In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, U.S. Supreme Court Holds "No Harm, No Foul"

In a special edition of our Consumer Law Hinsights newsletter, we cover the U.S. Supreme Court decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez that was announced last Friday. The Court held "no concrete harm, no standing" in a significant check on federal consumer class actions. Read our analysis.

Lack of Standing Is Not Dead as a Defense to TCPA Actions

The Eleventh Circuit, in Salcedo v. Hanna, has concluded that receipt of a single unsolicited text, allegedly sent in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the "TCPA"), does not constitute a sufficient "concrete injury" to confer standing under Article III of the United States Constitution. More ›

Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act Case Has Significant Impact On Consumer Class Actions

On November 20, 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, et al. BIPA governs how entities may collect, use, and retain biometric data, such as fingerprints and retinal scans. Specifically, the Illinois Supreme Court will rule on whether a plaintiff is an "aggrieved party" to state a claim under BIPA without suffering any actual injury. If the Supreme Court rules the way that they indicated at oral argument, then BIPA will become a large consumer issue. More ›

American Pipe Clarified: Statute of Limitations for Class Actions not tolled by a Prior Motion for Class Certification

In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court held on June 11, 2018 that a pending motion for class certification does not toll the statute of limitations for the filing of a new class action lawsuit by a putative class member. Writing for the majority in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg repeatedly emphasized that the "efficiency and economy of litigation" is not promoted by allowing less than diligent plaintiffs to file a new, but time-barred, class action lawsuit. Clarifying the Court's prior holding in American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974), Justice Ginsburg wrote that "[e]ndless tolling is not the result envisioned by American Pipe." More ›

Buccaneers Could Lose On and Off the Field: Attempt to Reverse Auction TCPA Class Settlement Batted Down by Eleventh Circuit

A leading Plaintiff's TCPA firm filed a class action against the Buccaneers in 2013, arguing certain company faxes violated the TCPA. The faxes in question contained advertisements promoting football ticket sales, and were alleged to have been sent without consent. While the class certification motion was pending in the original class action, one of the plaintiff's attorneys left the firm and moved to another Plaintiff's firm. More ›

TransUnion Hit with Record $60 Million Dollar Verdict in FCRA Class Action

A California jury recently returned a large verdict in a Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") case which alleged that TransUnion's credit reporting confused the class consumer names with the names of criminals and terrorists on a government watch list. Five years after lead plaintiff Sergio L. Ramirez filed suit against TransUnion alleging violations of the FCRA, the consumer class was awarded statutory and punitive damages exceeding $60 million. The jury awarded each of the 8,185 class members $984.22 in statutory damages and $6,353.08 in punitive damages.  More ›

Big Changes Could be coming to Class Action Practice, Courtesy of Congress

Class actions, especially those with nationwide scope and the specter of huge payouts, have long been the stuff of nightmares for in-house counsel and corporate executives. The press regularly report on settlements where plaintiffs’ counsel walked away with millions in attorney fees while the aggregate recovery by the class was much smaller.

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (the 2005 CAFA) significantly changed how class actions were litigated. Advocates of the legislation said it would reduce forum shopping by expanding federal jurisdiction over certain class actions and allowing greater court scrutiny of class action settlement agreements (including settlements with so-called “coupon” components).

But the 2005 CAFA did not solve all the problems that class action critics wanted Congress to address.  In response, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 985 in March of this year, with the relevant section of the bill titled the “Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017.”. For simplicity's sake, we will call this bill the 2017 CAFA. The bill has now moved on to the Senate, and in late March was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Given the current political situation in Washington, it's anyone’s guess as to when the bill will be reported out of committee (if at all) much less come to a full vote. More ›