News Archive

Class Action Lawsuit News

Judge Asks Appeals Court to Uphold Dismissal of Consolidated HRT Cases
A Philadelphia judge has asked the Pennsylvania Superior Court to uphold a series of rulings dismissing the claims of plaintiffs who allege that the manufacturers of their hormone replacement therapy drugs are liable for their breast cancer. Fourteen cases decided by a Philadelphia Common Pleas judge have been consolidated for consideration by a single Superior Court panel. The Common Pleas judge granted defense motions for summary judgment in all of the cases because, he said, there was sufficient public information at the time all of the plaintiffs were diagnosed with breast cancer for the plaintiffs to learn that there was a risk of developing breast cancer from taking HRT drugs. He also noted that product package inserts warned of an increased risk of breast cancer. The pharmaceutical defendants are Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacia. 

3rd Circuit Remands Price-Fixing Class Action
In a ruling that is sure to be required reading for antitrust lawyers, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a lower court's decision to certify a class action over an alleged price-fixing conspiracy in the market for hydrogen peroxide. The judges found that a previous judge had erred in failing to conduct a sufficiently "rigorous analysis" before concluding that the proposed class wold be able to prove "antitrust impact" through common rather than individual evidence. The judges found that the judge tested the plaintiffs' experts, but failed to test the defendant's experts. The experts had offered sharply different views on the issue of whether antitrust impact was susceptible to classwide proof. One of the judges wrote "Expert opinion with respect to class certification, like any matter relevant, calls for rigorous analysis."

Class Status Denied in Suit Against DuPont Over Chemical-Tainted Water
The use of medical monitoring as a remedy for mass exposure to toxic chemicals has suffered a setback in New Jersey. A federal judge in Camden has denied class certification sought on behalf of 15,000 people whose drinking water may have been contaminated by a chemical spilled from DuPont's Chambers Works in Salem County. The plaintiffs want DuPont to pay for medical monitoring to provide early warning of health problems caused by perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, that seeped into the water of the Penns Grove Water Supply Co. New Jersey courts have recognized medical monitoring as a remedy for groups of plaintiffs exposed to dangerous substances, which works unless there are so many significant individual issues that the case would break down into litigation of individual claims. That is what led to the ruling that there were too many variables among the potential class members' exposure to the chemical or their potential risk of disease. The judge ruled that "rather conducting in-depth research and meaningfully identifying a group of individuals who have actually suffered significant exposure, the plaintiffs have relied on risk assessments and superficially identified a group of individuals who have potentially suffered a significant exposure, which is insufficient for purposes of a class certification."

Amazon Pollution Case Could Cost Chevron Billions
For the past 15 years, a class action lawsuit has been winding its way through the courts on behalf of the more than 125,000 people who drink, bathe, fish and wash their clothes in tainted headwaters of the Amazon River. Now a single judge is expected to rule in the case. Statements from a court-appointed expert suggest Chevron Corp. will be held responsible for the many oil spills and dumping of wastewater. If Chevron loses, it could be ordered to pay up to $27.3 billion in damages. Chevron is accused of contaminated the Amazon rainforest with its oil wells and pipeline grids that allegedly led to 1,401 pollution-caused cancer deaths. While Chevron doesn't deny "the presence of pollution" or the impacts, it contends a 1998 agreement with Ecuador that included $40 million of remediation, absolves it of any legal responsibility.  

Hospital May Face Lawsuit Over Woman's Death
The family of the 89-year-old woman who died on the roof of a Pittsburgh hospital has asked Common Please Court to give it access to reports from authorities regarding the woman's death. A writ of summons would allow the family to gather information to prepare a wrongful death lawsuit. The family is currently seeking subpoena power for investigative reports on the death prepared by the Allegheny County medical examiner, the district attorney's office, Pittsburgh police and the Department of Health. The woman, who suffered from dementia and heart problems and had a history of wandering, left her room through a fire exit. Her body was found the next morning by a maintenance worker with injures that suggested a fall. She was wearing only a hospital gown.

