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In general, a litigant cannot sue for another person’s injury. In that circumstance, the litigant has no “standing” to pursue those claims. But Rule 23 — at least in a…
On Aug. 18, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion in the long-running Marriott Data Breach MDL Litigation. The Fourth Circuit reversed a district…
Think about the last class-action notice that you received. You might have thought, “This is sweet. I didn’t know anything was wrong with my dog food, but I can get $50 if I just fill out this form.”There is a reason that we receive these mailings without having made a…
Limiting exposure to future claims is a crucial aspect of settling class action litigation. A recent opinion out of the Northern District of Georgia serves as a reminder that the definitions of settlement classes and released claims in class action settlement agreements warrant close attention. First, the background. In 2015,…
Since March of this year, at least four purported class action lawsuits have been filed against universities, their affiliated athletic organizations, and the alleged operators of their athletic team websites, Sidearm Sports LLC and Learfield Communications LLC. These cases allege that websites using Meta (Facebook) Pixel and other technology to…
Last month, the D.C. Circuit deepened a circuit split on the issue of fail-safe classes. The decision, In re White, 64 F.4th 302 (D.C. Cir. 2023), rejected a categorical rule against all fail-safe classes in favor of a case-by-case approach rooted in the text of the federal rules. With this…
Statutes defining minimum damages per violation, such as many consumer protection laws, often inspire class actions. Plaintiffs argue that certification of such classes is easier because they avoid issues of individualized damages. But in the aggregate, these damages can become immense. As a recent case from the Ninth Circuit shows,…
It is no secret that many businesses minimize risk by requiring arbitration of disputes on an individual basis. The exposure created by a single claim pales next to that presented by a class claim, asserted under Rule 23, on behalf of numerous individuals. To implement this mitigation strategy, businesses typically…
