By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Gina R. Merrill
Deciding yet another discovery battle in Wellens v. Daiichi Sankyo Inc., Case No. 3:13-CV-00581 (N.D. Cal. April 11, 2014), the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California has shut down defendant’s request to secure discovery regarding the 17 opt-in putative class members. (We first blogged on the last discovery
Continue Reading Discovery Before Conditional Certification? Not So Much.
By Gerald L. Maatman Jr. and Howard M. Wexler
Discovery battles in high-stakes employment discrimination class actions are costly, contentious, and oftentimes can serve as a “game changer” that alters the entire landscape of a case. A recent decision from Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV in Chen-Oster, et al., v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
Continue Reading Court Orders Wide Ranging Discovery In High Profile Gender Discrimination Class Action
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Laura J. Maechtlen
As our blog readers may remember, the fourth amended complaint filed by plaintiffs in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 3:01-CV-02252 (N.D. Cal.), alleges class-based gender discrimination claims very similar to those originally alleged (before plaintiffs suffered their defeat before the U.S. Supreme Court in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Rebecca Bjork
In EEOC v. Freeman, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179183, at *6 (D. Md. Dec. 19, 2012), Magistrate Judge Day of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland noted that “there simply is no more aggravating action than a lawyer improperly instructing a deponent not to answer a question.” Nevertheless, in
Continue Reading The EEOC Wins A Round In Its Discovery Tug-Of-War In EEOC v. Freeman
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jennifer Riley
On September 14, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued another opinion in EEOC v. Kronos, Inc., No. 2:09-MC-00079 (3d Cir. Sept. 14, 2012) (“Kronos II”), addressing an ongoing controversy concerning the scope of the EEOC’s subpoena power. (Click here for our previous post on this
Continue Reading Third Circuit Reaffirms EEOC’s Broad Subpoena Power In Mixed Ruling For Employers
By Alex S. Drummond and William Miles
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, paper, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures,” and provides that no warrant shall issue with probable cause. In a recent decision in Bank of America v. Hilsa L. Solis, 1:09-CV-2009 (D.D.C.
By Alex Drummond and Laura Maechtlen
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011), continues to find its way into briefing for the nuts and bolts of many class actions. The latest is a discovery dispute in Artis, et al. v Deere & Co., Case No. 10-CV-5289 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 8, 2011), in
By Kari Levine and Laura Maechtlen
In a ruling on April 25, 2011, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District in Starbucks v. Superior Court (Lords), No. G043650 (Cal. App. Apr. 25, 2011) [link to ruling], overturned a trial court’s order allowing a fishing expedition to find class representatives in a “headless” class action.
The year just ended was a seismic one for employment-related class action litigation, paving the way for more far-reaching judgments, court rulings, and changes to class action law in 2011. Furthermore, in 2010, the value of major employment discrimination class action settlements increased four-fold over the prior year and the top ten settlements of wage & hour, ERISA, and governmental
Continue Reading The 2011 Workplace Class Action Report Is Here
Seyfarth Shaw’s 2011 Workplace Class Action Report is coming soon! The report is the sole compendium in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to workplace class action litigation. Our loyal readers can expect to receive their copy in several weeks, with rulings and case law developments reviewed and analyzed through December 31, 2010.
To say the least, 2010 was a significant year
Continue Reading Closing Thoughts On Workplace Class Action Developments In 2010