Mealey's Class Actions : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Class Actions

June 19, 2025
Class Denial Affirmed, 2 Claims Reinstated In No-Coins Suit Against Chipotle

PHILADELPHIA — A consumer who sued a fast food chain for withholding change in coins due to a coin shortage during the coronavirus pandemic may proceed with his individual breach of contract and Pennsylvania consumer protection law claims only, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, upholding summary judgment for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. on the remaining claims and upholding denial of class certification.
June 19, 2025
Attorney Fees, Costs Awarded In Acura Bluetooth Settlement As Honda Appeals

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California issued final approval order and judgment after a settlement was reached between consumers in four states and American Honda Motor Co. Inc. in a class case alleging defective HandsFreeLink (HFL) Bluetooth systems in certain Acura vehicles that cause excessive electric drain, approving more than $9.5 million in attorney fees and costs while the total value of claims is estimated to be less than $540,000.
June 18, 2025
Meta Must Provide Privacy Plaintiffs With Analyses Of Users’ Time On Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO — A putative class of Facebook users who sued Meta Platforms Inc. over the purported sharing of their protected health information (PHI) via its pixel tool are entitled to certain analyses and reports correlating users’ time spent on the social network with Meta’s revenue, a California federal magistrate judge ruled, finding the requested info relevant to the plaintiffs’ proposed damages theory.
June 18, 2025
Judge Allows Claims That Apple Unfairly Blocked ICloud Competitors

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by consumers accusing it of monopolization for unfairly barring users of Apple devices from using competitive cloud storage services in violation of the federal Sherman Act and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
June 18, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms RICO TPP Class Certification For Actos Cancer Risk

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a district court did not err in certifying a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos, agreeing with the lower court that the predominance requirement for certification was satisfied.
June 18, 2025
9th Circuit Won’t OK Interlocutory Appeal In Class Row Over Reprocessing

SAN FRANCISCO — Without substantive explanation, two Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges denied permission to appeal the addition of a subclass in a case seeking reprocessing of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims; disputes concerning the impact of certain rulings in the similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act case Wit v. United Behavioral Health figured largely in the petition and opposition.
June 18, 2025
Chrome Users Again Denied Class Certification In Google Data Collection Suit

OAKLAND, Calif. — Two and a half years after a California federal judge declined to certify a class of Chrome browser users in their privacy suit against Google LLC, the judge handed another defeat to the plaintiffs as she found that individualized issues regarding each class member’s knowledge of, and consent to, Google’s data collection practices would predominate over common questions.
June 18, 2025
Judge Approves $10.5 Million Settlement Of Biopharmaceutical Stock Drop Suit

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted final approval to a $10.5 million settlement in a case brought by shareholders against a biopharmaceutical company and certain executives alleging that misstatements they made about the company’s manufacturing possibilities and approval prospects for its lead product candidate unlawfully inflated the company’s stock price, which dropped after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the company’s license application for the product candidate.
June 18, 2025
Judge Lets Class Definitions Stand In ERISA Case Over Retirement Benefits

PHILADELPHIA — Denying what he construed as a motion to alter judgment in the class action where he recently entered final judgment for the plaintiffs after a bench trial, a Pennsylvania federal judge briefly rejected the defendants’ arguments that he had improperly expanded two class definitions; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute centered on corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits.
June 18, 2025
HHS Federal Workers File Class Suit Over Erroneous Record Sharing, Firings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seven employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its subcomponents filed a class complaint in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleging that “hopelessly error-ridden” personnel records were wrongly turned over to U.S. DOGE Service, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) without being verified and were incorrectly used to fire 10,000 workers in violation of the Privacy Act.
June 18, 2025
Former Limestone University Employee Says Terminations Violate Federal Law

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A former employee of a South Carolina university filed a class action complaint in South Carolina federal court, alleging that the university violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act by failing to provide 60 days’ advance notice of the university’s intent to terminate the employment of more than 475 employees.
June 17, 2025
$5.25 Million Settlement Approved In Recruiter Misclassification Class Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a $5.25 million nonreversionary class settlement in a lawsuit alleging systemic misclassification of recruiters as exempt employees and granted in part a motion for attorney fees, costs and a service award.
June 17, 2025
Administrative Stay Granted By D.C. Circuit In Immigrant Removal Class Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals administratively stayed a June 4 order by a trial court that partially granted preliminary injunction and class certification to immigrants challenging their removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) and transfer to a prison in El Salvador.
June 16, 2025
Government Appeals April Preliminary Injunction In Passport Gender Policy Case

