Category: General

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Brad A. Molotsky, and Gregory S. Slotnick

Duane Morris Takeaways: In Zanetich v. Walmart, Inc., Case No. 1:22-CV-05387 (D.N.J. May 25, 2023), a case of first impression, the Judge Christine O’Hearn of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey found the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (“CREAMMA”), the 2021 law legalizing recreational marijuana use in the state, does not allow job applicants and employees to file lawsuits alleging adverse actions based on marijuana use.  The ruling is a boon for employers across New Jersey, who will not face the possibility of private lawsuits filed by applicants and employees based on adverse employment actions by employers for their workers’ off-duty marijuana use.  However, the victory may be short-lived, as the Court invited re-examination of the law by way of legislative amendment, enforcement guidance, or New Jersey state court clarity on application of the state’s common law “failure to hire” theory to claims under the CREAMMA.

Case Background

On January 21, 2022, the plaintiff applied for a job with defendants in the Asset Protection Department in one of defendants’ New Jersey locations.  A few days after his January 25, 2022 interview, on January 28, 2022, defendants offered plaintiff the job, beginning on February 7, 2022, “subject to him submitting to and passing a drug test.” Id. at 2. Plaintiff alleged that at the time, the defendants had a Drug & Alcohol Policy that stated “any applicant or associate who tests positive for illegal drug use may be ineligible for employment,” which included marijuana. Id.

After plaintiff took a drug test on January 21, 2022 and tested positive for marijuana, he contacted defendants on February 10, 2022 for an update on his application.  Two days later, defendants informed Plaintiff that his job offer would be rescinded.  When plaintiff asked for the reason for this decision, he was advised it was because he had tested positive for marijuana.

On June 13, 2022, plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and others similarly situated asserting two claims, including: (i) violation of the CREAMMA; and (ii) failure to hire and/or termination in violation of New Jersey public policy.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the CREAMMA does not provide a private right of action and that New Jersey common law does not recognize a cause of action based on an employer’s failure to hire.  In response, the plaintiff argued that the CREAMMA provides for an implied private cause of action and that his common law cause of action was cognizable as both a wrongful termination and failure to hire.

The Court granted the defendants’ motion in its entirety, dismissing both claims.

The Court’s Ruling

The Court noted the parties agreed there is no explicit private cause of action in the CREAMMA and undertook a three-part analysis to determine whether the CREAMMA included an implied private cause of action.

First, the Court held that the CREAMMA’s focus was on regulating the manufacture, sale, and use of marijuana in NJ – not expanding employment rights for applicants and employees.  However, it ultimately read the statute liberally to include plaintiff in the class of persons for whose special benefit the statute was enacted.  This factor, the Court concluded, weighed in favor of an implied private cause of action.

Second, the Court looked to legislative intent. It reasoned that other employment statutes adopted by the NJ legislature, such as the Conscientious Employee Protection and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, explicitly provide for a private cause of action.  The Court found that the other employment statutes also expressly provide for a remedy, and that the CREAMMA did not provide either, which weighed against a private cause of action.  The Court opined that unlike the CREAMMA and the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (“CRC”), cases from other states finding an implied private cause of action in similar employment-related provisions in other state’s medical marijuana statutes involved statutes that are distinct in that no agency or commission was created and tasked with enforcement of the statute.  In other words, creation of the CRC and tasking it to handle all aspects of enforcing the CREAMMA differentiated New Jersey from the other states.

Third, the Court determined that the legislative scheme of the CREAMMA does not support an inference that it provides an implied private cause of action given its delegation of authority to the CRC to create regulations and enforce violations.  As such, the Court dismissed plaintiff’s CREAMMA claim.

Finally, the Court held that New Jersey common law does not provide a cause of action for failure to hire, and that plaintiff was only offered a job subject to his passing a drug test; he was never employed by defendants.  Since plaintiff was never employed by defendants, the Court concluded that he failed to state a wrongful discharge claim because a failure to hire claim cannot support a common law wrongful discharge claim under New Jersey law.

