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October 19, 2023 Jeffrey Steven McConnell Warren

Incentive Awards Update: Three Years After Johnson, Courts Decline to Follow the Eleventh Circuit

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, […]

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August 22, 2023 Ty Jameson
Posted in  Class Action Basics Class Certification

Eleventh Circuit Decision Narrowing Certification of Ford Mustang Class Shows How Predominance and Superiority Can Defeat Consumer Fraud Class Actions

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 […]

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June 28, 2023 Christopher Flurry Chelsea Pieroni
Posted in  Class Action Basics

MORE MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS: NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS $1.7 MILLION ATTORNEYS’ FEES CALCULATION FOR $52,000 CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT, WITH A GLANCE AT FOURTH CIRCUIT LODESTAR ANALYSIS

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, […]

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May 30, 2023 Andrew Parks Carter Michelle A. Liguori
Posted in  Class Certification Daubert and Admissibility at Class Certification Pick-Off Exception Standing

Recent Fourth Circuit Class-Certification Decisions Shed Light on Mootness, Standing, and Evidentiary Burden at Class Certification

Over the past year, the Fourth Circuit has issued three decisions on class certification—all of which either affirmed certification or reversed and remanded to the district court to rule on certification. The opinions show the Fourth Circuit applying key principles in class-action practice, including mootness and the relation-back exception, standing […]

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