News & Publications

This week, we take a look at one Ninth Circuit decision addressing the difficult Article III issues that arise in certain types of consumer class actions, and another in which the Ninth Circuit examined the application of the Stored Communications Act to emails backed up on a private server. MCGEE v. S-L SNACKS NATIONAL The Court holds that a plaintiff failed to plausibly allege Article III standing stemming from her purchase and consumption of popcorn [...]

On September 24, 2020, a divided panel of the Sixth Circuit rejected a trial court's novel attempt to use Rule 23 to create a class for negotiation purposes only.   In re: Nat'l Prescription Opiate Litig., ___ F.3d ___, 2020 WL 5701916 (6th Cir. Sept. 24, 2020). Unlike the classes that Rule 23 expressly contemplates to litigate claims or effectuate an already negotiated settlement, the “negotiation class” that District Judge Dan Polster certified in September of 2019 [...]

Last month, in a split decision, the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court's incentive award to the named plaintiff in a class action alleging willful violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. In doing so, it may have rung the death knell on class action incentive awards in that Circuit. Dickenson v. NPAS Solutions, No. 18-12344 (11th Cir. Sept. 17, 2020). Named plaintiff Charles Johnson brought a putative class action against Defendant NPAS Solutions in the [...]