Class Action

Three new federal decisions on class action issues: Wolin v. Jaguar Land Rover, Avritt v. Reliastar Life Ins. Co., and Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc.

By Kimberly A. Kralowec

The Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits have handed down three decisions of interest in recent weeks: 

• In Wolin v. Jaguar Land Rover North America LLC, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Aug. 17, 2010), the Ninth Circuit reversed an order denying class certification of vehicle defect claims brought under Michigan and Florida consumer protection laws.

• In Avritt v. Reliastar Life Ins. Co., ___ F.3d ___ (8th Cir. Aug. 12, 2010), the Eighth Circuit affirmed an order denying class certification of UCL and other consumer protection claims. 

• In Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., ___ F.3d ___ (11th Cir. Jul. 19, 2010), the Eleventh Circuit dismissed a putative class action for lack of jurisdiction under CAFA. This opinion (which I think badly misinterprets CAFA and probably won't be followed in other Circuits) has generated a lot of buzz.  Judge Alsup has already declined to follow it in one CAFA case, Gutierrez v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., ___ F.Supp.2d ___, 2010 WL 3155934 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2010) (slip op. at 82). The CAFA Law Blog reported last Friday that a petition for panel or en banc rehearing was filed on August 9, 2010.  

By the way, the extended deadline for the cert. petition in Dukes v. Wal-Mart is this coming Thursday, August 26.  I will post about that and link to the petition as soon as it becomes available online.

[HT to South Florida Lawyers for the link to the Cappuccitti opinion and to The Complex Litigator for the link to Gutierrez.]

Full post as published by The UCL Practitioner on August 23, 2010 (boomark / email).