Class Action: Tracking TransUnion's Ongoing Ripple Effects

The Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez put a renewed focus on "injury in fact" as a key jurisdictional question in class action lawsuits—and the ramifications of that decision continue to unfold in litigation.

Citing TransUnion, a number of courts have been extending the focus on concrete injury to the settlements of class action lawsuits—and in many cases, their reviews have led them to invalidate settlements based on plain- tiffs' lack of Article III standing. "Some courts have taken the unusual step of deciding on their own—without either of the settlement parties bringing it to their attention—to rule on the standing issue in the context of a settlement," says Mohamed Awan, a partner in Crowell & Moring's Litigation and Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation groups.