News in Brief October 4 – Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Uber and More

Judge Closes the Book on Barnes & Noble Data Breach Class Action

A putative class action against Barnes & Noble stemming from a 2012 data breach has been dismissed (for the time being) by a federal judge. The 2013 suit against the book retailer was filed after skimmers obtained sensitive customer information—including credit and debit card numbers—by tampering with PIN pad terminals at more than 60 Barnes & Noble locations across nine states. According to court records, the case was dismissed in part because of the plaintiffs’ failure to adequately “state a claim,” i.e. firmly display actual monetary losses from the breach, as well as to effectively prove that their stolen information was widely published by the skimmers. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs still have an opportunity to refile their case if they so choose.

Best Buy to Shell Out $3.8M Fine for Selling Recalled Products

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced Best Buy will fork over a nearly $4 million fine, a reprimand that puts to bed charges that the retail giant deliberately sold more than 600 recalled products to consumers between September 2010 and October 2015. According to the CPSC, Best Buy “failed to implement adequate procedures to accurately identify, quarantine, and prevent the sales of” products that should not have been available to consumers, including name brand computers, washing machines, cameras and blenders. In addition to the steep civil penalty, the CPSC said Best Buy will initiate a Consumer Product Safety Act compliance program, as well as take internal steps to properly identify and remove recalled products.

Texas Uber Drivers Forced to Arbitrate Labor Violation Claims

Uber wheel-men and -women may lose out on $7.5 billion in damages after a Texas judge said Monday that drivers must individually arbitrate their wage and hour claims rather than argue them in court. The ruling is a significant blow to a class action filed in 2015 on behalf of Texas Uber drivers. The suit claimed the ride service failed to properly pay its drivers and overstated the potential compensation they could receive. The judge overseeing the case sided with Uber’s argument that individuals who sign up as drivers waive their right to pursue class actions lawsuits because of the arbitration provision buried within the terms and conditions in Uber’s job application.

Arbitration Provision Saves Halliburton from FLSA Class Action

Halliburton Energy Services will not face a class action filed by an ex-employee claiming he was denied overtime wages, with the case instead being sent to individual arbitration by a Colorado judge. The named plaintiff, who worked for the company from August 2013 to June 2014, said Halliburton illegally misclassified him and other workers as exempt employees who were ineligible for overtime pay. These arguments fell on deaf ears, however, after the judge sided with the energy and oil field services company’s stance that the former employee effectively waived his right to pursue FLSA labor claims on a collective basis due to his initial employment agreement.

Approved $13M CVS Settlement Ends Class Action Over Unpaid Security Checks

CVS will pay $12.75 million to nearly 78,000 employees covered by a class action over time spent undergoing mandatory security bag checks. Filed in 2011, the suit argued that, since 2007, CVS had not properly paid workers in California for time spent in security inspections that took place after employees clocked out but before they left the store. It is worth noting that this settlement was first proposed by the named plaintiffs in the suit after the judge overseeing the case decertified the class, which could have led to workers receiving no payout at all had the case gone to trial.