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 discretionary. But Zollicoffer, et al.
Continue Reading Class Certification Granted In Staffing Company Workplace Bias Suit
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 conditionally certify a nationwide collective
Continue Reading New York Federal Court Finds That A Common Policy Or Plan Is Still Critical To ADEA Collective Actions
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 space. The location of these
Continue Reading Seyfarth’s Jerry Maatman Presents On 2019 Class Action Trend #1: Certification Trends
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 for class certification brought by
Continue Reading Chipotle’s Employees Denied Class Certification On Employment Discrimination Claims
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 reasonable accommodations to protect them
Continue Reading Court Declines To Certify Class Of Sexually Assaulted Hospital Patients
Seyfarth Exclusive! In Person Event & Live Webinar
You are invited to join Erin Mulvaney, Senior Legal Reporter at Bloomberg Law, and Seyfarth Partner Gerald (“Jerry”) L. Maatman, Jr. for a panel discussion marking the release of Seyfarth’s 16th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report. Please click here to register. For those of you in the Midwest, please join us
Continue Reading Top Trends In Workplace Class Action Litigation: Panel Discussion/Webinar For Book Launch
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Christina M. Janice
Seyfarth Synopsis: In the latest development in the ultra-high stakes nationwide Prescription Opiate Litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently granted the petition of six Ohio cities to appeal the class certification order of U.S. District Court Judge Daniel A. Polster creating a new and innovative
Continue Reading Sixth Circuit Allows Appeal Of Novel Class Action Ordered In Nationwide Opiate Litigation
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Christina M. Janice
Seyfarth Synopsis: In complex class actions, courts have looked to Rule 23 to authorize class actions either for trial, or for approval of a previously negotiated settlement. Now as thousands of public entities nationwide pursue financial relief from opiate manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel A.
Continue Reading Ohio Federal Judge Crafts An Unprecedented Class Action Mechanism To Bring Relief To Counties And Cities Struggling To Address Opioid Crisis
By: Gina R. Merrill, David B. Ross, and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a decision with far–reaching implications for workplace class actions, the D.C. Circuit recently affirmed the denial of class certification of a Rule 23(b)(3) class on the grounds that the proposed class contained uninjured class members in the case of In Re
Continue Reading Good News For Employers: D.C. Circuit Insists On “Hard Look” At Uninjured Class Members At Class Certification Stage
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Michael L. DeMarino, and Andrew Cockroft
Seyfarth Synopsis: Complex class actions often present a scenario in which some or most of the putative class members are subject to arbitration agreements, but the named plaintiff is not. In Gembarski v. PartsSource, Inc., No. 2018-0125, 2019 Ohio LEXIS 1639 (Ohio Aug. 14, 2019), the Supreme
Continue Reading The Supreme Court of Ohio Rules That Defendants Need Not Plead An Arbitration Defense To Defeat Class Certification