| Archive for the ‘Class Action News’ CategoryApril 27th, 2010 by admin Companies like to be in the black and if they can, they like to make history. For example, the first company ever to make a third party iPhone app or the first company to give all employees vacations to Bermuda is something to brag about. One history setting item that’s probably not on the list for company executives, is boasting the largest class-action employment lawsuit in U.S. history. That’s the case for embattled blue collar brand WalMart, who is in the middle of a lengthy dispute over alleged gender bias in pay and promotions. A federal appeals court was divided 6-5, but ultimately allowed the combined multiparty litigation to move ahead to trial. The end result of which could force a decision against the company that might equate to billions in damages. WalMart has the option of appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. Read more….
April 12th, 2010 by admin There has been a settlement in a class-action lawsuit that will guarantee Medicaid beneficiaries to continue purchasing prescription drugs at a minimal cost when they become eligible for Medicare. The class action lawsuit, filed in 2007 by the Center of Medicare Advocacy and the National Senior Citizens Law Center in the United States District Court in San Francisco, on behalf of the 6.2 million Medicaid beneficiaries who alleged they were overcharged for drugs or even turned away from pharmacies due to processing delays of Medicare enrollment. Medicare law states that people enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare are to receive any assistance with purchasing prescription drugs and the beneficiaries who are eligible, will only have a co-pay as low as $1.05 to $3.10 for brand-name drugs. But, it was alleged that the beneficiaries were charged as much as $35 to $75 dollars. Evidence shows that their low-income status was not properly shared by government agencies, pharmacies and insurers. The attorney for the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, claim that the delays have shortened since the Medicare prescription drug benefit took effect back in 2006. But, the average wait time currently is five to six weeks before tens of thousands of Medicaid beneficiaries who transfer to Medicare every month can begin receiving prescription drug benefits. The settlement will make the Government change its computer system, which will allow states to submit names of new low-income Medicare beneficiaries more than once a month. Government officials will be required to process the submissions within one day. Insurers that deliver drug benefits, must also provide drugs at a minimal costs of all low-income Medicare beneficiaries who have qualified for additional assistance. Plus, if a beneficiary claims eligibility, but doesn’t have the proper documentation, or is soon to run out of medication, federal officials are required to immediately contact the state Medicaid agency to confirm their eligibility. The settlement agreement is a great win for many of the United States most vulnerable citizens who face life-threatening delays in obtaining vital medications. Because of the class action lawsuit, it is now easier for the poorest beneficiaries to navigate Medicare Part D. April 7th, 2010 by admin Google is now facing a separate class action lawsuit over their reproduction of books online. Photographers and illustrators today filed suit claiming Google displays copyrighted images without compensating the artists who created them. The 2005 lawsuit filed by authors and publishers is expected to be settled soon. Visual artists were excluded from participating in that case. The new lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in New York. You can read more on CNN’s SciTechBlog. April 6th, 2010 by admin John O’Quinn is not around to defend himself, but if he was, he’d still be fighting for a settlement on behalf of his approximately 3,500 clients. After O’Quinn’s untimely death in an auto accident in October, his estate lawyers have agreed to pay $46.5 million to settle a case that Terry Scarborough has been pursuing for a decade for the silicon implant class-action lawsuit case to reimburse the women involved. The issue in the litigation process is whether O’Quinn’s law firm had a right to deduct the standard fee amount from the clients’ settlements of their share of the expert studies and costs that benefited the underlying tort case dealing with the plaintiffs claim over breast implants. Scarborough has claimed that the deduction wasn’t permitted for reasons that these fees were not a provision in O’Quinns representation agreement, which an arbitration panel agreed, stating that O’Quinn was indeed in breach of his fiduciary duties. O’Quinn appealed the arbitration, and requested a full briefing on the merits of the amount required by the security bond in the amount of $45 million dollars that was order and signed by Judge Gossett. Just before O’Quinn’s death, the Texas Supreme Court upheld Gossetts ruling. Also, after O’Quinns death, Gerald Treece, his estate lawyer, proclaimed that after