Massachusetts has seen a small uptick in class actions in the last eighteen months, particularly ones that cite Mass Gen. Law Ch. 93A, Masschusetts’s consumer protection law. David G. Thomas, James P. Ponsetto, and Michael E. Pastore of Greenberg Traurig have an explanation. In their Law360 article Behind The Class Action Surge Against
Karlsgodt on Statutory Class Actions
Paul Karlsgodt (of the longstanding and outstanding Class Action Blawg) has published an article with the University of Denver Law Review’s Online Edition: Statutory Penalties and Class Actions: Social Justice or Legalized Extortion? Statutory Penalties is an excellent introduction to the problem of defending class actions based on statutory violations, and Karlsgodt’s focus on…
When Does a Class-Action Settlement Become Binding?
Classwide settlements are different from regular settlements in a few important ways. Most notably, they require approval from the court, which must ensure that the settlement is "fair, reasonable, and adequate." That extra step raises an important question, when does a classwide settlement bind the parties: when it’s signed, or when it’s approved? Earlier this…
Ascertainability – Grimes v. Rave Motion Pictures
In the summer of 2007, Julie Grimes went to the movies. And, presumably to avoid the line at the box-office register, she used the self-service kiosk. But when she looked at her receipt, she noticed that the machine had printed more than the last five digits of her credit card. For most patrons, this would…