Two recent studies by the FTC show that some methods for notifying potential class members of class action settlements are not as effective as courts and counsel might believe. In September, the FTC published a report on two studies it conducted surrounding the effectiveness of combined class certification and settlement notices. The Administrator Study compared characteristics of class action settlement administration, like notice methods and compensation amounts, to the settlement claim filing and payout rates.…

Parties in today’s complex litigation world, and their counsel, need no reminder of the ubiquity of electronic discovery and the tremendous expense it occasions. Even before 2006, when “electronically stored information” (ESI) was expressly added to the federal rules, parties have had discovery obligations regarding electronic documents and data. E-discovery, and the costs associated with it, are not going away. (By some estimates, the volume of data existing in the world doubles every two years.)…

One unwanted text message does not confer standing in federal court in the Eleventh Circuit — so holds the court in Salcedo v. Hanna. The case confirms that one text message is qualitatively, and jurisprudentially, different from the kind of intrusions that give rise to an Article III injury-in-fact. The plaintiff in Salcedo claimed that he received a single unsolicited text message for a discount on legal services from his former lawyer. He brought…

In the digital age, the internet not infrequently stretches the bounds of traditional jurisprudence and raises tricky new questions. An example from earlier this year is Vangheluwe v. GotNews, LLC, where a federal court in Michigan grappled with this question: How significant to personal jurisdiction is “doxing” a resident of the forum state? The Eastern District of Michigan’s shorthand answer is: It all depends on the dox. What is Doxing? Doxing (sometimes spelled “doxxing”)…

Consent is the most powerful weapon companies have against TCPA liability, and a recent Eleventh Circuit opinion illustrates how. In Gorss Motels, Inc. v. Safemark Systems, L.P., the Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment where the plaintiffs consented to receive solicitations in their franchise agreements. The background: Gorss and another company, E&G, operate hotels as franchisees of the Wyndham Hotel Group. In the franchise agreement, they agreed that Wyndham and its affiliates could offer assistance…

While a war rages on the issue of standing in data breach cases, the need to prove damages is presenting an even greater hurdle for plaintiffs, as we have noted previously. One clear illustration of this trend is Attias v. CareFirst, Inc., a case that involves both standing and damages issues. Attias arises from a data breach at a health insurer that allegedly compromised policyholder information. The defense began by moving to dismiss for…

As this blog has previously discussed, the availability of class arbitration has been significantly restricted after a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. However, we have also noted that express preclusion of class arbitration remains advisable for companies because they eliminate the ability of state courts and arbitrators to read permission for class arbitration into an arbitration clause that was never intended to allow class arbitration. A recent decision in the Supreme Court of…