December | 2021 | Consumer Products Law Watch

Class Action Standing in Federal Court: TransUnion v. Ramirez

Dec 04 2021

Summary: The Supreme Court’s holding in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 (2021), significantly narrows the ability of consumer class action plaintiffs who have no real world injury to assert claims in federal court.

Key Takeaway: The Supreme Court’s holding significantly curtails class actions in federal court, especially for consumer classes premised on statutory violations without real injuries. In the absence of concrete injury, plaintiffs are now precluded from suing in federal court. Going forward, we can expect to see state courts, which are not bound by the federal rules of justiciability, adjudicate more consumer class actions filed under federal statutes.

Federal Court Denies Request to Consolidate Nationwide Baby Food Heavy Metal Cases

Dec 03 2021

By: Amy Wong

Key Takeaway: Courts are reluctant to centralize industry-wide cases involving competitors as it rarely promotes judicial efficiency and complicates discovery. For now, the baby food cases will proceed in their respective forums.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has denied a motion to centralize and consolidate 38 lawsuits pending in 10 districts against baby food companies alleging that the companies knowingly sold baby food products containing heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury), and falsely marketed these products as healthy and as not containing harmful ingredients. In re Baby Food Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2997, 2021 WL 2369296 (JPML, decided June 7, 2021).

Clean Energy Homeowners Seek En Banc Review of Class Certification Denial

Dec 02 2021

Woolley v. Ygrene Energy Fund, Inc.

Summary: A group of borrowers who claim they were misled by terms of clean energy loans were denied class certification for failure to show they had actually viewed various versions of the company’s contracts and alleged misrepresentations. A three-panel judge affirmed, and the borrowers now seek en banc review.

Key Takeaway: In fraud actions, satisfying the required element of predominant commonality poses a major hurdle to class certification because of differences among the putative class on issues of what representations were made to or received by a given class member, and the extent to which the class members relied on the purported misrepresentations. While reliance is easier to establish where the purported class members were exposed to massive and pervasive advertising campaigns (In re Tobacco II Cases, 46 Cal.4th 298 (2009)), the plaintiffs must define the class to include only members who were exposed to such misleading advertising, or, in the absence of a pervasive marketing campaign, the plaintiffs must demonstrate that the alleged misrepresentations affected their decision to enter into the loan contract.

Archive: December 2021