Last month, in Campbell v. Facebook, Inc., ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Mar. 3, 2020), the Ninth Circuit affirmed final approval of a classwide settlement of certain privacy litigation against Facebook. The opinion includes a lengthy discussion of the named plaintiffs' standing under Frank v. Gaos, 139 S. Ct. 1041 (2019) and Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016). Slip op. at 13-23. The opinion goes on to hold that the settlement consideration was not "valueless" to the class, nor did the settlement present the Bluetooth "'subtle' warning signs" of collusion. Id. at 27-39 (citing In re Bluetooth Headset Products Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d 935 (9th Cir. 2011)).
In December, the Ninth Circuit reversed final approval of a class action settlement in Roes v. SFBSC Management, Inc., 944 F.3d 1035 (9th Cir. 2019). In Roes, the court held that the settlement did bear signs of collusion under Bluetooth and that the district court should have scrutinized the settlement terms with greater vigor. Slip op. at 23-49.
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