The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. v. Jackson, No. 17-1471 to decide whether a defendant to a class-action counterclaim can remove the case to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) where the jurisdictional requirements under CAFA are otherwise satisfied. At one level, the dispute involves the meaning of “any” versus “the,” an esoteric battle that only a lexicographer or civil procedure nerd would find interesting. At…

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…

The Third Circuit’s new opinion on class certification issues in Mielo v. Steak ‘N Shake Operations, Inc., No. 17-2678 (3d Cir. July 26, 2018) provides helpful guidance for district courts and class action lawyers on both sides. The case alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) at the defendant’s restaurants. In brief, here are my takeaways from it: Standing: In prior opinions, the Third Circuit has taken the view that the standing…

With Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, one question to ask is whether, if he is confirmed, that will move the Court to any degree in class action cases. Unfortunately, we don’t have much to look at. The D.C. Circuit, with its small geographic footprint, is not a hotbed of class action filings. I could not find any opinion written, or even joined by Judge Kavanaugh, that squarely reviewed a class certification decision.…

After a decades-long drought, the Supreme Court recently decided a case involving the Contracts Clause of the Constitution. You might not recall that provision because it is so rarely invoked in modern-day litigation (due to how it has been construed). It provides that “[n]o state shall . . . pass . . . any Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” U.S. Const. art I, § 10, cl. 1. Given that many class action suits involve…

Yesterday, in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, under its prior decision in American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974), the filing of a putative class action suit tolls the statutes of limitations only to allow individual, non-class suits to be filed after class certification is denied or the putative class action otherwise ends. The practice of “piggyback” class action filings, where an otherwise…

The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela, No. 17-988. The question presented in the petition for certiorari is: “Whether the Federal Arbitration Act forecloses a state-law interpretation of an arbitration agreement that would authorize class arbitration based solely on general language commonly used in arbitration agreements.” The Court will review the Ninth Circuit’s unpublished decision in Varela v. Lamps Plus, Inc., No. 16-56085 (9th Cir. Aug. 3, 2017),…