Class Actions Brief Blog

This blog often focuses on traditional, opt-out class actions brought under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, but there is another common form of mass action: collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. More than 5,000 collective action lawsuits are filed each year under the FLSA and ADEA, making those claims among the most popular forms of mass action and worthy of continued attention.

The FLSA and ADEA allow for aggregate litigation by providing that claims can be brought by employees on behalf of themselves and “other ...

As class action litigation under ERISA continues its upward trend across the country, could Article III standing serve as a means through which a Court can fairly assess claims before costly discovery is imposed on defendants and judicial resources are expended? Several recent federal court decisions suggest as much.

ERISA, which provides protection to employees who participate in employee benefit plans, confers statutory standing on plan participants and beneficiaries to seek relief against their benefit plans as well as fiduciaries of these plans in federal court. Although ...

This post concerns a recurring topic in class-action practice: how a party—through its own litigation conduct—can waive its right to arbitrate.

The topic warrants attention, or at least came to our attention, because of a recent decision from a federal appellate court. The case, called Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., is a putative nationwide collective action filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The defendant (Sundance) owns Taco Bell franchises in multiple states. The plaintiff (Robyn Morgan) worked at a Sundance restaurant in Iowa. She has accused Sundance of not paying her ...

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 ...

Particularly with the Supreme Court’s denial of cert in Whirlpool v. Glazer, U.S., No. 13-431, cert. denied 2/24/14, “issue certification” itself remains an unresolved issue. In Whirlpool, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order granting class certification of claims for breach of warranty, negligent design, and negligent failure to warn under Ohio law for Whirlpool’s front-load washing machines. Whirlpool argued that class certification was improper because individual issues of liability and damages predominated with respect to the action as a ...

In Mitchell v. Smithfield Packing Co. Inc., No. 4:08-CV-182, 2013 WL 3819935 (E.D.N.C. July 23, 2013), Magistrate Judge Gates had to decide how to deal with putative class counsel who were having trouble communicating: “Communications between [co-counsel] appear to have completely broken down, and the court cannot envision any scenario in which they could continue to work together.” In the face of this, the Court had to choose which counsel to appoint as sole class counsel under Rule 23(g). Rule 23(g)(2) provides that “[i]f more than one adequate applicant seeks ...