Veterans with PTSD Sue Federal Government for Disability Benefits
A group of military veterans filed a class action against the federal government, alleging that they were illegally denied disability benefits despite being diagnosed with severe cases of post-traumatic stress disorder that should have qualified them for free care. The five soldiers, all veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, were discharged by the Army after it determined that their damaged mental health left them unfit to serve. Once released, they were assigned disability ratings well below the 50 percent figure needed to qualify for lifetime health care benefits. The complaint alleges that starting in 2002, the Army "systematically" ignored rules requiring that all servicemen diagnosed with PTSD receive an automatic 50 percent rating. 

Starbucks Gets Court to Toss California Suit Over Convictions Inquiry
A California appeals court has thrown out a class-action complaint filed by three Starbucks job applicants who claimed the coffee chain illegally asked about criminal convictions, including for marijuana possession, on its job application. The 4th District Court of Appeals ordered the trial court to grant Starbucks' motion for summary judgment, saying the lead plaintiffs admitted they were not confused by the application and that they were not "aggrieved plaintiffs" since they had no marijuana convictions to disclose. The court then ruled that the case should not have been brought by the plaintiffs. The appeals panel argued that if they ruled in favor of the plaintiffs when they hadn't been harmed would result in there being "nothing to stop them from freely roaming throughout the state as knights errant amici searching for deficiencies where no harm has been caused them or anyone else as a result." 

Top Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud
Tobacco companies that marketed "light" cigarettes may be sued for fraud, the Supreme Court ruled in a decision that will bolster dozens of lawsuits claiming billions of dollars in damages. The case was brought by three smokers from Maine as a proposed class action. They sued Altria and Philip Morris, alleging fraud under Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act, claiming they had been injured by what they called the false statements of the companies. They sought compensation for economic rather than medical harm. They claimed that they had overpaid for cigarettes based on deceptive advertisements suggesting that "light" cigarettes were safer than regular ones. The question before the court was not whether use of the term "light" amounted to fraud, but rather whether plaintiffs should be allowed to sue at all given the federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which requires tobacco companies to place rotating warnings on their packaging and advertising. The justices ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, claiming that "when people buy 'light yogurt,' they expect they're getting less fat."

Supreme Court to Consider $500 Million Asbestos Settlement
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider reinstating a roughly $500 million settlement of asbestos-related lawsuits against the Travelers Companies Inc. The settlement would also block any new lawsuits against Travelers arising out of the insurance company's long relationship with Johns Manville Corp., once the world's largest producer of asbestos. Travelers has been named in dozens of lawsuits claiming that it tried to hide the dangerous health effects of asbestos. A Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturned a lower court's approval of the settlement, saying a bankruptcy judge lacks the authority to act so broadly. 

Class Action Status Doesn't Stick to Teflon Lawsuits
A federal judge in Des Moines, Iowa has denied class action status in two dozen lawsuits challenging the safety of Teflon-coated cookware. The lawsuits, which were filed on behalf of 89 named plaintiffs, claim that toxic fumes are released when cookware coated in Teflon or other products is heated higher than 464 degrees. Lawyers have estimated that the cases could be worth $5 billion. The judge denied class action status because the plaintiffs had bought and used the cookware differently. 

Pure Weight Loss Agrees to Pay Back PA Customers
A bankrupt weight loss company has agreed to pay $700,000 to settle complaints from former customers who did not get products or services they paid for. Most of the money will go to people who filed complaints with the Pennsylvania attorney general, but some will go into a fund to pay former customers who have filed claims as part of the company's bankruptcy proceeding.  

Wal-Mart to Pay $54.25 Million to Settle Lawsuit
Wal-Mart will pay up to $54.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the discount giant cut workers' break time and didn't prevent employees from working off the clock in Minnesota. The class includes about 100,000 current and former hourly workers who were employed at Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs. Wal-Mart also agreed to maintain electronic systems, surveys and notices to stay compliant with wage and hour policies and Minnesota laws. The settlement is a result of a judge's ruling that Wal-Mart had violated state labor laws 2 million times by cutting worker break time and "willfully" not stopping managers from having employees work off the clock.  

