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What About the Merits – What, If Anything, Will the Supreme Court Do With Cy Pres-Only Class Action Settlements?

We have been talking about Frank v. Gaos, (No. 17-961), since the U.S. Supreme Court decided to tackle the extreme case of the use of the cy pres doctrine in the context of class action cases. The settlement is a cy pres-only agreement which called for distribution of all funds paid by the defendant directly to charitable organizations and plaintiffs’ attorneys (in the form of attorneys’ fees) and there was no attempt at all to distribute any funds to the plaintiff class. The Supreme Court oral argument was held in Gaos on October 31st and the Justices probed several aspects of the heart ...

Drilling into Charlotte’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) – Final Public Draft Available for Review

DRILLING INTO CHARLOTTE'S TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) - FINAL PUBLIC DRAFT AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW (Oct. 2018): Several months ago, Charlotte’s Planning Director Taiwo Jaiyeoba charted a new course for drafting Charlotte’s Unified Development Ordinance (CLTUDO). We are now undertaking the development of a comprehensive vision plan for the City, with hopes of substantial community engagement, while work on the CLTUDO drafting process continues simultaneously. Comprehensive Plan development kicked off September 2018 with a goal of draft review beginning ...

How Much is that Disclosure Worth? NC Business Court Curbs Attorney Fee Award in Shareholder Disclosure-Only Class Action

Class actions challenging corporate merger transactions often result in settlement agreements in which the only remedy obtained by the plaintiff class is the company defendants’ additional disclosure of information related to the merger. These “disclosure-only” settlements have proliferated in recent years, drawing criticism, in part, due to questions regarding the materiality of any additional disclosures that are obtained and the broad release of claims that the corporate defendants typically receive in exchange for the disclosures. The Delaware Chancery Court ...

Has Cy Pres Gone Too Far: U.S. Supreme Court to Consider When Class Action Plaintiffs Get Nothing, but Their Lawyers and Charities Cash-In Via Plaintiffs’ Settlement

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding class action litigation over the course of the last several years. The U.S. Supreme Court has tackled a variety of issues ranging from the use of class action waivers in arbitration agreements to whether class action plaintiffs can base claims solely on statutory damages when they have suffered no concrete injury themselves. The use of class waivers in arbitration agreements, in particular, has been front and center with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) arbitration study declaring that class waivers were ...

U.S. Supreme Court Says “No” to Plaintiff Attempts to File Repetitive Class Actions After Statute of Limitations Has Run Out

It is easy to overgeneralize the outcome of a legal dispute as pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant to paint a picture of which way a court is leaning and who is finding favor. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its second class action decision in as many months that is favorable for defendant companies. No doubt this will stir grumblings about pro-business interests being elevated above the individual. But, at its heart, the Supreme Court’s decision in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, 584 U.S. ___ (2018) simply holds class actions plaintiffs to the bounds of the law as proscribed in the ...

A Split U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Class Waivers in Individual Employment Agreements, Highlighting the Role of Congress in the Class Waiver Fight

The viability of class waivers in employment agreements has been a closely watched battle in the courts since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in D. R. Horton, Inc. and Michael Cuda, Case 12–CA–25764, 357 NLRB No. 184 (2012) that class waivers in individual employment agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by preventing employees from engaging in concerted action related to their employment. Faced with an Executive Branch that was “speaki[ng] from both sides of its mouth” on this issue and a Congress that recently overturned another ...

Inside Development of the CLTUDO: Casting a New Vision for Charlotte

INSIDE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLTUDO: CASTING A NEW VISION FOR CHARLOTTE (May 18, 2018) - The Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Department and the Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance (CLTUDO) Advisory Board have continued the meticulous work of transforming the City’s old zoning and land use ordinances into one unified ordinance, while making efforts to engage with stakeholders and the public to drive the process forward. Planning Director Jaiyeoba has discussed the need for the rewrite process to be “reset” to allow up to 18 months for the development of a new comprehensive ...

The Doors of State Courthouses Remain Open to Class Action Plaintiffs with Federal Securities Act of 1933 Claims Related to Offerings of Securities

In 2017, federal securities class actions were filed at a rapid clip, averaging more than one per day - a level not seen in nearly 20 years according to survey data. It was the third year of growth and a 44% increase over 2016. Only a small subset (25 or 5.7%) of the record-setting 432 federal securities class actions filed last year were claims filed under Section 11 of the federal Securities Act of 1933 (1933 Act), which is at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Cyan Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund. The 1933 Act requires companies offering securities to the ...

The New Direction of CLTUDO Development

THE NEW DIRECTION OF CLTUDO DEVELOPMENT (March 23, 2018): The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department welcomed its new Director, Taiwo Jaiyeoba, in January 2018 and with him a new direction for facilitating the development of the Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance (CLTUDO). Under Director Jaiyeoba, the Advisory Committee will take a new direction to acknowledge the diverse interests of our stakeholders and to facilitate their involvement. As a complement outside of the Advisory Committee format, the Planning Department has scheduled several upcoming ...

Charlotte is Moving on Transit-Oriented Development

CHARLOTTE IS MOVING ON TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (March 12, 2018): Charlotte, North Carolina is set to adopt zoning ordinance revisions to create new transit-oriented development (TOD) districts this summer. What is TOD and what does it mean for Charlotte planning, development and transportation? Read more.

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