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Posts published in “Class Actions”

Class Actions

9th Cir. Holds CAFA Amount in Controversy Includes Future Attorney’s Fees Incurred After Removal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently reversed a trial court’s order remanding a putative class action lawsuit to state court on the ground that the defendant removing party failed to prove that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million, as required for jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that the amount in controversy for jurisdiction under CAFA includes all attorney’s fees that the plaintiff would be entitled to under a contract or statute, including future fees incurred after the date of removal. A link to the opinion…

9th Cir. Holds FDCPA Plaintiff Must Prove Defendant’s Net Worth

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that the plaintiff carries the burden of proving the debt collector’s net worth to obtain statutory damages in a class action under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq. A copy of the opinion in Tourgeman v. Nelson & Kennard is available at:  Link to Opinion. A consumer financed the purchase of a computer through an installment loan.  When the consumer defaulted, the creditor charged off the account and sold the debt to a third party. The third party referred the account to a law…

8th Cir. Holds TCPA Plaintiff Lacked Standing, but Case Should Be Remanded Not Dismissed With Prejudice

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a plaintiff lacked standing to pursue an alleged violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) against a defendant that supposedly did not provide a proper opt-out notice in its advertisement faxes because the plaintiff invited and did not rebuke the faxes, and the faxes did not cause the concrete harm required to establish Article III jurisdiction. Separately, the Eighth Circuit reversed the dismissal with prejudice in this removed case, holding that the proper remedy when no case or controversy exists was to return the matter to the state…

7th Cir. Rules Class Settlements Do Not Bar Objector’s Fees Without Express Agreement

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that, unless the parties to a class action settlement agreement expressly agree otherwise, class settlement agreements should not be read to bar objectors from requesting fees for their efforts in adding value to a settlement. Because the Court determined that the objector did add value to the settlement, it reversed the ruling of the trial court denying the objector’s motion for fees and an incentive award. A copy of the opinion in Markow v. Southwest Airlines Co. is available at:  Link to Opinion. Class action counsel settled a class action…

4th Cir. Holds Data Breach Victims Have Standing When Fraudulent Accounts Opened

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently vacated a judgment of dismissal in consolidated class actions arising from a data breach of personal information, holding that the plaintiffs had standing to sue because fraudulent credit cards were actually opened in the victims’ names. In so ruling, the Court distinguished its 2017 ruling in Beck v. McDonald, which held “a mere compromise of personal information, without more, fails to satisfy the injury-in-fact element in the absence of an identity theft.” A copy of the opinion in Rhonda Hutton v. National Board of Examiners is available at:  Link to…

3rd Cir. Holds ATDS Must Have ‘Present Capacity’ to Autodial, Follows ACA Int’l

Following the D.C. Circuit’s ruling in ACA Int’l v. FCC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently held that an “automatic telephone dialing system” under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act must have the present or current capacity to store or produce telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator, and to dial those numbers. A copy of the opinion in Bill Dominguez v. Yahoo, Inc. is available at:  Link to Opinion.  The plaintiff purchased a cellphone with a reassigned telephone number.  The prior owner of the number subscribed to an email service provider’s “Email SMS Service,”…

9th Cir. Rejects ID Theft Putative Class Action for Lack of Spokeo Standing

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that a plaintiff did not allege Article III standing for her claim under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) where there were no specific factual allegations plausibly tying the inclusion of her debit card expiration date on her receipt to her alleged identity theft. Moreover, the Court held, leave to amend would be futile because this action against the National Park Service was barred by sovereign immunity. Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the ruling of the district court dismissing the complaint. A copy of the opinion in Daniel…

SCOTUS Holds American Pipe Tolling Does Not Apply to Subsequent Class Claims

The Supreme Court of the United States recently reversed a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and clarified that American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974), does not toll a subsequent class action after the statute of limitations expires. A copy of the opinion in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh is available at:  Link to Opinion. As you may recall, American Pipe first stated the tolling rule that timely filing a class action “tolls the applicable statute of limitations for all persons encompassed by the class complaint.”  Thus, under American Pipe, where a court…

9th Cir. Rejects FCRA Putative Class Action Relating to Short Sale Credit Reporting

In a putative class action alleging violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that: (1) the credit reporting agency’s reporting of short sales was not inaccurate or misleading, even though it knew that a government sponsored enterprise misinterpreted its short sale code as a foreclosure, because FCRA does not make credit reporting agencies liable for the conduct of its subscribers; (2) the credit reporting agency’s consumer disclosures were clear and accurate, and 15 U.S.C. § 1681g did not require the credit reporting agency to disclose its proprietary codes…

7th Cir. Rejects Banks’ Data Breach Claims of Negligence, UDAP Against Retailer

In a data breach putative class action brought by financial institutions against a retail grocery store chain, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that the economic loss doctrine prevented recovery of economic losses in tort cases. Although the financial institutions had no direct contractual relationship with the retail grocery store chain, the Seventh Circuit noted that the banks and the merchant all participated in a network of contracts that tied together all the participants in the card payment system. In so ruling, the Seventh Circuit joined the Third and First Circuits in rejecting negligence theory…

ND Indiana Grants Class Cert. Over Objections as to Standing, Commonality of Injury, ‘Consumer’ Debt

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana recently concluded that the objective “unsophisticated consumer” standard applicable in the Seventh Circuit for whether there was a material misrepresentation under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) parallels the commonality requirement for class certification under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a). In addition, the District Court concluded that receiving a false and misleading dunning letter from a debt collector, as the plaintiff alleged, establishes an injury in fact to the plaintiff.  According to the Court, even though the injury was intangible, it was concrete and particularized, thus establishing the…

7th Cir. Remands Putative Class Action to State Court for Lack of Spokeo Standing

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that a putative class action alleging violations of the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) could not be removed to federal court because the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing, which deprived the federal trial court of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Seventh Circuit remanded the case to the federal trial court with instructions to return the case to state court. A copy of the opinion in Kathryn Collier v. SP Plus Corporation is available at:  Link to Opinion. The lead plaintiffs filed a class action complaint in Illinois…