The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision recently in Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, Inc. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC (“Olean Wholesale”), confirming that district courts must rigorously examine competing expert evidence when determining whether the requirements of class certification have been satisfied.
In Olean Wholesale, litigation related…
On March 30, 2021, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Transunion LLC v. Ramirez, No. 20-297, a case that could have far-reaching implications on absent class member standing, particularly where the injuries of these absent class members would be impossible or difficult to establish. The Court agreed to address whether Article III or Rule 23 permits a damages class action where the vast majority of the class suffered no actual injury, let alone an injury like what the class representative suffered.
Continue Reading Will No-Injury Class Actions Have Any Leg to Stand on? U.S. Supreme Court Hears Argument in TransUnion v. Ramirez
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…
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…
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
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…
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…
