CLASS ACTION DEFENSE BLOG
Welcome to Michael J. Hassen's Blog. Here you will find over 2,000 articles related to class actions.
Class Member Failed to Timely Opt Out of Class Action Settlement, and District Court did not Err in Refusing to Extend Opt-Out Deadline because Party Received Notices of Class Action Settlement and Evidence did not Establish Excusable Neglect in Failing to Timely Opt Out Fifth Circuit Holds Two class action lawsuits were filed against Bank of America and Banc of America Securities (collectively BofA) based on the collapse of Enron; each class action was consolidated with In re Enron Corp.
Class Action Court Decisions Uncategorized
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As a resource to California class action defense attorneys, we provide weekly, unofficial summaries of the legal categories for new class action lawsuits filed in California state and federal courts in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, San Mateo, Oakland/Alameda and Orange County areas. We include only those categories that include 10% or more of the class action filings during the preceding week. This report covers July 11 – 17, 2008, during which time 43 new class action lawsuits were filed.
Class Actions In The News Uncategorized
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Judicial Panel Grants Defense Request for Pretrial Coordination of Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, Rejects Transferee Court Proposed by Class Action Plaintiffs, and Transfers Class Actions to Central District of California Three class actions – two in California and one in Illinois – were filed against Make-Up-Art Cosmetics (MAC) alleging violations of the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA); specifically, the class action complaints alleged that MAC printed “certain credit and debit card information on customer receipts” in violation of FACTA.
Class Action Court Decisions FCRA Class Actions Multidistrict Litigation Uncategorized
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Class Action Complaint Alleging Violations of Federal Fair Standards Labor Act (FLSA) and of Oregon State Labor Laws Conditionally Certified as a Class Action as to FLSA Claims but Denied Without Prejudice as to State Law Claims Oregon Federal Court Holds
Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint against Dell Inc. and other defendants alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Oregon’s state labor laws; the class action alleged that plaintiffs are “consumer sales representatives” (CSRs) who sell Dell computers via telephone, and that Dell (1) misclassified CSRs as exempt from overtime pay, failed to properly pay incentive compensation, and required CSRs to work “off the clock.” Norman v. Dell Inc., ___ F.R.D.___ (D.Or. July 14, 2008) [Slip Opn., at 1, 3]. Plaintiffs’ lawyer moved the district court to certify the litigation as a class action, _id._, at 1; specifically, plaintiffs sought an order conditionally certifying the class action complaint’s FLSA claims, and an order certifying under state law a class action of the complaint’s state labor law claims, _id._, at 2. Defense attorneys opposed any class action treatment. _Id._, at 1. The district court granted the motion with respect to the FLSA claims, but denied the motion without prejudice as to the state law claims pending expiration of the opt-in period for the federal claims and briefing as to the impact on the opt-in response on certification of the state class action claims. _Id._, at 2.
The federal court addressed first the request for certification of the FLSA claims. After noting that federal law does not define “similarly situated” under the FLSA, the court utilized the two-tier approach followed by most federal courts. Norman, at 2-3. The first step considers whether, “based on the pleadings and affidavits submitted by the parties,” notice should be given to the putative class, and employs a “fairly lenient standard” that, in the court’s opinion, usually results in class certification. Id., at 2. The second step involves a motion by defense attorneys to decertify the class action following completion of discovery, id., at 3. At the first stage, however, courts look only to whether there are “substantial allegations that the putative class members were subject to a single illegal policy, plan or decision,” but plaintiffs may not rely solely on the allegations in their class action complaint. Id. Under that standard, the district court concluded that plaintiffs adequately established that Dell policies and practices with respect to compensation of the putative class members is essentially uniform, id.