BOSTON — The federal government on June 13 appealed to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an April memorandum by a federal judge in Massachusetts partially granting a motion to stay agency action and for preliminary injunction in a putative class case challenging a January executive order (EO) and its implementation that removed the option to designate “X” on passports for those individuals who do not identify as female or male or who wish to keep a specified gender off their passport.
June 16, 2025
Supreme Court Denies Auto Insurers’ Petition To Review Class Decertification Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 16 denied automobile insurers’ petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority’s conclusion that a lower court abused its discretion when it decertified a negotiation class because the insureds established that “injury could be calculated on a class-wide basis.”
June 16, 2025
Judge Remands Suit Over Styrofoam Company’s Deceptive Recycling Claims

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge on June 13 sua sponte remanded a putative class action suit against a cup maker for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting its products as recyclable, finding that the suit was improperly removed and the defendant did not prove the amount in controversy satisfied the requirements for federal jurisdiction.
June 16, 2025
Defective Vision Vitamins Suit Dismissed Due To Improper Claim-Splitting

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with prejudice a woman’s putative class action accusing a supplement maker of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to warn her that its supplement to benefit her vision contained excessive zinc, finding that because the plaintiff previously filed an individual personal injury suit over the same injury, her putative class suit represented improper claim-splitting.
June 16, 2025
Putative Class Lawsuit Challenges Revision To American Airlines LTD Plan

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a putative class complaint filed in Texas federal court, a disabled pilot sued American Airlines Inc. (AA) and related defendants under the theory that a May 2024 revision of its long-term disability (LTD) plan improperly excluded “vacation, ratification bonuses, profit sharing, one-time supplemental payment, bereavement, grievance payouts, extended sick bank, and Special Assignment” from average monthly compensation, resulting in underpayment of LTD benefits.
June 16, 2025
Dismissal Partially Granted In Class Row With Software Company Over Cloud Outage

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge partially granted dismissal to a company that offers the Kronos Private Cloud in a putative class suit filed by health care employees who said they were not paid wages owed during a cloud outage related to a data breach, finding that their negligence claim is barred under the economic loss doctrine and that their unjust enrichment claim is dismissed because of the lack of allegations showing that the employees’ wages could be a benefit “conferred” on the company.
June 13, 2025
ERISA Suit Over Allegedly Underperforming Target Date Funds Settles For $69M

MINNEAPOLIS — A $69 million deal that the class representative called “the largest-ever ERISA settlement alleging breach of fiduciary duty for failure to remove underperforming investment options” has been granted final approval, a text-only June 13 docket entry in Minnesota federal court shows.
June 13, 2025
Judge Orders Electronics Company To Pay $33M For Faking Online Reviews

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on June 12 granted a motion for default judgment filed by a plaintiff representing a certified class of consumers who claim that they were deceived by a Chinese manufacturer-owned company’s practice of faking reviews on Amazon.com to sell shoddy electronics in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and ordered it to pay nearly $33 million in disgorgement.
June 13, 2025
Video Game Fans Dismiss Suit Challenging Termination Of Online Racing Game

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three plaintiffs on June 12 filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in California federal court of their putative class action claims against a video game developer for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by shutting down an online racing game, which they said was deceptive and unfairly deprived them of access to the game.
June 13, 2025
Judge: Federal Government Is Failing To Provide Legal Services To Immigrant Class

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted an immigrant separation class’ renewed motion to enforce a 2023 settlement agreement, ruling that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other defendants failed to show that after the expiration of a contract with a third party providing legal services they were actually still providing those services required under the agreement.
June 13, 2025
Initial OK Given To $6.3M Settlement Of Apnea Supply Firm Data Breach Suit

INDIANAPOLIS — Preliminarily approving an agreement providing more than $6.3 million to settle a class action over data breaches experienced by a sleep apnea supply firm, an Indiana federal judge held that the parties “will likely be able to certify and approve a settlement class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.”
June 12, 2025
Georgia Federal Judge Approves More Settlements In Drinking Water PFAS Case

ROME, Ga. — A large textile mill operator, the town where it operates and one of its product manufacturers will pay more than $1.25 million to a group of water subscribers and ratepayers for their admitted involvement in contaminating groundwater in a northwest region of Georgia with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through partial class action settlements granted final approval on June 11 by a federal judge.