The Sixth Circuit yesterday in a per curiam opinion (paneled by Judges Boggs, Thapar, and Readler) accepted interlocutory appeal of and vacated a class certification order from the Eastern District of Michigan. The case is In re: Ford Motor Company, Case No. 22-0109 (6th Cir.). The Court’s opinion served to remind district courts that they … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit has announced new standards for collective action lawsuits under the FLSA in Clark v. A&L Homecare and Training Center. There are already many good summaries of this decision around the legal internet, so this recap will be short. The question is how to determine whether other potential plaintiffs are “similarly situated” so … Continue Reading
In Fox v. Saginaw County (No. 22-1265/1272), the Sixth Circuit rejected a class action where multiple defendants have identical policies, but the named plaintiff was only injured by one defendant. Until recently, Michigan law permitted counties to obtain complete ownership of a property during a tax foreclosure, even if the value of the property far … Continue Reading
Six Ohio cities represented by Tom Goldstein filed a petition at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals opposing Judge Polster’s certification of the negotiation class in the opioid MDL. The cities’ petition urges the Sixth Circuit to immediately review the certification of the negotiation class now rather than on appeal—lest they risk wasting the time and … Continue Reading
While the headlines from the Flint water crisis have all but subsided, two consolidated putative class actions arising from the crisis gained new life over the summer as a result of the Sixth Circuit’s ruling in Boler v. Earley. The Boler decision examined whether two groups of plaintiffs’ constitutional claims were preempted by the federal … Continue Reading
In Mason v. Lockwood, Andrews & Neuman, a split panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to remand a class action to state court under the “local controversy” exception to the Class Action Fairness Act. CAFA requires a court to “decline” jurisdiction over a class action that otherwise qualifies for federal court … Continue Reading
In Shane Group, Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mich., a unanimous panel of the Sixth Circuit vacated the district court’s orders sealing “most of the parties’ substantive filings” and approving a class action settlement in a price-fixing action against an insurer. In vacating the orders placing documents under seal and the settlement approval, … Continue Reading
In Cyphert v. Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (In re: Morning Song Bird Food Litig.), No. 15-3943, the Sixth Circuit imposed a high standard on class action plaintiffs seeking to use two sets of objections to a presentence report (PSR) in a criminal case against the corporate defendant. The plaintiffs argued that the objections, which had been … Continue Reading
Last week in Gascho, et al. v. Global Fitness Holdings, LLC, the Sixth Circuit addressed a laundry list of objections to a class action settlement on behalf of gym members who had been allegedly incorrectly charged certain fees. The settlement made ~$15.5 million available to class members and awarded fees of $2.39 million to class … Continue Reading
Last week, in Monroe v. FTS, USA, a divided panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed the certification of a class of workers as sufficiently “similarly situated” under the Fair Labor Standards Act, holding that they were subject to “a single, company-wide time-shaving policy,” even though time was shaved via three separate methods. Some managers simply altered … Continue Reading
Because of the significant size of the jury verdicts or, more likely, the settlements of class actions, questions of class certification carry significant weight. However, it is not just monetary consideration that makes class actions so important. One element of aggregate litigation that is most frequently discussed is the due process considerations that need to … Continue Reading
The importance of class definition was on display last week at the Sixth Circuit, in a case producing three separate opinions. In Rikos v. The Procter & Gamble Company, a divided court affirmed the certification of classes covering five states and nearly half a decade of purchasers P&G’s digestive health drug Align, and in the … Continue Reading
After the Supreme Court denied class certification to female Wal-Mart employees in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011) on the grounds that plaintiffs were unable to demonstrate any “nationwide” policy or practice of discrimination, Wal-Mart employees began to press their gender discrimination claims in a spate of narrower, regionally-focused class-action suits … Continue Reading
Last Friday, the Sixth Circuit declined to expand the rights of Kentucky counties to seek enforcement of a Kentucky statute. In an unpublished opinion, Boyd County v. MERSCORP, Inc., the Sixth Circuit upheld the district court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought by forty-one Kentucky counties as a class action lawsuit against Mortgage Electronic Registration … Continue Reading
Last week, the Sixth Circuit handed down its decision in Supplemental Benefit Committee v. Navistar International Corp., an appeal by a corporation seeking to compel arbitration in an ongoing dispute over employee benefits. Subjecting the disputed contractual issues to arbitration and holding that Navistar had not waived arbitration by participating in litigation, the Sixth Circuit … Continue Reading
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued its new round of orders from its February 27 conference. Among them was the denial of a petition for certiorari in a massive antitrust class action lawsuit—“likely the largest ever certified and upheld by a federal court of Appeals”—against manufacturers of polyurethane foam. In Carpenter Co. v. Ace Foam (aka … Continue Reading
In a published decision this week, the Sixth Circuit reviewed the dismissal of an employee’s claim for excessive withholding of FICA taxes against her employer. In affirming the district court’s refusal to remand the federal tax case and subsequent outright dismissal of the claim, the court examined artful pleading, administrative remedies, and the timing of removal … Continue Reading
We have posted in the past about how, since 2010, the Sixth Circuit has been far more likely to reverse an exclusion of Daubert testimony than a district court’s decision to admit such testimony (although admittedly the sample size is small). And about two weeks ago, we posted on an additional reversal of a district … Continue Reading
After settling with the original defendant, the plaintiffs in a class action sued the defendant’s insurance company over a $2 million policy. The insurer won summary judgment and the plaintiffs appealed. In The Siding and Insulation Co. v. Acuity Mutual Ins. Co., the Sixth Circuit held that the claims of individual plaintiffs could not be … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court has granted certiorari from the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund v. Omnicare, Inc. In that securities class action, the plaintiffs allege that statements from a 2005 registration statement that Omnicare’s agreements with drug companies were “legally and economically valid” had violated securities laws. Creating a split … Continue Reading
With the onslaught of litigation resulting from Target’s data privacy breaches, including recently filed class actions within the Sixth Circuit in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee federal district courts, there is an increased focus on the appropriateness of class certification in such cases. Can cardholders whose information was stolen but not used as of the date of the case filing … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit earlier this week decided an issue recently left open by the United States Supreme Court as to whether the Court or an arbitrator is to decide whether classwide arbitration is available under an arbitration clause. In Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Crockett, Case No. 12-3574 (Nov. 5, 2013) (pdf), the Court examined whether … Continue Reading
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Arlington Video Productions – an unpublished Sixth Circuit decision – vacated the judgment, and sent it back to the Sixth Circuit for further consideration in light of Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 569 U.S. ___ (2013). As we covered here, the Sixth Circuit in … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit’s decision in In re: Dry Max Pampers Litigation (No. 11-4156) creates a new standard for class action settlements: they must pass the smell test. Judge Kethledge’s decision finds that the class received “nearly worthless injunctive relief” while the named plaintiffs received $1,000 per child and the plaintiffs’ attorneys received $2.73 million. The … Continue Reading
