Class Actions Brief Blog

Today we provide you with an update on a previous blog post addressing Dish Network’s plea for a new trial after a jury awarded damages of $20.5 Million in a telemarketing class action lawsuit. After a five-day trial in January, a jury awarded damages by assigning $400.00 to each of the 51,119 distinct phone calls made in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the “TCPA”).

Although Dish hoped for a new trial, Judge Eagles issued a text order denying Dish’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law and Motion for a New Trial on May 16, 2017.

After the jury verdict, both ...

Class actions don’t work if the class representative has a conflict with the class he or she purportedly represents. As the United States Supreme Court noted over 70 years ago, “a selection of representatives for purposes of litigation, whose substantial interests are not necessarily or even probably the same as those whom they are deemed to represent, does not afford that protection to absent parties which due process requires.” Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32, 45 (1940). A decision this week from Judge Higginson out of the Fifth Circuit provides an interesting commentary on ...

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

Sanda, et al. v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., et al., No. 6:17-cv-00988 (D.S.C. April 17, 2017) (putative class action brought under federal and various state consumer protection laws alleging defendants manufactured defective home washing machines that caused damage during normal usage and additionally had a flawed recall of this product.)

Krebs, et al. v. Charlotte School of Law, LLC, et al., (originally filed in M.D.N.C. on December ...