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

Mealey's Class Actions

September 24, 2025
Judge Approves $300,000 Settlement In Securities Action Over False Statements

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $300,000 settlement in a securities class action brought by investors against an aerospace-based communication network product company and two of its executives that alleged that the company provided materially false and misleading statements about its production yields and their impact on the company’s revenue growth.
September 24, 2025
Fracking Operator: Plaintiffs’ Experts Fail Standard Under Rule Of Evidence 702

PITTSBURGH — A hydraulic fracturing company has filed two reply briefs in Pennsylvania federal court seeking to exclude plaintiffs’ witnesses in a royalty dispute, arguing that neither expert meets the standard for admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702. With regard to one of the experts, Barry Pulliam, the company insists that “given his admittedly questionable expertise,” the plaintiffs’ “attempt to slip Mr. Pulliam’s Count III opinions in the back door through hypotheticals fails.”
September 24, 2025
Judge Talks Attorney Fees Justification In Granting Final OK To $7.9M ERISA Deal

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Devoting several pages to explaining why he overruled the lone objection to awarding a third of the $7.9 million class settlement for attorney fees, a Connecticut federal judge granted final approval to the deal resolving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case concerning alleged underperformance that the plaintiff claimed was caused by a now-bankrupt hedge fund management company directing all the assets of its 401(k) plan into proprietary hedge and mutual funds that used “alternative” investment strategies.
September 23, 2025
Negligence, Contract Claims Over Organ Donation Firm’s Data Exposure May Proceed

RICHMOND, Va. — An organ donor whose personally identifiable information (PII) was potentially exposed in an unencrypted state for 16 years adequately alleged negligence and breach of contract claims against the donor administration organization, a Virginia federal judge concluded, mostly denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss.
September 22, 2025
J&J, Amicus Warn Of ‘Problematic’ Talc Securities Class Ruling

PHILADELPHIA — The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) in a Sept. 19 amicus curiae brief in support of a petition for rehearing warns the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that its ruling holding Johnson & Johnson liable for new “signals” about existing facts threatens the ability to rebut assumptions about the integrity of market pricing with widespread fallout. Earlier, Johnson & Johnson and certain executives told the court in their petition that the divided opinion will have a “problematic” influence in district court cases involving billions of dollars.
September 22, 2025
Minors Sue Disney Over Data Collection On Videos For Children

LOS ANGELES — Three minors filed a putative class action in California state court accusing two Disney companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by failing to designate certain YouTube videos as “for kids” and collecting information about those viewers, which was also the subject of a recent $10 million settlement by Disney with the Federal Trade Commission.
September 19, 2025
Final Approval Given To $20 Million Global Settlement Of Fortra Data Breach MDL

MIAMI — Five months after a Florida federal judge preliminarily approved a $20 million global settlement of a multidistrict litigation over a 2023 data breach experienced by users of a file-transfer program, he granted final approval to the settlement, thus resolving all remaining claims against software firm Fortra LLC, its customers and their clients by class members who claim that their personally identifiable information (PII) was compromised in the cyberattack.
September 18, 2025
Settlement Of Over $20.5M Wins Final OK In Medical Benefits For Retirees Case

SAN FRANCISCO — Noting that the claims relied “on evidence of oral misrepresentations and a lack of written plan amendment purporting to terminate the at-issue retiree medical benefits,” a California federal magistrate judge granted final approval to a $20,545,000 settlement under which the average gross recovery for members of the opt-out settlement class is estimated at $30,710.01.
September 18, 2025
Detainee Class: Derivative Sovereign Immunity Ruling Not Immediately Appealable

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The GEO Group Inc. has failed to show that a ruling against it when it sought to assert a defense under Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. in a class complaint by detainees is immediately appealable, the class tells the U.S. Supreme Court in its respondent brief.
September 18, 2025
1st Circuit Vacates Stay Of Parole Termination For Certain Noncitizens

BOSTON — Noncitizens who brought a class complaint challenging changes made to immigration policies via executive orders issued by President Donald J. Trump immediately after his January inauguration have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims, and the risk of irreparable harm to that class “cannot, by itself, support a stay,” the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, vacating an April order that granted temporary relief; that April order was stayed in May by a divided U.S. Supreme Court.
September 18, 2025
Meta Denied Posttrial JMOL, Decertification Motions In Period App Privacy Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Rejecting an attempt by Meta Platforms Inc. “to overturn just about everything related to the verdict” in a trial over its purported eavesdropping and data collection from an ovulation-tracking app in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a California federal judge denied the social media operator’s motions for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and to decertify the class of app users.
September 17, 2025
4th Circuit Will Consider Standing Issue In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has agreed to allow an interlocutory appeal of a ruling that retirees had standing to file a putative class lawsuit that is part of a much-watched recent string of Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) where, among other things, retirees allege that the use of offshore captive reinsurers makes annuity providers riskier.
September 17, 2025
Data Breach Suit Against Casino Mostly Survives Dismissal