Philadelphia Food Service Workers File $200 Million Race and Bias Suit
Eleven black employees of a Pennsylvania food services provider have filed a class action lawsuit alleging they were repeatedly called "gorilla" and "monkey," barred from having contact with the public and retaliated against for complaining about the mistreatment. According to the complaint, the company hired black workers for lower-level positions when it first began providing food services at the Comcast Center. Now that the center is fully staffed, the company is trying to get rid of its black employees. The plaintiffs say they were forced to eat lunch in the locker room and were told to clean up any trash that white workers left behind. Only white employees were permitted to work in the presence of guests during private catering functions, and black employees were subjected to unwarranted job scrutiny, criticism and discipline, among other things. The plaintiffs say that when they complained to upper management about the discriminatory treatment, the company retaliated against them and increased the harassment.  

Class Action Demands Countrywide Repay Hedge Funds for Losses
A New York litigation boutique filed a class action suit against Countrywide Financial Corp. on behalf of investors in 374 securitization trusts that suffered losses due to Countrywide's $8.4 billion settlement with 15 states' attorneys general. Countrywide, which had been charged with predatory and unfair lending practices, agreed to modify more than 50,000 largely adjustable rate mortgage loans as part of the settlement. The class action demanded that Countrywide repurchase every modified mortgage loan it had previously sold to the various investment trusts at the loans' original face value. The suit claims that Countrywide plans not to absorb the $8.4 billion itself, even though it was Countrywide's own conduct which the Attorneys General complained in the proceedings, but rather to pass most or all of that reduction on to the trusts that purchased mortgage loans from Countrywide.  

W.R. Grace to Pay Up to $140 Million in Asbestos Case
W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay up to $140 million to settle a class action lawsuit stemming from its use of an attic-insulating product that contained asbestos. The specialty chemicals maker company will pay $30 million cash into a trust fund, an additional $30 million cash after three years, and make up to 10 additional annual payments of $8 million if certain conditions are met. The payouts stem from the company's sale of Zonolite attic insulation, a loose-fill vermiculite product that can contain naturally occurring asbestos. Zonolite was installed in millions of homes throughout the U.S. and Canada. The hundreds of thousands of lawsuits filed against the product pushed W.R. Grace into bankruptcy protection in 2001. 

McKesson Settles Class Action Suit for $350 Million
McKesson Corp., the nation's largest drug distributor, has agreed to pay $350 million to settle a class action suit alleging it fraudulently hiked up the price of more than 400 medications. A class of consumers and health and welfare funds filed suit in 2005 against the company alleging it falsely inflated the average wholesale price of a number of America's most popular prescription medications. Those medications included allergy drug Allegra, arthritis and pain medication Celebrex, asthma drug Flonase and cholesterol medication Lipitor. 

Jury Awards $17 Million Against AT&T
A federal jury has ordered AT&T to pay almost $17 million for overcharging customers in California when passing along a federally mandated phone fee. But in the verdict, the jurors determined there wasn't enough evidence showing the telecommunications giant conspired with Sprint Nextel Corp. or then-competitor MCI to overcharge customers nationwide for the Universal Service Fund. The antitrust case consolidates dozens of class action lawsuits filed across the country and covered customers who paid into the Universal Service Fund. The fund subsidizes the cost of running phone service to rural areas, low-income customers and public facilities. AT&T described the fee on its bills as a "Universal Connectivity Charge".  