Certification of Class Actions Class Action Court Decisions Employment Law Class Actions Uncategorized
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District Court Properly Granted Defense Motion for Summary Judgment in Class Action Alleging Violations of Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) because Mailer need not Contain Every Material Loan Term and because Offer may be Conditioned on Additional Information such as Verification of Employment and Income Seventh Circuit Holds
Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint against Home Loan Center, doing business as HomeLoanCenter.com, alleging violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); specifically, the class action alleged that Home Loan Center sent them a mailer for a “SmartLoan mortgage program” but that the mailer was not a “firm offer of credit” and therefore violated the FCRA. Cavin v. Home Loan Center, Inc., ___ F.3d ___ (7th Cir. July 2, 2008) [Slip Opn., at 1]. The letters referenced in the class action were sent “to thousands of Illinois residents” and stated that the recipient had been “pre-approved to receive HomeLoanCenter.com’s exclusive SmartLoan program.” _Id._, at 2. The mailers contained a box with the figures of 1.00%/4.27%, adjacent to two columns that listed various monthly payments for various loan amounts. _Id._ The letters stated that no fees would be charged to get the loan process started, and that defendant could “prequalify [the recipient] right over the phone in minutes and provide [the recipient] with a customized loan program that suits [the recipient’s] needs.” _Id._ The letter also provided, “This offer may not be extended if, after responding to this offer you do not meet the criteria used in the selection process. Further, HomeLoanCenter.com will verify income and employment, review credit, and analyze debt and your equity position in the subject property prior to final loan approval.” _Id._, at 2-3. The mailers stated that not all applicants would be approved and reiterated that terms and conditions applied to the offer, _id._, at 3. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment; the district court agreed with defense attorneys that the mailers did not violate the FCRA and accordingly entered judgment in favor of defendant. _Id._, at 1-2. The Seventh Circuit affirmed.
The FCRA permits a finance company to obtain an individual’s credit report, but “the company needs to obtain it with the intent of extending a firm offer of credit to the potential customer.” Cavin, at 4 (citing 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(c)(1)(B)(I)). Under the FCRA, a “firm offer of credit” is “any offer of credit or insurance to a consumer that will be honored if the consumer is determined, based on information in a consumer report on the consumer, to meet the specific criteria used to select the consumer for the offer except that the offer may be further conditioned…” 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(l). In this case, class action plaintiffs argued that defendant accessed their credit information “without a permissible purpose” because the mailers sent to them and other members of the putative class did not constitute a firm offer of credit within the meaning of the FCRA. Id., at 3-4. Specifically, plaintiffs argued that material terms of the loan program were not disclosed and/or were not adequately explained, id., at 5. The Seventh Circuit disagreed, explaining at page 5, “The mailer identified the basis for calculating interest, the length of the loan, the possibility of a rate change after thirty days, the minimum payment option with accompanying deferred interest, and the information needed to obtain the loan.” That is all that was required because the FCRA does not require the initial communication “‘contain all of the important terms that must be agreed on before credit is extended.’” Id., at 5 (citation omitted). On the contrary, requiring a financial institution to disclose all material terms would result in the mailer being more difficult for the consumer to understand. Id., at 5-6 (citation omitted). The Circuit Court explained that “the proper inquiry in ascertaining whether a letter is a firm offer is whether the offer will be honored, not whether all of the material terms are listed.” Id., at 6.
Class Action Court Decisions FCRA Class Actions Uncategorized
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Complaint Alleging Labor Law Violations Granted Class Action Status because Overriding Issues Involved Company Policies and Practices and Class Action Treatment was Superior to Other Means of Resolving Disputes California Federal Court Holds
Plaintiffs filed a putative class action complaint in California state court against their former employer, Polo Ralph Lauren, alleging labor law violations; specifically, the class action complaint alleged that in the 28 stores operated by defendants in California, defendants failed to provide rest breaks or pay for off-the-clock time, failed to pay overtime by misclassifying employees as commissions salespeople exempt from such pay, and improperly reduced earnings on future commissions if salespeople failed to meet certain sales requirements. Otsuka v. Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., 251F.R.D. 439 (N.D.Cal. 2008) [Slip Opn., at 1-2]. The complaint identified not only a main class, but two subclasses – one for misclassification and one for arrearages. The class action alleged further that defendants’ California stores used a single employee handbook, and that “defendants’ policies and practices are standardized throughout California in both retail and outlet stores.” Id., at 2. Defense attorneys removed the class action to federal court, id., at 1-2. Plaintiffs moved the district court to certify the litigation as a class action, id., at 1. Defense attorneys “vigorously” objected to class action treatment, id., at 5. The federal court granted the motion, concluding that “defendants’ arguments primarily dispute the merits of plaintiffs’ claims and raise questions of act that will not be resolved at this juncture,” id.
