Class Action

NERA Economic Consulting Reports on Securities Class Action Trends in Australia

Posted on May 07, 2010
NERA Economic Consulting has published its first study on trends in securities class actions in Australia.  The study covers a variety of topics, including numbers of filings, industries targeted, and settlement amounts.  However, what I found to be of particular interest is the study’s focus on the impact of private litigation funding.

Recent Trends in Federal Class Certification Standards

Posted on May 04, 2010
I’m embarrassingly late in reporting on them, but I would be remiss if I did not mention two key recent United States Circuit Courts of Appeals decisions addressing the legal standards governing class certification under FRCP 23: In American Honda Motor Co...

Upcoming CLE: Proving Common Impact in Antitrust Class Actions

Posted on April 29, 2010
If you’re in the need for CLE credits, or simply just want to keep up on some of the hottest topics in class action litigation, here’s an upcoming program that you should consider.  Although the program ostensibly covers antitrust class actions, many of the concepts will be applicable to consumer and securities class actions as well...

South Park Gets it Wrong

Posted on April 20, 2010
The 200th episode of “South Park” features a class action lawsuit by 200 celebrities led by Tom Cruise against the small fictitious Colorado town.  As a Colorado resident and class action lawyer, I’m dismayed at the lack of attention to detail by the South Park writers when it comes to Colorado class action law...

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If You Can?t Beat ?Em, Sue ?Em

Posted on April 16, 2010
Shannon P. Duffy of the Legal Intelligencer reports that oral argument questions by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit suggests a possible reversal of a lower court’s dismissal of a class action based on the New England Patriots’ 2007 Tapegate scandal...

The United States Supreme Court and Class Actions

Posted on April 09, 2010
I’m embarrassingly late in posting a link to the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co., No. 08-1008, slip op. (S. Ct., March 31, 2010) in which the Court held that a New York state rule prohibiting class actions to recover statutory penalties did not apply in a case filed [...

New Class Action Attorney Registration Requirements Adopted

Posted on April 01, 2010
Supreme Court blog www.scotusnewz.com reports that the Court has approved Rule 23.4.1, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require all attorneys wishing to represent clients in class actions in federal courts to be specially licensed as “Class Action Counsel...

Get Your Canadian Class Action News Here (Well, Not Here, But?)

Posted on March 30, 2010
It’s been a while since his last posting, but Vancouver, B.C. attorney Ward Branch’s latest entry on Class Actions in Canada has been worth the wait.  He has a synopsis on what appears to be every Canadian class action decision of note in recent memory...

Supreme Court Justices Take on Foreign-Cubed Problem

Posted on March 30, 2010
The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument Monday in the foreign cubed securities class action Morrison v. National Australia Bank, Ltd., Case No. 08-1191.  A copy of the transcript is available on the Court’s website. Professor Hannah L...

CAFA Jurisdiction Survives Decertification

Posted on March 23, 2010
While browsing the news today, I came across an informative class action-related snippet on www.lexology.com apparently authored by someone at my firm.  (I’m not sure specifically whom to credit for the tip, I just know it wasn’t me.)  The article summarizes a January 2010 decision authored by Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner regarding the impact [...

California Class Action Bill ?Died at Desk?

Posted on March 16, 2010
A proposed bill to amend the California Code of Civil Procedure to create a class action rule similar to Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, has apparently failed for the time being.  Among other things, ABX8 38 would have replaced Code of Civil Procedure Section 382 with a rule setting forth more specific, statutory prerequisites to class certification, similar to [...

Fighting Fire with Fire

Posted on March 08, 2010
Are you a company faced with the prospect of having to defend a class action lawsuit that you believe is frivolous?  You have many options, but unfortunately, none of them are all that palatable.  You can settle for big bucks right away, you start paying some superstar class action defense lawyer hundreds of dollars an [...

Supreme Court Embraces Nerve Center Test

Posted on March 03, 2010
On February 23, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Hertz Corp. v. Friend, No. 08-1107, in which it adopted the “nerve center” test as the proper approach for determining a corporation’s principal place of business for diversity jurisdiction...

Long Live the Reversionary, ?Claims-Made? Settlement

Posted on February 24, 2010
The other day, a colleague tipped me off to a December 2009 blog posting by Oakland, California employment and civil rights attorney Bryan Schwartz entitled Death to the Reversionary, “Claims-Made” Settlement, a thoughtful, well-written article with which I completely disagree and to which I felt compelled to respond...

Turns Out the Court Doesn?t Always Award the Full Amount of Fees Requested in a Class Settlement

Posted on February 17, 2010
Last July, in an entry titled Incentive Awards Ok, but Not Incentive Agreements, I commented on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Rodriguez v. West Publishing Corp.   In Rodriguez, the Ninth Circuit panel condemned the use incentive agreements in class actions...