Implications Of The Decision

For the moment, businesses in New Jersey have a viable defense to individual or class action claims brought by recreational marijuana users for adverse actions taken against them due to their use.  This includes the ability to rescind conditional job offers to applicants who fail a drug test for marijuana.  However, the Court noted that its decision left the plaintiff without a remedy and rendered the language of the CREAMMA employment provision at issue “meaningless.”  The Court called on the New Jersey legislature, the CRC, or the New Jersey Supreme Court to act.  The Court even mapped out suggestions to allow workers to sue for remedial relief, including: (i) amending the law; (ii) adopting regulations allowing the CRC to enforce the provision; or (iii) issuance of a New Jersey Supreme Court decision finding it appropriate to depart from prior New Jersey common law rejecting failure to hire claims based on the CREAMMA’s statutory language. In fact, shortly after the Court published its opinion, plaintiff appealed the decision to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  As a result, New Jersey-based employers should stay tuned to the appeal and proceed with caution before taking adverse action based on applicant or employee recreational marijuana use.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jennifer A. Riley

Duane Morris Takeaway: In its review of the Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2023, EPLiC Magazine called it the “the Bible” on class action litigation and an essential desk reference for business executives, corporate counsel, and human resources professionals.

We are humbled and honored by the recent review of the first edition of the Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2023 by Employment Practices Liability Consultant Magazine (“EPLiC”) – the review is here.

EPLiC said that “The Review must-have resource for in-depth analysis of class actions in general and workplace litigation in particular.”

EPLiC continued that “The Duane Morris Class Action Review analyzes class action trends, decisions, and settlements in all areas impacting Corporate America. The Review also highlights key rulings on attorneys’ fee awards in class actions, motions granting and denying sanctions in class actions, and the top class action settlement in a myriad of substantive areas. Finally, the Review provides insight as to what companies and corporate counsel can expect to see in 2023 in terms of filings by the plaintiffs’ class action bar.”

So how was it done?

The answer is pretty simple – we live, eat, and breathe class action law 24/7/365.

Every day, morning and evening, we check the previous day’s filings of class action rulings relative to antitrust class actions, appeals in class actions, arbitration issues in class actions, Class Action Fairness Act issues in class actions, civil rights class actions, consumer fraud class actions, data breach class actions, EEOC-initiated litigation, employment discrimination class actions, Employee Retirement Income Security Act class actions, Fair Credit Reporting Act class actions, wage & hour class actions, labor class actions, privacy class actions, procedural issues in class actions, product liability & mass tort class actions, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act class actions, securities fraud class actions, settlement issues in class actions, state court class actions, Telephone Consumer Protection Act class actions, and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act class actions. We conduct searches on a national basis, in federal courts and all 50 states. Then we read and analyze every ruling on Rule 23 certification motions and subsidiary issues throughout federal and state trial and appellate courts. The information is organized in our customized database, which is used to provide the Review’s one-of-a-kind analysis and commentary.

The result is a compendium of class action law unlike any other. Thanks for the kudos EPLiC – we sincerely appreciate it!

We look forward to providing the 2024 Review to all of our loyal readers in early January. In the meantime, look for our first-ever Mid-Year Update coming at the beginning of July!

Duane Morris Takeaway:  This week’s episode of the Class Action Weekly Wire features Duane Morris partners Jennifer Riley and Mike DeMarino and associate Aaron Bauer with their analysis of the Fair Credit Reporting Act class action litigation trends and developments in 2022 and what to expect in 2023. We hope you enjoy it.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jeffrey R. Zohn

Duane Morris Takeaways: More than 10 years after Plaintiffs filed suit in Carlson et al. v. Northrop Grumman Severance Plan et al., No. 22-1764, 2023 WL 3299703 (7th Cir. May 8, 2023), the Seventh Circuit put to rest the idea that a sponsor of an ERISA welfare-benefit plan is a fiduciary of the plan’s participants.  Instead, per the ruling in Carlson, the sponsor is obligated to follow the terms of the plan as written.  When the plan grants the sponsor discretion to determine who qualifies, the sponsor may exercise that discretion and may even change the way it exercises that discretion over time.  If the plan does not grant the sponsor any such discretion, the sponsor must abide by the precise terms of the plan. The Seventh Circuit’s decision is well worth a read by corporate counsel, as it provides some bright-line tests for defense of class action claims brought under the ERISA.

Background And Context

Enacted in 1974, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) is the culmination of a long line of legislation concerned with the labor and tax aspects of employee benefit plans.  In light of the often rapidly evolving retirement and health care needs of employees and their families, the ERISA has been subject to numerous amendments since its enactment nearly 50 years ago.  Nonetheless, its primary aim has always been to protect the interests of participants and their beneficiaries in employee benefit plans.

The ERISA sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans) and welfare benefit plans (such as medical benefits).  These plans must also meet certain ERISA-based standards in order to qualify for favorable tax treatment.

