By Gerald L. Maatman and Michael L. DeMarino
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011), still lords over employment discrimination class actions nearly a decade later. Indeed, Nelson, et al. v. Pace Suburban Bus, et al., No. 17 C 7697, 2020 WL 6565241, at
By Jennifer A. Riley, Christina M. Janice, and Alex Oxyer
Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 14, 2020, Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California became the latest to deny appointment of class counsel in a class action based on lack of diversity, including lack of diversity in
By: Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Michael L. DeMarino, and Andrew Welker
Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 30, 2020, the California Superior Court granted class certification against Oracle America Inc., allowing former employees to represent a class of over 4,100 women for claims of alleged discrimination in violation of California’s Equal Pay Act. Following
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Alex S. Oxyer, and Paul M. Waldera
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Toomey v. Arizona, No. 19-CV-0035, 2020 WL 2465707 (D. Ariz. May 12, 2020), a Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona recommended the certification of class claims brought under Title VII and
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer A. Riley, and Alex S. Oxyer
Seyfarth Synopsis: Although federal courts are certifying class actions at a record rate, a recent opinion by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio demonstrates that the requirements of Rule 23 are not mere formalities. In Littler
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer Riley, and Michael L. DeMarino
Seyfarth Synopsis: For nearly a decade, the aftershocks of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes have curtailed the success of plaintiffs attempting to certify class discrimination claims in situations where the alleged discriminatory policy is highly
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer Riley, Alex S. Oxyer, Paul M. Waldera
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Rusis, et al. v. Int’l Bus. Machines Corp., No. 18 Civ. 8434, 2020 WL 1151322, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 10, 2020), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently declined to
Seyfarth Synopsis: At our recent book launch for the 2020 Workplace Class Action, we discussed a circuit by circuit analysis of 303 certification orders in 2019. That analysis revealed interesting results including Plaintiff-centric success in certifying wage & hour cases at the highest rates of the decade. Conversely, employers fared well in the employment discrimination
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer A. Riley, Alex S. Oxyer, Andrew D. Welker
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 15, 2020, in Guzman v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., No. 17-CV-02606-HSG, 2020 WL 227567 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 15, 2020), Judge Haywood Gilliam of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied a motion
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Christina M. Janice, and Alex W. Karasik
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Ituah, et al. v. Austin State Hospital, a federal magistrate judge in Texas recently recommended the denial of a motion for class certification brought by patients alleging disability discrimination against a state psychiatric hospital for failing to make