Justice O'Connor Hears UPS Challenge to ADA Class Action
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sarah Day O'Connor's first case as a visiting judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals presented a cutting-edge question in employment discrimination law: whether workers may pursue a class action to challenge company-wide policies allegedly designed to thwart the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lawyers for UPS are urging the court to reverse a previous decision that certified a national class action brought by current and former UPS workers who claim the company's policies are hostile to those seeking a "reasonable accommodation." The central claim in the case is that UPS has an unwritten policy of requiring that injured or ill employees must be "100 percent cured" before they can return to work.

Carnival Settles Class Action Over Ill-Fated Millennium Cruise
A class of Carnival Cruise Lines passengers whose voyage to celebrate the millennium was interrupted by equipment failure has settled a lawsuit against the Miami-based company with a unique result: more than $5 million worth of free trips. Under the settlement, about 2,460 passengers from the last Carnival Paradise cruise of 1999 will receive a free one-week cruise embarking from any U.S. port outside Alaska. The total value of the cruises is $5.7 million. The ill-fated cruise left Miami on what was scheduled to be a Caribbean itinerary including Puerto Rico, Tortola and St. Thomas to commemorate the change to a new century. An engine failed eight hours into the voyage, and the crew changed the destinations to the Bahamas and Cozumel, Mexico.

Judge Nixes Change in Exxon Valdez Damage Payout
A federal judge has rejected a seafood company's request to rewrite a plan for dividing punitive damages to be awarded from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Barring an appeal of the ruling, lawyers hope to begin handing out punitive damages to fishermen, cannery workers, landowners, Alaska natives and other claimants in the yearslong legal battle with Exxon Mobil Corp. In his ruling, the judge said that the seafood company had agreed years ago to a complex plan worked out among the lawsuit's many plaintiffs on how to divide the punitive damages.  

Lawyers Plan Collective Lawsuit Over Tainted Milk
Lawyers for dozens of families whose children were sickened by tainted milk decided to go ahead with a class action lawsuit against a dairy, hoping to pressure Chinese authorities still dithering over compensation. After weeks of discussions, the 15 lawyers decided to bundle cases involving nearly 100 families into a single lawsuit against state-owned Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the center of China's worst food safety crisis in years. The lawsuit seeks medical and other expenses, payments for trauma and compensation for the families of those who died.

Suit Over 2005 Fire Can Continue
A class action lawsuit over an evacuation after a 2005 explosion and chemical fire in El Dorado can move forward, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled. Justices affirmed a Union County judge's ruling allowing those suing Teris, LLC and CSX Transportation Inc. to name who could join their lawsuit. Under the terms, any adult from a home or business forced to evacuate from certain areas around the fire could join the suit. Nearly 2,500 people were evacuated in 2005 after an explosion at the Teris hazardous-waste storage facility. No one was injured and the evacuees were allowed to return to their homes and businesses a day later.

Katrina Homeowners Can't be Certified as Class
A Louisiana homeowner's lawsuit claiming State Farm underpaid his Hurricane Katrina claim cannot proceed as a class action because the insurer's defense will require proof on a case-by-case basis, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled. The homeowner had argued that State Farm failed to sufficiently account for the overhead and profit that general contractors were charging in the wake of Katrina and Hurricane Rita. He claimed that the insurer adjusted his claim based on estimates of 10 percent overhead and 10 percent profit, when general contractors were charging much more than that post-Katrina and Rita.  

Value City Failed to Warn Workers of Mass Layoff
The Value City department store chain failed to give 450 workers the required notice before laying them off in preparation for its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, according to a federal class action lawsuit. The discount retailer laid off the workers on October 24 without giving them 60 days advanced notice as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the suit alleges. The WARN Act requires employers to provide workers 60 days written notice before laying off at least 50 workers. The law also allows employees to recover back pay and lost benefits for a period equal to the number of deficient days notice.  

