Earlier this year, we posted a three-part series on the Coronavirus and Class Action litigation (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of our Coronavirus and Class Action litigation series). More recently, and almost a month ago, we posted an article on class action waivers and arbitration. As luck would have
Does Continued Collection of The Same Biometric Information Increase BIPA Violations? The Seventh Circuit (or Illinois Supreme Court) Has An Opportunity to Clear the Air
On October 13. 2020, White Castle System, Inc. petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for permission to seek an interlocutory appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). This petition arises out of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ opinion on White Castle’s motion for judgment
Campus Conundrum: Defeating COVID-19 Class Actions in Higher Education
In response to governmental recommendations, stay-at-home orders, and shelter-in-place orders, colleges and universities transitioned to distance learning to keep their students, staff, visitors, and communities safe and healthy. Nonetheless, the plaintiffs’ bar has viewed this as an opportunity to pounce and even advertise to sue colleges and universities nationwide. Indeed, plaintiffs’ attorneys have filed over
The Tip of the Iceberg Emerges: Initial Wave of Class Actions Reflect How Private Causes of Action Will Add Significantly to Price Gouging Litigation
As pandemic response task forces at the federal and state levels ramp up price gouging investigations and enforcement actions across the country, civil plaintiffs attorneys have jumped to the forefront by utilizing private causes of action to file price gouging-based class action lawsuits against dozens of major retailers and food supply companies. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s prediction that the COVID-19 crisis will be the “biggest trial lawyer bonanza in history” appears to be taking shape, as the number of putative class action lawsuits targeting price spikes in products that span the consumer spectrum—including N95 masks, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, medical supplies, consumer food items and emergency department physician services—escalates daily during the current crisis. Notably, these lawsuits have attacked purported price gouging not just under existing price gouging statutes but also through an array of state laws, including consumer protection statutes, negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and common law unconscionability.
Continue Reading The Tip of the Iceberg Emerges: Initial Wave of Class Actions Reflect How Private Causes of Action Will Add Significantly to Price Gouging Litigation
Coronavirus Class Actions—Part Three—Analyzing the Latest COVID-19 Class Actions in Banking, Privacy, Higher Education and Securities Law
For those who haven’t previously been following, this is our third installment on COVID-19 class actions. The first installment was prospective and authored prior to any filed class actions. The second installment examined the first certified class and putative class actions filed in the mass tort and consumer spaces. In this installment, we discuss and
Coronavirus Class Actions—Part Two—A few weeks later
It has been a few weeks since we first posted about class actions and COVID-19. In that initial article, we analyzed the first coronavirus related lawsuit but were forced to prognosticate as to what an actual COVID-19 class action would look like as none had yet been filed, and how putative classes would attempt
Class Actions, Causation and the Coronavirus
As we were drafting this blog post, each of us was sitting in our home offices self-quarantined from the outside world doing our part to flatten-the-curve and keep COVID-19 germs at bay. The news about the coronavirus is changing by the second and along with it closings and edicts the likes of which most of
CFPB’s Proposed Arbitration Rule Prompts Thousands of Comments
Charlotte litigation and regulatory partner Joshua Davey provides an update on the many varied comments submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to the new rule it proposed in May prohibiting class action waivers in arbitration clauses.
Hat tip to our sibling blog, Subject to Inquiry, for such timely coverage.
Justice Scalia’s Death Could Affect Outcomes in Class Action Cases
Justice Scalia’s death has resulted in a predictable torrent of analyses of how his absence from the court will affect different facets of the law. Below is a trenchant analysis from McGuireWoods’s own Samantha Thompson, which originally appeared on the blog Subject to Inquiry.
Justice Scalia was a reliably consistent critic of federal