Class Action

Class Actions Make America Great

Posted on April 24, 2009
In the entertaining Free Refills and Why I Love America, Ann Arbor, Michigan blogger Wally has listed class actions as the number #11 best thing about living in the U.S., just behind the Super Big Gulp. Class action-philes might feel a bit slighted about not making the top 10, but at least we got a mention!  Wally’s colorful description of [...

Supreme Court Case Combines Issues of Education, Federalism, Separation of Powers, and Politics

Posted on April 21, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument Monday in a Horne v. Flores, a case that originated as a class action against the State of Arizona for insufficient funding of education for non-native-English speaking students.  For a report on the oral argument, see this AP article...

PWC Issues Annual Securities Class Action Report

Posted on April 16, 2009
PriceWaterhouseCoopers has published its 13th annual report on trends in private securities class actions.  The 2008 report offers a variety of statistics, trends, and insights into securities class action litigation from the past year.  Some of the statistical highlights include an overall increase in filings but a decrease in the number and amount of settlements...

American Lawyer: Trend in Subprime Securities Dismissals

Posted on April 15, 2009
No time for extended entry this evening, but here’s a link to a tidbit from Andrew Longstreth of the American Lawyer (via Law.com) discussing a possible trend in the federal courts ruling on motions to dismiss subprime-related securities class actions for failure by the plaintiffs to meet the scienter requirements under Tellabs...

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LSI?s Litigating Class Actions Conference to Be Held in Seattle on May 7 and 8

Posted on April 09, 2009
I got an email the other day about LSI’s 5th Annual Litigating Class Actions conference.  I’ve been to this seminar in the past and thought it was very well done.  I can’t make it this year, but for anyone interested I thought I’d pass along the details: Litigating Class Actions - 5th Annual Conference May 7 & 8, 2009 Seattle, [...

?Class Actions in Canada?: the Source for Class Actions in Canada

Posted on April 09, 2009
The loyal reader will note that ClassActionBlawg covers class action trends in other parts of the world, including Canada.  But since I live about 1000 miles (or 1609.344 km) from Canada, and certainly have no license to practice law there, you have to take anything I say about trends in Canadian law with a huge grain of salt...

Can You Just ?Double it and Add 30? to Get to a Reasonable Fee Award?

Posted on April 08, 2009
According to SCOTUS Blog, the ABA Journal, and other sources (see the citations within Debra Cassens Weiss’s ABA Journal article), the U.S. Supreme Court has accepted certiorari in Perdue v. Kenny A., et al., Case No. 08-970.  The appeal involves an attorneys fee award to attorneys who successfully prosecuted a class action on behalf of thousands of foster children in Georgia’s [...

Judicial Council of California Report on Class Action Trends Released

Posted on April 08, 2009
Hilary Hehman, Senior Research Analyst, Office of Court Research, Judicial Council of California, offered the following comment today, which deserves its own entry: The Judicial Council of California just released the first in a series of reports detailing the findings of a study of class action litigation in California state courts...

Supreme Court of Canada Deals Setback to Nationwide Class Action Settlements

Posted on April 07, 2009
A colleague tipped me off today to the Supreme Court of Canada’s April 2 decision in Canada Post Corp. v. Lépine, 2009 SCC 16.  In that case, Canada’s high court upheld a lower court decision limiting the reach of a settlement class action filed in Ontario, purportedly on behalf of all residents of Canada other than residents [...

Could U.S. Deep Pockets Be Key to Expansion of Collective Actions in China?

Posted on April 03, 2009
ConsumerAffairs.com issued this report Tuesday about a “class action” lawsuit being considered in China against an American manufacturer for importing allegedly contaminated shampoo products into that country.  Recent attempts by Chinese litigants to seek a collective civil remedy in the Chinese courts against government-controlled Chinese companies for manufacturing allegedly tainted baby formula have met with serious government resistance (see various [...

Does Class Action Spell Doom for Pico-Blogging?

Posted on April 02, 2009
The newest Internet craze, “pico-blogging” may be over as soon as it started.  Lawyers representing two users of the popular pico-blogging site, www.a.com, filed a class action Wednesday accusing the site’s owners of fraud, copyright infringement, violations of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, loss of consortium, and a variety of other legal transgressions...

CAB Showcase on Class Action-Related Print Materials

Posted on April 01, 2009
I finally found a few moments the other day to organize the teetering stack of professional journals, magazines, and flyers that had been piling up in my inbox.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the most recent issue of the ABA Commercial & Business Litigation section’s Winter newsletter is a collection of articles focusing on [...

Class Certification Means ?Everything? for Baltimore Arrestees

Posted on March 24, 2009
According to Tricia Bishop of the Baltimore Sun, a U.S. District Court Judge has certified a class of people who allegedly have been subject to being detained and strip-searched by officials in Baltimore’s Central Booking and Intake Center.  Bishop quotes the attorney for the class, William Claiborne, as saying that the decision means “everything” to arrestees because [...

Securities Class Actions on the Rise in Australia?

