CANADA – A recent Ontario court decision has underlined the high threshold to be met for parties seeking leave to pursue secondary market securities class actions. In Coffin v. Atlantic Power Corp. (“Coffin”), Justice Belobaba of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice denied certification of a proposed secondary market securities class action, holding that the claim lacked a reasonable possibility of success and reinforcing the high bar in place to dispense with unmeritorious claims. An action…
In Ewing Indus. Corp. v. Bob Wines Nursery, Inc., a decision issued on August 3, 2015, an Eleventh Circuit panel held that a purported class action does not toll the statute of limitations for a later class action seeking to represent the same class when the original purported class action was dismissed due to the inadequacy of a class representative, regardless of whether the determination of inadequacy occurs before or as part of a decision…
UNITED STATES – On July 28, 2015, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Mullins v. Direct Digital, LLC, on the question of whether Rule 23(b)(3) imposes a heightened “ascertainability” requirement for class definition. Recent Third Circuit precedent — followed by some district courts within the Seventh Circuit — have held that plaintiffs must prove at the class certification stage that there exists a “reliable and administratively feasible way” to identify all…
UNITED STATES – The Supreme Court of California’s August 3, 2015 decision in Sanchez v. Valencia Holding Company, LLC clarifies the extent to which the United States Supreme Court’s Concepcion decision pre-empts California’s unconscionability rule in the context of agreements to arbitrate. In doing so, the California Supreme Court clarified that Concepcion permits the unconscionability rule to be applied to challenge the enforceability of an arbitration clause; the various formulations for unconscionability in California are…
UNITED STATES – As our colleague Michael McCutcheon wrote in his blog post of May 29, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed, in the case of Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez, to review the issue of whether a defendant’s early settlement offer of complete relief moots a representative individual plaintiff’s claim by destroying standing to sue. This practice has proven to be effective in some courts in obtaining dismissals of putative class actions at an…
UNITED STATES – On July 10, 2015, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that could cause state legislatures to think twice before seeking to limit the class action rights of consumer plaintiffs. In Lisk v. Lumber One Wood Preserving LLC, No. 14-11714, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 11891 (11th Cir. July 10, 2015), the Eleventh Circuit held that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule 23”) can permit product liability plaintiffs to bring…
UNITED STATES – The United States Supreme Court has agreed to review a decision of the Eighth Circuit that upheld a $5.8 million judgment in favor of a class consisting of Tyson Foods employees who alleged Tyson underpaid them for time spent putting on and taking off protective equipment necessary for their jobs. Among other issues raised, Tyson challenged plaintiffs’ use of statistical evidence to establish liability and damages. Relying on the Supreme Court’s rejection…
UNITED KINGDOM – A hot topic in recent months has been the introduction in England and Wales of a specific “opt-out” collective redress regime for breaches of competition law. A popular talking point has been whether the development will lead to an increase in collective action in competition claims. In this blog, we ask whether this domestic development, combined with potential European Commission action, could lead to an increase in collective action in other areas…
UNITED STATES – On April 27, 2015, a Ninth Circuit Panel clarified the meaning of the Class Action Fairness Act’s (“CAFA”) “local single event exception” to federal jurisdiction, creating an arguable split in the Circuit Courts and giving U.S. class action parties more certainty in whether their cases may be removed from state to federal court. Allen v. Boeing Co., No. 15-35162 (9th Cir. April 27, 2015). In doing so, the Ninth Circuit Panel declined to…
UNITED STATES – The United States Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez, and one of the questions certified on appeal, if decided, will resolve a circuit split on the question of whether a defendant’s early settlement offer of complete relief moots a representative plaintiff’s individual claim by destroying standing to sue. The Court is also set to address the related issue of whether a settlement offer of complete relief before class certification…