Importantly, the ERISA explicitly empowers a participant of an employee benefit plan – including former employees in certain circumstances – to bring a civil action to recover benefits due or to clarify rights under the terms of the plan. More often than not, such litigation takes the form of a class action.

Case Background

On April 9, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against their former employer – Northrop Grumman (“Northrop”) – seeking payment of severance benefits Plaintiffs alleged Northrop owed them when they were laid off in 2012.

The plain language of Northrop’s Severance Plan (the “Plan”) grants the HR Department discretion to determine who qualifies for benefits under the Plan and may notify recipients of their benefits via an HR Memo.  Plaintiffs and the other class members did not receive the HR Memo upon being laid off and, therefore, did not receive benefits under the Plan.

After class certification, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Northrop’s motion for summary judgment. It held that the Plan’s language gives the HR Department discretion to choose who, if anyone, gets severance pay on being laid off.  Carlson et al. v. Northrop Grumman Severance Plan et al., No. 13-CV-02635, 2022 WL 971873 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 31, 2022).  The district court further opined that the ERISA does not prevent an ERISA severance plan from possessing and exercising discretion to determine recipients.  Plaintiffs appealed to the Seventh Circuit.

The Seventh Circuit’s Ruling

On May 8, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of Northrop.

The Seventh Circuit explained that the terms of ERISA welfare-benefit plans always control.  While plan administrators must act in a fiduciary capacity when exercising discretion, the entities that establish the plans do not have the same obligation.  Instead, those entities are entitled to act in their own interests and need not provide participants any vesting interests.

“A person possessing discretion may change the way that discretion is exercised,” according to the Seventh Circuit.  Id. at 2. As such, if a sponsor is granted discretion in determining who qualifies for plan benefits, it is not required to treat all participants equally, even if “deliberate past practice, [] mistaken past practice, and [] mistaken efforts to describe the benefits in writing” suggest otherwise. Id. at 3.

However, that is only true when the sponsor does possess such discretion.  An ERISA sponsor still must apply a pension or welfare plan as written.  The terms of the plan itself always control.  No administrators or clerical employees can vary its terms.

In Carlson, the terms of the Plan granted Northrop’s HR Department the discretion to provide severance benefits to laid off employees, including Plaintiffs, by delivering them an HR Memo.  Plaintiffs did not receive severance benefits or an HR Memo.  The Seventh Circuit did not find any relevance in Plaintiffs’ position that, prior to October 2011, every laid-off employee who qualified for severance benefits received the HR Memo.  Even if Plaintiffs’ position was factually accurate, which Northrop denied, the Seventh Circuit reasoned that Northrop was still entitled to change its approach and select which, if any, laid off employees would receive severance benefits.

The Seventh Circuit was also unpersuaded by Plaintiffs’ argument that Northrop interfered with Plaintiffs’ rights (a position which effectively argues that Northrop’s HR Department is a fiduciary of the Plan’s participants).  The Seventh Circuit concluded that it is not.  Instead, Northrop’s HR Department was properly exercising the discretion given to it under the plain terms of the Plan.

Implications For Employers

The Carlson decision indicates that courts will continue to honor the terms of an ERISA welfare-benefit plan based on the plain terms of the plan (and not based on past practices or even written plan summaries).

Nonetheless, Carlson is not an invitation for plan sponsors to blindly exercise discretion in determining qualification of ERISA welfare-benefit plans.  Instead, it serves as a reminder that sponsors do not have unlimited authority in the execution of the plan.  Sponsors must follow the terms of the plan as written.  If the plan does not grant discretion in the execution of the plan, then no discretion may be exercised.  If discretion is granted, then it must be exercised carefully and within the bounds of the grant.

Therefore, in deciding whether a plan applies to certain employees, employers should carefully review the terms of the plan rather than merely rely on past practices or plan summaries.

Duane Morris Takeaway:  This week’s episode of the Class Action Weekly Wire features Duane Morris partners Jerry Maatman and Jennifer Riley with their analysis of the employment discrimination class action litigation trends and developments in 2022 and what to expect in 2023. We hope you enjoy it.

 

Duane Morris Takeaways: Since its inception in September of 2022, the Duane Morris Class Action Defense blog has now recorded its 100^th post!!!!

Since our kick-off post, our data analytics show there have been over 20,000 views to blog posts, with thousands of our loyal subscribers reading about class action litigation developments. There are many highlights from the last 100 posts, but we wanted to provide just a few for you here. Click on the links below to see all the hot trends in class action litigation, and tune in below for a special thank you announcement from the blog’s editor, Jerry Maatman.

