Class Action

New Ninth Circuit class action decision: Negrete v. Allianz Life Insurance Co.

Posted on April 30, 2008
In Negrete v. Allianz Life Insurance Co., ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Apr. 29, 2008), the Ninth Circuit invalidated a district court order that would have prohibited the defendant from settling similar class actions pending in other jurisdictions without the...

New Seventh Circuit CAFA opinion: Springman v. AIG Marketing

Posted on April 28, 2008
In Springman v. AIG Marketing, Inc., ___ F.3d ___ (7th Cir. Apr. 15, 2008), the Seventh Circuit noted a split among the circuits respecting whether post-removal activity can re-"commence" a case for CAFA removal purposes. Slip op. at 3. This...

"Class Action Lawsuits"

Posted on April 26, 2008
A blog called Disgusted Beyond Belief has an interesting post refuting the criticisms often levied against class action cases generally and the class action bar in particular. An excerpt: Dealing with the [class action attorney's] fees [and] whether they are...

Supreme Court denies review and depublication in class certification case: Bell v. Superior Court (H.F. Cox, Inc.)

Posted on April 25, 2008
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied review and depublication in Bell v. Superior Court (H.F. Cox, Inc.), no. S160423. The case apparently made the Court's reputed "A" list. Justices Kennard and Moreno were of the opinion that review should be...

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Supreme Court depublishes class certification opinion: Bell v. Superior Court (H.F. Cox, Inc.)

Posted on April 25, 2008
As mentioned in my post immediately below, on Wednesday the Supreme Court issued an order denying review and depublication in Bell v. Superior Court (H.F. Cox, Inc.), no. S160423. However, today, the Supreme Court issued the following order: The order...

New class action objector opinion: Chavez v. Netflix, Inc.

Posted on April 24, 2008
In Chavez v. Netflix, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 21, 2008), the Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division One) rejected the objectors' challenges to a class action settlement and attorneys' fees award. The case challenged Netflix's DVD rental practices,...

New Ninth Circuit UCL "likely to deceive" decision: Williams v. Gerber Products Co.

Posted on April 23, 2008
On Monday, the Ninth Circuit handed down an opinion applying the "likely to deceive" formulation of the UCL's "fraudulent" prong. Williams v. Gerber Products Co., ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 1776522 (9th Cir. Apr. 21, 2008). In Williams, the Ninth...

"Study Shows State Courts Vacating Many Arbitration Awards for Employees, but Not for Employers"

Posted on April 22, 2008
Yesterday's National Law Journal reported on a new study by Professor Michael H. LeRoy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law showing that courts reverse arbitration awards in favor of employees more frequently than awards that favor...

"Impact of CAFA on the Federal Courts: Fourth Interim Report"

Posted on April 21, 2008
The Federal Judicial Center's Impact of CAFA on the Federal Courts: Fourth Interim Report to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules (April 2008) is now available online. Other reports and interim reports on CAFA's impact on the federal...

"Garment firm's owners off hook on unpaid wages"

Posted on April 19, 2008
In yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko had an article on the Court of Appeal's opinion in Bradstreet v. Wong, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 16, 2008). The article provides more of the unfortunate backstory leading up to the suit. My...

Off-topic post: Upcoming San Francisco MCLE - "Meet the Discovery Commissioners"

Posted on April 19, 2008
For those of us who practice in state court in San Francisco, an upcoming MCLE program will be of particular interest. Next Wednesday, April 23, 2008, the Litigation Section of Bar Association of San Francisco will present "Meet the Discovery...

"Cutting Class"

Posted on April 18, 2008
Attorney H. Scott Leviant, author of the new blog The Complex Litigator, had a Forum piece in Tuesday's Daily Journal called "Cutting Class" (subscription). It primarily addresses A.B. 1905, which died in committee last month. That bill would have allowed...

New UCL restitution decision: Bradstreet v. Wong

Posted on April 17, 2008
The Court of Appeal's opinion in Bradstreet v. Wong, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 16, 2008) addresses "vested interest" restitution, which is one of the three types of UCL restitution. The California Supreme Court has held that the Labor Code gives...

Preliminary approval granted in Ford UCL/CLRA case

Posted on April 16, 2008
The Sacramento Bee reports this morning that Judge De Alba granted final approval yesterday of the settlement in the Ford case (Ford Explorer Cases, JCCP nos. 4266 & 4270). The article reports that only some of the plaintiffs' attorneys' fee...

California Blog of Appeal hosts Blawg Review

Posted on April 14, 2008
Blawg Review #155 is up this morning at the California Blog of Appeal.

