A court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently dismissed a lawsuit alleging that the food and beverage industry “implemented addiction science techniques and predatory marketing campaigns” related to ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Martinez v. Kraft Heinz Co., No. 2:25-cv-00377, 2025 WL 2447793, at *1, (E.D. Pa. Aug. 25, 2025). While acknowledging concerns about the alleged
Inside Class Actions
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Ninth Circuit Affirms Denial of Class Certification Finding Lack of Predominance
By Daniel Esses
A divided Ninth Circuit panel recently affirmed a district court’s denial of class certification based on a lack of predominance. See Ambrosio v. Progressive Preferred Ins. Co., 2025 WL 2628179 (9th Cir. Sept. 12, 2025). The plaintiffs sought to represent a class of drivers asserting breach-of-contract and other related claims against an auto insurer. The…
Sixth Circuit Rejects Food Contamination Claims for Lack of Standing
By Anand Balaji
In Ward v. J.M. Smucker Co, No. 24-3387, 2025 WL 2613489 (6th Cir. Sept. 10, 2025), the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss a putative consumer class action regarding allegedly contaminated peanut butter because Plaintiffs did not have standing to bring their claims. …
Ninth Circuit Rejects Vegas Hotel Algorithmic Price Fixing Claims
On August 15, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a class action complaint in Gibson v. Cendyn Group, No. 24-3576, rejecting plaintiffs’ arguments that Las Vegas hotels violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act through their common use of revenue management software. The decision follows two previous orders by a Nevada…
Third Circuit Rejects “Reasonable Indication” Opt-Out Standard
The Third Circuit recently rejected the so-called “reasonable indication” opt-out standard, which refers to whether a class member can opt out of a class action by merely providing a “reasonable indication” of their intent to do so, regardless of whether this indication adheres to the letter of the procedures established by the district court. See…
California Court Dismisses CIPA Suit Alleging Use of Email Marketing Pixels
Recently, a California federal judge dismissed a suit challenging the use of third-party email marketing pixels by clothing retailer Gap, Inc., concluding plaintiff’s “scattershot and vague assertions” were insufficient to state a plausible claim under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). Ramos v. Gap, Inc., 2025 WL 2144837 (N.D. Cal. July 29, 2025).…
Fourth Circuit Clarifies Standard for Rule 23’s Ascertainability and Predominance Requirements
The Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in Glover v. EQT Corporation, 2025 WL 2405514 (4th Cir. Aug. 20, 2025), provides clarity on what plaintiffs must do to certify a class in a breach-of-contract case while reaffirming that individualized fact-intensive inquiries make it difficult to certify fraudulent concealment claims as a class action.…
D.C. Circuit Deepens Circuit Split on Interpretation of “Consumer” Under VPPA
By Deb Malamud
In Nicole Pileggi v. Washington Newspaper Publishing Company LLC, the D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a complaint alleging that news magazine and website Washington Examiner disclosed consumers’ personal information through a third-party pixel in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”).
In 2023, Pileggi alleged that the Examiner’s use of…
Sixth Circuit Remands Class Certification Ruling Back to District Court to Conduct Rigorous Analysis Under Comcast
The Sixth Circuit in In Re FirstEnergy Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 23-3940, 2025 WL 2331754 (6th Cir. Aug. 13, 2025) recently reversed and remanded the district court’s class certification ruling in a securities class action on two independent bases: (1) that the district court applied the wrong standard when granting the plaintiffs a presumption of…
Court Clarifies Federal Wiretap Act’s Crime-Tort Exception: “Commercial Purposes” Are “Not the Stuff of Which a Crime-Tort Is Made”
After last year’s landmark ruling holding that the Massachusetts Wiretap Act does not prohibit businesses’ use of pixels to capture website browsing data, Massachusetts plaintiffs have shifted their focus to the federal Wiretap Act. The problem: unlike the Massachusetts Wiretap Act, its federal counterpart is a “one-party consent” law, meaning that a business’s consent to…