Duane Morris Takeaways: Register today and join us Thursday, January 30, 2025, at a Duane Morris Exclusive Event – our Book Launch for the Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2025! This event will be offered as an in-person panel discussion and a Zoom webinar. The DMCAR e-book is an essential desk reference that can be viewed
California Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment to CIPA Defendants
A court in the Northern District of California recently granted summary judgment to DDR Media LLC and Jornaya in a website wiretapping lawsuit under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). See Williams v. DDR Media, LLC, 2024 WL 4859078 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2024). This decision represents a meaningful victory for defendants facing similar
DMCAR Trend #4 – Plaintiffs Continue To Chip Away At The Arbitration Defense
By: Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. Duane Morris Takeaway: Despite another tumultuous year of rulings, the arbitration defense remained one of the most powerful weapons in the class action defense toolkit. A defendant’s ability to enforce an arbitration agreement containing a class or collective action waiver continues to reign as one of the most impactful defenses
California Federal Court Allows Software Vendor to Enforce Website Operator’s Arbitration Agreement in Privacy Lawsuit
Plaintiffs sometimes try to sidestep an arbitration agreement with one company by suing only a second company for interrelated conduct. Last month, a California federal court applied principles of fairness under the doctrine of “equitable estoppel” to reject this tactic, holding that a software vendor (Twilio) could enforce a plaintiff’s arbitration agreement with a website
Employers’ Wage and Hour FAQs: California Wildfires Edition
Wildfires continue to rage across Southern California, leveling entire neighborhoods, forcing evacuations for tens of thousands of people, and posing incredible hardship on businesses and their employees. Below are a few common scenarios employers should know about paying their California employees and maintaining compliance with wage and hour laws:
“Our office was closed for a
Trend #3 – Privacy Class Actions Continue To Proliferate As Plaintiffs Search For Winning Theories
By Jennifer A. Riley Duane Morris Takeaway: The plaintiffs’ class action bar has continued to invest in the privacy class action space and, over the past year, has generated a multitude of filings, making privacy one of the hottest areas of growth in terms of activity by the plaintiffs’ class action bar. As technology continues
Another California Court Holds CIPA’s Pen Register Provision Does Not Prohibit the Collection of IP Addresses
Dozens of lawsuits have started challenging businesses’ use of website tools to collect IP addresses under the “pen register” and “trap and trace device” provision of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). As we reported last month, a California court dismissed one of these lawsuits because of a critical problem with this new
[Podcast] AI at Work: Black Box Issues
In part three of our series on potential pitfalls in the use of artificial intelligence (or AI) when it comes to employment decisions, partner Guy Brenner and senior counsel Jonathan Slowik dive into the concept of “black box” systems—AI tools whose internal decision-making processes are not transparent. The internal workings of such systems may not
Mind the Gap: EEOC Report Warns of Substantial Gender Pay Gap for Federal Employees, Exacerbated by Age.
By: Ala Salameh, Andrew Scroggins, and Christopher DeGroff
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 2, 2025, the EEOC released a report underscoring that a gender pay gap among federal employees has an age component as well; the gap is larger for those age 40 and over relative to those under age 40. In light of
Trend #2 – Class Certification Numbers Normalize Across Substantive Areas
By: Jennifer A. Riley Duane Morris Takeaway: Although courts issued fewer decisions on motions for class certification in 2024 as compared to 2023, the plaintiffs’ class action bar obtained certification at a more consistent rate across all substantive areas, suggesting that plaintiffs are being more selective in their investments and the cases they pursue through