Class Action Playbook

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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 60 class action lawsuits against higher education institutions and many, many more are likely to come.

A review of many of these class actions provides a roadmap to the strategy and what is likely to be asserted against your institution if it has not already … Continue Reading

As you may know, most bloggers have some kind of service that provides a statistical analysis of their site. In addition to telling us how many of you visit, and what you read, and whether you come back, these services also tell us what searches bring (some of) you here. And, over the last year and change, there are certain searches that have recurred enough that I consider them "frequently asked questions." Here are four, with brief answers:

What is the definition of "bet the company" litigation? This is–at least to me–a surprisingly common question. My own … Continue Reading

Earlier this week, the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Richard Posner, granted an injunction to Sears under the All Writs Act to block a class action that had been filed in federal court in California. The opinion, Thorogood v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, it extends relief under the All Writs Act to defendants facing copycat class actions in other jurisdictions. Second, it does so in response to a plaintiff’s attempt to leverage a settlement using the threat of class-action discovery.

Steven Thorogood, the nominal plaintiff here, … Continue Reading