With respect to numerosity, the main class identified in the class action complaint encompassed more than 5,000 employees; the subclasses, however, consisted of 49 members and 69 members, respectively. Otsuka, at 5. Defendants argued these subclasses failed to satisfy the numerosity requirement, id. The federal court disagreed, noting that under Ninth Circuit authority class actions with “as few as 39 members may be sufficiently numerous under the right circumstances.” Id., at 5-6 (citation omitted). Similarly, the district court found that commonality clearly existed as to the main class identified in the class action complaint, id., at 6, and it rejected defense challenge to the subclasses because it attacked the merits but failed to demonstrate that common questions existed within the subclasses, id., at 6-7. With respect to typicality, defense attorneys argued that the claims on the named plaintiffs were not typical with respect to the misclassification subclass because after the lawsuit had been filed defendants performed a reconciliation and compensated them for overtime not previously paid. Id., at 7-8. The court found that this did not render them unqualified to serve as typical class representatives because (1) they may establish that they are entitled to additional overtime pay, and (2) their claims that defendants acted unlawfully by failing to perform annual reconciliations. Id., at 8. With respect to adequacy of representation, the district court rejected the technical objection made by defendants to one of the named representatives, id., at 8-9. Thus, the federal court found that the Rule 23(a) requirements for class action treatment had been met.
Certification of Class Actions Class Action Court Decisions Employment Law Class Actions Uncategorized
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District Court erred in Remanding Class Action to State Court because Defense Established Removal Jurisdiction under CAFA (Class Action Fairness Act) Seventh Circuit Holds
Plaintiff filed a class action complaint in state court against Vertrue alleging that it improperly billed its customers for unauthorized charges; specifically, the putative class action “proposed to represent a class of persons whose credit cards had been charged without authorization through 22 of Vertrue’s programs.” Spivey v. Vertrue, Inc., 528 F.3d 982, 983 (7th Cir. 2008). Defense attorneys removed the class action to federal court, asserting that federal court jurisdiction existed under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA); plaintiff’s lawyer moved to remand the class action to state court, arguing that the amount in controversy did not exceed $5 million. Id. The district court agreed with plaintiff and remanded the class action to state court, id. Defense attorneys petitioned the Seventh Circuit for leave to appeal, as authorized by CAFA. Id. Plaintiff objected on the ground that the petition was untimely – defense attorneys “mailed the petition on the seventh day after the district court’s remand order, and the petition reached [the Circuit Court], and so was ‘filed,’ see Fed. R.App. P. 25(a)(2), on April 18, 2008, the tenth day after the district court’s order.” Id. The Seventh Circuit granted leave to appeal, held that the petition was timely, and reversed.
The Class Action Fairness Act authorizes an appellate court to review a district court order “granting or denying a motion to remand a class action to the State court from which it was removed if application is made to the court of appeals not less than 7 days after entry of the order.” Spivey, at 983 (quoting § 1453(c)(1)). The Seventh Circuit held at page 983 that “[t]he petition was timely under this language” because it was filed “not less than 7 days” following entry of the order remanding the class action to state court. Id. Plaintiff’s lawyer argued that Congress clearly intended to require a petition for review to be filed “not more than 7 days” after the order is entered, and that “not less than 7 days” is patently erroneous. Id. The Circuit Court noted that several courts have noted this ambiguity and yet Congress has not acted, thus suggesting that CAFA says what Congress intended. Id., at 983-84 (citations omitted). It therefore rejected the arguments of treatises and other courts that reading § 1453(c)(1) literally creates an absurdity, id., at 984. Indeed, the Seventh Circuit noted at page 984, “To the extent that our colleagues in other circuits hold that a petition filed within seven days of the district court’s order should be accepted, rather than thrown out with instructions to submit another once a week has passed, we concur. Whether a petition filed within a week after the remand is timely was the question actually presented in those appeals. An affirmative answer tracks Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(2), which says that a premature notice of appeal remains on file and springs into effect when the decision becomes appealable. It makes sense to use the same approach for a premature permission for leave to appeal.” But on the other hand, no federal court had thrown out a petition as untimely when it complied with the literally language of the statute as that would be fundamentally unfair, id., at 984-85. “Litigants and lawyers always should be safe in relying on a statute’s actual language.” Id., at 985. This is particularly true in this case, the Circuit Court explained, because defense attorneys expressly attempted to avoid the ambiguity in the statute “by straddling the deadline.” Id. Accordingly, the Court held that the petition was timely.
