Class Actions Brief Blog

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

Angeles-Gomez, et al. v. Rick Wolf Landscape, LLC, et al., No. 2:17-cv-00009 (E.D.N.C. March 31, 2017) (putative collective and class action brought under FLSA and state wage and hour laws by current and/or former employees of the defendant landscaping and lawn care business and its managing members for alleged unpaid overtime compensation).

Isaman, et al. v. Housekeeping Services of Hilton Head, LLC, et al., No. 9:17-cv-00800 (D.S.C. March 26 ...

Occasionally, we see something outside of the Carolinas that is quirky enough to merit a mention in this space.  Such is the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Mulvania v. Sheriff of Rock Island County, No. 16-1711 (7^th Cir. Mar. 9, 2017).  According to Wikipedia, “In 2015 Rock Island (Illinois) was ranked the 32nd ‘Best Small City’ in the country.”  Not influencing those rankings, apparently, was the policy of the Rock Island County Jail, which “requires female detainees to wear either white underwear or no underwear at all.”  What, you ask, might be the “compelling ...

Dish Network has asked the Middle District of North Carolina for a new trial in its telemarketing class action lawsuit after a jury found Dish liable for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. After a five-day trial ending on January 19th, a jury awarded damages to the class of $20.5 million.

The lawsuit was filed in 2014 by lead plaintiff Thomas Krakauer alleging Satellite Systems Network, an authorized Dish dealer, called him multiple times between 2009 and 2011 despite being listed on the Do Not Call registry. In September 2015, Judge Catherine Eagles certified two ...

Largely following party lines, the House of Representatives on March 9, 2017, passed H.R. 985: Fairness in Class Action Act of 2017, which we highlighted in this space. One central feature of this bill, which we noted, is an appeal as of right of class certification decisions. This provision represents a radical departure from current practice, in which discretionary appeals are infrequently granted to the U.S. Courts of Appeal. A study done several years ago, which looked at seven years of filings, concluded that less than one quarter of such appeals are granted.

As we have ...

Today we continue our analysis of Judge Gorsuch’s class action opinions from the Tenth Circuit in an effort to better understand how he may rule if confirmed for the Supreme Court. Last week, we examined Judge Gorsuch’s decision in Shook v. Board of County Commissioners, and we will take up his remaining class action opinions below.

McClendon v. City of Albuquerque, 630 F.3d 1288 (10th Cir. 2011)

In McClendon v. City of Albuquerque, decided three years after Shook, Judge Gorsuch again demonstrates judicial restraint. In McClendon, prisoners brought a class action against the ...