On Wednesday, the Western Washington District Court ruled that Microsoft’s lawsuit against the government will go forward. The lawsuit argues that the government’s gag-ordered searches of Microsoft accounts violates consumer’s constitutional first amendment right to free speech, and that the gag orders have no end date, preventing the tech giant from alerting its customers that their accounts …
On January 26, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California became the first court to mandate disclosure of litigation funding that parties in class actions receive from outside sources, under a revision to the court’s standing order applicable to all cases. The rule provides that “in any proposed class, collective or representative action, the required disclosure includes …
Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement upon the introduction of the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 (H.R. 985): “Due to the complexity and costs associated with our legal system, a lawsuit has become a dirty …
A federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Microsoft that claims a law that prohibits technology companies from telling customers when the government demands their electronic data is unconstitutional. In ruling against the government’s motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge James Robart agreed with Microsoft’s argument that the law violates the company’s First …
A major class action lawsuit filed by Flint, Mich., residents over how the state handles changes in the city’s water that led to the lead-contamination crisis was dismissed by a federal judge Thursday. The Detroit News reports that U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara dismissed the case brought by Flint activist and resident Melissa Mays and several other Flint families because “allowing …
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide as early as next week whether to hear the appeal of a Sixth Circuit decision upholding a class-action settlement that distributed only $1.6 million to consumers but yielded $2.4 million for the attorneys who represented them. Objectors and the attorneys general of 17 states urge the court to take the case and hand down tighter rules on how lower courts consider the value of a settlement for calculating legal fees. …
Last week, a federal appeals court reversed and sent back to a district court a $10 million settlement in a data breach class action brought against Target. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit explained in its Feb. 1 opinion that while the U.S. Supreme Court has not said what, specifically, a “rigorous analysis” of class certification prerequisites …
A federal judge has dismissed one of the first major class-action lawsuits filed against the state in response to the Flint water crisis. U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara dismissed the case on Thursday, saying allowing the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed would circumvent the Safe Drinking Water Act’s procedures. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 by Melissa Mays and several other Flint residents against Gov. Rick Snyder, the city of Flint and other state and city officials involved in making the decision to use water from the corrosive Flint River, which caused high lead levels in the water municipal water system. The plaintiffs alleged …
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Givaudan Fragrances Corporation (Fragrances) in a $500 million insurance coverage lawsuit against Aetna Casualty & Surety Company and additional insurers named as defendants. The move affirms that New Jersey policyholders do not lose coverage when a company restructures, as an anti-assignment clause is not a barrier to the post-loss assignment …
A federal judge in Baton Rouge this week expressed sympathy for the funding plight of New Orleans’ public defenders, but dismissed a lawsuit brought against the office by the American Civil Liberties Union that hoped to force the state to rectify budget inadequacies for indigent defense under court order. U.S. District Judge James J. Brady of the Middle District of Louisiana ruled Tuesday (Jan. …