Appeal Threatens to Hold Up Exxon Valdez Payments
Prince William Sound commercial fishermen have waited 19 years for punitive damages against Exxon Mobile Corp. in the nation's worst oil spill, and now that a payout is imminent, another delay may be coming from those expecting a piece. Lawyers for a fish processing plant have filed court papers objecting to the allocation plan. The plant is seeking a new plan that conforms to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, which awarded up to $507.5 million in punitive damages to nearly 33,000 commercial fishermen, cannery workers, land owners, Alaskans and others harmed by the 1989 crude oil spill. The plant is arguing that the current plan assigns some plaintiffs larger or smaller shares than they deserve. 

Class Action Suit Filed by Laid Off Employees
Three laid off employees filed a class action complaint against the dissolving firm Heller Ehrman. The complaint proposes various classes to cover "hundreds of staff and associates who have been or will be terminated since the firm's vote to dissolve. The former employees allege that they were terminated without paying them wages owed in accordance with the federal and California WARN Acts, vacation laws in California and Heller's own employee contacts governing vacation payouts. The plaintiffs were laid off in a series of recent and massive layoffs.

Gift Card Contract Breach and Deception Claims Proceed
A class action against a leading gift card distributor will go forward following a Brooklyn-based appellate panel's finding that the company's imposition of improperly disclosed "dormancy" fees may constitute breach of contract and deceptive business practices. The company was sued due to their $2.50 dormancy fee in conjunction with the manner in which the fees were disclosed. Plaintiffs argue that the unreadability of the provisions detailing the card's administrative fees, such as the dormancy fee that automatically kicks in seven months after purchase, renders the provisions unenforceable. The font size is impermissibly small and the terms are tucked away on the final page of the 10-page pamphlet accompanying the card. 

Retired NFL Players Suit Up for Licensing Fight
Retired NFL players signed licensing deals to allow their union to market their images, but the players allege that they should have shared equally in the revenue, and that some older players have received nothing at all. The class action lawsuit consists of 2,000 former players as plaintiffs and the damages could exceed $81 million plus punitive damages. The defendants, meanwhile, claim that every player whose likeness was used received royalties, and that the retirees were never entitled to an equal share. 

Wachovia to Pay $200 Million to Settle Telemarketing Suits
Wachovia Corp. agreed to pay $200 million to resolve lawsuits claiming it profited by ignoring fraudulent telemarketers who used the bank to help them steal from consumers. Victims of the telemarketing frauds sued in federal court in Philadelphia, claiming that Wachovia knew of claims of the telemarketers using "demand drafts" or unsigned checks to steal from their victims. The suits were filed on behalf of all people in the United States who lost money to the telemarketers from June 2003 to February 2006. The settlement will reimburse $163 million they allegedly lost to the fraud, plus bank fees.

Lawsuit Alleges Illegal Tip Pooling in Las Vegas Restaurant
A group of 20 restaurant employees, including servers, bussers and bartenders, has filed a federal class action alleging a Las Vegas beer house violated state and federal wage and hour laws by requiring them to share their tips with managers and other non-tipped workers. Las Vegas allegedly collected all tips from servers, bussers, runners and bartenders; retained a portion of the money for itself; distributed some to workers who do not customarily receive tips; and then passed on the remaining money to the tipped employees, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs claimed they were paid less than minimum wage and made up the difference with the tips it collected and then distributed to employees.

Ohio Plaintiffs Secure $97.5 Million Payout from PwC in AIG Securities Class Action
Prominent international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $97.5 million to settle its part in a securities class action filed against American International Group by three Ohio pension funds. The settlement is one of the 10 highest ever paid by an accounting firm to settle a securities fraud class action. The settlement closes the book on PwC's role in a suit filed against AIG in 2004. In the original suit, the three plaintiffs sought damages for shares purchased between 1999 and 2005. AIG was forced to restate earnings by nearly $4 billion in 2005 after the New York State attorney general and the SEC commenced investigations into charges of accounting irregularities, bid-rigging and improper workers' compensation funds allegedly occurring at the insurance giant.

