Class Action

It?s Not Too Late ? Register Now for the 6th Annual ABA Regional CLE on Class Actions and Mass Torts

Posted on June 18, 2019
Registration is still open for our ABA Regional program in San Francisco on Friday, June 21.  Click the link below to register and for more information.  The program features four informative panel presentations on cutting-edge trends in class actions and mass tort litigation...

Videos from Haifa Class Action Conference Now Available on YouTube!

Posted on May 08, 2019
For those who weren’t able to travel all the way to Israel for the University of Haifa’s recent international class action conference, you’re in luck.  Videos of all of the panel presentations are now available on YouTube.  To access them, go to the conference website at https://lawers...

Register Now for the Sixth Annual ABA Regional Program on Class Actions and Mass Torts, June 21 in San Francisco

Posted on April 30, 2019
I’m very pleased to be chairing the ABA Section of Litigation’s Sixth Annual Regional CLE Program on Class Actions and Mass Torts this year.  The program will be held at the offices of the Bar Association of San Francisco.  Breakfast begins at 8:00 a...

Haifa Highlights, Part 3

Posted on April 19, 2019
Editor’s Note: The publication schedule for my notes of the recent international class action conference at the University of Haifa has suffered various setbacks due to staffing constraints.  Of course, since I have a staff of one, I only have myself to blame...

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ABA CADS Committee Offering Free Roundtable Program on Litigation Funding

Posted on April 11, 2019
Later this month, the ABA Section of Litigation Class Action and Derivative Suits Committee (CADS), will be sponsoring a one-hour roundtable teleconference on trend in litigation funding.  The program is a free benefit of Section of Litigation membership...

Haifa Highlights, Part 2

Posted on April 04, 2019
My promise to provide close-to-real-time updates of the Haifa conference was derailed by my lack of a Israeli power cord adapter to charge my laptop.  In truth, Israel mostly uses the same two-pronged circular plugs used throughout Europe, but I forgot adapters altogether, and it sounds better to say that I lacked a specific adaptor […]

Highlights from Haifa

Posted on March 28, 2019
My loyal readers (I’m being optimistic in using the plural form) will note that ClassActionBlawg.com has been inactive for the better part of a year.  With my current workload, I can’t promise significantly more content in the near future, but I did promise one loyal reader to provide some highlights from the University of Haifa’s 3rd […]

Don?t Miss the 3rd Annual International Conference on Dispute Resolution of Consumer Mass Disputes, Collective Redress, Class Action, and ADR at the University of Haifa

Posted on March 23, 2019
I’m very pleased to report that I will be moderating a panel on the use of statistics in class actions at the 3rd Annual International Conference on Dispute Resolution of Consumer Mass Disputes Collective Redress, Class Action, and ADR, sponsored by the University of Haifa in Haifa, Israel...

Don?t Miss the 5th Annual ABA Western Regional CLE on Class Actions and Mass Torts, Friday, June 22, 2018 in San Francisco

Posted on June 15, 2018
I’m proud to announce that I’ll be chairing the 5th Annual ABA Western Regional CLE on Class Actions and Mass Torts, scheduled for next Friday, June 22, 2018 at the offices of Clyde & Co. in San Francisco.  The program is co-sponsored by the Class Actions and Derivative Suits, Mass Torts, Consumer Litigation, Antitrust Litigation, and Securities […]

Upcoming Webinars on Statistics and Biometrics in Class Actions

Posted on January 17, 2018
Next week, I’ll be presenting in webinars addressing two trendy topics in class actions. Next Tuesday, January 23, at 1:00 PM EST, Brian Troyer of Thompson Hine in Cleveland and I will be reprising a Stafford Publications webinar titled Statistics in Class Certification and at Trial: Leveraging and Attacking Statistical Evidence...

Wal-Mart v. Dukes Oral Argument Transcript

Posted on March 29, 2011
The Wal-Mart v. Dukes argument was held as scheduled today.  Here is a Wal-Mart v. Dukes Oral Argument Transcript.  Some initial observations: The beginning of the defendant’s argument was focused on the proper standard for reviewing whether the plaintiff had sufficiently common evidence of a uniform policy...

Supreme Court Set to Hear Argument in Wal-mart v. Dukes Next Tuesday

Posted on March 25, 2011
The United States Supreme Court will hold oral argument next Tuesday, March 29, 2011, in case of Wal-mart v. Dukes, No. 10-277.  The issue for review, at least so far, according to order granting certiorari, is: Whether claims for monetary relief can be certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2) – which by its terms [...

Cornerstone Research Issues Annual Report on Securities Class Action Settlements

Posted on March 17, 2011
Yesterday, Cornerstone Research published its annual report titled Securities Class Action Settlements–2010 Review and Analysis.  Among the findings in this year’s report: The number of approved securities class action settlements was at a 10-year low The total dollar value of settlements decreased 17% from 2009 to 2010, The median settlement amount was up 40%, but the average [...

Second Circuit Deals Another Blow to Class Arbitration Waivers

Posted on March 09, 2011
Class arbitration waivers are contract provisions that require disputes be submitted to arbitration but also expressly preclude the arbitration from being conducted on a representative or class basis.  Class arbitration waivers have been a hot topic in class action litigation over the past few years, as some courts have found that in certain contexts that the are unenforceable in violation of public [...

Schonbrun: Are Statutory Penalty Class Actions WMDs?

Posted on March 01, 2011
Class Action Watch executive director Lawrence W. Schonbrun has an opinion piece in yesterday’s Huffington Post entitled The Class Action Mess in a Nutshell.  In the article, he questions whether the same “weapons of mass destruction” label that Warren Buffet gave to financial derivatives should apply equally to class action lawsuits...

