Class Actions Brief Blog

The nomination of Tenth Circuit Judge Neil M. Gorsuch for the Supreme Court has jurists and reporters forecasting how, if confirmed, he will rule in cases raising “hot” Constitutional issues. The “hot” question for those of us who litigate class actions is how Justice Gorsuch would engage the next landmark class action, especially since he would replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Court, author of two of the most significant class action opinions in recent years, Comcast Corp. v. Behrend and Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes.

We will be examining some of Judge Gorsuch’s ...

In this space, we concentrate on class action decisions in the Carolinas, as well as Fourth Circuit and United States Supreme Court precedent. Occasionally, though, we venture beyond these jurisdictions to highlight issues of particular note, including those where courts are divided. We’ve previously reported here how offers of judgment interact with mootness. In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, the United States Supreme Court held that an unaccepted settlement offer, even if it offers all relief sought in the case, does not render a case moot when the affected party seeks relief ...

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, recently introduced a bill that would make significant changes to federal class action litigation. The Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 (H.R. 985) states that it is intended to allow prompt recoveries to plaintiffs with legitimate claims and “diminish abuses in class action and mass tort litigation that are undermining the integrity of the U.S. legal system.”

In its current form, the draft bill would likely eclipse the 2005 passage of the Class Action Fairness Act as the most significant ...

Last week, we observed that the Supreme Court appeared to be waiting for a ninth justice to decide in an important case involving appealability of class action certification decisions. A news report today* indicates that the Supreme Court has also pushed out arguments concerning the enforceability of class action waivers. As we recently reported in this space, the Court had agreed in three cases to decide whether the NLRA prohibits employers from requiring non-management employees covered by the NLRA to arbitrate their work-related claims individually. For employers ...

About a year ago, the United States Supreme Court granted Microsoft’s petition to review this question: “Whether a federal court of appeals has jurisdiction under both Article III and 28 U.S.C. Section 1291 to review an order denying class certification after the named plaintiffs voluntarily dismiss their individual claims with prejudice.” Briefing in the case was completed last June, but the case has yet to appear in the calendar of the fourth sitting of the Supreme Court’s term, which began January 9, 2017. Although the reasons for the delay aren’t pellucid, this is an ...

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

Hieber v. The Asset Recovery Group, LLC, et al., No. 3:17-cv-00214 (D.S.C. January 24, 2017) (putative class action brought on behalf of consumers residing in South Carolina alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act).

Hart v. Barbeque Integrated., No. 2:17-cv-00227 (D.S.C. January 24, 2017) (collective and class action alleging defendant restaurant failed to pay tipped employees minimum wage and overtime compensation ...

On Friday, the United States Supreme Court granted three petitions for certiorari to determine a quickly developing circuit split. The question before the Court is whether the National Labor Relations Board is correct in its interpretation that class action waiver provisions in certain employment arbitration agreements are illegal under federal labor law. Since 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court permitted such waivers in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, employers have relied upon them to require that disputes be resolved through individual arbitration. The NLRB over the past ...

As we explained in Part 1 of our analysis of Fisher v. Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation, the North Carolina Supreme Court recently exercised jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal and affirmed the certification of a class of hundreds of thousands of current and former tobacco farmers. In the first part, we discussed the Court’s jurisdictional analysis and North Carolina’s unique approach to interlocutory appeals of class certification orders. In this post, we discuss the Court’s substantive analysis of the class certification issues.

The ...

Barchiesi, et. al. v. Charlotte School of Law, LLC, et. al., No. 3:16-cv-00861 (W.D.N.C. December 22, 2016) (putative class action against Charlotte School of Law for alleged false and misleading representations related to the school’s failure to provide current and prospective students with information about its noncompliance with ABA standards for accreditation).

Whitehead v. Lutheran Homes of South Carolina, Inc., No. 3:16-cv-03937 (D.S.C. December 16, 2016) (putative class action and purported collective action brought under FLSA and state wage and hour laws ...

In its last batch of opinions for 2016, the North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the certification of a class of more than 800,000 tobacco farmers in Fisher v. Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp. Because Fisher raises a number of interesting class certification issues, and because the North Carolina Supreme Court rarely issues opinions addressing North Carolina Rule 23, we are covering the decision in two parts. In this installment, we provide the background of the case and address the Court’s decision to accept jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal. In ...