CLASS ACTION CASES

• Khulumani v. Barclay National Bank, Ltd.
• Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP v. Sutton
• In Re US Home Corp.
• In Re Sci Texas Funeral Servs., Inc.

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, October 12, 2007
Khulumani v. Barclay National Bank, Ltd., No. 05-2141, 05-2326
In the Second Circuit, a plaintiff may plead a theory of aiding and abetting liability under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). In an action brought by plaintiffs against approximately fifty corporate defendants and hundreds of "corporate Does" alleging they actively and willingly collaborated with the government of South Africa in maintaining apartheid, dismissal of plaintiffs' claims under the ATCA and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) is affirmed in part as to the TVPA claims, but vacated and remanded as to the ATCA claims where the district court erred in holding that aiding and abetting violations of customary international law cannot provide a basis for ATCA jurisdiction. Read more...

U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, October 12, 2007
Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP v. Sutton, No. 06-3778
In a securities fraud class action, attorney's fees for the lead plaintiff's attorney are vacated and remanded where the district court failed to approximate what the market would have paid the lawyers for their services had they negotiated their fee at the beginning of the case. Read more...

Supreme Court of Texas, October 12, 2007
In Re US Home Corp., No. 03-1080
In an action brought by plaintiffs on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated alleging their homes were built without shower pans, petition for a writ of mandamus challenging denial of defendants' motion to compel arbitration and a grant of class certification is granted as there was no evidence to support any of the seven contract defenses plaintiffs raised against enforcement of the arbitration clauses at issue. Read more...

Supreme Court of Texas, October 12, 2007
In Re Sci Texas Funeral Servs., Inc., No. 06-0385
In an action brought by plaintiffs raising individual and class claims against defendants for violating federal and state disclosure requirements applicable to funeral providers, defendants' petition for mandamus challenging a court of appeals' decision upholding class-wide discovery and class-wide sanctions orders is granted because the court of appeals also reversed the class certification in its ruling, thus rendering the discovery and sanctions orders superfluous. Read more...