The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s approval of a proposed class settlement in an action arising from a mortgage loan servicer’s practice of automatically ordering and charging for drive-by property inspections on delinquent borrowers, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion. In so ruling, the Court also affirmed the trial court’s denial of a borrower’s motion to join a trespass claim to the putative class action. A copy of the opinion in Kenneth Njema v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is available at: Link to Opinion. In 2008, four borrowers…
Posts published in “Class Actions”
Class Actions
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that although a consumer’s suit against a cable service provider for failing to destroy his personal information was a substantive violation of the federal Cable Communications Policy Act, it failed to allege a concrete injury sufficient to confer standing.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that class action plaintiffs are not required to demonstrate that there is an administratively feasible way to determine who is in a class in order for the class to be certified. In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit noted that the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits have similarly ruled. See Sandusky Wellness Ctr., LLC v. Medtox Sci., Inc., 821 F.3d 992, 995–96 (8th Cir. 2016); Rikos v. Procter & Gamble Co., 799 F.3d 497, 525 (6th Cir. 2015); Mullins v. Direct Digital, LLC, 795 F.3d 654, 658 (7th Cir. 2015),…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s denial of class certification and dismissal of consolidated complaints alleging that a mortgage lender violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending “junk faxes” to businesses without their consent or a pre-existing business relationship. In so ruling, the Court held: (a) the mere mention of a defense is not enough to defeat the predominance requirement under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3); and (b) an unaccepted settlement offer or offer of judgment does not moot a plaintiff’s case. A copy of the opinion in Bridging…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently held that federal courts that have original subject matter jurisdiction over state law claims under the federal Class Action Fairness Act retain that jurisdiction even when the class claims are dismissed before the class is certified.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held in a non-precedential opinion that a consumer, in the circumstances of this case, did not have standing to bring putative class action claims after entry of judgment in his favor on his individual claims pursuant to the defendants’ offer of judgment under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently rejected a putative class action against a mortgagee based on the alleged late recording of satisfactions of mortgage in supposed violation of New York law.
The U.S. District Court of the Central District of California recently dismissed a borrower's putative class action complaint against a non-bank that supposedly was the "true lender" for allegedly usurious student loans that were extended in the name of a bank.
In an unpublished ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently reversed the dismissal of consolidated class actions arising from a data breach, holding that the plaintiffs had Article III standing to pursue certain tort claims and that the district court had erred in dismissing a federal Fair Credit Reporting Act claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. A copy of the opinion in Galaria v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiffs brought class actions against an insurance company alleging violations of the FCRA and common law tort claims for invasion of…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently held that a businessowners insurance policy did not cover a class action judgment that arose out of unsolicited advertisement communications in violation of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. A copy of the opinion in Auto-Owners Insurance Company v. Stevens & Ricci Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. A business was solicited by an advertiser who claimed to have a fax advertising program that complied with the TCPA, 47 U.S.C. § 227. The business allowed the advertiser to fax thousands of advertisements to potential customers on its behalf. Six years later, a…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently affirmed a denial of class certification, holding that the plaintiffs’ theory was insufficiently supported by class-wide evidence to demonstrate the fact of damages whether on the issues of “ascertainable loss” or “causal relationship,” and failed to establish that common questions would predominate over individual questions. A copy of the opinion in Harnish v. Widener Univ. Sch. of Law is available at: Link to Opinion. A group of former law students filed a class action against their law school, alleging that the school violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (NJCFA) and…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently held that plaintiff’s class counsel is allowed to submit proposals to the court regarding the method for calculation of reasonable attorney’s fees, but the court has the discretion to accept or reject such proposals and is not required to accept the plaintiff’s proposed method. In so ruling, the Court also held that the Class Action Fairness Act’s “coupon settlement” provisions at 28 U.S.C. § 1712 permit a district court to use a combination of percentage-of-coupons-used and lodestar methods to calculate reasonable attorney’s fees, but CAFA does not require that any portion…