Class Certification - The Class Action Blog by Carr Maloney PC

U.S. District Court Denies Motion for Class Certification against Amazon But Leaves Door Open for A Second Bite at the Amazon Apple

On March 7, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Chhabria of the Northern District of California denied a motion to certify a class of 7,000 Amazon employees seeking reimbursement for their home internet expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plaintiff David G. Williams, an Amazon employee, argued that Amazon violated the California Labor Code 2802 by failing to reimburse its employees’ internet expenses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams’ arguments focused on two main points: (1) Amazon’s “common policy” only allowed reimbursements for employees whose home internet expenses increased and (2) Amazon failed to reimburse the Class even […]

By Kelly Cousoulis|2023-03-17T12:21:43-04:00March 17th, 2023|Practice Areas: Labor & Employment|Topics: Amazon, Class Certification, COVID-19, reimbursements|

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Court Certifies Class Action Against NFL for Allegedly Violating Antitrust Laws With Its “Sunday Ticket” TV Package

On February 8, 2023, the United States District Court for the Central District of California certified a class action seeking $6 billion in damages against the National Football League (NFL). The complaint alleged that the league violated anti-trust law for limiting the availability of televised games through its “Sunday Ticket” package. Sunday Ticket allows subscribers to watch all NFL Sunday afternoon games, regardless of geographic location or local market. Non-subscribers may only watch a limited set of local “in market” games. According to the plaintiffs, without the alleged anticompetitive Sunday Ticket package, a greater number of […]

By Stuart Davis|2023-02-13T17:33:24-05:00February 13th, 2023|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, NFL, predominance|

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Recipients of Telemarketing Calls Made on Behalf of DirecTV Granted Class Certification in Class Action Lawsuit

On August 1, 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia granted class certification to a group of about 114,000 individuals who, despite being on the national Do-Not-Call Registry, received at least two robocalls placed on behalf of DirecTV. The court concluded that this was “a model case for the application of the class action mechanism.”

In 1991, Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), which, among other things, created a Do-Not-Call Registry that prohibited the initiation of telephone solicitations to residential telephone numbers listed on the registry. The TCPA provides […]

By Brian O’Shea and Kelsey Williams|2022-10-07T11:37:47-04:00October 7th, 2022|Practice Areas: Class Action, Consumer Protection|Topics: Class Action, Class Certification, DirecTV, TCPA|

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JUUL: Now in Certified Class Action Flavor

On June 28, 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California certified four separate plaintiff classes in the nationwide JUUL electronic cigarette litigation. Certification of a plaintiff class is necessary for a class action lawsuit to proceed. The lawsuit alleges teen injury, fraud, and RICO violations against JUUL Labs and others, for the allegedly addictive and harmful effects of JUUL’s products.

In opposition to class certification, the JUUL Defendants argued that the proposed class lacked “commonality” because each potential plaintiff made an individual decision to purchase products containing nicotine or other addictive ingredients. […]

By Brian O’Shea and Stephen Rutigliano|2022-07-26T11:15:36-04:00July 26th, 2022|Practice Areas: Class Action, General|Topics: Class Action, Class Certification, Juul|

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State Farm Policy Holders Granted Class Certification for Second Time in COVID-19 Insurance Recovery Class Action

On February 11, 2022, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted class certification for a second time to a statewide class of Virginia businesses in a potentially precedent setting COVID-19 insurance recovery class action. The class includes at least 111 Virginia businesses who submitted insurance claims for pandemic-related losses to their insurer, State Farm—and whose claims State Farm denied under its policy’s virus exclusion. The court’s ruling comes months after a Fourth Circuit panel reversed the trial court’s ruling and remanded the case, ruling that the trial court improperly granted class […]

By Brian O’Shea|2022-02-25T14:08:23-05:00February 25th, 2022|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, COVID-19 insurance recovery, State Farm|

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Dolphin’s Former Head Coach Sues NFL For Racial Hiring Practices

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and multiple NFL teams, including the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos, and the Miami Dolphins, alleging racial discrimination in the hiring process of African American coaches and general managers. Although not directly relevant to his race discrimination claims, Flores also alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000.00 per loss for each loss during the 2019 season. Flores’ lawsuit comes just weeks after the Dolphins controversially fired him, despite back-to-back winning seasons as […]

By Brian O’Shea and Martin Shaw|2022-02-04T10:59:00-05:00February 4th, 2022|Practice Areas: Class Action, Labor & Employment|Topics: Brian Flores, Class Certification, NFL, racial discrimination|

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State Farm Policy Holders Granted Class Certification in COVID-19 Insurance Recovery Class Action

On August 19, 2021, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted class certification to a statewide class of Virginia businesses in a COVID-19 insurance recovery class action. The Court granted class certification to a class of at least 111 Virginia businesses that, between March 23 and June 20, 2020, submitted insurance claims to State Farm for pandemic-related business losses. The losses stemmed from the COVID-19 restrictions put in place in Virginia that required many recreational businesses to close—and then only permitted them to reopen at limited capacity […]

By Brian O’Shea|2021-08-27T14:56:20-04:00August 27th, 2021|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, COVID-19, State Farm|

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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 Samantha Lewis|2021-01-19T10:03:49-05:00January 19th, 2021|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, Private Securities Litigation, Supreme Court|

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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 Matthew D. Berkowitz, Brian O’Shea and Samantha Lewis|2020-10-15T10:45:10-04:00September 17th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, General, Podcast|Topics: Class Certification, COVID-19, Universities|

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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 Brian O’Shea|2020-08-21T09:45:49-04:00August 21st, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, COVID-19, Universities|

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Ahead of the Class: Students Taking on Colleges’ Response to COVID-19

In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, major industries everywhere are attempting to adjust to the challenges in these unprecedented times. The higher education system in the United States is no exception. While many colleges and universities moved to an online learning model for at least the rest of the semester, many students have made it clear that they do not believe that they have gotten what they bargained for. Unsurprisingly, a steady stream of students and parents have already begun to file class action lawsuits.

These lawsuits address several different categories of fees that schools already […]

By Corey Zoldan|2020-04-29T15:37:25-04:00April 29th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, COVID-19, University Mandatory Fees|

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DC Court of Appeals Refuses to Impose Strict Liability Under the TCPA

In a significant decision regarding the applicability of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”), the D.C. Court of Appeals recently held that the TCPA does not impose strict liability on a person or entity whose goods or services are advertised in an unsolicited fax. Instead, the Court ruled that the Act may impose vicarious liability on a person or entity on whose behalf unsolicited fax ads were sent, regardless as to who actually sent the faxes.

In FDS Rest., Inc. v. All Plumbing, Inc., No. 16-CV-1009, 2020 D.C. App. LEXIS 111 (Mar. 26, 2020), FDS […]

By Matthew D. Berkowitz and Gabriela Chambi|2020-04-09T09:44:10-04:00March 31st, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: Class Certification, Telephone Consumer Protection Act|

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