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

Mealey's Class Actions

May 09, 2025
Philadelphia Inquirer Users Will Receive $27.30 Each To Settle VPPA, Wiretap Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge decreed the settlement of class claims against the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC under the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) and a state wiretap law to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” granting final approval to the agreement, under which the newspaper operator will pay more than $1.1 million to cover class members’ claims, costs and attorney fees.
May 09, 2025
Judge: No Showing That Federal Government Breached 2023 Immigrant Separation Pact

SAN DIEGO — Immigrants who reached an agreement with the federal government in 2023 settling class claims they brought after being separated from their children failed to show that the agreement was breached when the government changed its method of providing legal services, one component of the agreement, a federal judge in California ruled, denying the immigrants’ motion to enforce the settlement agreement.
May 09, 2025
Tesla Owners’ Automatic Software Updates Case Dismissed After Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed with prejudice a putative class lawsuit accusing Tesla Inc. of rolling out automatic software updates that “deplete the battery and reduce the driving range of the vehicles by at least 20%” after the named parties stated that they reached a settlement agreement as to the named plaintiffs’ individual claims.
May 08, 2025
Final Approval Given To Settlement In Alleged Ponzi Scheme Involvement Suit

PORTLAND — A federal judge in Oregon granted final approval to a $90,000 settlement between investors who lost money to an alleged Ponzi scheme and two of the entities they allege aided the scheme.
May 08, 2025
$46M Pharmaceutical Company Stock-Drop Suit Gets Final Approval

TRENTON, N.J. — A $46 million settlement between current and former executives and members of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company that went bankrupt during the proceeding and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities law by making material misstatements that caused the price of the company’s stock to be artificially inflated has been granted final approval by a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Given To $9 Million Settlement Of Parking App Data Breach Suit

ATLANTA — Six months after a Georgia federal judge preliminarily approved a $9 million settlement of a class action over a 2021 data breach experienced by the operator of mobile parking apps, he granted a motion for final approval of the deal on May 6, finding it to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class.”
May 07, 2025
Claims Against Burger King For Deceptively Advertising Large Burgers May Proceed

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge denied Burger King Corp.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of deceptively advertising its burgers including the “Whopper” with ingredients overflowing the bun to make the burgers appear 35% larger than they are, finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that Burger King violated the consumer protection laws of 11 states, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 07, 2025
Citing Smith, 6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ERISA Row Over Record-Keeping Fees

CINCINNATI — Citing Smith v. CommonSpirit Health and saying that “many of our sister circuits have found implausible similar complaints,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 6 upheld dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class action over 401(k) record-keeping and administrative (RKA) fees.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Granted To $362.5M Settlement In Securities Action Against GE

NEW YORK — A $362.5 million settlement between General Electric Co. and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities laws in relation to its representations regarding its power division’s factoring of long-term receivables was given final approval by a federal judge in New York.
May 06, 2025
Final Approval Granted In North Carolina Class Suit Over Health System Data Breach

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina business court judge granted a motion for final approval of a $1.17 million settlement of negligence and privacy class claims over a May 2023 data breach experienced by a health care organization.
May 06, 2025
Judge Dismisses Child Abuse Victim’s Putative Class Suit Over ICloud File-Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed putative class claims against Apple Inc. for violating federal sex trafficking laws and child pornography laws brought against it by a 9-year-old victim relating to the alleged dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Apple’s iCloud service but granted the plaintiff leave to amend her claims for violation of consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 06, 2025
Plaintiffs: Class Claims In 4th Amended Complaint Against Fracking Firm Are Valid

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Plaintiffs have filed a brief in West Virginia federal court contending that it should deny a motion by a hydraulic fracturing operator seeking to strike class allegations from the fourth amended complaint in the parties’ dispute of mineral rights and allegations of breach of contract. The plaintiffs insist that contrary to the fracking company’s argument, there is no factual or legal basis to strike class allegations and there is no basis to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
May 06, 2025
ERISA, Breach Of Contract Claims Fail In Row Over ‘Pre-Separation Programs’

