA Reach

Snap Removals – An Often Unconsidered Path to Federal Court

The Most Important Class Action Decisions of 2018 and a Quick Look at What’s to Come

Amendments to Rule 23 Are Now Live

Seventh Circuit Allies With FCRA Class Action Plaintiffs on Spokeo Grounds.

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