Thomas A Dickerson

July 19, 2018 | New York Law Journal

The recent decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Venerus v. Avis Budget Car Rental, LLC, No. 16-16993 (Jan. 25, 2018) reminds that the courts have had to deal with the consequences of misleading, deceptive, unfair and unconscionable marketing behavior of some U.S. rental car companies, typically within the context of nationwide class actions.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

9 minute read

June 29, 2018 | New York Law Journal

The jurisprudence in the First Department and the Fourth Department has evolved to become more favorable to certified classes seeking tort remedies for environmental harm.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

10 minute read

April 17, 2018 | New York Law Journal

Hopefully, the court will quickly resolve the competitive tensions between interim co-class counsel and co-liaison counsel so that the affected residents of Flint may have unified and vigorous representation.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

7 minute read

March 22, 2018 | New York Law Journal

This opinion is the second time Justice Kornreich has evaluated the subject proposed settlement and comes after three years of much deliberation by several Supreme Court Justices and the Appellate Division First Department regarding the factors to be considered in evaluating the merits of a disclosure-only settlement and the benefits to be derived therefrom by shareholders and the Corporation.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

8 minute read

February 15, 2018 | New York Law Journal

When is a complaint styled as a “class action” to be treated as a real class action? Is it only after all of the prerequisites of CPLR 901 and 902 have been met, an order issued pursuant to CPLR 903 and notice sent pursuant to CPLR 904? Or is it earlier?

By Thomas A. Dickerson

12 minute read

January 18, 2018 | New York Law Journal

Thomas A. Dickerson writes: The liability of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino for the tragic events in Las Vegas will certainly depend upon the facts that are developed through discovery. However, the uniqueness of Paddock's reign of terror combined with no prior instances of similar misconduct may also have some impact upon the issue of liability.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

10 minute read

November 22, 2017 | New York Law Journal

Thomas Dickerson writes: This year, the Appellate Division, First Department sought to protect shareholder interests in “merger tax” litigation by enhancing the standards for the approval of disclosure-only class action settlements, and sought to protect employees by declining to enforce an arbitration agreement as violative of the National Labor Relations Act. But that's not all.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

22 minute read

October 26, 2017 | New York Law Journal

In this Outside Counsel article, Thomas A. Dickerson writes: Airbnb has been extraordinarily successful at bringing together nearly 3,000,000 hosts worldwide in 191 countries and 34,000 cities. At the same time, it has disrupted the hotel industry and ruffled the feathers of governmental officials in various cities, and may be facilitating profiteering by rent stabilized tenants.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

22 minute read

September 28, 2017 | New York Law Journal

Thomas A. Dickerson reviews recent antitrust class actions involving the travel industry brought by or against airlines, in-flight Internet providers, hotels, tour bus companies, ride-sharing companies and online travel sellers and involving various types of alleged marketing misconduct such as resale price maintenance, parallel business behavior, misleading and unfair price guarantees, elimination of competitors and unfairly raising prices, substantial market foreclosures and price fixing.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

11 minute read

September 14, 2017 | New York Law Journal

Thomas A. Dickerson writes: Notwithstanding that recent empirical work suggests that disclosure-only settlements rarely, if ever, have any meaningful impact upon shareholder behavior, leading, perhaps, to the unfortunate conclusion that the only thing of any value which is exchanged is a general release running to defendants, there are circumstances under which such settlements may be viable. In fact, recently, several courts in New York, North Carolina and Delaware have carefully reviewed proposed disclosures and found them sufficiently material to warrant approval of a proposed disclosure-only settlement.

By Thomas A. Dickerson

9 minute read