WILMINGTON, Del. - The law firm that represented the Official Committee of Equity Security Interest Holders in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Rotech Healthcare Inc. on Dec. 13 moved for a protective order, contending that Rotech should not be permitted to depose members of the firm (In Re: Rotech Healthcare...
ATLANTA - More than 250 Georgia cities and counties failed to prove that online travel companies (OTCs) collected excess taxes and now owe the localities back taxes, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 13, also upholding a district court's sanctions ruling against the class of localities...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A federal judge in California on Dec. 11 refused to certify a class for nationwide borrowers and subclasses for California and New York consumers over SunTrust Mortgage Inc.'s purchase of force-placed hazard and flood insurance policies, finding that calculating the replacement...
NEW YORK - A federal judge in New York on Dec. 13 granted final approval to the $7.25 billion class action settlement between approximately 12 million merchants and Visa, MasterCard and a large number of banks that the proposed class alleges fixed the prices of interchange fees paid by merchants when...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 16 denied review of a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling vacating denial of class certification to retirement plans' participants on their claims that the plans' fiduciaries breached their duties under the Employee Retirement Income...
SAN FRANCISCO - A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 12 ordered the federal judge in Arizona presiding over the multidistrict litigation court for claims challenging the formation and operation of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS) to decide if an order dismissing a portion...
CLEVELAND - A federal judge in Ohio on Dec. 17 denied a motion to remand a class action lawsuit brought by borrowers claiming that their loan servicers lacked the authority to file foreclosure actions against them, finding that jurisdiction was established under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) because...
DENVER - Primary parties challenging a settlement in a class complaint alleging that ExxonMobil Oil Corp. breached thousands of oil and gas leases failed to timely object to an appeal-bond requirement and, thus, are bound by it, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 16 (Jimmie Hershey, et...
SAN FRANCISCO - Plaintiffs in a putative class action suit against JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. on Dec. 17 moved in California federal court for approval of a $22 million settlement in which the lender agreed to resolve allegations over its purchasing of force-placed flood insurance policies for borrowers...
NEW YORK - A hotel and movie theater operator on Dec. 19 moved for the preliminary approval of a settlement of a putative class action in a New York federal court alleging that American Express Co.'s merchant discount fee violates antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act (The Marcus Corp. v. American...
NEW YORK - A federal judge in New York on Dec. 19 ruled that although a law firm's request for attorney fees in a securities class action lawsuit against Citigroup Inc. and others was too high, the firm is still entitled to 16 percent of the overall settlement amount (In re Citigroup Inc. Bond Litigation...
NEW YORK - The class plaintiffs who opposed the merger of bankrupt American Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. by filing an adversary complaint in the bankruptcy of American Airlines' parent company, AMR Corp., on Dec. 19 filed a designation of appeal contending that evidence presented in the...
ST. LOUIS - An Arkansas federal judge's decision to dismiss a class action suit brought by a city clerk against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS) and a number of banks was affirmed Dec. 31 by a panel of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the panel found that the judge...
MINNEAPOLIS - A federal judge in Minnesota on Dec. 30 denied Wells Fargo & Co.'s motion to reconsider an order granting summary judgment to a consumer who alleged that the bank violated the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) by failing to provide proper ATM fee notices, finding that the pre...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Dismissal of a shareholder class action lawsuit challenging the merger that brought CVS Caremark Corp. together is not warranted because the shareholders have properly pleaded a material misrepresentation and scienter in making their federal securities law claims, a federal judge in...
BANGOR, Maine - A federal magistrate judge in Maine on Jan. 7 terminated a discovery objection filed by the defendant in a suit arising from an $18 million loan, finding that an issue regarding business records cannot be resolved at this stage in the litigation (Bankers' Bank Northeast v. Everett...
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge in California on Jan. 3 dismissed with prejudice a man's class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo Bank N.A. and the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), after finding that the deed to a reverse mortgage his mother obtained before her death did not require...
SAN FRANCISCO - A woman's claim that she paid more for ice cream labeled "natural" sufficiently alleges an injury, but her inability to submit evidence suggesting that a wholesaler like Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. was actually able to impose higher prices given market variations...
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A federal judge in California on Jan. 6 certified a class of investors in a securities class action lawsuit against a natural gas and oil company alleged to have issued misrepresentations in proxy statements used as part of a series of mergers in violation of federal securities laws...
SAN FRANCISCO - The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 8 reversed a federal jury's finding that Stearns Bank N.A., as the servicer of a failed bank's loan, breached its contract, ruling that an incorrect jury instruction "likely caused the jury to assign liability to Stearns for...
BALTIMORE - Capital One Bank N.A. has agreed to pay more than $3 million to settle a class action alleging that it engaged in phony debt-cancellation agreements included in car loans, according to documents the bank and a plaintiff filed Jan. 10 in a Maryland federal court (Philip Decohen v. Capital...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A state's lawsuit seeking restitution for itself and its citizens, in which it is the only named plaintiff, does not qualify as a mass action under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Jan. 14 (State of Mississippi, ex rel. Jim Hood...
WILMINGTON, Del. - Former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Curt Schilling and his business partners in bankrupt video game company 38 Studios LLC on Jan. 15 filed a brief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware objecting to the trustee's motion seeking approval to waive attorney...
SAN FRANCISCO - The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 21 affirmed a federal court's dismissal of a putative class action brought by credit cardholders alleging that banks violated the U.S. Constitution via their over-limit and late fees, finding that the substantive due process jurisprudence...
WILMINGTON, Del. - The federal bankruptcy judge presiding over the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of 38 Studios, the video game manufacturer operated by former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Curt Schilling and some business partners, on Jan. 23 granted a limited waiver of attorney-client and work product...