Overview Of The Last 100 Posts

We launched the first edition of the Duane Morris Class Action Review, which is a one-of-its-kind publication analyzing class action trends, decisions, and settlements in all areas impacting Corporate America. The Review has been prominently featured in the media and is a must-have for all human resources professionals, business leaders, and corporate counsel.

We also published five mini-books focused on specialized areas of law in class action litigation and on EEOC-Initiated litigation. Here are the links to our blog posts announcing the EEOC-Initiated Litigation Review, the Privacy Class Action Review, the Wage & Hour Class And Collective Action Review, the Private Attorneys General Act Review, and the Consumer Fraud Class Action Review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blog also kicked-off the Class Action Weekly Wire Podcast, where experts in the field discuss trends and hot developments. Tune in every Friday for a new episode!

 

Click here to read our most viewed blog post entitled Massachusetts State Court Rules In Class Action That A Multiple-Choice Promotional Test Discriminated Against Minority Police Officers. Over 2,000 people read this post!

 

Click here to watch our most viewed Class Action Weekly Wire Podcast, regarding ChatGPT and artificial intelligence and the impact on class action litigation.

 

Thank you loyal followers for making the Class Action Defense blog your pick for class action litigation related information, trends, and analysis. We truly appreciate it! See below for a special message from the blog’s editor, Jerry Maatman. And please keep coming back, we promise to keep the content fresh!

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer A. Riley, and Sharon L. Caffrey

Duane Morris Takeaways: Class action litigation in the consumer fraud area has exponentially increased over the past several years, leaving corporations extremely vulnerable. Additionally, most consumer fraud class actions come with the possibility of excessive payouts for corporations. To that end, the class action team at Duane Morris is pleased to present the inaugural edition of the Consumer Fraud Class Action Review – 2023. We hope it will demystify some of the complexities of consumer fraud litigation and keep corporate counsel updated on the ever-evolving nuances in this area of law. We hope this book, which manifests the experience and expertise of the Duane Morris class action defense group, will assist clients by identifying trends in the case law and offering practical approaches in handing consumer fraud class action litigation.

Click here to download a copy of the Duane Morris Consumer Fraud Class Action Review – 2023 ebook.

Tune in on Fridays to our weekly podcast The Class Action Weekly Wire for more class action analysis and discussion of important trends!

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jennifer A. Riley

Duane Morris Takeaways: We were honored to present the keynote address today to open the 7th Annual Class Action Money & Ethics Conference in New York City sponsored by Beard Group, Citi Financial, Simpluris, and Pacer Monitor. With over 100 attendees, the program focused on the current state of class action litigation and “white hot” litigation topics for 2023. The discussion points provide an excellent roadmap on what is likely coming down the road for Corporate America for the remainder of 2023.

Class Action Dynamics

The themes of our keystone address focused on the extraordinary developments in class action litigation over the past 12 months.

The plaintiffs’ bar certified class actions at unprecedented levels throughout the country and monetized their cases with the highest settlement values seen in over 25 years. Many of these settlements arose from opioid litigation against manufactures, distributors, and retailers in the pharmaceutical industry. On an aggregate basis, class actions and government enforcement lawsuits garnered more than $71 billion in settlements, with 15 class action cases settling for more than $1 billion. Suffice to say, 2022 was unlike any other year on the class action settlement front. As success often begets copy-cats, corporations can expect the plaintiffs’ class action bar will be equally if not more aggressive in their case filings and settlement positions in 2023.

In 2022, the plaintiffs’ class action bar succeeded in certifying class actions at an exceedingly high rate. Across all major types of class actions, courts issued rulings on over 360 motions to grant or to deny class certification in 2022. Of these, plaintiffs succeed in obtaining or maintaining certification in 268 rulings, with an overall success rate of nearly 75%. The plaintiffs’ class action bar obtained the highest rates of success in securities fraud, ERISA, WARN, and FLSA actions. In cases alleging securities fraud, plaintiffs succeeded in obtaining orders certifying classes in 23 of the 24 rulings issues during 2022, a success rate of 96%. In ERISA litigation, plaintiffs succeeded in obtaining orders certifying class in 18 of 23 rulings issued during 2022, a success rate of 78%. In cases alleging WARN violations, plaintiffs managed to certify classes in 100% of the suits that resulted in decisions this year.