Posted on March 19, 2009
An article by Karina Barrymore published March 16, 2009 in heraldsun.com offers some interesting insights into trends in securities class action litigation in Australia.  The article discusses the impact of the poor economy and the increasing interplay between securities regulators, plaintiffs’ firms, and litigation funders in fostering an environment ripe for securities class actions...

Where?d CABWR Go?!

Posted on March 16, 2009
A perfect storm of work, family, and other professional obligations have left me with less time than I would like to dedicate to this blog, so I’ve had to give up the Class Action Blogosphere Weekly Review columns for the short term.  Hopefully CABWR will be back this summer...

Forbes: Market Downturn Hasn?t Boosted Securities Class Action Business

Posted on March 15, 2009
Forbes.com published an insightful article on March 11, 2009 discussing trends in securities class action lawsuits.  Citing statistics from the Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, the article discusses various factors that may explain why the total amount of securities class action settlements has fallen from $16...

Want to Cash in on the Next Class Action Settlement? Save Those Receipts

Posted on March 03, 2009

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Report Offers Nice Summary of Class Action Trends from 2008

Posted on February 27, 2009

Strong Article on International Class Arbitration

Posted on February 24, 2009
Many thanks to University of Missouri Law Professor Stacie I. Strong for the following tip about her article on international class arbitration.  If you’re interested in developments in either class arbitration or international class action law, this article is a must read: Your readers may be interested in an article on international class arbitration that was [...

Legislator Says Interlocutory Appeals of Class Certification Orders Key to California Economic Recovery

Posted on February 19, 2009
According to the Daily Pilot and the California Chronicle, a California lawmaker has introduced a bill, AB 298, to allow defendants to file interlocutory appeals of class certification decisions.  The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Van Tran, has authored a guest blog post on The California Civil Justice Blog explaining the objectives behind the bill, which include helping [...

Could Korean Serial Killer Class Action Be Worth Billions?

Posted on February 17, 2009
According to South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, families of five victims have filed a “class-action” against a confessed serial killer, seeking to recover more than a billion won.  The eye-catching amount sought in the case loses some of its “wow” factor when one considers that a billion won, translated into U...

Is There Hope Yet for Group Lawsuit in Chinese Tainted Milk Case?

Posted on February 12, 2009
A February 12 article by Dune Lawrence on Bloomberg.com offers several keen insights into the legal and political challenges  facing a group of victims seeking collective relief in the Chinese courts for injuries caused by melamine-tainted milk last year...

New CADS Report Highlights International Class Action Litigation Trends

Posted on February 11, 2009
I just received my quarterly issue of the ABA Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee (CADS) Newsletter.   The Winter 2009 issue features several articles on trends in international class action law, highlighted by Class Actions San Frontiers, an article authored by three Canadian panelists from a presentation of the same name from November’s ABA National [...

Reader Mail: ?Do You Think this is for Real??

Posted on February 06, 2009
I got the following query by email yesterday from Erik Cansler of Class Action Administration, Inc., probably my most loyal reader (maybe my only loyal reader), and got his permission to share with the world.  Unfortunately, I can’t confirm the story, but I can say that other reputable blogs, such as Overlawyered, seem to have picked it up, maybe [...

Word of Advice for European Class Action Reformers?

Posted on February 05, 2009
Laptop Legal’s “Class Action Thought for the Day” looks to West’s “Headnote of the Day” as food for thought for those considering the expansion of class actions in Europe and the former Soviet Union: Purpose of a class action is to simplify the resolution of complex litigation, not complicate it...

Second Circuit Strikes Down Class Arbitration Waiver Provision

Posted on February 02, 2009
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably already heard about the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion on class arbitration waivers in In re: American Express Merchants’ Litigation.  But in case you’re as out of the loop as I have been over the past week, the court has posted a copy of the slip opinion on [...

Class Action News Tidbits

Posted on January 29, 2009
I’m still on the road with plans to return to Denver later today, but in the interest of keeping the loyal reader completely up to date on the latest in class action news, here are a couple of quick items: This Vancouver Sun article summarizes a NERA Consulting report on trends in securities class action litigation continues to [...

The Examiner On Tort Reform

Posted on January 28, 2009
I’m on the road this week with limited time to blog, but for those of you who are desparate for class-action related news and opinion, here are a pair of interesting op-eds about tort reform issues from The Examiner: First, this editorial by Quin Hillyer discusses efforts in several states to pass tort reform measures that [...

Class Action Blogosphere Weekly Review

Posted on January 23, 2009
Here are some blog posts from the week that was that might be of interest to class action practitioners: Class Action-Related Post of the Week Debbie Schlussel does not think too much of a class action settlement offering “victims” free makeup and perfume that the named plaintiffs’ claimed cosmetics companies cheated them out of in an alleged price-fixing [...

Seyfarth Shaw Report Tracks Trends in Workplace Class and Collective Actions

Posted on January 21, 2009
Karen Sloan authored this January 21 article in The National Law Journal (available at Law.com) summarizing a recent report by Chicago employment defense firm Seyfarth Shaw summarizing trends in employment-related class and collective actions in 2008...

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