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…
Posts published in “Class Actions”
Class Actions
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that the minor child of a credit card account holder was not bound by the arbitration clause in the cardholder agreement because she did not become an authorized user of the account by using the credit card. The Seventh Circuit also held that the doctrine of estoppel did not bind the minor to the arbitration clause because the minor did not “directly benefit” from her parent’s use of the credit card. A copy of the opinion in AD v. Credit One Bank, NA is available at: Link to Opinion. In…
In a data breach putative class action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged Article III standing based on an alleged “increased risk of future identity theft.” In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit rejected the defendant’s argument that Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, 568 U.S. 398 (2013), in which the Supreme Court of the United States held “an objectively reasonable likelihood” of injury was insufficient to confer standing, required dismissal. A copy of the opinion in In re Zappos.com is available at: Link to Opinion. In January 2012, hackers breached the servers of…
The day before the Second Circuit shut down reverse-Avila claims with its decision in Taylor v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed an FDCPA Avila claim involving potential future fees and costs in Derosa v. Computer Credit, Inc. A copy of the opinion is available at: Link to Opinion. This recent chapter in the post-Avila saga involves a consumer who incurred a small hospital debt. A collector sent a letter that used the words “PAST DUE AMOUNT: $174.15” to inform the consumer of the balance. The letter contained no mention of interest, fees,…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that the National Bank Act (NBA) did not preempt California’s state escrow interest law, which requires financial institutions to pay at least 2 percent simple interest per annum on escrow account funds. In so ruling, the Court also held that the federal Truth in Lending Act provisions for escrow accounts, at 15 U.S.C. § 1639d, did not apply to loans originated before the 2013 effective date of the provisions. A copy of the opinion in Lusnak v. Bank of America is available at: Link to Opinion. In July 2008, the…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a consumer’s putative class action alleging willful violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for lack of standing under Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016). In so ruling, the Court held that merely printing a credit card receipt without redacting the card’s full expiration date did not allege the concrete injury required, where no second receipt existed, the consumer did not lose the receipt, nobody stole the receipt, and nobody stole the consumer’s identity. A copy of the opinion in Bassett…
The California Supreme Court recently held that unnamed class members do not become parties of record under Cal. Code of Civil Procedure section 902, with the right to appeal the class settlement, judgment or attorney fees award, unless they formally intervene in the class litigation before the action is final. A copy of the opinion in Hernandez v. Restoration Hardware, Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. In 2008, the plaintiff filed a class action law suit against the defendant, alleging the furniture company committed numerous violations of the California Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 1747, et seq.,…
The California Court of Appeal for the First District recently affirmed an order denying class certification because the plaintiff did not present evidence to demonstrate how putative class members can be identified from the defendant’s records. A copy of the opinion in Noel v. Thrifty Payless, Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. In July 2013, the plaintiff purchased an inflatable kids pool from a retail vendor. The plaintiff based his decision to purchase the pool on the pool’s packaging, which showed a photograph of a group of three adults and two children sitting and playing in the pool. The plaintiff…
The California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District recently affirmed an order denying class certification in a declaratory relief action because the plaintiff failed to establish ascertainability, predominance and superiority. In so ruling, the Appellate Court held that California Code of Civil Procedure section 382 did not have an equivalent to Rule 23(b)(1)(A) or (b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and that the federal rule provided less onerous requirements for declaratory or injunctive relief actions than for damages. A copy of the opinion in Hefczyc v. Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego is available at: Link to Opinion. In November…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a trial court’s judgment in favor of several lender defendants in a putative TCPA class action, ruling that the defendants could not be vicariously liable under the TCPA for a promoter’s text messages because the promoter was either not the defendants’ agent or the defendants did not have knowledge concerning material facts about the agent’s unlawful activities. In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that mere knowledge that an agent is engaged in an otherwise commonplace marketing activity, such as text message marketing, would not lead a reasonable person…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed the entry of judgment on the pleadings against the plaintiff in a putative class action alleging that a text message sent by a third party on behalf of a hospital reminding the plaintiff about a flu shot violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), holding that the plaintiff provided his prior express consent to receive such messages in a hospital admission form. A copy of the opinion in Latner v. Mt. Sinai Health System, Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiff went to a medical clinic owned by a…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that distributing all of a company’s cash to its owners after a class action settlement was reached but before the court’s order to pay became final, thus leaving the company without the ability to pay class counsel’s fees or administration costs as required under the settlement agreement, did not constitute contempt. The trial court had originally determined that the distribution of the money constituted contempt because the defendant had knowingly violated the court’s order to pay class counsel’s fees. The Sixth Circuit, however, concluded that a finding of contempt is limited to…