Martin Katz Named Dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Posted on February 09, 2010
Congratulations to Marty Katz, formerly the interim Dean and now permanent Dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.  Dean Katz was selected from a deep pool of extraordinarily talented and accomplished applicants.  The future of the Sturm College of Law looks bright with Dean Katz at the helm...

Vivendi Verdict Thickens Plot in Foreign-Cubed Class Action Battle

Posted on February 08, 2010
As reported by a variety of news outlets, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, on January 29, a federal jury found French conglomerate Vivendi liable for securities fraud, setting the stage for a potential multi-billion dollar damages award...

?What Would King Solomon Do?? or ?Justice Is No Joke?

Posted on February 04, 2010
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge’s attempt to exact poetic justice out of a proposed gift card settlement has resulted in a censure by the California Commission on Judicial Performance, according to this article from the legal humor blog, Lowering the Bar...

NERA Economic Consulting Issues Report on Securities Class Actions in Canada

Posted on January 28, 2010
Yesterday, NERA Economic Consulting issued a working paper entitled Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions: 2009 Update.  The paper covers offers a variety of figures and statistics on cases being pursued, time to resolution, the values of settlements reached in 2009, the exposure represented by cases still pending, and the number of cases with parallel U...

Class Action No Longer a Pain in the Neck for Alberta Chiropractors

Posted on January 26, 2010
Sorry to all my loyal readers (I use the plural form optimistically) for my absence from the Blawgosphere during the past week.  During my hiatus, Ward Branch of the Vancouver, B.C. firm Branch MacMaster sent me a copy of this decision denying class certification in an Alberta case filed against a chiropractic professional association and a would-be defendant class of chiropractors...

More on In re Baycol Products Litigation

Posted on January 12, 2010
Last week, I posted a short note about the Eighth Circuit’s decision in In re Baycol Products Litigation.  Here is a more in-depth synopsis, thanks to fellow Baker & Hostetler partner Joe Ezzi: The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court order enjoining state court plaintiffs from pursuing a class action because the district court had already [...

Eighth Circuit Upholds Federal Injunction of Putative State Court Class Action

Posted on January 07, 2010
A colleague tipped me off today to a recent Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a Minnesota federal district court’s order enjoining class certification proceedings in a West Virginia state court, following the federal court’s earlier denial of class certification in an action filed against the same defendant...

Class Action Countermeasures: Practice Tips for Class Action Defense Lawyers and their Clients

Posted on December 29, 2009
Andrew J. Trask (twitterfeed: @classstrategist) of the international law firm, McGuire Woods, has a great new legal blog called Class Action Countermeasures.   The blog’s tagline is “Discussions of the Strategic Considerations Involved in Class Action Defense,” and it definitely lives up to that promise...

Happy Holidays from ClassActionBlawg

Posted on December 26, 2009
I’m in Montana this week visiting family for the Holidays. Merry Christmas, and check back next week for new content.

Yet More on Cy Pres

Posted on December 18, 2009
Cy pres awards continue to be a hot topic both in the news and in academia.  The latest contribution comes from Columbia law student Sam Yospe, whose article entitled Cy Pres Distributions in Class Action Settlements (Columbia Business Law Review, forthcoming) examines judicial discretion in choosing cy pres awards and makes practical suggestions for reform...

I Object, Unless You Pay Me ? One Million Dollars!

Posted on December 14, 2009
Vanderbilt law professor Brian T. Fitzpatrick has published a great new research paper titled The End of Objector Blackmail?  The paper discusses the problems of objectors blackmailing the parties to a class action settlement into paying them a portion of the fees at the threat of holding up final approval and resolution of the settlement...

NFL Football and Class Actions, a Mix as Good as Chocolate and Peanut Butter?

Posted on December 10, 2009
Two of my greatest passions are class action law and NFL football, although not necessarily in that order.  So, my interest is always piqued when the two are combined.  Much to my delight, I came across this article from Rebecca Mowbray of The Times-Picayune that Saints Coach Sean Payton is the lead plaintiff in a putative class action filed in [...

New CADS Report Focuses on State Court Class Action Issues

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Fall 2009 edition of the ABA Class Action and Derivative Suits Committee’s newsletter CADS Report has some great articles on cutting-edge class action issues relating to class action litigation in state courts.  The topics include: 1) Use of state law equitable tolling to principles to resurrect a class action previously filed in state court; 2) Resolution of fact issues at [...

Cert Granted in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd.

Posted on December 01, 2009
The United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review the Second Circuit’s decision in the ”foreign-cubed” securities class action Morrison v. National Australia Bank, Ltd., No. 07-0583-cv (2d Cir. 2008).  The Second Circuit’s decision is discussed at some length in this October 28, 2008 CAB Entry...

Think You Have an Extra Day to File that Brief? Think Again.

Posted on December 01, 2009
Labor and employment attorney and fellow Baker Hostetler partner, Todd Lebowitz, sent me a helpful reminder today about changes to the time calculation rules and time periods in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Bankruptcy Procedure...

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