Chocolate Makers Seek Suit Dismissals
The major U.S. chocolate manufacturers have asked a federal judge to dismiss class action lawsuits alleging price fixing among the companies in the U.S. The class action lawsuits were filed by multiple retailers, wholesalers and other chocolate buyers who allege that the chocolate manufacturers conspired to fix prices from late 2002 to late 2007, increasing prices three separate times.  

Descendants of Armenian Genocide File Class Action Against Insurer
Descendants of the Armenian genocide filed another class action against an insurance company, claiming they are entitled to benefits that should have been paid to the beneficiaries of their ancestors. Two lead plaintiffs are suing on behalf of all Armenians who owned life insurance policies with Norwich Union and life and fire insurance policies at Commercial Union from 1880 and 1930 and whose beneficiaries were not paid. The class action involves almost 10,000 individuals. 

Obama Campaign Sues in Michigan Over Alleged Voter Fraud
The Obama campaign filed a class action suit in Michigan against the Macomb County Republican Party on behalf of three county residents whose homes are undergoing foreclosures. The lawsuit follows up on a quote from the county's Republican Party chairman's promise to stop residents in foreclosed homes from voting. 

Dannon Denies False Claims in Yogurt Ads
In an answer to a proposed nationwide consumer class action lawsuit, Dannon says the ads touting the alleged health benefits of its Activia and DanActive probiotic yogurts are not false and misleading. A woman sued Dannon on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of tens of thousands of consumers who allegedly bought the probiotic yogurts based on the belief that the products supplied health benefits they could not get from regular yogurts. The suit claims that Dannon has no scientific evidence to support its advertising claims. 

Fastenal Agrees to $10 Million Settlement
The company Fastenal says it will pay a $10 million class action settlement to former employees who sued the company last year for unpaid overtime wages and work-break pay. It's unclear how many people would be paid as a result of the settlement, but according to estimates, more than 2,000 current and former employees of the industrial supplies company have been entitled to back pay from as far back as 2003. 

Judge Upholds $185 Million Award in Wal-Mart Class Action
A Philadelphia judge has affirmed a $185 million award against retail titan Wal-Mart in a class action alleging underpayment of Wal-Mart employees as part of an opinion written for an appeal now pending with the Pennsylvania Superior Court. The judge ruled that the appeals court should affirm a jury verdict finding over 186,000 current and former Pennsylvania Wal-Mart employees were not properly compensated for off-the-clock work and missed rest breaks between 1998 and 2006. 

Mercury-in-Tuna Class Action Revived
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a class action suit against the manufacturer of Chicken-of-the-Sea brand tuna brought by consumers who say they were never warned that excessive consumption could lead to mercury poisoning. The unanimous three-judge panel found that a lower court improperly dismissed the suit on the grounds that it was pre-empted by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulations. 

Agency Disclosed Drivers' Personal Info, Class Action Says
Two data collection companies violated the federal Drivers' Privacy Protection Act by obtaining the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Missouri drivers from the state's Department of Revenue and selling it to third parties, according to a class action lawsuit. Two plaintiffs seek to represent a group of licensed Missouri drivers whose personal information, including Social Security numbers, the state's Revenue Department allegedly disclosed to the defendant companies.  

Iraq Injury Spurs Class Action
A wrecker driver who signed on with Houston-based Kellogg, Brown & Root to work in Iraq says the company dumped him in a war zone with poorly trained, unskilled co-workers whose inability to follow simple instructions left him injured and unable to work. His lawyers filed a class action in Georgia outlining his experiences with the multinational contractor and pointing to several other highly publicized reports of deaths, accidents and sexual assaults allegedly tied to the company. Similar actions have been filed in other court jurisdictions across the nation with mixed results.  

Lower Court to Rule on Exxon Spill Interest Amount
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to decide whether Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay interest to victims of the worst U.S. oil spill that would roughly double the $507 million judgment the high court approved in June. The issue is whether interest has been accruing since 1994, when a federal jury first awarded punitive damages for the 1989 oil spill in Alaska. Fisherman and other victims of the spill said if interest is not owed from that date, the value of the award when adjusted for inflation would be cut in half.

