Class Action

Update: Settlement in Facebook’s Facial Recognition Technology Suit Against Facebook

On Friday, February 26, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge, Judge Donato approved a $650 million settlement of the privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the consent of its users. This is one of the largest settlements for a privacy violation to date in the United States. We previously discussed this case last year in the blog post titled, “Class Actions and Privacy Laws – Could Facial Recognition Technology Be Changing the Face of the “injury-in-fact” Requirement for Class Actions?” As previously discussed, in the earlier post of February 2020, […]

By |2021-03-02T11:56:10-05:00March 2nd, 2021|Practice Areas: Class Action, Cybersecurity & Privacy|Topics: , , |
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Robinhood – No Longer the Heroic Outlaw Who Steals from the Rich to Give to the Poor

On January 28, 2021, Brendon Nelson filed a four-count class action lawsuit in (the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) against Robinhood Financial, LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC and Robinhood Markets, Inc., for Breach of Contract, Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Negligence, and Breach of Fiduciary Duty. This class action comes after a market frenzy fueled by traders who utilize Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum to discuss stocks, sent shares of GameStop soaring which caused losses (in the billion-dollar range) to hedge funds that were shorting the stocks.

More […]

By |2021-02-01T14:06:00-05:00February 1st, 2021|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , , , |
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Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200: Privacy in a Digital Age.

On December 3, 2020, Maximilian Klein and Sarah Grabert filed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging certain privacy practices in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.  The crux of Plaintiffs’ Class Action Complaint alleges that in exchange for providing services to Facebook’s users, Facebook collected user data, allowing advertisers to use it for targeted advertising to Facebook users.  More specifically, Plaintiffs allege that Facebook and its affiliated companies (Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus) used this data to target smaller companies and competitors to eliminate competition and […]

By |2021-01-21T15:57:32-05:00January 21st, 2021|Practice Areas: Class Action, Cybersecurity & Privacy|Topics: , , , |
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Supreme Court to Review Class Certification Standards in Private Securities Litigation

On December 11, 2020, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., et al. v. Arkansas Teachers Retirement System, et al. No. 20-222, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 5993 (U.S. Dec. 11, 2020), to review a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which involves issues of class certification in the context of shareholder securities class action litigation.

The questions presented on appeal are: (1) whether a defendant may rebut the Basic presumption by pointing to the generic nature of the alleged misstatements, even though that evidence is also relevant to the substantive element of materiality; […]

By |2021-01-19T10:03:49-05:00January 19th, 2021|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , |
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The Supreme Court to Determine Whether Class Members Must Suffer Actual Harm

On December 16, 2020, the Supreme Court granted cert. to hear TransUnion v. Ramirez, a Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) class action suit that presents the question as to “whether either Article III (of the Constitution) or Rule 23 (of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) permits a damages class action where the vast majority of the class suffered no actual injury, let alone an injury anything like what the class representative suffered.”

In Ramirez, Ramirez was refused the purchase of a car by a dealership when his credit report incorrectly indicated that his name appeared on […]

By |2020-12-17T16:03:35-05:00December 17th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , , |
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Collegiate Sports Are Not Immune to COVID-19

College sports have not been immune to the repercussions of COVID-19 and therefore we are seeing a rise of class action lawsuits across the country that many universities will have to address in these coming months. Many claims have been from players themselves with lack of PPE equipment and exposure to the virus, but is there a way to safely play a contact sport with proper precautions to prevent a viral outbreak, and by playing are you assuming the risk of injury?

Listen along as attorneys Matthew D. Berkowitz, Samantha Lewis, and Brian O’Shea tackle potential class […]

By |2020-10-16T11:06:09-04:00October 15th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Podcast|
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Universities and Colleges Face Class Action Lawsuits Amid Reopening

With students returning back to school, there has been a large number of reported outbreaks of COVID-19. Many students and parents are filing suits for breach of contracts as it relates to remote learning and the impact that social distancing and campus closures have on students and their learning experience. University staff has also been filing suits saying that schools have not been taking the appropriate measures to protect staff from exposure to the virus.

Attorneys, Matthew D. Berkowitz, Brian O’Shea, and Samantha Lewis dive deep into possible causations and significant hurdles for class certification.

By |2020-10-15T10:45:10-04:00September 17th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, General, Podcast|Topics: , , |
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The Telephone Consumer Protection Act Lives On: SCOTUS Severs the Government Debt Collection Exemption from the TCPA

In July 2020, the Supreme Court in Barr v. American Ass’n of Political Consultants, No. 19-631, upheld the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (“TCPA”) ban on telephone solicitation through the use of automatic telephone dialing systems, but in applying a strict scrutiny analysis, the Supreme Court found that the government debt collection exemption was an unconstitutional infringement of free speech under the First Amendment.

Barr v. American Ass’n of Political Consultants was an appeal from the Fourth Circuit. Specifically, the American Association of Political Consultants (“AAPC”) sought to challenge the government debt collection exemption of the TCPA, which […]

By |2020-09-09T09:47:35-04:00September 9th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , |
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Colleges and Universities Face Flurry of New Coronavirus Cases As They Re-Open for Fall Semester

As colleges and universities re-open their doors for the fall semester, the return of students has been closely followed by a substantial increase in coronavirus cases—and significant public scrutiny.  Administrators are stuck between a rock and a hard place:  Do we remain closed and charge students full tuition for another semester of virtual learning?  Or do we welcome students back to campus and attempt to test as many students as often as possible while imposing social distancing rules?  Many schools have opted for the latter.  The University of North Carolina and the University of Notre Dame, […]

By |2020-08-21T09:45:49-04:00August 21st, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , |
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COVID-19 and a Potential Fall Without College Sports

On August 11, 2020, both the Big Ten and the PAC 12 conferences announced they would “postpone” fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic—the first of the “Power 5” conferences to do so.  Their decision came on the heels of several other leagues, including the Mountain West Conference and the Mid-American Conference, postponing their fall sports until the spring.  It is unclear whether other conferences, including the SEC, ACC, and Big XII, which are still scheduled to play sports this fall, will follow suit.

The danger of serious illness and the possibility of significant spread of the […]

By |2020-08-12T09:40:33-04:00August 12th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, General|Topics: , , |
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Hospitality Industry Begins To Feel The Brunt of COVID-19 Related Class Action Lawsuits

The hospitality industry is at the top of the list of industries impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.  With travel having largely come to a standstill, hotels, cruise lines, and airlines are all feeling the pinch and finding their footing in a world gripped by a global pandemic.  The hospitality industry, however, like many other industries, has also begun to face COVID-19-related class actions.

A lawsuit filed on June 24, 2020 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington accuses cruise line Holland America and its parent company, Carnival, of exposing over one […]

By |2020-06-29T17:02:47-04:00June 29th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , |
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SCOTUS Restricts Rights of Defined Benefit Retirement Plan Participants Under ERISA

On June 1, 2020 and in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that participants in a defined-benefit retirement plan lacked Article III standing to bring a lawsuit against the plan’s fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). Thole v. U.S. Bank, N.A., No. 17-1712. Plaintiffs James Thole and Sherry Smith are retired participants of U.S. Bank’s defined-benefit retirement plan. Under the terms of the plan, plaintiffs are guaranteed a fixed payment each month regardless of the plan’s value or the fiduciaries’ investment decisions with respect to the plan. Plaintiffs have […]

By |2020-06-17T14:35:55-04:00June 17th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Labor & Employment|Topics: , |
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