California continued its ongoing debate on arbitrations and class actions this week when its Supreme Court held that in some cases an arbitrator, not the court, must decide whether an arbitration agreement permits class-wide arbitration. This case is important because it rejects a universal rule on who should be the decision-maker in favor of a case-by-case analysis. In Sandquist v. Lebo Automotive, Inc., No. S220812 (Cal. July 28, 2016), the California Supreme Court did not…
The trial court certifies a class. Discovery proceeds and the case goes to trial The jury returns a verdict for the plaintiff class. Can the defendant use post-trial motions to seek class decertification, effectively annulling the verdict? Yes, according to the Second Circuit. Indeed Fed. R.Civ. P. 23(c)(1)(C) specifically permits the court to alter or amend an order that grants or denies class certification at any time “before final judgment.” But as Mazzei v. The…
A class action law was first enacted in Italy in 2009 (Art. 49 of Law no. 99 of 23 July 2009, hereinafter the “Class Action Law”, in force as of 2010). In 2012 the Class Action Law was amended so as to expand its scope and so to protect the contractual rights of a number of consumers and users that find themselves in homogeneous situations (whereas the previous wording required the situations to be identical),…
Recently, the Dutch Supreme Court handed down three judgments that provide additional guidance as to when a collective action may be used, for what and with what effect. The first case makes clear that a collective actions tolls the statute of limitations, not only for the vehicle (an association or foundation) that acts as plaintiff, but also for the members of the group that it represents. This is the case even, if the claim in…
UNITED STATES – A growing area of class action litigation is the Americans with Disabilities Act (āADAā) website compliance, particularly for e-commerce sites. The ADA, 42 U.S.C. Ā§ 12101 et seq., provides that “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or…
UNITED STATES – The Supreme Court of the United States issued a 6-2 opinion on Monday, May 16th, in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins vacating the Ninth Circuitās prior ruling and remanding the case for further analysis. This was a highly anticipated decision that many practitioners believed could change the landscape for class actions on the question of whether a statutory violation alone, without a resulting injury to the plaintiff, is sufficient to confer standing on a…
UNITED STATES – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently proposed a new rule for public comment that would prohibit providers of certain consumer financial products and services from using arbitration agreements with consumers as a means of blocking the consumerās filing or participation in a class action. The proposed rule further requires such companies to report arbitration claims, awards, and related materials to the CFPB for possible publication. Some commentators have suggested that such a…
UNITED STATES – Given the increasing connectivity to the internet at home and at work, from smartphones and smart televisions to cloud solutions, resulting in vast amounts of personal information being collected, the risk of a data security incident (e.g., “data breach”) is real. In 2015, almost half of all companies reported experiencing a data security incident within the past 12 months. This current environment and a recent decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals,…
UNITED STATES – Online merchants often use click-wrap agreements to set the terms and conditions for the use of their sites, providing an āI Agreeā button that a would-be user must first click before using the site or doing business with the merchant. When presented in an abbreviated or referenced fashion, using a link to the agreement or a scrolling window, these agreements allow companies to set fairly specific terms, including class action waivers and…
FRANCE ā Class actions were almost inexistent in France before their introduction in French law by the Statute nĀ°2014-344 of March 17, 2014. The key aspects of this new law have already been outlined in our previous post dated 28 January 2015. The following aims at presenting the only 6 class actions brought before the courts since the implementation of the statute in October 2014 and the foreseeable development of the class and collective actions…