CLASS ACTION DEFENSE BLOG
Welcome to Michael J. Hassen's Blog. Here you will find over 2,000 articles related to class actions.
As a Matter of First Impression, Trial Court has Inherent Power to Impose Terminating Sanction in the Face of Deliberate and Egregious Misconduct and Properly Imposed such a Sanction in this Case California Appellate Court Holds
Though not a class action, this case presents a vivid reminder that attorneys are officers of the court and may be held accountable for the misconduct of their clients and experts. Plaintiff filed suit against Walt Disney alleging that it had failed to pay certain royalties due under a licensing agreement for the Winnie the Pooh children’s stories, and “to assist in prosecuting its lawsuit, [plaintiff] hired an investigator to surreptitiously obtain Disney documents.” Slesinger v. The Walt Disney Co., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ [Slip Opn., at 2] (Cal.App. September 25, 2007). An anonymous caller tipped Disney to the fact that confidential documents had been obtained by an investigator, _id._, at 6-7. Once Disney learned of the investigator’s misconduct, defense attorneys moved for terminating sanctions, _id._ Plaintiff argued that it had instructed the investigator to “obey the law,” _id._ The trial court concluded that only terminating sanctions could protect Disney from plaintiff’s use of the information illegally obtained by its investigator, and granted the defense motion. _Id._ The California Court of Appeal held as a matter of first impression that the trial court had the inherent power to impose terminating sanctions and affirmed.
At issue were thousands of pages of documents that plaintiff’s investigator obtained “by breaking into an uncertain number of Disney office buildings and secure trash receptacles, and by trespassing onto the secure facility of the company with which Disney had contracted to destroy its confidential documents,” including documents marked “privileged and confidential.” Slesinger, at 2. During the course of the “lengthy, bitter litigation,” the court imposed evidentiary and monetary sanctions against Disney for destroying certain documents, id., at 3. But it then “fell victim to its own litigation abuses,” id., at 4. According to the court, plaintiff hired an investigator for the purpose of “surreptitiously obtaining Disney documents,” id., at 5. And while plaintiff instructed the investigator to “make sure what you’re doing is legal and that you do it by the book,” no other steps were taken to ensure that he complied with that instruction. Id., at 6. To the contrary, plaintiff argued that supervising the investigator “wasn’t my job” and that all plaintiff “did was pay his bills…[and] receive[] documents.” Id.
We do not here summarize the numerous reasons that the court concluded plaintiff and their counsel knew of the investigator’s misconduct, or at the very least should have known of it. By way of example, the investigator had obtained the documents illegally because the investigator produced documents marked “CONFIDENTIAL – For Internal Use Only” in the footer, but when plaintiff finally produced these pages to the defense, this “confidential” tag had been eliminated. Slesinger, at 8. The fact “Slesinger or someone else on [plaintiff’s] behalf altered copies of [Disney documents] after receiving them from [the investigator] to delete any reference to their confidentiality” was evidence of plaintiff’s misconduct. Id., at 22-23.\
Class Action Court Decisions Uncategorized
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Class Action Defense Counsel Engaged in Bad Faith Conduct in Connection with Discovery Warranting Sanctions Pennsylvania Federal Court Holds
In a blistering 77-page opinion, a Pennsylvania federal court provided a stern warning to class action lawyers, sanctioning not only defendants but their counsel for discovery abuse. Grider v. Keystone Health Plan Central, Inc., ___ F.Supp.2d ___ [Slip Opn., at 2-6] (E.D. Pa. September 28, 2007). While this opinion faulted class action defense counsel, we will discuss tomorrow _Slesinger v. The Walt Disney Co._, a mirror-image case that sanctions plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel for abusive discovery tactics, though not in a class action context. Because of the length of the _Grider_ opinion, we summarize it with broad brushstrokes; the slip opinion is well worth reading and may be downloaded at the end of this article. Briefly, in 2001, plaintiffs – a family doctor, and a medical corporation that services 4,000 patients – filed a putative class action in Pennsylvania state court against HMO Keystone Health Plan Central, Highmark (formerly Pennsylvania Blue Shield), Capital Blue Cross and others alleging that they conspired to defraud, delay payment and reduce payment on insurance claims; defense attorneys removed the class action to federal court. _Grider v. Keystone Health Plan Central, Inc._, ___ F.Supp.2d ___ [Slip Opn., at 7-9] (E.D. Pa. September 28, 2007). The court granted plaintiffs’ motion to certify the litigation as a class action, _id._, at 14-15. The class action turned on information in the defendants’ possession “that will either prove or disprove plaintiffs’ claims in this matter.” _Id._, at 38-39. Following years of discovery battles, plaintiffs filed two motions for sanctions against defendants and their counsel. The district court in substantial part granted the motions.
