Here are some blog entries from the week that was that might be of interest to class action practitioners:
Class Action Decisions
The UCL Practitioner comments on a California Court of Appeal decision discussing, in dicta, the viability of defendant classes in California…
http://www.uclpractitioner.com/2008/07/court-of-appeal.html
… and as The Complex Litigator notes with regard to the same decision, the court “penned a brief gem of a comment that will be of interest to class action practitioners (and nobody else on the planet),” which makes it perfect for the CABWR!
http://www.thecomplexlitigator.com/2008/07/the-little-used.html
CAFA Law Blog offers the latest in a series of CAFA musical revues, summarizing a recent South Carolina federal court decision on CAFA removal to the tune of a Rolling Stones medley:
Class Action Defense Blog provides a synopsis of a recent decision by the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) addressing the appropriate venue for consolidation of 37 antitrust class actions pending in federal courts in 8 different federal courts where the parties, including different groups of plaintiffs, could not agree on a venue:
http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/2008/07/class_action_defense_casesin_r_105.html
Legal Pad summarizes a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision addressing the interplay between the removal bar imposed on state securities law claims imposed by section 22(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and the removal provisions of the Class Action Fairness Act:
http://www.lalegalpad.com/2008/07/class-action-pr.html
Pension Risk Matters discusses and provides links to a July 17 decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois certifying a class for the purpose of adjudicating an ERISA claim for breach of fiduciary duty against fiduciaries of a 401(K) plan. The entry also discusses new Department of Labor standards for disclosures of fees and expenses by fiduciaries of participant-directed individual account plans:
California Blog of Appeal comments on the outcome of the “first ever habeas class-action in California”:
http://www.calblogofappeal.com/2008/07/23/a-habeas-class-action/
Drug and Device Law Blog highlights the case of a class action defendant down on its luck in a nationwide products liability class action in Oklahoma:
http://druganddevicelaw.blogspot.com/2008/07/do-bad-things-come-in-threes-masquat-v.html
Classified highlights a recent Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision criticizing various aspects of a district court’s attorneys fee award in a successful class action brought under 28 U.S.C. 1983 on behalf of foster children in Georgia:
If you think Canadian class certification standards are lax (see below), check out this entry from Mass Tort Litigation Blog noting a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturning a sua sponte class certification by the district court (the Ninth Circuit ordered a reassignment to a new judge on remand):
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2008/07/ninth-circuit-o.html
Class Action Commentary
In his blog, Michael’s Insight, Insight Communications CEO Michael Wilner provides a public response to comments made by a reader, Robb Topolski (see his blog here), who serves as plaintiff in putative class action litigation against a competitor regarding ISP network management practices:
http://www.michaelsinsight.com/2008/07/line-up-lawyers.html
Michael Alan Miller provides a brief commentary on which side is the lesser of evils in the rash of class action lawsuits he predicts will follow recent reports about a link between cell phones and brain cancer risk:
http://www.michaelalanmiller.com/?p=390
Class Action News
HeadwatersNews reports on a class certification motion filed by the Nez Perce Tribe and 11 other named plaintiffs seeking certification of a class of tribes for the purpose of pursuing claims for a complete and historical accounting by the United States Department of Interior of lands held in trust for the tribes:
http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/view_story.phtml?id=53757
… and here is a more detailed commentary on the same case from Indianz.com:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2008/009961.asp
Wage Law Blog offers news on actions by the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in response to the recent California Court of Appeal decision in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court. (See ClassActionBlog entry here):
http://wagelaw.typepad.com/wage_law/2008/07/dlse-memo-instructs-enforcement-of-brinker-holding.html
Class Action Trends
The D&O Diary provides a summary and links to a NERA Economic Consulting report entitled “2008 Trends: Subprime and Auction Rate Cases Continue to Drive Filings, and Large Settlements Keep Averages High”:
Infectious Greed remarks on statistics from the Stanford Securities Clearinghouse showing a 400% increase in subprime-related class action filings:
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/07/29/first_thing_we.html
Class Action Reform
The Am Law Daily reports on a conference on securities class action reform co-sponsored by the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy and the U.S. Chamber Institute for Litigation Reform (ILR) to discuss an ILR report on securities class action trends and proposed reforms. (See related ClassActionBlog.com entry here):
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2008/07/us-chamber-of-c.html
International Class Action Law
Point of Law offers a review of an article entitled “Canadian Class Action Law: A Flawed Model for European Class Actions” by John Beisner, Allison Orr Larsen, and Karl Thompson, available at The Federalist Society Website. The article argues that liberal class certification standards applicable in various Canadian provinces lead to unintended consequences and create a potential for abuse that should give European policymakers pause in looking to Canadian class action standards as a model for their own reforms…
http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/pubid.1100/pub_detail.asp
…Point of Law observes that the loser pays rule may temper the possibility of abuse…
http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2008/07/canadian-class.php
… but Canadian blog The Bizop News points to a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision in arguing that the threshold for class certification is only getting lower:
http://www.bizop.ca/blog2/lawsuits/pointoflawcom-pointoflaw-forum.html
Pom Talk addresses issues relating to whether non-U.S. investors may serve as lead plaintiffs or participate as class members in U.S. securities class actions:
http://www.pomtalk.com/pomtalk/2008/07/from-the-page-2.html