studying and analyzing of the law that the case would likely have ended in a loss for O’Quinn’s’ Law Firm and it would be best to settle now rather than watching the interest required by the security bond to continue to grow. Treece finally said that the settlement was the right thing to do and that is was time all the women in the breast-implant lawsuit get whatever is due to them. As of today, with the original security bond amount of $45 million dollars, plus the interest earned up to the settlement date, the O’Quinn’s’ estate will pay out $49 million dollars. March 31st, 2010 by admin The Continental Can Company is just one of many large companies and corporations that have been on the defendant side of major class action lawsuits. The situation with Continental Can goes back generations and actually begins in 1970 when the suit was initiated. The entire situation began as a result of the company’s intent to cut costs in order to provide investors with higher returns. In an effort to slash their bottom line, the company began to take the pensions from workers who had devoted their entire lives and careers to the company. It was determined that the acts of Continental Cans were immoral and unethical in their attempts to raise profits for investors. This suit represents one of the more unfortunate cases that occur every year. The company displayed actions that were not only intentionally damaging and destructive but they also took what was rightfully earned by faithful and responsible career long employees. In addition, Continental devised a special computer program to aid in their efforts. They created a tracking system, which was later realized to be called BELL and was actually an acronym that meant let’s limit employee benefits, that let the company know when a staff person was reaching retirement. Part of the reason this plan was expected to work was due to the fact that employees were entitled to their well-deserved pension only if they fulfilled their entire career expectation. If they left the company prior to retirement the pension would be void. The computer program BELL calculated when an employee was reaching retirement and the company would then lay off or fire that employee to avoid paying the pension. The verdict against Continental Can in this situation was an extremely important outcome representing workers rights. Class action lawsuits can be one of the most valuable tools an individual has when there are other people in the same situation and they are up against large companies. March 30th, 2010 by admin It’s been over 10 years since Houston lawyer John M. O’Quinn’s firm had a class-action lawsuit brought on by a group of former breast-implant clients who alleged that the firm overcharged them for expenses. It’s been almost 2 years since a 3 member arbitration panel ordered the O’Quinn’s firm to pay in total $41.5 million dollars in damages to the class action of Martha Wood vs John M O’Quinn, after finding that his firm had breached their fiduciary duties. O’Quinn’s firm as appealed the judgment confirming the arbitration award with which the 4th District Judge, Clay Gossett of Rusk County, entered against O’Quinn individually; John M. O’Quinn P.C.; O’Quinn & Laminack; and John M. O’Quinn & Associates. The appeal made the defendants jointly put up a superseadeas bond in the amount of $25 million dollars in which they cite Rule 52 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code that puts a $25 million dollar cap on the amount required as security for a judgement. The Plaintiffs allege that the bond should total $45 million dollars in order to cover the judgment, plus a year of interest. Judge Gossett signed an order back in February 2008 increasing the size of the security bond to the requested $45 million dollars. The 12th court of Appeals upheld Gossetts ruling in June 2009. Now, the O’Quinn defendants are seeking relief from the Texas Supreme Court with a petition for writ of mandamus. The O’Quinn defendants asked the court to request a full briefing on the merits and to order Judge Gossett to vacate his ruling requiring the $45 million dollars security bond. The said petition is still pending. In August 2009, the Texas Supreme Court stayed Judge Gossett’s ruling requiring the $45 million dollar security bond and asked the parties to provide a full briefing on the bond issue. In December 2009, the estate of John O’Quinn, who was killed in a one-car accident in October, has agreed to pay out $46.5 million dollars to the 3,500 former breast-implant clients, ending the 10 year legal battle March 24th, 2010 by admin De Beers is the largest supplier of rough diamonds in the world. For years De Beers has pretty much held a monopoly over the diamond industry. Beginning in 2001, Plaintiffs throughout the country have filed lawsuits against De Beers in both state and federal courts alleging that De Beers unlawfully monopolized the supply of diamonds and planned to fix, raise, and control diamond prices, and gave out wrongful and disingenuous advertising. De Beers denies it violated any of the laws or did anything wrong and dishonest.
