Ninth Circuit Issues Two Class Action Decisions: Bateman v. American Multi-Cinema and Wang v. Chinese Daily News

In Bateman v. American Multi-Cinema, Inc., --- F.3d --- (9th Cir., September 27, 2010), the Court held that the district court abused its discretion in denying class certification in lawsuit based on defendant’s printing of more than the last five digits of consumers’ credit or debit card numbers on electronically printed receipts in violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. Full opinion here.

In Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Inc., --- F.3d --- (9th Cir., September 27, 2010), the Court affirmed a judgment in favor of a newspaper's employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and California law:

Chinese Daily News, Inc. (“CDN”), a Chinese-language newspaper, appeals the district court's judgment in an action brought by some of its California-based employees under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and under California law. The district court certified the FLSA claim as a collective action. It certified the state-law claims as a class action under Rule 23(b)(2) and, alternatively, under Rule 23(b)(3). In the state-law class action, it provided for notice and opt out, but subsequently invalidated the opt outs. It granted partial summary judgment to plaintiffs; held jury and bench trials; entered judgment for plaintiffs; awarded attorney's fees to plaintiffs; and conducted a new opt-out process. CDN appeals, challenging aspects of each of these rulings, as well as the jury's verdict. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.

Slip op. at 1. More on this as soon as I have the chance.

Full opinion here.