Article on impact of Second Circuit's "light" cigarettes opinion on consumer class actions

Posted on April 14, 2008
Findlaw.com had an article last week on the Second Circuit's recent class certification opinion, McLaughlin v. American Tobacco Co., ___ F.3d ___ (2d Cir. Apr. 3, 2008) (discussed briefly in this blog post). In "The U.S. Court of Appeals for...

"Women Lawyers Blog for Workplace Equality: Blogging as a Feminist Legal Method"

Posted on April 13, 2008
Here is an excerpt from the introduction of an article recently posted on SSRN: Based on a detailed, empirical analysis of women lawyers in law firms, this Comment argues that, similar to Ellickson?s cattle ranchers and Bernstein?s diamond traders, a...

Second District remands Gentry "grant and hold" case back to trial court: Massie v. Ralph's Grocery Co.

Posted on April 11, 2008
After the Supreme Court decided Gentry, it remanded all of the "grant and hold" cases back to their respective Courts of Appeal. This week, in an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Seven) disposed of one...

San Diego MCLE program this Saturday on use of statistical and survey evidence as a method of classwide proof

Posted on April 10, 2008
This Saturday, April 12, 2008, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego is sponsoring an all-day MCLE program called "How to Find, Litigate and Try Class Action Lawsuits." Notwithstanding the title of the program, its primary focus is the use of statistical...

Thoughts on County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (ARCO)

Posted on April 09, 2008
Several things stand out in yesterday's opinion in County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield Co.), ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 8, 2008) (Sixth Appellate District) ("Santa Clara"). As an initial matter, the Court of Appeal explained that under...

"Sixth District Lets Counties Pay on Contingency"

Posted on April 09, 2008
In today's Recorder, Mike McKee reports that "Sixth District Lets Counties Pay on Contingency" (subscription): The ruling is great news for local governments, which claim they would have a hard time prosecuting nuisance abatement suits ? such as oil spill...

U.S. Supreme Court preemption decision: Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc.

Posted on April 08, 2008
You've probably already heard about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., ___ U.S. ___ (Feb. 20, 2008), earlier this year. Last Thursday, The American Lawyer had an interesting article, "For Defendants Alone?" (subscription), about that and...

BREAKING NEWS: Court of Appeal holds public entities may retain private counsel on contingency-fee basis: County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield Co.)

Posted on April 08, 2008
This afternoon, the Court of Appeal (Sixth Appellate District) handed down its eagerly-anticipated opinion in County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield Co.), ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 8, 2008). The Court held that the public entities' contingency-fee agreements...

New Second Circuit class certification decision: McLaughlin v. American Tobacco Co.

Posted on April 07, 2008
In McLaughlin v. American Tobacco Co., ___ F.3d ___ (2d Cir. Apr. 3, 2008), the Second Circuit reversed an order granting class certification of civil RICO claims involving "light" cigarettes. My original post from September 2006 on the district court's...

"In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop"

Posted on April 06, 2008
An article on the front page of today's New York Times reports that "In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop": A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired...

May 14th State Bar UCL Conference - Registration now open!

Posted on April 05, 2008
Registration is now open for the Sixth Annual Unfair Competition Law Program sponsored by the State Bar's Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section. The full-day program is on May 14, 2008 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco....

Welcome to the blogosphere: The Complex Litigator

Posted on April 04, 2008
Attorney H. Scott Leviant has created a new blog, The Complex Litigator, described as "[a] California-centric collection of comments and resources related to the practice and procedure surrounding complex and class action litigation." The blog looks great so far...

New First Circuit class certification decision: In re New Motor Vehicles Canadian Export Antitrust Litigation

Posted on April 03, 2008
In In re New Motor Vehicles Canadian Export Antitrust Litigation, ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 820922 (1st Cir. Mar. 28, 2008), the First Circuit reversed (without prejudice) an order granting class certification of state-law antitrust claims. It is an interesting...

New unpublished UCL "unlawful" prong decision: Cappa v. CrossTest, Inc.

Posted on April 02, 2008
The Court of Appeal's opinion in Cappa v. CrossTest, Inc. (First Appellate District, Division Four, nos. A113327, A114548) (Mar. 28, 2008) contains this discussion of the UCL: Cappa alleged in the second cause of action for unfair business practices (Bus...

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Supreme Court denies review in class action arbitration case: Circuit City Stores v. Gentry

Posted on April 01, 2008
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari in Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Gentry, no. 07-998 (order list dated 03/31/08). Circuit City was attempting to challenge the California Supreme Court's decision in Gentry v...

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