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
Declassified
The Latest from the Class Action Battlefront
Declassified, published by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, focuses on developments and analysis in complex litigation and class action law. The blog covers topics such as class certification standards, circuit court splits on incentive payments to class representatives, biometric privacy class actions, financial negligence claims, and the application of evidentiary standards like Daubert at the class certification stage. It addresses procedural and substantive issues in federal and state courts, including statutory interpretation, litigation strategy, and recent appellate decisions affecting class actions and related business litigation. The content is aimed at legal professionals interested in nuanced litigation trends and case law updates.
Latest from Declassified - Page 3
Silence Isn’t Always Golden—Sometimes It Lands You in Class Arbitration
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…
“Any” Doesn’t Mean “All”: In Home Depot, SCOTUS Says “Any Defendant” Doesn’t Include Third-party Defendants Facing Class Claims
To the surprise of many observers (including us), the Supreme Court held last week in Home Depot USA Inc. v. George Jackson that a third-party defendant could not remove class action claims – under either the general removal…
SCOTUS Blows Down Apple’s House Made of Illinois Brick
In a 5-4 split decision, the U.S. Supreme Court appears to have reworked a longstanding precedent that has been a foundation of antitrust litigation for more than 40 years—the “direct purchaser” rule of Illinois Brick, which generally forecloses “downstream” purchasers…
“Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, But a Few More Can Make a Unicorn”
Class actions typically involve a proposed class of plaintiffs seeking recovery from the same defendant on similar grounds. But that is not the only animal in the class action corral. Rule 23 makes this clear in its very first sentence:…
“Sorry, Wrong Number”: Northern District of California Denies Certification in TCPA Class Action
As we have noted before, whether a claimant under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) gave “prior express consent” to receiving communications from the defendant is frequently a critical issue (and often the only issue standing between the defendant…
Ninth Circuit to Decide Transgender Inmate’s Right to Sex-Reassignment Surgery; First and Fifth Circuits Have Rejected Similar Constitutional Claims
Prison healthcare litigation has been on the rise throughout the country. Private healthcare providers for state prison systems are often caught up in class actions or complex injunctive-relief litigation targeting both the provider and the state for alleged shortcomings in…
The Eleventh Circuit Finds Class Rep Has Standing to Settle a FACTA Class Action
Bucking a recent trend and departing from both the Second Circuit’s Katz decision and the Third Circuit’s Kamal decision, the Eleventh Circuit found that a plaintiff had standing to settle a FACTA claim on behalf of a class. This…
Lamps Plus v. Varela: It’s Lights Out for Class Arbitration under Ambiguous Arb Agreements
We have written before about the utility of class waivers in arbitration agreements as a defense to classwide arbitration. As we previously discussed, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Stolt-Nielson S.A. v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp. that arbitration agreements that were…
Say What? Ninth Circuit Says Affirmative Defenses Can’t Stop Class Certification Unless Defendant Proves the Merits of the Defense as to Every Single Class Member
Just when you thought litigating Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class actions was as unsafe as it could get for defendants, the Ninth Circuit said, “Not so fast.”
In McKesson v. True Health, two chiropractic practices sought to represent…