On September 24, a federal judge in Minnesota declined to dismiss a proposed class action alleging that Sempris LLC (“Sempris”) sold “memberships” in supposed money-saving programs that instead resulted in illegal, unauthorized monthly credit card charges.
The plaintiff, a Georgia resident, alleges Sempris, which operates “membership loyalty programs” that offer discounts and coupons, was responsible
On September 18, in Peters v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri held that neither the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) nor the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibit a debt collector from charging state statutory pre-judgment interest after charge-off. In reaching that
On August 1, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion rejecting federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) and the National Banking Act for a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of Hawaii on behalf of state residents (sometimes called a parens patriae suit) against financial companies
On September 4, in Tierney et al. v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an order dismissing a putative Fair Credit Reporting Act class action accusing Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp. of violating the FCRA by failing to secure health data stolen from
In Payton v. Kale Realty, LLC, plaintiff Payton filed an amended complaint, asserting that defendant Kale used newly added defendant Voiceshot’s services to send unsolicited advertisements to potential customers’ cell phones. Voiceshot provides web-based cloud telecommunication services by which users can send mass text messages for a fee. Voiceshot is a Delaware company with
In a June 2 decision, Judge Richard Posner, writing for a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, criticized a number of statements and other aspects within a notice of class action settlement that had been approved by the district court. In response to a number of objections
ABA State Attorneys General and Department of Justice Issues Committee – 2014 ABA Annual Meeting – Showcase CLE Presentations
On August 7-9, 2014, in Boston, MA, the American Bar Association is hosting their Annual Meeting. Two Troutman Sanders partners, William H. Hurd and Ashley L. Taylor, Jr., will be participating on high profile CLE panel
Foot Locker Retail Inc. and Macy’s Corporate Services, Inc. were hit with separate class action lawsuits in California federal court alleging that the companies illegally collected consumers’ personal information at in-store checkouts. The plaintiffs claim that both businesses required customers to provide personal information such as telephone numbers, identification cards, and ZIP codes before processing
On July 22, National Economic Research Associates (“NERA”) Economic Consulting released a study entitled “Consumer Class Action Settlements: 2010-2013”. The study is available online here. This study concluded empirically what many businesses have been experiencing in practice: Consumer class action settlements have been increasing steadily in the years between 2010 and 2013.
NERA’s analysis
On July 30, the Third Circuit held that whether an arbitration agreement permits classwide arbitration is a question for courts, not arbitrators, to decide. Through its decision, the Third Circuit expressly aligned itself with a prior ruling to the same effect from the Sixth Circuit.
The Third Circuit reversed a 2011 decision of a district