Logitech Can’t Dodge Judge Alsup’s Class Settlement Bar (1)

Logitech Inc. will have to live with a federal judge’s standing order that prevents it from settling a consumer class action over the quality of its computer speakers, the judge said Jan. 18.

Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California defended his general rule prohibiting parties from engaging in class settlement negotiations until the court rules on class certification.

Alsup provides the same class action guidance at the start of every proposed class action assigned to him. “No one has ever complained about it—until now,” he said.

The decision sets up Ninth Circuit ...