U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Agreements Barring Employment Class Actions
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion, held that an employer and its employees may agree to arbitrate claims on an individual, not a class-wide basis. Epic Systems Corp. v Lewis,...
View ArticleChina Agritech and Tolling in CAFA Cases
Updated 6-11-18: The Supreme Court’s decision earlier today in China Agritech confirms the validity of the observations in the original blog post below. The Court held that American Pipe tolling does...
View ArticleNo Laughing Matter – Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(f)’s Deadline for Filing Petitions...
After a lively oral argument interrupted eight times by laughter, a unanimous Supreme Court reached a serious holding in Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert, No. 17-1094 (Feb. 26, 2019): that Fed. R. Civ....
View ArticleSupreme Court, over Thomas Dissent, Dodges Cy Pres Mechanism in Class Settlement
Last year in this space, we reported on the continuing debate concerning the use of cy pres awards in class action settlements. Since 2013, Chief Justice Roberts has provided cautionary comments about...
View ArticleSupreme Court Requires Unambiguous Consent to Class Arbitration
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court held in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, No. 17-988 (April 24, 2019) that an ambiguous agreement cannot authorize class arbitration. The 5-4 decision split along...
View ArticleSpecific Personal Jurisdiction in Federal Class Actions: The Wait Continues
Last month, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in a case that would determine whether the Court’s 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California would extend to federal...
View ArticleWhat should be required to show that a party waived its right to arbitrate?
This post concerns a recurring topic in class-action practice: how a party—through its own litigation conduct—can waive its right to arbitrate. The topic warrants attention, or at least came to our...
View ArticleWhen can class members recover for non-traditional harms?
At oral argument in TransUnion, LLC v. Ramirez, TransUnion’s counsel told the U.S. Supreme Court that a lack of harm is a reason “to break out the champagne, not to break out a lawsuit.” The Court has...
View ArticleIn ERISA Class Actions, Defendants Should Take a Close Look At Whether...
As class action litigation under ERISA continues its upward trend across the country, could Article III standing serve as a means through which a Court can fairly assess claims before costly discovery...
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