The Settlement Agreement provides that $22.5 Million be distributed to the Direct Purchaser Class, and that $272.5 Million will be distributed to the Indirect Purchaser Class. De Beers also agreed to avoid doing anything that would violate any federal and state antitrust laws and give in to the jurisdiction of the Court to enforce the Settlement.
Under the terms of the settlement if you bought diamonds from De Beers between January 1994 and March 2006 you may be eligible for a refund of up to 60% of the total cost. The refund is for purchases of engagement rings, various types of jewelry, and even jewelry mixed with other gemstones. In order to get the refund you will need to have your receipt available in order to provide a proof of purchase and you must have purchased the diamonds during that period of time stated earlier. The amount of money that De Beers has to refund will be very high however, there will be a limit to the amount available for them to refund. The amount will be a huge nine figure number but the company will not go over that amount in refunds. This is important because if you are not among the earlier people to go and get the refund then you may risk not getting the full amount possible. March 10th, 2010 by admin All big companies come under big scrutiny, it is the cost of being a household name. It then seems reasonable that these companies would occasionally end up in class action law suits. These are often happening, and it is only when there are really serious charges that they actually make it to court usually. One such case would be the cases against AT&T that have happened over the last few years. The most recent case against AT&T to hit the news has been a group of AT&T customers who are suing AT&T for millions of dollars in damages because the company helped the government wiretap their phone and internet lines without letting anyone know, or gaining anyone’s permission. This is a serious offense they are being accused of, and so far no one seems to be denying that it is true. In fact the AT&T lawyers are trying to have the case thrown out to protect State secrets. The state actually faces a few lawsuits of this nature right about now, and has been denied almost all of them being thrown out on account of State Secrets. Previous to this was a lawsuit covering AT&Ts; 3G network. When the Iphone first came out, it was well over advertised. This was a trend that continued when the Iphone 3G came out. There was even a bit of advertising that said the new 3G phones would be twice as fast. The first few firmware updates did nothing to help and even for some made the problems worse, making it so they could not even use the phone part of the Iphone, much less anything else. Smith, the first person to file, argued that there was potentially tens of thousands of members who have been robbed due to actions not taken by AT&T. She felt that if she had paid her money for the service, the service should be provided, as most people do. Previous to this there was a string of class action law-suits that hit AT&T as well as almost every other phone carrier. Phone carriers were being sued for charging early termination fees. We all know they are going to happen if we leave our contract early, it is part of the point for the phone company to have to contract, but clients were complaining that they were being charged ridiculous amounts and that ETFs were illegal. The phone companies claimed that ETFs are a way to offset the discount offered on phones when people sign up for a new contract. What happens from there is in the hands of the courts. This is just a small sampling of the type of class action lawsuits that have been filed against AT&T. February 8th, 2010 by admin Man claims Symantec didn’t tell him before charging his card A New York man has sued security software maker Symantec for automatically renewing his subscription to Norton Antivirus, alleging that the company did not notify him before charging $76 to his credit card. Read More at TechWorld… February 6th, 2010 by admin Attorney Matthew Callister announced Wednesday he is filing a federal class action lawsuit against Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada for allegedly dumping sewage directly into the ponds at the former Willow Creek golf course. Read More at Pahrump Valley Times… February 6th, 2010 by admin Notice is hereby given by the Law Office of Alfred G. Yates Jr., PC that a class action has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Terex Corporation (“Terex” or the “Company”) (NYSE: TEX) during the period from February 20, 2008 through February 11, 2009, inclusive … Read More at Finanzen.net… February 6th, 2010 by admin LOS ANGELES—-Notice is hereby given that Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased the securities of CRM Holdings, Ltd. between December 21, 2005 and November 5, 2008, inclusive . Read More at Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance… February 6th, 2010 by admin A suburban man filed a federal class-action lawsuit Friday against AT&T, claiming the company?s practice of charging sales tax on data plans allowing remote internet access is illegal. Read More at WBBM Newsradio 780 Chicago… February 5th, 2010 by admin