Class Actions Brief Blog

Funds from a class action settlement are generally distributed to class members. But in some cases, not all funds are claimed. In others, it may not even be possible or practical to distribute any funds to individual class members. A “cy pres” distribution is one way of dealing with this issue. The concept comes from trust law and means “as near as possible.” The goal of a cy pres settlement is to distribute funds in a way that indirectly benefits the class members.

Last fall, the issue of “cy pres” settlements got some press when Chief Justice Robert issued a warning note about ...

Family Dollar, a national discount store retailer based in Charlotte, was sued by a putative class of female store managers alleging gender discrimination in pay in the Western District of North Carolina. In January 2012, Judge Cogburn dismissed the class claims, holding that they weren’t viable under Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011). His ruling was consistent with plaintiffs’ own declaration earlier in the case: they said their claims were “virtually identical” to those in the Wal-Mart case after the Ninth Circuit’s favorable decision (but before ...

The Supreme Court’s articulation of the “new” commonality standard – that class members must suffer the same injury – in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011), doomed plaintiffs attempts to certify a class of South Carolinians challenging the practices of Liberty Tax franchisees with their customers. In Martin v. JTH Tax, Inc. (D.S.C. 2013), Judge Norton denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, noting that “the varying factual scenarios between putative class members,” as well as “the requisite inquiries about the alleged ...