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Marshall v. H&R Block Tax Services, Inc., 564 F.3d 826 (7th Cir. 2009)

 We are delighted to present a Guest Post from one of our original CAFA analysts. Our Guest Poster today is Gabe Crowson from Howrey, LLP’s Chicago office. Welcome Back, Gabe

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 09:46 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

Okay, may be it will not shape your life, but it will shape the future of ERISA strategies for leading litigators and in-house counsel.

If you register by or before July 17, you can save$700 off the conference price ($1495 instead of $2195) by quoting “discount code CAFA”

American Conference Institute’s Premier Forum on Defending and Managing ERISA LITIGATION will take place on October 19-20 at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel in New York City. Click here to go ACI's site which contains the agenda.

The event features a faculty of leading outside litigators and 28 senior in-house counsel from:

ACE INA * Aetna * AIG * Aon * AT&T * Bayer * Boeing * Bristol-Myers Squibb * Chubb * Crawford & Co. * CSC * Con Edison * Fidelity * Goodyear * Honeywell * International Paper * JCPenney * Lowe’s * MetLife * Pitney Bowes * Procter & Gamble * Sunoco * TJUH * Unum * Wachovia * Wells Fargo * W.R. Grace

Plus, 21 federal judges from district courts located in 8 circuits will help you convey ERISA complexities to a court. HEAR FROM:

Hon. Janet Bond Arterton          Hon. Julian Abele Cook, Jr.

Hon. Patrick J. Duggan                         Hon. Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr.

Hon. Kim R. Gibson                  Hon. Robert C. Jones

Hon. Algenon L. Marbley          Hon. Larry J. McKinney

Hon. Stephen J. Murphy, III       Hon. Rebecca R. Pallmeyer

Hon. Denise Page Hood            Hon. Peter G. Sheridan

Hon. Alexander Williams, Jr.      Hon. Raymond L. Erickson

Hon. Robert J. Johnston             Hon. Stephen Wm. Smith

Hon. Roger B. Cosbey              Hon. Janice M. Stewart

Hon. Lisa P. Lenihan                 Hon. Viktor V. Pohorelsky

Hon. Robert E. Payne

To register: www.AmericanConference.com/ERISA or call 888-224-2480. 
If you register by or before July 17, you can save $700 off the conference tuition price ($1495 instead of $2195) by quoting “discount code CAFA”

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 01:24 PM | Comments / Questions (0)

Irish v. BNSF Railway Co., No. 08-CV-496-SLC, 2009 WL 276519 (W.D. Wis. Feb. 4, 2009). 

Note to all those dreaming of one day bringing a class action lawsuit of your own: don’t bring suit on behalf of your entire town unless you want the case removed to Federal Court. 

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 09:43 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

Leathermon v. Grandview Memorial Gardens, Inc., No. 4:07-CV-137-SEB-WGH, 2009 WL 301923 (S.D. Ind. Jan. 22, 2009). 

One important thing to keep in mind before you try to prove that greater than two-thirds of your plaintiff class are citizens of the State in which you filed: don’t use addresses that are forty years old! Common sense, I know, but the plaintiffs in Leathermon attempted to use the addresses of their plaintiff class members that were on file at the time the underlying contracts to the suit were entered into – twenty, thirty, and forty years prior. 

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 10:10 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

Vallier v. American Fidelity Assurance Company, Slip Copy, 2008 WL 4330028 (D. Kan., Sep. 16, 2008)(No. 08-2267-JAR)

Plaintiff, Verle Vallier, filed a putative class action seeking damages from American Fidelity Assurance Company (AFA) for breach of contract with fraudulent intent, fraud and bad faith, claiming that AFA changed the “actual charges” policy language in its disease cancer expense policy. 

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 06:30 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

Chiropractic Neurodiagnostic, P.C. v. Allstate Insurance Co., No. 08-2319, 2009 WL 210866 (E.D. NY 01/26/2009).

What happens when the plaintiff files a “class action” lawsuit touting withheld payments in excess of “One Million Dollars,” but then admits it’s not really a class-action suit and that the plaintiff is only seeking “in excess of” $35,000.00? That’s right, folks, it’s back to state court for this cheap, no-class lawsuit!

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 06:30 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

Harris v. Sagamore Insurance Company, No. 08-109, 2008 WL 4816471 (E.D.Ark. Nov. 3, 2008).

Sometimes life imitates art. In the classical view, the structure of narrative is properly divided into three acts. This analysis may be traced back to Aristotle’s Poetics, wherein that great thinker propounded that the structure of narrative is properly divided into beginning, middle, and end:

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 06:30 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

 The world famous, and CAFA Law Blog favorite, American Conference Institute is offering a $200.00 discount to attend its National Advanced Forum on Employment Discrimination Claims and Class Action Seminar. At this price you can’t afford not to go. Plus, a CAFA Law Blog Editor will be tweeting live from the conference @cafalawblog!

The event promises to bring together top private practice lawyers from the plaintiff and defense bar, seasoned judges, in house counsel, and a special keynote address from the EEOC.    The seminar will feature topics on recent legislation, class action considerations, ethics, and retaliation claims among others. As a special bonus, a CAFA Law Blog Editor will be in attendance and signing autographs! It doesn’t get any better. 

What:   American Conference Institute’s National Advanced Forum on Employment Discrimination Claims and Class Actions.

When: June 29 & 30, 2009.

Where:  Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, California.

Follow us: www.twitter.com/cafalawblog

ACT NOW and sign up at www.americanconference.com/discrimination. At sign up reference “THE CAFA LAW BLOG DISCOUNT”

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 10:32 AM | Comments / Questions (0)

Kitson v. Bank of Edwardsville, 2008 WL 4671743 (S.D. Ill., October 21, 2008)

Readers, feast upon the following nuggets of legal wisdom. . .

1.        CAFA is required reading for all who engage in class-action litigation.

2.        The Court rejected the argument that the statute cannot mean what it says.

3.        Congress writing a deadline imprecisely, or even perversely*, is not a sufficient reason to disregard the enacted language.

4.        CAFA is written for judges and lawyers.

5.         Judicial investigation of legislative history has a tendency to become an exercise in looking over a crowd and picking out your friends.

6.         CAFA properly understood is a manual on how to invoke or avoid federal jurisdiction

Posted By McGlinchey Stafford at 06:30 AM | Comments / Questions (0)