Class Actions Brief Blog

A recent Fourth Circuit decision extends the trend of cases refusing to use federal statutes to invalidate arbitration agreements waiving the right to bring class claims in federal court.

The statute at issue in Espin v. Citibank N.A., 126 F.4th 1010 (4th Cir. 2025)—the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”)—provides special legal protections to active-duty members of the military, including a cap on the interest rate they may be charged on credit cards. The plaintiffs were former servicemembers who alleged that Citibank violated SCRA by charging them market-rate ...

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) gives the court of appeals discretion to review a narrow class of interlocutory orders: those granting or denying class certification. But it is sometimes possible for other orders to come along for the ride, as demonstrated by the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in Elegant Massage LLC v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 95 F.4th 181 (4th Cir. 2024). The court’s use of pendent appellate jurisdiction could expand the opportunities for interlocutory review of merits-related rulings in class action litigation.

A Class for ...

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, however, the Constitution places outer limits on the damages available in these class actions.

Due Process Limits on Aggregate Statutory Damages

Wakefield v. ViSalus Inc., 51 F.4th 1109 (9th Cir. 2022) involved a class action under the Telephone ...

Bankruptcy, like the class action, is a form of collective adjudication. It is usually regarded as an alternative to the class action, in which the rights of creditors (often in the hundreds, thousands, or even millions) against one or more debtors can be determined through special procedures that need not meet the requirements for class certification.

A recent decision, however, posed a variation on the traditional dichotomy: is the class action a viable remedy for redressing alleged violations of bankruptcy law by classes of debtors?

Putative Class Alleging Discharge ...

The Second Circuit has observed that “[t]he [trial] judge [in a class action] should not regard himself as an umpire in typical adversary litigation. He sits also as a guardian for class members who have not received a notice or who lack the intellectual or financial resources to press objections.” Weinberger v. Kendrick, 698 F.2d 61, 69 n.10 (2d Cir. 1982). And this role is transparently on display when it comes to approving settlements, which is the court’s responsibility under Rule 23(e). Recent decisions in other circuits emphasize, particularly after Wal-Mart, that a ...