LAS VEGAS — The operator of a casino that was hit by a data breach in 2024 saw its motion to dismiss putative class privacy, negligence and unfair competition claims mostly denied by a Nevada federal judge, who found that a group of customers and former employees adequately alleged most of their claims and supported them with assertions of cognizable injuries.
September 17, 2025
Judge Dismisses Putative Class Over Alleged Faulty Genetic Testing For Embryos

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge found that a group of consumers alleging that they would not have purchased preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) if they had known of its failure rates lacked standing for failing to state an injury and dismissed the putative class complaint without prejudice.
September 16, 2025
6th Circuit Upholds No Standing Ruling In Contaminated Peanut Butter Class Case

CINCINNATI — Consumers who brought putative class claims after peanut butter products were voluntarily recalled following an investigation into a Salmonella outbreak failed to show injury in fact and failed to raise an alternate claim of “adulterated” products before the trial court, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, affirming a trial court’s dismissal in an unpublished opinion.
September 16, 2025
Pension Funds Fail To Plead Falsity Regarding Airplane Part Defects

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut dismissed pension funds’ securities fraud class action against an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation and certain of its officers and directors, finding the pension funds did not adequately plead falsity or scienter regarding statements made about a powdered metal defect in airplane engine parts the company manufactured.
September 16, 2025
Judge Partly Grants Certification In Suit Over Origin Of ‘Japanese’ Alcohol

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge on Sept. 15 granted a consumer’s motion to certify a class seeking injunctive relief against a U.S. company accused of marketing Japanese sake in a manner that would deceive consumers into believing that it is imported from Japan when it is actually manufactured in California in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) but refused to certify a class seeking damages.
September 16, 2025
‘Problematic’ Talc Securities-Class Ruling Requires Rehearing, J&J Warns

PHILADELPHIA — A panel opinion allowing courts to put aside the rigorous analysis traditionally required for class certification and creating a new standard for price impact disclosures in securities actions will have a “problematic” influence in district court cases involving billions of dollars, Johnson & Johnson entities defending claims that they hid the presence of asbestos in talc from shareholders tell the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
September 16, 2025
Judge Certifies New York Class, Denies California Class In Elderberry Extract Suit

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted a motion to certify a New York state class accusing the maker of a dietary supplement that contains elderberry extract of deceiving consumers with misleading label statements, denied the motion as to a California class bringing claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) because the claims are barred due to a previous California suit, and denied a defense motion to exclude the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses.
September 16, 2025
2 Of 3 Plaintiffs In 28-Year Teacher Class Suit Granted Incentive Awards

NEW YORK — Two of three named plaintiffs in a more than 28-year-long race bias class suit over teacher licensing requirements in New York City were each awarded incentive awards of $272,996 by a federal judge in New York, who reserved judgment on the $2.9 million incentive award requested by the final named plaintiff as briefing is not yet complete.
September 16, 2025
Suit Against Relocation Firm Over Data Breach Mostly Survives Dismissal Motion

LOS ANGELES — Although a California federal judge dismissed as insufficiently pleaded a California woman’s bailment claim against a relocation service provider related to a 2024 data breach, the plaintiff’s contract, privacy and negligence putative class claims were deemed adequately alleged to withstand the defendant's dismissal motion.
September 16, 2025
$95 Million Settlement Of Siri Eavesdropping Class Action Gets Final Approval

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge gave a final OK to a $95 million settlement of a six-year-old class action accusing Apple Inc. of collecting unauthorized recordings of Apple device users via its Siri digital assistant, deeming the settlement “fair, adequate, and reasonable.”
September 16, 2025
Life Insurance Beneficiary Seeks U.S. Supreme Court Ruling On Certifying Questions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A life insurance policy beneficiary who brought a putative class lawsuit after her husband died and she was denied benefits filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court justices to decide two questions regarding certifying state law issues to state high courts.
September 15, 2025
Split 9th Circuit: Totaled Vehicles’ Actual Value Dooms Class Certification

PHOENIX — Individual questions surrounding the calculation of the actual cash value (ACV) of insureds’ totaled vehicles predominate, preventing certification of a class of Progressive customers, a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Sept. 12, affirming a trial court denial of class certification.
September 15, 2025
Magistrate Approves $1.5 Million Settlement Of Garda Data Breach Suit

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — More than five months after he preliminarily approved a $1.5 million settlement between a security company and a group of employees that sued it over the theft of their personally identifiable information (PII) in a 2023 data breach, a Florida federal magistrate judge granted final approval, deeming the deal in compliance with federal rules and, as such, “fair, adequate and reasonable.”