Court Nixes Class Settlement Approval for Lack of Representatives’ Standing to Seek Key Injunctive Relief
Posted on Apr 28, 2023 in Class Actions | Comments Off on Court Nixes Class Settlement Approval for Lack of Representatives’ Standing to Seek Key Injunctive Relief
The Eleventh Circuit recently vacated approval of a class settlement which included, as an integral part, injunctive relief that no class representative had Article III standing to seek. Williams v. Reckitt Benckiser LLC, 2023 WL 2906311 (11th Cir. Apr. 12, 2023), was brought on behalf of a class of individuals who purchased “brain performance supplements” under the brand name Neuriva....
No Heightened Duty Owed to Class Representatives by Class Counsel
Posted on Dec 31, 2020 in Class Actions | Comments Off on No Heightened Duty Owed to Class Representatives by Class Counsel
Counsel for a proposed class do not owe the named class representatives a heightened fiduciary duty relative to other class members. So held the Eleventh Circuit in Medical & Chiropractic Clinic, Inc. v. Oppenheim, 981 F.3d 983 (11th Cir. 2020), a decision which marked the court’s return to an unseemly controversy stemming from litigation against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alleging...
Eleventh Circuit Joins Majority of Circuits in Holding That FAA Prohibits Pre-Hearing Discovery From Non-Parties
Posted on Oct 1, 2019 in Arbitration | Comments Off on Eleventh Circuit Joins Majority of Circuits in Holding That FAA Prohibits Pre-Hearing Discovery From Non-Parties
After twenty years of litigation in Managed Care Advisory Group, LLC v. Cigna Healthcare, Inc., 2019 WL 4464301 (Sept. 18, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion reversing the enforcement of arbitral summonses and holding that the FAA implicitly withholds the power to compel documents from non-parties without summoning them to testify. Beginning in 1999, medical...
No Multiplier for Home Depot Class Action Lodestar Fee Award
Posted on Jul 29, 2019 in Class Actions | Comments Off on No Multiplier for Home Depot Class Action Lodestar Fee Award
In a class action settlement, one of the most difficult issues for negotiation is often how—and how much—class counsel will be paid. In many cases, a cap on the fee is negotiated: the defendant agrees not to object to a fee application within the cap, which can be a percentage of the so-called “common fund” received by the class in the settlement, or a fixed amount. Less common is...
SCOTUS Business Cases This Term (Part 1 – Class Actions)
Posted on Oct 8, 2018 in Class Actions, Court News | Comments Off on SCOTUS Business Cases This Term (Part 1 – Class Actions)
The Supreme Court’s October term is underway, and the Court has before it several class-action cases. Frank v. Gaos concerns the permissibility of cy pres relief in class action settlements; Home Depot v. Jackson the ability of a defendant in the original action to remove the action under CAFA; and Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert the availability of equitable exceptions to the...