The hearing on sanctions resembled a trial – the parties called 16 witnesses and introduced 306 exhibits over the course of 9 court days, Grider, at 3-4, resulting in the court making 93 findings of fact, id., at 22-35, and 10 conclusions of law, id., at 35-36. At bottom, the discovery process was deeply affected by the animosity between the parties and their counsel. The district court described the discovery phase as “severely troubling” and summarized at page 37, “This case is nearly six-years old, and discovery is not complete. At times the discovery process has completely broken down. It was necessary to appoint a Special Discovery Master to regulate and control discovery.” The district court described “incessant motion practice” that “threatened to paralyze the operations” of the magistrate and the court, id. In part, the court found that defense counsel “attempt[ed] to subvert discovery by the use of general objections,” id., at 46, which they “raised…in every response to plaintiffs’ discovery” and “steadfastly maintained…were all completely proper,” id., at 47.
Class Action Court Decisions Uncategorized
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Defense Negotiated Class Action Settlement with Florida Class Action Counsel Instead of California Class Action Counsel because of Leverage Over Class Counsel and Class Action Settlement Procedurally and Substantively Unfair Florida Federal Court Holds
Numerous class action and individual lawsuits were filed against Sharper Image alleging that its Ionic Breeze air purifier does not clean and purify the air as advertised and is harmful in that it omits excessive ozone; one such class action was filed in the Florida federal court and ultimately the parties sought court approval of a settlement of the class action. Figueroa v. Sharper Image Corp., ___ F.Supp.2d ___ [Slip Opn., at 1] (S.D. Fla. October 11, 2007). In broad terms, the class action settlement provided for $19 Sharper Image coupons or merchandise credits, an OzoneGuard “to protect against ozone emission,” injunctive relief, and $2 million for class counsel. _Id._, at 1-2. Defense attorneys stressed that the coupon represented the primary financial benefit to the class, not the OzoneGuard, _id._, at 2 n.2. The settlement provided to the court for final approval was the third amended class action settlement; the district court had given preliminary approval to an earlier version of the settlement agreement in January 2007, and a hearing on final approval of the proposed settlement was held in August 2007. _Id._, at 1. The federal court refused to approve the settlement.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2005 as a nationwide class action on behalf of purchasers of Sharper Image “ionizing air purifiers,” including the Ionic Breeze®, and sought damages for breach of contract, breach of warranty, money had and received, and unjust enrichment. Figueroa, at 2. In essence, the class action alleged that Sharper Image engaged in the “unlawful conduct of marketing and selling ionizing air purifiers that do not remove impurities from the air and that fail to perform as advertised and sold” and that “the ionizing air purifiers exposed consumers to hazardous levels of ozone.” Id. Defense attorneys moved to stay, dismiss or transfer the class action on the grounds that it simply copied several class action lawsuits filed in California; in response, plaintiffs’ lawyer sought leave to amend the complaint to add the inventor, Zenion Industries, as a party defendant, so the district court denied the defense motion as moot and granted plaintiffs leave to amend. Id., at 2-3. The federal court subsequently dismissed Zenion from the class action for lack of jurisdiction, id., at 5.
Before the district court ruled on plaintiffs’ motion to certify the lawsuit as a class action, the parties advised the court that “an agreement on all aspects of the class claims on a nationwide basis, and that what remained to be resolved was the issue of attorney’s fees.” Figueroa, at 5. The court therefore continued the hearing on the class certification motion in order to allow the parties to present a “complete package” for approval by the court. Id. Soon thereafter, however, class counsel for the certified nationwide class action pending in California contacted the district court and advised that he had “reason to believe that the parties here are attempting to settle the claims belonging to the California Actions class, without the knowledge or consent of the class representatives or Class Counsel” and that the parties to the Florida class action had refused voluntarily to provide information in this regard. Id., at 5-6. California counsel also sought discovery of documents filed under seal with the Florida district court, id., at 5, and, following a hearing and over defense objection, the federal court ordered defense counsel to produce certain documents, id., at 6. At that time, the court expressed concern “with the parties’ practice of filing documents under seal in a purported class action lawsuit.” Id., at 6.