In terms of predictions, we opined that as the volume of class action filings has increased each year for the past decade, and 2023 is likely to follow that trend. As a result, a company’s programs designed to ensure compliance with existing laws and strategies to mitigate class action litigation risks are corporate imperatives. The plaintiffs’ bar is nothing if not innovative and resourceful. Given the massive class action settlement figures in 2022, coupled with the ever-developing case law under Rule 23, corporations can expect more lawsuits, expansive class theories, and an aggressive plaintiffs’ bar in 2023. These conditions necessitate planning, preparation, and decision-making to position corporations to withstand and defend class action exposures. These crucial issues are inevitably posed by any class action litigation. By their very nature, class actions involve decisions on strategy at every turn. The positions of the parties are constantly changing and corporate defendants must always be looking ahead and anticipating issues during every phase of the litigation.

Hot Class Action Topics

Among the topics addressed at the Conference were ESG class actions, PFAS “forever chemicals” litigation, Camp LeJeune mass tort litigation, Talc liability class actions, crypto class actions, and gender discrimination and pay equity class action litigation.

Litigating ESG Consumer Class Actions

Baldassare Vinti, Jeff Warshafsky, and Jennifer Yang of Proskauer Rose LLP led a discussion of class action litigation focusing on ESG environmental marketing claims, which they noted have been an increasing in number in the consumer class action space. These putative class actions challenge “green” claims that products or services are “carbon neutral,” “recyclable,” “non-toxic,” or otherwise beneficial for the environment.

PFAS “Forever Chemical” Class Actions

Michael J. Bisceglia, Brian M. Ledger, Paul T. Nyffeler, and Thomas R. Waskom of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP presented on PFAS “forever chemical” litigation.  Despite stringent regulation, PFAS has been linked to harmful health effects, including cancer.  They predicted that after opioid litigation, many in the plaintiffs’ class action bar view this area as the next “big thing” for widespread mass tort and class actions.

Camp LeJeune Litigation & New Theories Of Liability

Mark A. DiCello of DiCello Levitt discussed the state of mass tort litigation with water contamination lawsuits filed against the U.S. Government alleging adverse health effects for affecting nearly 175,000 marines, sailors, their families and civilians at the camp between 1950 and 1985.  Those cases were consolidated into MDL No. 2218 and the government successfully obtained dismissal of all of those cases in 2016. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have continued to litigate based on new theories of liability. The amount of advertising about the litigation is also continuing to mount (estimated at a cost of $500,000 to date), as more than 2,000 lawsuits are pending.

Talc Liability Class Actions

Gina Passarella, the editor in chief of American Lawyer, moderated a roundtable discussion with Melanie L. Cyganowski of Otterbourg P.C., Mohsin Meghji of M3 Partners, Robert J. Stark or Brown Rudnick, and Joshua A. Sussberg of Kirkland & Ellis regarding resolution of talc liability. The census of the roundtable was that this remains a hot topic in the class action and corporate restructuring communities, and that 2023 is expected to see various bankruptcy rulings in this sector.​

After FTX, Crypto Lawyers And Class Actions

Michael P. Canty of Labaton Sucharow LLP and Graham Newman Chappell, Chappell & Newman provided their insights on crypto class action issues. They agreed that with the collapse of FTX, the crypto industry has endured more scrutiny. In this respect, decades-old laws are apt to provide fertile ground for assertion of class action theories.

Gender Based Discrimination & Pay Inequality

Matthew L. Berman of Valli Kane & Vagnini LLP and Rachel Geman of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP led a discussion on gender discrimination and pay equity class-based litigation.

With recent large equal pay cases, such as last year’s Google gender discrimination class action settlement of $118 million, and recent laws regarding pay equity and requiring pay transparency, a spotlight is shining on compensation in the workplace.

Mass Torts & Cases To Watch In 2023

Christopher Ege of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP, Mark Eveland of Verus LLC, Bridie Farrell of Milestone, Neil Kornswiet of Optium Captial LLC, and Edward E. Neiger of Ask LLP closed the Conference with a roundtable discussion of the state of mass tort litigation. They discussed several cases with some of the biggest brands making their way through court MDL proceedings, including Roundup, Tylenol Autism, and Elmiron.  Based on key settlements from 2022, they predicted a robust litigation landscape for 2023.

Implications For Corporate America

If 2022 is any indication, 2023 is shaping up to be a signal year of developments in class action litigation.