Audio for Colorado Supreme Court Arguments on Class Actions Available

Posted on March 01, 2011
The audio feeds for the arguments in three of the four class-action related cases heard today by the Colorado Supreme Court are now available on the court’s website.  Here are some links: 09SC1080 Garcia v. Medved 10SC214 BP America v. Patterson 10SC77 – State Farm v Reyher

Colorado Supreme Court to Hear Oral Argument in Four Class Action Cases

Posted on February 28, 2011
Matt Masich of Law Week Colorado has a good article out today previewing oral arguments scheduled for tomorrow in four class-action related cases.  The outcome of these cases could have a dramatic effect on class action practice in the state.  The issues to be considered include the proper standard for reviewing class certification, the burden of proof on class certificeation, the [...

Don?t Miss the CAFA Removal and Remand Developments Seminar, March 29, 2011

Posted on February 24, 2011
I will be speaking in an upcoming live phone/web seminar on CAFA removal issues sponsored by Strafford Publications.  Here is some information about the program: CAFA Removal and Remand: Latest Developments Tuesday, March 29, 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT Program Description: Jurisdictional ambiguities in the CAFA statute continue to challenge litigators...

BH Executive Alert: Seventh Circuit Issues Significant Decision on Consumer Injunctive Relief Class

Posted on February 24, 2011
The Baker Hostetler website has a new Executive Alert discussing the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Kartman v. State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co., Case no. 09-1725, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 2830, and its potential implications.  Kartman addressed, among other things, the applicability of Rule 23(b)(2) to consumer class actions in which the ultimate goal is [...

Shockingly, Study Finds that Many Class Action Notices Don?t Comply with the Rules

Posted on February 18, 2011
Class action notice expert and occasional CAB guest blogger, Dr. Shannon Wheatman, has a must-read article coming out on trends in class action notices.   The article, co-authored with plain language expert, Dr. Terri R. LeClercq, is being published in the University of Texas law journal The Review of Litigation and will be titled Majority of Class Action Publication Notices Fail [...

Pennsylviana Federal Court Says Objective Standard Governs Willfulness Analysis under FACTA

Posted on February 15, 2011
Over the weekend, John Papianou, class action defense lawyer and Partner at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, sent me a copy of Long v. Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A. Inc., No. 09-1701 (W.D. Pa., February 11, 2011) (link courtesy of www.justia.com), an interesting decision involving the Fair and Accurate Transactions Act of 2003 (?FACTA?), 15 U...

Minnesota House Considering Significant Consumer Class Action Reform Measures

Posted on February 10, 2011
According to this February 8, 2011 article from Lee Ann Schultz of the Twin Cities Daily Planet, the Minnesota legislature is considering a bill that, according to its sponsors, would curtail consumer class action litigation in the state.  The bill, HF211, has three key provisions of interest, which would: limit private actions under three consumer protection statutes to [...

The ?Reverse Class Action?: An Old Idea with a Shiny New Package

Posted on February 07, 2011
The seemingly revolutionary concept of a “reverse class action” has gotten some attention from the technical media lately, in reference to efforts by the holder of a copyright to seek common relief against a group of alleged infringers.  As pointed out earlier today by Mike Masnick in this entry on his blog TechDirt, “reverse class action” in this context is actually a procedural [...

Which Side Would Hemingway Pick? Collective Redress Battles Privacy Rights in Spain

Posted on February 03, 2011
Berta Baz published this article yesterday in Money Market UK, which may be of interest anyone who tracks developments in class and collective actions abroad.  The article discusses the tension between a collective action notice procedure and the Spanish Data Protection Act...

Is Victoria Province About to Top the ATRF?s List of Judicial Hellholes?

Posted on January 28, 2011
Third party litigation funding has become intriguing development in the expansion of global class and collective action litigation over the past several years, particularly in Australia.  (For various previous CAB articles addressing third party litigation funding, click here)...

Workplace and Securities Class Action Trends

Posted on January 25, 2011
I’m late for my Inns of Court dinner, so time does not permit me to elaborate in detail, but I wanted to point out two recent class action-related reports of note.  Be sure to check them out. 1) Seyfarth Shaw’s Seventh Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report...

Research Guide to Consumer Protection Laws of All 50 States

Posted on January 20, 2011
While doing research for another article today, I came across a terrific resource that could come in handy to any lawyer who handles consumer class actions.   It is a 2005 article from Alan S. Brown and Larry E. Hepler entitled Comparison of Consumer Fraud Statutes Across the Fifty States, 55 Fed’n Def...

California Court of Appeal Decision Applying the Filed Rate Doctrine to Insurance Rates Stays Published

Posted on January 19, 2011
The filed rate doctrine is an important concept that comes into play in many consumer class actions, including those against public utilities, telecommunications providers, and insurers, that challenge the amounts charged by a regulated provider for its services...

Is Smith v. Bayer a Case About Class Action Abuse or Abuse of Federal Power?

Posted on January 18, 2011
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in  Smith v. Bayer, which raises the question of a federal court’s power to enjoin a state court from considering class certification after the federal court had previously denied certification...

Moose Collision Litigation, the Wave of the Future in Canadian Class Actions?

Posted on January 12, 2011
If you’re a Canadian class action lawyer looking for next big thing in class actions, moose collision litigation was looking pretty promising.  As mentioned in this October 19 CAB entry, a class action was filed against the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador  for alleged negligence in introducing moose into the area early last century, causing an excessive [...

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