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Mealey's Class Actions

  • January 06, 2026

    Class Of Venezuelans Sent To Salvadoran Prison Certified, Granted Hearings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Venezuelan men detained by the United States and held in Texas before being sent to a megaprison in El Salvador, referred to as CECOT, and then released to Venezuela with no opportunity to challenge their removals are entitled to class certification and hearings, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled, granting motions by the men for class certification and summary judgment.

  • January 06, 2026

    Certification Of 4 Classes, Summary Judgment Denied In Jail Strip Searches Case

    DETROIT — Individualized questions prevent certification of four classes of formerly incarcerated women, and “genuine issues of material fact as to qualified immunity and Monell [v. Department of Social Services] liability” prevent summary judgment for the defendants in a case accusing a Michigan county and a police officer of carrying out unlawful strip searches, a federal judge in Michigan ruled, addressing motions by both sides.

  • January 05, 2026

    Judge Takes Cunningham Suggestion Regarding ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claim

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Taking a suggestion the U.S. Supreme Court made in an April ruling, a California federal judge ordered a reply to an answer in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case challenging a 2019 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal; the reply will concern a prohibited transaction claim to which a defendant raised an affirmative defense.

  • January 05, 2026

    Federal Workers’ Privacy Suit Over OPM ‘Test’ Emails Dismissed For No Jurisdiction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a putative class complaint by federal workers suing under pseudonyms who alleged that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) failed to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before allegedly sending out “test” emails the workers claimed were being used to collect information on them.

  • January 05, 2026

    6th Circuit: Truck Drivers’ Contract Choice-Of-Law Provisions Can’t Be Enforced

    CINCINNATI — Choice-of-law provisions in independent contractor and lease agreements between truck drivers and a transportation company can’t be enforced where “there is no material connection between Tennessee and the parties’ transactions,” a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a Tennessee federal court’s dismissal of the drivers’ wage-and-hour putative class complaint brought under New Jersey law.

  • January 02, 2026

    9th Circuit Panel Reverses, Says Chemical Exposure Case Belongs In Federal Court

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has reversed and remanded a toxic chemical exposure case, ruling that a lower court relied on an unpublished opinion that is not the law of the circuit when it remanded the case based on the local controversy exception in the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

  • January 02, 2026

    DOL To 2nd Circuit: Disregard 2023 Amicus Brief In ERISA ‘Would Have’ Appeal

    NEW YORK — Roughly 15 months after oral argument in an appeal involving whether the “could have” standard used in damages instructions is grounds for overturning judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that went before a jury, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) told the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals it wants to withdraw an amicus curiae brief it filed during the Biden administration because the agency “has reconsidered its position on shifting the burden on loss causation for claims alleging a breach of fiduciary duty.”

  • January 02, 2026

    $21.5M Deal Proposed In Partly Revived ERISA Pension Benefits Class Action

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partly revived in November 2024 after a bench trial would be resolved for $21.5 million under a settlement proposal the plaintiff asked a California federal court to grant preliminary approval.

  • December 31, 2025

    Role Of Benchmarks In ERISA Claims Is Focus Of Petition For High Court’s Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Certiorari briefing has concluded in a case concerning the role benchmarks play in pleading Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for breach of the fiduciary duty of prudence, with retirement plan fiduciaries arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court does not need to address the issue but if it does, the petition is “a more suitable vehicle” than a similar one that the U.S. government recently urged the high court to grant.

  • December 30, 2025

    Voluntary Benefits Are Focus Of 4 ERISA Suits Against Large Employers, Brokers

    “Voluntary” accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance programs are the focus of four recent putative class actions filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act against large employers and insurance brokers, with the plaintiffs alleging that they paid “excessive and unreasonable premiums” because of mismanagement and prohibited transactions.

  • December 26, 2025

    Class Certification Affirmed In BIPA Suit Over Amazon’s Virtual Try-On Feature

    CHICAGO — A trial court judge did not abuse his discretion in certifying a class of users of Amazon’s virtual try-on (VTO) feature, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, noting that class certification is not permanent and “[t]he district court should remain vigilant in monitoring the propriety of certification as the case develops.”

  • December 23, 2025

    Final Approval Of Class Settlement, Attorney Fees Request Granted In RESPA Suit

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a class action settlement and finalized certification of the settlement class in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) case, authorizing class members to receive $875 in cash compensation per affected loan under an uncapped, claims-made agreement with an estimated maximum class payout settlement of $29.5 million, also approving $9.031 million in attorney fees, $2.07 million in litigation expenses and $5,000 service awards to the five class representatives.

