Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. The FTC found that class members don't read emailed notices about a settlement, either. The U.S. House passed a bill banning forced arbitration, and lawyers had lots to say about it. And which law firm filed the latest petition before the U.S. Supreme Court over specific personal jurisdiction?

Feel free to reach out to me with your input. You can email me at [email protected], or follow me on Twitter: @abronstadlaw

Are Emailed Class Notices Going to Junk Mail?

The Federal Trade Commission released a detailed report this month finding email to be the least effective means to notify class members about a settlement—despite a federal rules change encouraging courts to use "electronic notices." In fact, notices sent by old-fashioned mail (that aren't postcards) still work best.

Side note: On Twitter, plaintiffs' attorney Jonathan Selbin (Lieff Cabraser) and defense counsel Andrew Trask (Shook, Hardy & Bacon) had a lengthy thread over my story about the FTC report, drawing some colorful comparisons to bank robbers and Jack McCoy, a fictional prosecutor on the TV show "Law & Order."

Here's some highlights:

Selbin: "The rule should be: if bank robbers don't keep track of which banks they robbed, they get to keep the money. Period."

Trask: "You wanna talk like a prosecutor? Fine. Pretend you're Jack McCoy. Pretend EVERY class action plaintiffs' lawyer is a Jack McCoy….But recognize we know the difference between you and Jack McCoy is he never dropped the charges after we met his fee demand." Selbin: "Wow. Really. The personal nastiness is what's icky. Thanks for playing."

Selbin ended the debate this way:

Passage of Fair Act Fuels Feuds

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a much heralded bill on Friday that would ban forced arbitration. The FAIR Act, which stands for "Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act," now goes to the Senate for approval.

Linda Lipsen (American Association for Justice) had this to say: "When this bill passes both houses of Congress, corporations will no longer be allowed to immunize themselves and silence employees, consumers, nursing home residents, sexual assault survivors and victims of financial fraud."

Harold Kim (U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform) said the bill would hurt consumers: "This bill will force Americans into our courtrooms, where trial lawyers will take a huge chunk of any money before consumers or employees see even one cent."

Who Got the Work?

Hogan Lovells filed a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court to address what it called a growing circuit split over specific personal jurisdiction and to clarify its 2017 holding in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California. Sean Marotta (Hogan Lovells) filed the Sept. 19 petition, which sought to overturn a decision this year by the Montana Supreme Court against Ford Motor Co. in an automotive defect case. The plaintiff is the trustee for Markkaya Jean Gullett, who died when her Ford Explorer rolled over in Montana. Ford argued that it made her car in Kentucky and sold it in Washington to an Oregon resident. Marotta, joined by partner Neal Katyal, wrote: "This Court should grant review to put a stop to this capacious view of specific personal jurisdiction."

Here's what else is happening:

No Excuses: Opioid companies want to know why 500 jurors were dismissed from next month's bellwether trial. Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corp. and other defendants filed a request for court records detailing the 1,000 prospective jurors who received summonses. They also want to know why court officials dismissed 500 of the 725 who returned their summonses—that's about 70% of them.

Scrutinizing Ads: The Federal Trade Commission sent letters to seven "legal practitioners and lead generators," expressing concern that some TV ads soliciting clients for personal injury lawsuits over pharmaceuticals could violate the FTC Act. The letters state that some of the ads may make "deceptive or unsubstantiated claims" about the risks of taking blood thinners or medications to treat diabetes, acid reflux, and high blood pressure.

Passport Problems: Marriott has moved to dismiss the consolidated consumer class action brought over last year's data breach. In a Monday motion, Marriott, repped by Daniel Warren (Baker Hostetler), said the breach, which compromised the personal information of 383 million hotel guests, did not harm the plaintiffs. Then, it added this info: hackers can't even use the stolen passport numbers.

Coming Up: The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's next hearing, set for Sept. 26 in Los Angeles, features lawsuits over the Capital One data breach and Juul Labs Inc.'s electronic cigarettes. The venues pitched for the Capital One cases include districts in Washington, Virginia and the District of Columbia, while lawyers in the Juul cases have pushed for districts in California, New Jersey or Maryland.

Thanks for reading Critical Mass! I'll see you next week.