Plaintiffs Firms Score $303 Million Class Action Settlement from GM and Deloitte
General Motors and Deloitte & Touche, two of the United States' leading automotive and accounting giants, have agreed to settle a $303 million class action settlement over allegations that GM made material misstatements in its financials dating back to 2000. Plaintiffs claimed that GM and Deloitte engaged in accounting manipulation by accelerating income and spreading it out over a period of year. Certain revenue was reported as ordinary income when it should have been reported as extraordinary.  

Judge Tosses $277 Million Jury Verdict in Securities Class Action
In January, a jury ordered Apollo Group to pay $277 million in compensatory damages for misling their investors and not disclosing that they were being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for violating federal law in the way it compensated its college recruits. However, a judge recently overturned the jury's verdict, ruling that investors did not prove that the original disclosure of the Education Department review was the reason Apollo Group stock dropped. 

Tainted Peanut Butter Cases Can't Proceed as Class Action Lawsuits
A judge has refused to allow litigation arising from salmonella-tainted peanut butter to proceed as class action lawsuits. The case stems from a 2007 salmonella contamination of peanut butter at a manufacturing plant in Georgia. In all, 628 people in 48 states had been infected with the salmonella bacteria after eating the tainted peanut butter. 

Subprime Class Action Proliferating
For months, securities industry lawyers have been saying they've got a lot on their plate. A recent report quantifies a significant rise in litigation. In the first six months of 2008, the financial services sector produced 63 class action filings, more than the total number from all of last year.   

Cruise Passengers Claim Gallery Short-Changed Them During Voyage
A real estate agent who purchased two pieces of bogus art aboard a Celebrity Cruise Lines cruise is hoping other passengers will join him in a class action lawsuit against the cruise line. He claims that the cruise operator allows passengers to become prey for swindlers by allowing sellers of phony art to sell their faux wares aboard the ship.    

Pennsylvania High Court to Hear Kia Class Action Appeal
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will consider a high profile class action case over allegedly faulty brakes that could have a major impact on Pennsylvania class action law. A Philadelphia court awarded $5.6 million to owners of Kia sedans with allegedly faulty braking systems.

Rite Aid is Selling Expired Drugs Claims Pennsylvania Class Action Suit
Pharmacy retailer Rite Aid sells grossly outdated over-the-counter drugs, baby formula and other products, according to a class action lawsuit filed in Philadelphia federal court. The stale drugs endangered consumers because of their potential ineffectiveness, diminished efficacy or general lack of safety. The suit is a result of a recent ABC news report that said investigators from the office of the New York Attorney General found over-the-counter drugs being sold more than two years after their expiration dates.  

Exxon Valdez Families Ask for Millions in Interest
The Supreme Court has asked Exxon to respond to a recent filing by the Alaskan fishermen, families and others whose $2.5 billion punitive damages award for the Exxon Valdez oil spill was cut to $500 million by the Supreme Court in June on whether they may collect interest of almost an equal amount on that award.  

Verizon Settles Suit Over Early Termination Fees
Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by California customers upset with the company's early termination fees. The settlement is the result of a lawsuit filed by cell phone carriers who alleged that early termination fees violate California law.  

Quiznos Franchise Holders Sue Parent Company in Class Action Suit
A group of Quiznos franchise holders in southwestern Pennsylvania is suing the Colorado-based company in a class action lawsuit claiming the parent company promotes "grossly inflated" company profits at their expense. The franchise owners allege that the parent company oversaturates areas with Quiznos restaurants, many of which fail as a result. The company also forces franchise owners to deal with suppliers connected to Quiznos, who charge high prices and cause the stores to lose money.  