NEW YORK—-Richard J. Arsenault of Neblett, Beard & Arsenault, along with co-counsel have filed a class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales and Toyota Motor Corporation in the United States District Court Southern District of New York . Read More at Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance… February 5th, 2010 by admin NEW YORK — The Brualdi Law Firm, P.C. announces that a lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of a proposed class of Harleysville National Corporation shareholders and their successors-in-interest, other than defendants or those associated with defendants, who were holders of record on December 7, 2009 and eligible to … Read More at GlobeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance… February 5th, 2010 by admin Stanley M. Chesley from the Cincinnati, Ohio-based law firm of Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley Co., L.P.A. today amended a major class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp. and other Toyota affiliates. ? The case is based on the sudden acceleration defect in millions of Toyota automobiles that has caused injuries and deaths. Read More at PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance… February 5th, 2010 by admin BOSTON – Skycaps across the country who claim they lost tips after American Airlines imposed $2 curbside baggage fees can now join a Boston lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge William Young on Thursday certified a national class-action suit against the airline. Read More at Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune… February 5th, 2010 by admin The Beasley Allen law firm announced that it is asking a federal court to allow it to represent more than 5 million owners of Toyota vehicles in a class action lawsuit. Read More at Montgomery Advertiser… February 5th, 2010 by admin A group of 30 New Brunswick Toyota owners is joining a class-action lawsuit against the troubled automaker. Read More at CBC New Brunswick… February 5th, 2010 by admin MONTGOMERY, AL (WBRC) – A Montgomery law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against Toyota on behalf of over 5 million Toyota owners.? The complaint charges Toyota with breach of warranty and fraudulent concealment among other things… Read More at WSFA 12 Montgomery… February 4th, 2010 by admin A West Palm Beach attorney filed a request Wednesday to make the first class action lawsuit against Toyota after the automaker recalled several models because of a brake pedal problem. Read More at WPBF Palm Beach… February 4th, 2010 by admin A US class-action lawsuit filed in Colorado against Toyota alleges the Japanese automaker hid problems that have led to a rash of recalls, attorneys said Thursday. Read More at AFP via Yahoo! News… February 4th, 2010 by admin A US class-action lawsuit filed in Colorado against Toyota alleges the Japanese automaker hid problems that have led to a rash of recalls, lawyers said today. Read More at The Courier Mail… February 4th, 2010 by admin More than 30 New Brunswickers have joined hundreds of Canadians in a class action lawsuit against Japanese automaker Toyota, according to the lead lawyer on the case. Read More at Telegraph-Journal… February 3rd, 2010 by admin The lead attorney in a class action lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Toyota is “endangering the lives of innocent people.” Read More at ClickOnDetroit… February 3rd, 2010 by admin CINCINNATI, Feb. 2, 2010 — Stanley M. Chesley from the Cincinnati, Ohio-based law firm of Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley Co., L.P.A. today filed a major class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation and other Toyota affiliates. Read More at The Auto Channel… February 3rd, 2010 by admin RICHMOND, Va.—-This morning the Legal Aid Justice Center, with the assistance of Troutman Sanders LLP and other attorneys, filed a class action in federal court in Richmond on behalf of 11 Virginia inmates. Read More at Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance… February 2nd, 2010 by admin SEATTLE—-Class counsel announced the filing of a nationwide class action lawsuit against the student-loan giant SLM Corporation , popularly known as Sallie Mae, over alleged unauthorized autodialer calls to the cell phones of borrowers who took out student loans with the national lender. Read More at Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance… February 2nd, 2010 by admin WASHINGTON, D.C. – Facebook?s solution to complaints that it violated the privacy rights of potentially millions of its users is no solution at all, Public Citizen said today in opposing the settlement of a class-action lawsuit that was filed against the social networking giant. Read More at Public Citizen… February 2nd, 2010 by admin SAN FRANCISCO—-Attorney Kelly M. Dermody of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, announced the filing today of a class action lawsuit charging that AT&T Inc. has a common practice of misclassifying its technical support workers as exempt and failing to pay them for all overtime hours worked in violation of federal overtime pay laws. Read More at Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance… | |