The parties filed a proposed class action settlement that, which the district court summarized at pages 6 and 7 as follows: “The essence of this first Settlement Agreement was to provide to class members, limit one per household, a $19 merchandise credit, valid for one year, for use at Sharper Image retail stores on Sharper Image branded products. The first Agreement also provided class members the ability to purchase (during a six-month period of time) an OzoneGuard attachment, for Ionic Breeze® floor models only, for $7. Sharper Image also agreed to make modifications with respect to its advertisements of the Ionic Breeze®, for example, to not state that the Ionic Breeze® is a medical device and to remove the British Allergy Foundation and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America seals from its advertising.” The parties also represented to the court that the Florida class action was “significantly broader” than the California class action, particularly as the California class actions were “limited to claims under California state law,” and jointly moved the court to enjoin competing class actions from proceeding “in order to facilitate an efficient and expeditious settlement and approval process, and to preserve the Court’s jurisdiction to adjudicate the settlement.” Id., at 7. The federal court characterized as a “consistent theme” the argument that Sharper Image “was on the verge of bankruptcy, and that the proposal then under consideration was the best deal that could be arranged.” Id., at 30.
Class Action Court Decisions Uncategorized
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Following Guilty Pleas of Former Partners, Weiss Vows to Fight Criminal Charges Noted class action plaintiff lawyer Melvyn Weiss, co-founder of the Milberg Weiss securities fraud class action firm, has been released after depositing $1,000,000 in cash with the court, posting a $500,000 bond and surrendering his passport, Michael Parrish of the New York Times reports today. According to Parrish’s report, Weiss intends to fight the federal criminal charges of conspiracy, racketeering, obstruction of justice and making false statements under oath arising out of his alleged payment of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to various individuals in return for their agreement to serve as plaintiffs in shareholder class action lawsuits.
Class Actions In The News Uncategorized
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In order to assist class action defense attorneys anticipate the 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 relevant timeframe.
Class Actions In The News Uncategorized
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Judicial Panel Grants Request, Unopposed by Defense, for Pretrial Coordination of Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 and Transfers Class Actions to District of New Jersey Thirteen (13) lawsuits putative class actions were filed against Menu Foods asserting products liability claims arising out of the sale of allegedly tainted pet food products. In re Pet Food Products Liab. Litig., 499 F.Supp.2d 1346, 1346-47 (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit. 2007). Three motions were filed with the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) requesting centralization with the class action lawsuits pursuant to 28 U.
Class Action Court Decisions Multidistrict Litigation Uncategorized
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California Court Holds that Putative Class Action Alleging Violations of State’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act Fails for Lack of Actual Reliance and Lack of Standing Where Plaintiff Purchased Products for the Purpose of Filing Class Action
In a case with broad implications to class action lawsuits, plaintiffs filed an individual lawsuit in California state court against Threshold Enterprises and more than 30 other defendants alleging violations of the state’s unfair competition law (UCL), false advertising law (FAL) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) because its skin cream was a “misbranded or mislabeled drug.” Buckland v. Threshold Enterprises, Ltd., ___ Cal.App.4th ___, 2007 WL 2773497 (Cal.App. September 25, 2007) [Slip Opn., at 2]. Defense attorneys demurred to the complaint on the grounds that plaintiffs lacked standing to assert the various UCL, FAL and CLRA claims, _id._ at 3. The trial court sustained the defense demurrer to the complaint but granted plaintiffs leave to amend; plaintiffs refused to amend the complaint so the court entered judgments of dismissal and plaintiffs appealed. _Id._, at 2. The Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that .
Plaintiffs California Women’s Law Center and its executive director, Katherine Buckland, “seek[] to advance the civil rights of women and girls” and allege that the some skin creams and lotions sold by defendants contain progesterone or other chemicals regulated by the FDA but that defendants failed to provide adequate warnings in violation of FDA regulations. Buckland, at 2-3. Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to enjoin Threshold from selling skin cream, id. at 3. Buckland admitted, however, that she did not suffer any personal injury but rather purchased the items for the express purpose of determining whether lawsuits could be filed based on the chemicals contained in them. Id. Threshold opposed the injunction on the grounds that plaintiff would not likely prevail on the merits and that the “balance of hardships” weighed against such relief. Id., at 3-4.
