In a significant turn of events, the Fourth Circuit has reversed a previous judgment consolidating customer lawsuits resulting from a 2018 data breach suffered by a multinational hotel corporate franchise. The original verdict had permitted a class certification in the high-profile consumer data breach case, but the recent decision throws this ruling into ambiguity, drawing…
The accelerated pace of news stories throughout the summer has meant that major events may have slipped through the purview of even the most diligent still on duty. Whether you took time off for rest or to manage the paradoxical workload of 2023, here’s a quick recap of some significant legal news posts you might…
A recent legal development casts an interesting light on the procedure colloquially known as the “expert hot tub.” Broadly defined, this term refers to an in-court, on-the-record “debate” between dueling expert witnesses, involving the direct participation of the court, parties, and the experts themselves in questioning roles. Particularly prevalent in antitrust class action practices, these…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has recently passed a verdict decertifying a class of stockholders who had made allegations against Goldman Sachs. They claimed that the banking giant was maintaining an inflated share price by resorting to misrepresentations about its business principles and its policies related to conflicts-of-interest. The case…
In the realm of legal decisions and court cases of major corporations, the past week has seen a plethora of significant rulings. From consumer misrepresentation cases to broader issues of labeling instructions, decision-makers across geographies are navigating through intricate jurisprudence. Here’s a quick roundup of some of the prime legal pronouncements. One of the key…
In a noteworthy judicial move, the Seventh Circuit opted to nullify a $57 million attorney fee award from a $181 million settlement for chicken buyers in a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit recently. The court’s argument was that the lower court failed to examine bids made by class counsel in auctions from other cases or fee awards…
The labyrinth of employer diversity programs seized the legal limelight with the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision. Ever since, corporate legal teams have been grappling with the potential challenges posed to their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) policies and programs. Given the recent spate of litigation in the sector, this trend of legal…
In an interesting twist recently, a California federal judge sharply criticized the shareholders of X, formerly known as Twitter, for their ill-prepared legal writing in their proposed stock-drop class action over alleged cybersecurity misrepresentations. Law360 reports this significant development. Whilst critical of the poorly written legal document, the judge, U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi,…
In a significant move, on August 16, Judge Selna of the U.S. District Court of California declined to give his approval to a proposed $200 million settlement reached by Hyundai and Kia, involving nine million vehicles in the U.S. from model years 2011 to 2022. The development comes in the midst of the class action…
Recent years have witnessed a surge in businesses facing mass tort claims filing for bankruptcy, primarily due to nonconsensual nondebtor releases. The aim behind this strategy is for Chapter 11 to facilitate an expedited and more budget-friendly resolution as compared to class actions or multi-district litigation. This has been the subject of an elaborative piece…
In a recent ruling by the High Court, England was identified as the most suitable platform to determine whether Vale SA, a Brazilian corporation, should shoulder liability with the BHP Group within a class action lawsuit presented in the English High Court. This follows the disastrous 2015 Fundão Dam calamity in Brazil. The case, dubbed…
Class action lawsuits against Papa Johns and GameStop faced a recent setback, as U.S. District Judge Nicholas Ranjan of the Western District of Pennsylvania granted dismissals on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction and lack of standing, respectively. The plaintiffs alleged that the usage of session replay code on these companies’ websites contravened the Pennsylvania…
In recent legal news, 3M has agreed to settle hundreds of thousands of lawsuits over its combat earplugs with a $6 billion settlement. Although the company has previously pushed back against similar litigation, this latest development indicates a movement towards resolution. This is a significant order of magnitude in the arena of class action and…
A second proposed class action has been filed this week against the international law firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in a California federal court. This lawsuit, marking the firm’s second encounter with such legal proceedings, is a result of a data breach that occurred in March and targeted the firm’s client files. The breach…
Shareholders of X, formerly known as Twitter, were taken to task by a California federal judge over what was deemed as “sloppy legal writing” in their proposed class action lawsuit. The lawsuit arises out of allegations of misrepresentation relating to cybersecurity matters that supposedly led to a drop in stock value. While the judge criticized…
On August 22nd, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a major proposed class action case. This suit alleged that defendant insurance companies engaged in misconduct by leaking the plaintiffs’ driver’s license numbers. The court’s decision hinged on the premise that the plaintiffs didn’t have the standing necessary to…
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP), a prominent international law firm, has been withdrawn from a U.S. class action lawsuit concerning a data breach involving Mondelez’s employee records. However, the firm has become the target of another suit connected to the same incident. The former lawsuit was brought forward by Augustyn Wiacek, a past employee of…
In what can be described as a significant development in the legal landscape surrounding the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a Florida state court has recently granted final approval to a $40 million settlement. This class action settlement underscores the risk defendants face with regard to potential sizable settlements in TCPA disputes. The case in…
In light of recent legal news, Advocate Aurora Health, a major player in America’s healthcare sector, has agreed to pay an eye-catching $12.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit resulting from a large-scale data breach. Through the use of tracking pixels on their website to monitor visitor activity, Advocate Aurora Health unintentionally compromised the…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has served Wells Notices to the CFO and CISO of SolarWinds, the technology company embroiled in controversy following a significant cyber breach in 2020. Commonly known as the “SolarWinds breach,” this incident has largely been identified as one of the most complicated cyberattacks ever recorded. This move by…
On August 22nd, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, three of the biggest credit bureaus, were hit with an antitrust class action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The lawsuit was filed by a group of medical providers who allege that the credit bureaus conspired to exclude unpaid medical bills under $500…
Atlantic City casino hotels have been met with an influx of guest-room price-fixing lawsuits after an initial suit led defendants to arm themselves with heavyweight law firms like Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; King & Spalding and Jones Day. At the heart of these legal battles is ‘Rainmaker’, an algorithm used by the casinos…
This week, attorneys working in the realm of class action lawsuits and mass tort are preparing for a flurry of legal activity. One significant development is related to Johnson & Johnson’s second talc bankruptcy coming to an end, prompting plaintiffs’ lawyers to gear up for the ensuing trials. In another development, Hawaiian Electric, implicated in…
Five former employees of media conglomerate Gannett have recently lodged a class action complaint against their former employer, alleging reverse discrimination. The ex-staff members claim that Gannett terminated non-minority staff members and intentionally hired diverse but less-qualified individuals in a bid to meet inclusion quotas. The fresh legal challenge laid against Gannett accuses the company…
In a recent notable decision, a federal judge in Maryland rejected a bid by home health care supplier AdaptHealth to dismiss Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claims. The defendant allegedly made unsolicited calls and texts to a plaintiff’s cellphone. The judge’s decision is in alignment with a growing consensus in courts that mobile phones should…