Senior Judge Gerald Tjoflat has a well-earned reputation for lengthy opinions, especially in class actions. His recent opinion disapproving the class-action settlement involving GoDaddy is of epic length, but he could not win the concurrence of the other two panel members, Judges Wilson and Branch. Drazen v. Pinto, 101 F. 4th 1223 (11th Cir. May…
Tag: Settlement
Eleventh Circuit Sets out Factors for Analyzing Fairness of Class Settlements
The court took the opportunity to provide guidance to courts and class-action litigants on considering the fairness of a class settlement under the 2018 amendments to Rule 23(e) in Ponzio v. Pinon, 87 F.4th 487 (11th Cir. Nov. 27, 2023). The Eleventh Circuit affirmed approval of the settlement, concluding that the district court appropriately analyzed…
Rule 41(a) May Only Dismiss an Entire Action, Not a Single Count
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) outlines the procedure for voluntary dismissals of “an action” at the parties’ request. The Eleventh Circuit, in an opinion written by Judge Britt Grant, has again emphasized that “[a]ny attempt to use this rule to dismiss a single claim, or anything less than the entire action will be invalid.”…
Court Nixes Class Settlement Approval for Lack of Representatives’ Standing to Seek Key Injunctive Relief
The Eleventh Circuit recently vacated approval of a class settlement which included, as an integral part, injunctive relief that no class representative had Article III standing to seek. Williams v. Reckitt Benckiser LLC, 2023 WL 2906311 (11th Cir. Apr. 12, 2023), was brought on behalf of a class of individuals who purchased “brain performance supplements”…
No Heightened Duty Owed to Class Representatives by Class Counsel
Counsel for a proposed class do not owe the named class representatives a heightened fiduciary duty relative to other class members. So held the Eleventh Circuit in Medical & Chiropractic Clinic, Inc. v. Oppenheim, 981 F.3d 983 (11th Cir. 2020), a decision which marked the court’s return to an unseemly controversy stemming from litigation against…
Eleventh Circuit Joins Majority of Circuits in Holding That FAA Prohibits Pre-Hearing Discovery From Non-Parties
After twenty years of litigation in Managed Care Advisory Group, LLC v. Cigna Healthcare, Inc., 2019 WL 4464301 (Sept. 18, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion reversing the enforcement of arbitral summonses and holding that the FAA implicitly withholds the power to compel documents from non-parties without summoning them to testify. Beginning…
No Multiplier for Home Depot Class Action Lodestar Fee Award
In a class action settlement, one of the most difficult issues for negotiation is often how—and how much—class counsel will be paid. In many cases, a cap on the fee is negotiated: the defendant agrees not to object to a fee application within the cap, which can be a percentage of the so-called “common fund”…
SCOTUS Business Cases This Term (Part 1 – Class Actions)
The Supreme Court’s October term is underway, and the Court has before it several class-action cases. Frank v. Gaos concerns the permissibility of cy pres relief in class action settlements; Home Depot v. Jackson the ability of a defendant in the original action to remove the action under CAFA; and Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert the availability of equitable exceptions to…
Divided Court Holds Settlement Agreement Between Cable Provider and Installation Contractor Not the Result of Duress
A party negotiating an agreement may employ leverage or “arm-twisting” to consummate a transaction. At some point, however, tough business tactics may result in a claim of duress, jeopardizing the validity of the agreement. In Cableview Communications of Jacksonville, Inc. v. Time Warner Cable Southeast, LLC, the Eleventh Circuit considered such a claim, ultimately finding…
Survey of 2017 Eleventh Circuit Decisions Published
The Mercer Law Review recently published its annual survey of noteworthy Eleventh Circuit decisions. The Class Actions article, authored by our own Tom Byrne and Stacey Mohr, analyzes the court’s 2017 decisions on CAFA jurisdiction, the impact of arbitration agreements on class actions, the preclusive effect of prior actions, class action settlements, and class certification disputes….