  • December 23, 2025

    Federal Judge: Detained Noncitizen Class Can’t Be Held Without Bond Hearings

    BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts modified the class definition in a case challenging the federal government’s mandatory detention of noncitizens without a bond hearing and granted the detainee’s motion for partial summary judgment, opining that “Defendants’ policy of subjecting members of the certified class to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) without consideration for bond and a custody redetermination (i.e., bond) hearing is unlawful and violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and its regulations.”

  • December 23, 2025

    Respondents To High Court: Skip ERISA Releases Ruling; There Is No Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a brief filed at the request of the U.S. Supreme Court, former Atmel Corp. employees urge denial of a certiorari petition focused on a ruling concerning Employee Retirement Income Security Act releases in their long-running class action concerning severance benefits “[b]ecause there is no circuit conflict and nothing remarkable about the Ninth Circuit’s formulation of the non-exhaustive list of factors relevant to a district court’s assessment of the enforceability of an ERISA claims release.”

  • December 22, 2025

    Class Claims Over Meta Portal’s Unfair Obsolescence Partly Dismissed By Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action claiming that the Meta Portal-brand devices were unfairly marketed to customers and later “bricked” by Meta and rendered “obsolete” when Meta removed major apps from the product, finding that the plaintiffs failed to plead most of their claims but allowing a claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the unfair prong to proceed.

  • December 22, 2025

    18 Class Complaints Over University Of Pennsylvania Data Breach Consolidated

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania consolidated 18 putative class complaints alleging that an October 2025 breach of the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) computer system resulted in unauthorized access to the sensitive personal data of more than one million people.

  • December 22, 2025

    Third Amended ERISA Fees Complaint Is Dismissed With Prejudice

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Saying in part that “case law in this Circuit resoundingly demonstrates that to plead a plausible excessive fee claim, an employee must supply sufficient factual context about plan fees and services,” a Michigan federal judge dismissed a third amended complaint with prejudice and closed the putative class action that challenged allegedly imprudent management of a retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • December 19, 2025

    $8M ESOP Settlement That Followed Effective Vindication Ruling Wins Final OK

    WILMINGTON, Del. — One of the first Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases in which a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applied the “effective vindication” doctrine in declining to compel individual arbitration has been resolved by an $8 million class settlement that the plaintiff said will yield average net distributions of more than $8,500 per class member; the suit filed in a Delaware federal court challenged a 2016 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transaction.

  • December 19, 2025

    Settlement Of Capital One Affiliate Marketing Class Suit Gets Preliminary Approval

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge on Dec. 18 granted preliminary approval to a settlement on behalf of a nationwide class that accused Capital One Financial Corp. of violating consumer protection laws including California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a browser extension to misappropriate online influencers’ commissions from affiliate marketing links, with Capital One denying wrongdoing and the plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking nearly $4 million in fees.

  • December 18, 2025

    Class Counsel Seeks 5% Attorney Fee Award In ACA Class Action

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Class counsel filed a reply brief in further support of their request for an attorney fee award of 5% of settlement classes’ net in a risk-corridor payment class action under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), arguing that the fee would not result in an “unjustified windfall.”

  • December 18, 2025

    Indirect Turkey Purchasers, Processors Settle Antitrust Claims For More Than $5M

    CHICAGO — Three settlements totaling more than $5 million between turkey processors and commercial and institutional indirect purchasers (CIIPPs) were granted final approval by a federal judge in Illinois in a multiyear antitrust case, bringing the total approved settlements between purchasers and processors to more than $45 million.

  • December 18, 2025

    Dismissal Of Suit Against Walmart Alleging Benzene In Acne Products Recommended

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge has recommended that a California federal court grant a motion to dismiss a complaint filed by consumers who allege that they would not have purchased benzoyl peroxide (BPO) products from Walmart if they had been adequately warned about the presence of benzene.

  • December 08, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Global Class Action Litigation: Causes, Effects, And What’s Next

    By Guillaume Buell and John Coyle

  • December 17, 2025

    Website Operator Opposes Certiorari Bid To Define ‘Consumer’ Under The VPPA

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Opposing a website user’s certiorari petition over whether someone can qualify as a consumer under the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) if he or she does not buy, rent or subscribe to the delivery of “video tapes or similar audiovisual materials” from a video tape service provider (VTSP), the website operator in a Dec. 16 opposition brief asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the petitioner’s attempt “to resurrect his effort to dramatically expand the VPPA” to apply to disclosure of information about any product or service offered by a VTSP even if it is not audio-visual in nature.

  • December 17, 2025

    Like Its Peers, 11th Circuit Applies Effective Vindication Doctrine In ERISA Case

    ATLANTA — Saying, “No circuit has reached a contrary conclusion,” the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals became the seventh circuit court to rule that an arbitration provision is unenforceable because it barred “effective vindication” of statutory Employee Retirement Income Security Act rights; the putative class action at hand concerns an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and an advocacy organization filed October 2024 amicus curiae briefs supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine.