Current Cases
On May 30, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously agreed with plaintiffs represented by Goldenberg Schneider, LPA and its co-counsel that the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had erred by dismissing the plaintiffs’ putative class action against Bank of America, N.A. on federal preemption grounds. The plaintiffs in the case obtained home mortgage loans from Bank of America, a national bank chartered under the National Bank Act. The contracts required plaintiffs to make monthly deposits into escrow accounts. Escrow accounts ensure the availability of funds to pay the insurance premium and property taxes on the borrower’s behalf. New York state law provides that a bank “shall” pay borrowers “interest” on the balance held in an escrow account maintained in connection with a mortgage on certain real estate. N. Y. Gen. Oblig. Law Ann. §5–601. However, Bank of America did not pay interest on the balances held in plaintiffs’ escrow accounts, taking the position New York’s interest-on-escrow law was preempted by the National Bank Act, which has no escrow interest requirements. The plaintiffs, represented by Goldenberg Schneider and co-counsel, brought putative class-action suits in federal district court, claiming that they were entitled to interest on their mortgage escrows. The district court concluded that nothing in the National Bank Act or other federal law preempted the New York law. The Second Circuit reversed, holding that because the New York law “would exert control over” national banks’ power “to create and fund escrow accounts,” the law was preempted. The Supreme Court reversed, finding that the Second Circuit has erred by applying the wrong standard for preemption, and remanded the case back to the Second Circuit to conduct a proper preemption analysis consistent with existing Supreme Court precedent. See Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A., 602 U.S. _____ (2024).
On January 5, 2025, Judge Evelyn Padin of the United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey granted final approval of class action settlement negotiated by Goldenberg Schneider. The settlement resolves certain claims against Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. and other Volkswagen-related entities (the “Defendants”), alleging that Defendants sold and leased thousands of vehicles containing defective front door wiring harnesses. A wiring harness is a combination of electrical cables and electronic components in a vehicle, such as sensors, electronic control units and actuators, and is a critical vehicle component. Plaintiffs alleged that a defect in the front door wire harness of the vehicles caused, among other issues, erratic electrical malfunctions such as parking brake systems to engage for no reason, windows to open or close on their own, or error messages to illuminate (the “Defect”). Plaintiffs also alleged that the Defect impacted the deployment of the side airbag in the vehicles, increasing the risk of injury to vehicle occupants. After plaintiffs filed suit, Defendants issued a recall for the vehicles, stating that the wiring harnesses were affected by “excessive micromovement leading to fretting corrosion of the door wiring harness terminal contacts” which could cause the front side airbag to “deploy later than designed in a side crash situation.”
After years of vigorous litigation, the parties reached a Class Settlement to resolve the plaintiffs’ and class members’ claims. Under the proposed settlement, all settlement class members will receive a warranty extension and the ability to claim reimbursement of certain out-of-pocket repair costs. Volkswagen will extend the New Vehicle Limited Warranty (“NVLW”) for all settlement class vehicles to cover 100% of repair or replacement costs, by an authorized Volkswagen dealer, of a failed front door wiring harness that was modified and/or installed in the vehicle pursuant to the recall, during a period of up to 5 years or 60,000 miles (whichever occurs first) from the date that the recall repair was performed on the vehicle. The Warranty Extension applies to all wiring harness-related repairs performed pursuant to the recall, whether or not involving replacement of the wiring harness itself and will include any other necessary repair/adjustment to address any warning lights or fault codes resulting from or attendant to a failure. Further, settlement class members were eligible to file a claim for 100% reimbursement of the past paid cost (parts and labor) for repair or replacement of a failed part (and any associated diagnostic costs) performed by an authorized Volkswagen dealer prior to the Notice Date and within 7 years or 100,000 miles from the vehicle’s In-Service Date. For repairs performed at non-authorized Volkswagen dealers, settlement class members could be reimbursed up to $490.62 for repair of one wiring harness and $672.16 for repair of both. For more information, visit the settlement website at
https://www.doorwiringharnesssettlement.com/On January 19, 2024, Jeffrey Goldenberg was named to the leadership team in the Progress Software MOVEit data-breach class action, one of the largest data breach lawsuits in the history of multidistrict litigation. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs for the District of Massachusetts appointed the Leadership Team to represent a proposed class of consumers against Progress Software after its alleged negligence led to the compromise of sensitive personal information of an estimated 75 million individuals. Data compromised in the 2023 MOVEit data breach includes contact information, dates of birth, social security numbers, pension information, medical records, billing data and banking information. More than 600 organizations were reportedly hacked, including banks, schools and government agencies. Since the announcement of the data breach, Goldenberg Schneider has filed class-action lawsuits against dozens of defendants including hospitals, healthcare providers, insurers, banks, and other major institutions. According to the lawsuit, in June 2023, hackers from the well-known Russian cybergang, Clop, discovered a security vulnerability in MOVEit, a managed file transfer software owned by Progress Software used by many organizations to store, manage and distribute information. Progress markets MOVEit as a software that “guarantees the security of sensitive files both at -rest and in-transit,” and promises data security compliance. However, the vulnerability had existed since 2021,but was never rectified due to Progress’s alleged negligence, and hackers were able to exploit this vulnerability and gain access to sensitive personal data collected by organizations that used the software. Because many of the organizations impacted by the data breach handle data on behalf of others, who in turn received that data from third parties, the security vulnerability discovered in the MOVEit software and Progress’s mismanagement of its data allowed hackers to slip past the defenses of a vast, interconnected web of companies and institutions. Attorneys say Progress failed those whose data was transferred and/or stored using the MOVEit software in several key manners, including its failure to monitor and maintain basic network safeguards, failing to maintain adequate data retention policies, not training staff on data security, failing to comply with industry standards of data security, and failing to encrypt users’ private Information, among other shortcomings that led to the compromised information of tens of millions of people.
Judge Burroughs interviewed 49 applicants for leadership positions. Mr. Goldenberg was named to the Plaintiff Vetting and Discovery Committee.
Several pending class action lawsuits filed by Goldenberg Schneider and co-counsel accuse CNA Financial of illegally raising premium costs for its long-term care insurance policyholders in a nationwide scam that Goldenberg Schneider attorneys say served as a “bait-and-switch” to lure those looking for reasonably priced insurance to cover potential expenses related to their future long term care costs. The lawsuits allege that CNA enticed would-be customers with empty promises of low, stable insurance premiums that would not increase unless premiums increased for everyone of the same age and coverage plan. Despite its own promises, CNA increased the premium of the lawsuit’s plaintiff by 95 percent, and admitted the increase was not uniform for everyone in the same age category or premium class. When it marketed the Policy to plaintiffs, CNA provided a brochure that assured plaintiff and class members that the Policy would provide long-term stability and that Plaintiff and other class members would not be subject to disparate or discriminatory rate increases. CNA doubled premiums for some customers and not others, despite promises of only across-the-board increases.
The litigation challenging CNA’s group long-term care insurance rate increases began in 2018 and since then four additional cases have been filed seeking to protect the interests of hundreds of thousand of policyholders. The litigation recently entered a new phase when Goldenberg Schneider and co-counsel filed an amended complaint on behalf of a nationwide class that contains newly discovered details regarding CNA’s wrongful conduct, including fraud and breach of contract. For more information about this litigation, go to:
https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/cna-long-term-care-insurance-premium-increases.Judge James V. Selna of the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted final approval of a class action settlement offering up to $145 million in cash benefits to class members on October 1, 2024. For historical context, on August 19, 2022, Goldenberg Schneider, LPA, along with co-counsel, filed a class action lawsuit against Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Motor America, KIA Corporation, and KIA America, Inc. (“Defendants”). Plaintiffs alleged Defendants failed to include anti-theft immobilizer technology in several million vehicles manufactured and sold by Defendants. The absence of an immobilizer in these vehicles caused a huge surge in stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles. In December 2022, all of the cases filed nationwide were transferred by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to the United States District Court for the Central District of California. On July 5, 2023, Judge Selna appointed Jeffrey Goldenberg to the leadership team for this litigation. The settlement benefits available to class members include: (i) up to $145 million for out-of-pocket losses, which would be subject to individual claim caps; (ii) a no cost software upgrade for certain class vehicles that addresses the cars’ lack of an immobilizer (the “software upgrade”); and (iii) up to $300 payments to class members whose class vehicles are not eligible for the software upgrade. For more information about the settlement, visit https://www.hyundaitheftsettlement.com
On September 27, 2024, Judge Benita Y. Pearson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted final approval of a $600 million class action settlement resolving the claims of residents, businesses and property owners injured as a result of the devastating February 3, 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio . More than 30 different class action lawsuits filed against Norfolk Southern had been consolidated before Judge Pearson under the lead case, Feezle v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. N.D. Ohio No. 4:23-cv-00242. The plaintiffs in the lawsuits are local residents and businesses seeking compensation for property damage, ongoing medical monitoring for the community, and punitive damages against the railroad company. On April 5, 2023, Judge Pearson selected a prestigious slate of plaintiffs’ attorneys to lead the consolidated litigation. The firms appointed include some of the largest and most respected plaintiff law firms in the country. Of the many well-qualified attorneys seeking a leadership role in the litigation, the Court appointed Jeffrey Goldenberg of Goldenberg Schneider to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee.
The approved settlement resolves all class claims — for negligence, strict liability, nuisance and trespass — within a 20-mile radius of the derailment, as well as personal injury claims from participating residents within a 10-mile radius of the derailment. In approving the settlement, Judge Pearson determined that the deal was fair, reasonable, adequate, entered into in good faith, and free from collusion. She also determined that the relief provided for in the settlement agreement outweighed the substantial costs, delay, and risks presented by further prosecution of issues during pre-trial, trial, and possible appeal.
For more information about the settlement, visit the settlement website at https://eastpalestinetrainsettlement.com.
On August 21, 2023, Judge Matthew P. Brookman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana granted final approval to a $6,375,000 settlement negotiated by Goldenberg Schneider as one of the Co-Lead Class Counsel in In re Midwestern Pet Foods Marketing, Sales Practices and Product Liability Litigation, No. 3:21-cv-00007-RLY-MPB. Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc. (“Midwestern”) is a manufacturer and seller of pet foods, including the Sportmix and Pro Pac brand pet foods.* The plaintiffs alleged that despite its representations and express warranties regarding the safety and quality of these pet foods and the manufacturing processes used to create them, Midwestern sold dog and cat food containing dangerous levels of Aflatoxin and Salmonella. Aflatoxin is a toxin produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus and can grow on corn and other grains used as ingredients in pet food. At high levels, aflatoxin can cause illness or death in pets. Pets with aflatoxin poisoning may experience symptoms such as sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (yellowish tint to the eyes, gums or skin due to liver damage), and/or diarrhea. In some cases, this toxicity can cause long-term liver issues and/or death. Some pets suffer liver damage without showing any symptoms.
With final approval, the proposed Settlement creates a $6,375,000 Settlement Fund to compensate purchasers of the recalled pet food products for Pet Injury Claims and Consumer Food Purchaser Claims. Settlement Class members who submitted valid Pet Injury Claims are eligible to receive payments for illness, injuries or death to pets, including medical and treatment expenses, funeral/cremation costs, and other losses related to injured, sick or dead breeding animals. Settlement Class Members who submitted a valid Consumer Food Purchaser Claim supported by documentation (e.g., receipts, invoices, proof of payment) will receive a full refund, whereas Settlement Class members who submitted a valid Consumer Food Purchase Claim that is not supported by documentation will receive $25 for each bag of Midwestern Pet Products purchased, up to two bags (or up to $50). These payment amounts may be reduced depending on the number of valid claims submitted. The deadline to submit claims was August 3, 2023.
A full list of products covered by the proposed settlement can be found at https://www.mwpfsettlement.com/Home/Documents