Class Action Court Decisions Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) Removal & Remand Uncategorized
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To assist class action defense attorneys anticipate the types of cases against which they will have to defend in California, we provide weekly, unofficial summaries of the legal categories for new class action lawsuits filed in California state and federal courts in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, San Mateo, Oakland/Alameda and Orange County areas. We include only those categories that include 10% or more of the class action filings during the preceding week.
Class Actions In The News Uncategorized
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Judicial Panel Grants Plaintiff Request for Pretrial Coordination of Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 and Transfers Actions to District of Maine Seventeen (17) class actions were filed against Hannaford Bros. and others “aris[ing] from of an intrusion into defendant Hannaford Brothers Co.’s computer network” and “alleg[ing] that as a result of that intrusion, the credit or debit card numbers and related financial information of a large number of consumers were compromised.
Class Action Court Decisions Multidistrict Litigation Uncategorized
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Class Action Claims Against Bank of America Preempted by SLUSA (Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998) Eighth Circuit Holds
Plaintiffs, beneficiaries of trust accounts at Bank of America, filed a class action against the Bank and other defendants alleging violations of federal securities law; the class action complaint also asserted state-law claims for unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty, asserting that federal court jurisdiction existed under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). Siepel v. Bank of America, N.A., 526 F.3d 1122, 1124 (8th Cir. 2008). The allegations underlying the class action were that the Bank decided to “implement[] a plan to consolidate the trust management activities of other banks it had acquired” and led class members to believe that “their assets were being managed on an individualized basis, when in fact the assets were being invested in shares of the Nations Funds mutual fund, managed by an investment company substantially owned by the Bank.” Id. The class action alleged further that “higher-yielding and better-managed mutual funds were available in the marketplace,” but the Bank directed customers to Nations Funds for the Bank’s economic benefit and that the Bank accomplished this by sending “misleading letters” to trustees and beneficiaries that, in part, threatened “adverse tax consequences” if they went elsewhere. Id. Defense attorneys moved to dismiss the federal claims on the merits, and moved to dismiss the state-law claims as preempted by SLUSA (Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998). Id. In part, the defense argued that the class action should be dismissed on the grounds of judge shopping because plaintiffs’ counsel “had already filed at least five class actions in various jurisdictions seeking redress for the same alleged injuries.” Id., at 1125. The district court granted the defense motion in its entirety, and denied plaintiffs’ request for leave to file an amended class action complaint. Id., at 1125. The Eighth Circuit affirmed.
The class action argued that the Bank failed to disclose “conflicts of interest, higher expenses, and increased tax liability” that would result from using Nations Funds, and plaintiffs argued on appeal that SLUSA did not preempt their class action’s state-law claims that a trustee breaches its fiduciary duty “by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in its selection of nationally-traded investment securities.” Siepel, at 1124. SLUSA “expressly preempts all ‘covered’ state-law class actions that allege: (1) an untrue statement or omission of a material fact, or (2) use of a manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance, ‘in connection with the purchase or sale of a covered security.’” Id., at 1126 (citations omitted). The district court had held that SLUSA preempted the state law claims because the alleged misrepresentations were made “in connection with the purchase or sale of a covered security,” and that the alleged misrepresentations were “central to the Plaintiffs’ state-law claims.” Id., at 1125. The Eighth Circuit easily concluded that the class action was a “covered class action” within the meaning of SLUSA, and that the alleged misrepresentations concern a “covered security” within the meaning of SLUSA. Id., at 1126. The issue on appeal, then, was “whether the alleged misrepresentations and omissions were ‘in connection with’ the purchase or sale of securities.” Id.
Class Action Court Decisions Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) PSLRA/SLUSA Class Actions Uncategorized
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