Text to Vote: A Cautionary Tale for SMS Marketing Under the TCPA
Promotional text messaging, especially in the sports industry, is growing in popularity. More and more sports teams and advertisers are reaching sports fans through their mobile devices. As most companies know by now, the FCC rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act apply to promotional… Read More
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TCPASupreme Court Eases Burden of Removing Cases Under the Class Action Fairness Act
The United States Supreme Court just made class action defendants’ lives a little easier. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that when removing a case to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), a defendant need only make a plausible allegation… Read More
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CAFAIs Your Industry Ripe for Noncompliance Under the Fair Labor Standards Act?
Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor found that Marcellus Shale oil and gas contractors violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which resulted in the contractors agreeing to pay nearly $4.5 million in back wages to approximately 5,000 employees. According to the Labor Department, most… Read More
Time Spent Going Through Security Screenings Is Not Compensable Under Fair Labor Standards Act
The Supreme Court decided on Tuesday of this week that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) does not require an employer to compensate employees for time spent waiting in line and then going through security screenings at the end of their work shift each… Read More
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FLSAFirst Circuit Finds Plaintiff Lacks Standing In Unmanifested Defect Case
Claims based on enhanced risk of future harm just got harder to bring. Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a complaint in which the plaintiff alleged the corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) in his home, used… Read More
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Class ActionsSCOTUS Hears Arguments on Compensability of Required Security Screenings Under FLSA
The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in an important Fair Labor Standards Act case that asks whether an employer who requires hourly employees to go through a security screening at the end of their shift – as a way to prevent employee theft –… Read More
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FLSANew Jersey Supreme Court Tightens Requirements for Enforcing Arbitration Agreements
General counsel should stop what they’re doing and review their company’s arbitration provisions in light of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in Atalese v. U.S. Legal Services Group, L.P., 2014 WL 4689318 (N.J. Sept. 23, 2014). In Atalese, the Supreme Court rejected the… Read More
France and Belgium Adopt Class Actions Spring 2014
This guest post was authored by our colleagues Christopher Scott D’Angelo and Jennifer E. Canfield. Christopher is a partner and chair of Montgomery McCracken’s international practice and co-chair of the products liability & risk management practice. His practice emphasizes litigation and preventive counseling in the… Read More
Third Circuit Rules That Whether a Contract Permits Classwide Arbitration is for the District Court, not the Arbitrator, to Decide
In a case of first impression, the Third Circuit has ruled that the district court, not an arbitrator, should decide whether classwide arbitration is available under a contract with an arbitration clause. Opalinski v. Robert Half International Inc., No. 12-4444, 2014 WL 3733685 (3d Cir.… Read More
Another Post-Clapper Data Privacy Breach Case Dismissed for Lack of Standing
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, 133 S. Ct. 1138 (2013), continues to be relied on by federal courts to hold that “mere loss of data” or “increased risk of identity theft” in a data breach case does not constitute… Read More