class action lawsuit

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February 22, 2013

Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit to Proceed, Despite Dukes

Many plaintiff trial attorneys were disappointed with the outcome in the Supreme Court decision Wal-Mart v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011). In Dukes, class certification of 1.6 million women was denied, as the court held the plaintiffs lacked the requisite requirement of commonality. The main problem was that the allegations of discrimination were based

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January 28, 2013

Ottawa Facing Class Action Lawsuit After Losing Electronic Files

The Ottawa government is facing a class action lawsuit after a portable hard drive containing electronic data regarding 500,000 student loan borrowers was lost. Contained in the hard drive is sensitive information about the borrowers who took out student loans from 2000-2006, including names, social insurance numbers, birthdates, loan information and contact numbers. Plaintiffs whose

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January 16, 2013

Plaintiff eDiscovery Requests Lead to Wal-Mart Named as Defendant in Class Action

Last year, a group of workers filed a class action lawsuit in Carrillo v. Schneider Logistics, Inc., No. CV 11-8557-CAS (DTBx), alleging wage and hour violations in three warehouses located in California. During the time these allegations were taking place, Schneider was working for retail giant Wal-Mart, whom the lawsuit sought to add as an

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January 14, 2013

Supreme Court Spars Over Loophole in Plaintiff Class Action Statute

Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court were heard last week in Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles over the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which allows defendants to remove cases from state to federal court when the potential class has over 100 members and the damages sought are more than $5 million. The question

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January 4, 2013

Does Reckless Disregard Rise to the Level of Bad Faith for Evidence Spoliation?

Our blog this week is discussing the evidence spoliation case Bozic v. City of Washington, Pennsylvania (2012 WL 6050610)(W.D.Pa. Dec. 5, 2012). The City Solicitor of the defendant city re-recorded an audiotape of an important meeting with the plaintiff, which events ultimately led to the plaintiff’s termination as a city firefighter. The plaintiff alleged the

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January 2, 2013

Plaintiff eDiscovery Discussion of Defendant Evidence Spoliation Continues

Our last blog laid out the specific facts and timeline of Bozic v. City of Washington, Pennsylvania (2012 WL 6050610)(W.D.Pa. Dec. 5, 2012). In this case, plaintiff alleged the city as defendant engaged in electronic discovery spoliation when the City Solicitor destroyed a tape recording of a meeting that was central to the case. The

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December 31, 2012

When the Duty to Preserve Evidence Arise for Allegations of eDiscovery Spoliation?

In Bozic v. City of Washington, Pennsylvania (2012 WL 6050610)(W.D.Pa. Dec. 5, 2012) the plaintiff was a female firefighter and the defendant was the employer-city. Plaintiff had previously filed an EEOC charge against the city, and she was later hired. A few months later, the defendant claimed the plaintiff was not living within the city

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December 14, 2012

Court Rules Handing Over iPhone Outside Scope of eDiscovery Requests

In AllianceBernstein L.P. v. Atha, (2012 NY Slip Op 07766)(Nov. 15, 2012), plaintiff was an investment firm alleging breach of contract and misappropriation of confidential information by the defendant, a former employee. As part of the suit, plaintiff secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing defendant from retaining or using any of its confidential information.

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December 5, 2012

Goodyear Takes Heat After Fraudulent Plaintiff eDiscovery Evasions

Discovery should not and cannot be a game of hide and seek. That is the take away statement in Haeger v. Goodyear Tire and RubberCo., No. CV-05-02046-RHX-ROS (D.Ct.Ariz. Nov. 8, 2012). Tire safety tests were at issue in discovery in the underlying product liability case. Plaintiffs sought relevant documents regarding high speed tests of the

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November 2, 2012

Defendants In Hepatitis C Case Seek to Delay Discovery

Twenty-five civil cases have been filed in New Hampshire against Exeter Hospital, alleging a hospital employee knowingly infected patients with the Hepatitis C virus after using needles on himself and reusing the same needles on patients. An attorney for the defendant hospital filed a motion for stay of discovery. According to the defense, the basis