CHICAGO — Dismissing a putative class action over United Airlines Inc. early retirement programs with leave to amend but expressing skepticism “that the plaintiffs can cure the problems with the complaint,” an Illinois federal judge ruled in part that a policy the airline announced in 2017 “does not constitute an . . . employee welfare benefit plan” that is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
May 06, 2025
Class Suit Filed Against Google, LinkedIn Over Marketplace ‘Interceptions’

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California resident filed a putative class complaint against LinkedIn Corp. and Google LLC alleging violations of California and federal privacy laws when LinkedIn and Google purportedly intercepted communications without consent when she and other class members were completing health information forms on the Covered California website, California’s health insurance marketplace.
May 05, 2025
Judge OKs $20M Settlement, $5M Attorney Fees In Apple Watch Swelling Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $20 million settlement between Apple Inc. and plaintiffs who sought damages due to a battery swelling defect with early-model Apple Watches that in some cases caused watch screens to detach or shatter and also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for $5 million in attorney fees and nearly a half-million dollars in litigation expenses.
May 05, 2025
Class Largely Prevails On Summary Judgment In ERISA Early Retirement Row

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action is headed toward a bench trial on just a few remaining claims after a Kansas federal judge resolved exclusion and partial summary judgment motions, ruling in part that the plan at issue “does not permit Defendants to deny early retirement benefits regardless of the type of work the participants perform for Covered Employers.”
May 05, 2025
After $38.76M Jury Verdict, Deal Is Reported In ERISA Fees Challenge

NEW YORK — Just over a week after a federal jury returned a $38,760,232 verdict in favor of a class of retirement plan participants who challenged the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan (MEP), a New York federal judge on May 2 stayed all deadlines in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case on a report of “a settlement in principle.”
May 02, 2025
Appellant Urges 9th Circuit To Revive Putative Class ERISA Forfeiture Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A much-watched attempt to revive a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions has commenced, with the appellant filing his opening brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 1.
May 02, 2025
ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M

Class settlements below $5 million have been finalized or proposed in 25 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between late January and late April.
May 02, 2025
Federal Judge Certifies Immigrant Removal Class, Bars Alien Enemies Act Use

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on May 1 certified a class of noncitizens in custody in the Southern District of Texas who are subject to removal from the country under a presidential proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the federal government “from detaining transferring, or removing” the class members under the AEA.
May 02, 2025
Investment Firm Says Shale Producers Conspired To Fix Oil Prices, Violated Laws

CHICAGO — An investment firm has filed a putative class action against multiple oil companies in Illinois federal court alleging that they violated antitrust law and the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) by engaging in a conspiracy to coordinate, and ultimately constrain, domestic shale oil production through fixing the price of oil and crude oil futures contracts.
May 02, 2025
Judge Dismisses Channel-Stuffing Suit Against Driver Safety Technology Provider

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed a putative securities class action brought by investors alleging that an advanced driver-assistance systems technology company and its executives made misleading statements about the company’s minimum-order contracts that the investors claimed artificially inflated the price of the company’s stock, finding that the investors failed to allege that the company made any material misstatements that would support scheme liability.
May 02, 2025
11th Circuit Sets Argument In Appeal Involving ERISA Exhaustion Precedent

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for May 13 in a dispute where appellants seek the overturn of longstanding circuit precedent concerning exhaustion of administrative remedies in Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits.
May 01, 2025
Deal Reported In ERISA Forfeiture Case That Survived Dismissal

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The parties in a putative class case in which key Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims regarding the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s required contributions survived dismissal have notified a California federal court that they have reached an unspecified proposed settlement.
May 01, 2025
Wash. Noncitizen Resident Granted Preliminary Injunction In Bond Denial Class Case

TACOMA, Wash. — The lead plaintiff in a putative class lawsuit accusing federal officials of denying bond requests by him and others being held at the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center (NWIPC) was granted a preliminary injunction by a federal judge in Washington who directed that the man be provided a bond hearing within 14 days, ordered that the hearing be recorded and enjoined the defendants “from denying bond . . . on the basis that he is detained pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2).”