Certification of Class Actions Class Action Court Decisions Uncategorized
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Michael Parrish of the New York Times reports that class action plaintiff lawyer Steven Schulman, formerly a named-partner at the plaintiff class action law firm now known as Milberg Weiss, has pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. According to Parrish’s article, Schulman “admitted in federal court to being part of a scheme in which the firm, known for its class-action lawsuits against companies, gave secret kickbacks to individuals who remained on call to act as lead plaintiffs.
Class Actions In The News Uncategorized
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Inherent Powers of Trial Court Include Power to Reconsider Interim Rulings Long After the Statutory Time Period for Motions for Reconsideration has Lapsed California Appellate Court Holds
Plaintiffs filed a putative class action against their employer, First Union Securities, and its successor, Wachovia Securities for alleged violations of state labor laws. Clark v. First Union Securities, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___, 64 Cal.Rptr.3d 313, 315 (Cal.App. 2007). Defense attorneys moved to compel arbitration before the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and to stay proceedings on the class action claims for injunctive or declaratory relief, which are not subject to arbitration, _see Broughton v. Cigna Healthplans_, 21 Cal.4th 1066, 1079-80 (Cal. 1999); the trial court granted the motion. _Id._ , at 314. After the arbitrators ruled that the class action claims were “not eligible for arbitration,” the trial court _sua sponte_ reconsidered its ruling on the defense motion and ruled that the class action would proceed in state court. _Id._, at 314-15. Defense attorneys appealed, and the California court of appeal affirmed. The appellate court held that the trial court had the inherent authority to reconsider its ruling referring class action claims to arbitration, that the employment contract did not preclude state court jurisdiction over the putative class action complaint, and that the dismissal of the class action claims by the arbitrators did not constitute a class action waiver.
Plaintiff Clark was hired by First Union as an investment consultant candidate, which required that he hold a license from the NASD and to execute the SEC-approved Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer Form U-4 (Form U-4), which contains an arbitration clause that states “I agree to arbitrate any dispute, claim or controversy that may arise between me and my firm, or a customer, or any other person, that is required to be arbitrated under the rules, constitutions, or by-laws of the [NASD] as may be amended from time to time and that any arbitration award rendered against me may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.” Clark, at 315. Plaintiff executed the form in October 1998 and began working for First Union in November 1998, id. The SEC promulgated several rules directly implicated by this case, including Rule 10301(d) which addresses investor class action lawsuits filed under FRCP Rule 23. Id., at 316. As the Court of Appeal noted at page 316, “The SEC issued a public notice in connection with the approval of Rule 10301(d). In this 1992 approval order, the SEC gave notice that under the new provision class actions were excluded from arbitration.”
The class action complaint alleged numerous labor law violations based on an array of alleged misconduct ranging “from misrepresentations regarding the sale of securities, to the failure to pay wages and to reimburse for business expenses.” Clark, at 317-18. Defense attorneys moved to compel arbitration of each cause of action in the class action complaint except the claims seeking injunctive and declaratory relief; the defense argued that “because all allegations arose out of Clark’s employment or termination of employment, they must be resolved in arbitration pursuant to the arbitration provision in the Form U-4 and the NASD Code.” Id., at 318. The appellate court noted that defense attorneys did not cite Rule 10301(d) in support of the motion, id. Plaintiff countered that the NASD arbitration procedures were unconscionable – an issue the Court of Appeal found unnecessary to address – and that because the class action claim for unfair practices was asserted on behalf of all Wachovia employees it was not subject to arbitration. Id. Plaintiff’s lawyer argued, “The only forum for the unfair practice claims is a civil lawsuit. The NASD arbitration rules do not even permit putative or class claims to be arbitrated.” Id.
Arbitration Class Action Court Decisions Employment Law Class Actions Uncategorized
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The Associated Press reports that a North Dakota federal court has approved $7 million class action settlement, bringing to a close a 5-year-old class action against CP Rail arising from a January 2002 derailment and chemical spill that “sent a deadly cloud” into the air and killed a man. AP reports that more than 40% of the class action settlement proceeds will go to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, who will get $2.
Class Actions In The News Uncategorized
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