While perhaps rare, directly paying off a named plaintiff and putative class members before class certification is one tactic for potentially nipping a class action in the bud. It can be effective when both parties are willing to play ball and negotiate a settlement. However, a recent Eleventh Circuit decision […]
In 2020, the Eleventh Circuit broke ranks with decades of precedent from nearly every federal circuit by holding that incentive awards in class action litigation are violative of 19th century precedent from the United States Supreme Court. Although the Supreme Court denied a request to review the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, […]
A recent decision from the Eleventh Circuit involving allegations of fraud in Ford’s marketing of Shelby Mustangs highlights how Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance and superiority requirements can defeat class certification in cases where reliance is an element of the plaintiffs’ claims. Cases such as this one illustrate why the necessity of […]
Anyone asked to choose between receiving more money versus receiving less money would probably choose the obvious: more money. So, when the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California lacked structure for calculating attorneys’ fees, class counsel gingerly sought to secure a generous payday after obtaining a measly, […]