LifeLock Ads Overstate Identity Theft Service, Suit Says
LifeLock, an identity theft protection service that broadcasts its CEOs Social Security number in its ad campaign, exaggerates the level and effectiveness of its identity protection, according to a federal court lawsuit. The company already faces five other consumer class actions around the country with similar allegations. The suit claims LifeLock's ads are fraudulent because they mislead consumers about the scope of LifeLock's protection services and the limited nature of its "$1 million guarantee". According to the company, if a customer's identity is stole, LifeLock will hire lawyers and investigators to "recover your good name" and will reimburse money lost because of the theft. However, it does not reimburse a customer for the financial losses, such as lost profits or business, caused by identity theft. 

Ex-Honors Program Applicants Sue Department of Justice Over Politicized Hiring
A former candidate for the Justice Department's honors program is suing for $100,000 in damages, alleging Justice officials violated his rights and those of others when they brought political bias into vetting honors program applications. The class action lawsuit is the first suit resulting from an internal Justice report that says two former Justice officials illegally screened applicants to the honors and summer intern programs.

Settlements Reached in Health Club Disputes
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett has sued two health clubs and reached settlements with two others in the aftermath of business deals that left some clients without access to services for which they had already paid. Both health clubs closed abruptly, leading to 83 complaints from clients who already had paid for memberships. The lawsuit accused the health club's president and treasurer of failing to give refunds to members who, after the change in operations, did not get full value from their membership payments. 

Class Action No Cure for Uninsured Patient's Bill
A federal appeals court has rejected a class action suit brought by uninsured hospital patients who claimed that the practice of charging them significantly higher rates than insured patients or those covered under Medicare and Medicaid is discriminatory and violated consumer protection laws. In the suit, plaintiffs lawyers argued that the practice of "price gouging" uninsured patients and charging unfair and unreasonable prices constitutes "unconscionable commercial conduct" under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. But the judges found that plaintiffs were effectively asking the court to solve a political problem.  

Exxon Valdez Award Trimmed to $500 Million
The Supreme Court cut the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to $500 million. The court ruled that victims of the worst oil spill in U.S. history may collect punitive damages from Exxon Mobil Corp., but not as much as a federal appeals court determined.

Attorneys to Decide Bridge Victims' Compensation
Attorneys will decide how to divide $36.6 million among more than 180 people who were either involved in the Minnesota bridge collapse or had loved ones who died. The compensation package was signed into law in May and capped the victims' nine-month fight for state help recovering from the bridge collapse, which injured 145 and killed 13. The package is an unprecedented response by Minnesota, which is only liable under state law for up to $1 million for the entire incident. 

40,000 Claims Filed for $580 Million Smokers' Trust Fund
An unexpectedly large number of sick smokers staked claims to a $580 million fund set aside in litigation against the nation's biggest cigarette makers, which could produce awards of about $15,000 a person. About 40,000 claims were filed in time for a deadline, but only about 20,000 had been expected by a team handling the distribution.  

Jury Awards $6 Million in Class Action Against Kia Over Defective Brakes
A jury awarded $6 million in a class action suit against Kia Motors America Inc. for claims that its Sephia sedan, sold in the late 1990s, had a defective brake system. The suit charged that the Sephia's braking system didn't adequately dissipate heat, causing pads and rotors to wear down at 10,000 mile intervals. The plaintiffs were people who purchased the Sephia between 1997 and 2000, about 8,450 in number.  

Animal Owners Seek Class Action Status in Suit Over Pet Food Additives
Thirty pet owners are seeking class action status in a year-old lawsuit against leading pet food manufacturers, packers and their retailers. The pet owners complain that the $58 billion spent by consumers on pet food over the last four years has been without the knowledge that the "wholesome," "quality," "premium" or "gourmet" foods they are feeding their pets "are made of wholly or partially of inedible garbage unfit for human consumption." 

Aetna Settles Federal Class Action Seeking Health Coverage for Eating Disorders
Aetna has agreed to pay $250,000 in reimbursements to up to 100 New Jersey policyholders whose eating disorder related claims were denied. The settlement is in response to a class action suit brought by insureds seeking the same benefits for anorexia and bulimia that are available in cases of biologically based mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

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