Class Actions Brief Blog

Just before the holidays, Judge Norton considered the thorny issue of “cross-jurisdictional class action tolling” in a multidistrict litigation case involving allegedly defective windows. See Schwartz v. Pella Corp., No. 2:14-mn-00001, 2:14-cv-00556 (D.S.C. Dec. 18, 2014). As the name suggests, cross-jurisdictional class action tolling is an equitable doctrine that tolls the statute of limitations during the pendency of a class action in a different court. The principle of class action tolling was introduced forty years ago in American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 ...

The North Carolina Business Court today rebuffed an attempt by “self-pay” patients receiving emergency treatment to challenge the hospital’s charges on a class-wide basis. In Hefner et al. v. Mission Hospital Inc., et al., No. 12-CVS-3088 (N.C. Business Court Dec. 8, 2014), Judge Gale found that there “is a panoply of potential issues factoring into the ultimate questions of reasonableness [of patient charges] because every patient treated at Mission received different services and was billed for different amounts.” A key consideration in deciding whether to ...

Not every class action court filing in North and South Carolina becomes a full-length post on our blog. Here is a recap of November's filings:

Foster v. M5 Hospitality Group, LLC, No. 4:14-cv-04517 (D.S.C. Nov. 25, 2014) (alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and S.C. Payment of Wages Act for unpaid overtime and minimum wages based, in part, on alleged tip pool violations at the Good Time Charley’s restaurant in Myrtle Beach).

Di Biase v. SPX Corp., No. 3:14-cv-00656 (Nov. 25, 2014 W.D.N.C.) (alleging breach of settlement agreements and ERISA violations for announced ...