Asbestos Mesothelioma

Week Adjourned: 7.30.11

Top Class Actions

Guaranteed Rate but Not Guaranteed Pay? That’s the story according to loan officers who worked for Guaranteed Rate Inc (GRI) and filed a wages and overtime class action lawsuit against the mortgage lender this week.

The lawsuit alleges that GRI violated the rights of loan officers under the California Labor Code. That’s not very nice. The lawsuit alleges that the mortgage lender unlawfully paid loan officers below minimum wage, failed to compensate them for overtime hours worked and unjustly deducted expenses from previously earned wages, in violation of state wage and hour laws.

The complaint also claims that Guaranteed Rate incorrectly and intentionally classified loan officers as “outside salespeople,” making them exempt from some minimum wage and overtime regulations. Oh, that old chestnut. Never dies, does it.

Predictably, these outside sales employees claim to have spent more than 50 percent of their working time in their homes, which the employees argue is considered the employer’s places of business for purposes of the outside sales exemption from minimum and overtime wage laws.

The Guaranteed Rate Loan Officer class action lawsuit further alleges that the mortgage lender intentionally misclassified the loan officers as outside salespeople in order to avoid overtime and minimum wage requirements in violation of California employment laws. Specifically, the complaint states, the sales plaintiff was paid a “percentage of the profit obtained from the sale of the loan” and as a result “there were pay periods during which the Plaintiff received less than minimum wage or no compensation.” This compensation structure caused the loan officers to often work more than 8 hours per day and/or 5 days per week, which was allegedly known by the the Mortgage Loan Company.

According to California overtime laws, employers are required to pay employees overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of eight hours in a single workday or forty hours in a workweek.

Top Settlements

Another Big Asbestos Settlement. A painter who was recently diagnosed with terminal asbestos mesothelioma caused by his exposure to asbestos-laiden products, was awarded $8.5 million in settlement of his asbestos lawsuit.

Bernard Steffen alleged that while working as a commercial painter and handyman he was exposed to products including stucco, molding and construction materials that contain asbestos. In his lawsuit he named as defendants the many manufacturers of the products, claiming that they knew of the dangers associated with their products yet failed to provide appropriate warnings.

The named defendants who went to court were cement maker CalPortland Co., molding material maker Cytec Engineered Materials and product supplier Union Carbide,all of whom denied the allegations. The jury found CalPortland and Union Carbide each 10 percent liable; remaining liability was divided amongst defendants who were no longer in the case at trial. Cytec was found not liable.

The storm around Katrina—will it ever end? Maybe. Preliminary approval of a $25 million settlement of a class action lawsuit against Tenet Healthcare Corp and subsidiaries has been granted by Orleans Parish Chief Judge Rosemary Ledet.

The lawsuit was filed following and as a result of Hurricane Katrina in which Tenet’s Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans was flooded, and dozens of people, patients and visitors, suffered as a result. A class of plaintiffs represents patients and family of patients who died in the hospital during the storm: 45 patients died during in the hospital during the storm, and doctors later admitted to having used euthanasia on patients, but no criminal charges were brought.

According to a report in the Louisana Record, the lawsuit states that approximately 187 patients and 800 visitors were in the hospital during and after the storm.

The lawsuit alleges that Tenet was liable for failing to adequately prepare the hospital for flooding before Katrina despite warnings from the hospital’s maintenance staff. The back-up power source in the hospital failed during the hurricane, as a result of flooding caused when the federally built levees broke, letting floodwater into the city. According to court documents, Tenet had argued that the dangerous environment at the hospital was a result of the failed levees and shoddy government response to the storm.

Tenet staff spent several days urgently seeking help from several federal agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard. The Tenet settlement releases Tenet and its partners from all liability.

OK. That’s it for this week. See you at the Bar.

Week Adjourned: 7.9.11

Top Class Actions

Pricey Prescriptions? This is nothing short of scandalous, if the allegations prove true. A nationwide consumer fraud class action lawsuit was filed against CVS Caremark, the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States and the owners of CVS.com, for allegedly double-billing its customers for the price of prescription drugs.

The lawsuit claims that CVS’s nationwide billing system double-bills the price of prescription drugs to CVS customers who have a high deductible health plan that is coupled with a health reimbursement account or health savings account (HSA) and who use a prescription drug coupon. CVS’s billing system isn’t equipped to handle this coordination of benefits, and as a result, it’s alleged that CVS uniformly double-bills these customers–taking cash from the customer at the time of sale and then later taking cash from their HSA. Unbelievable!

The class action lawsuit brings the claim on behalf of all CVS customers who were allegedly double-billed the price of prescription drugs and seeks damages on behalf of those customers estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands across the country. Check your receipts and your statements!

Top Settlements

Asbestos Mesothelioma Settlement. Another large asbestos-illness lawsuit was settled this week, with an Orleans Parish Civil District Court jury hearing the lawsuit finding in favor of the plaintiff. The jury awarded Leopold Granier Jr, a $1.5 million settlement in general damages, and $104,160.77 in special damages.

Mr. Granier developed asbestos mesothelioma as a result of his exposure to asbestos, asbestos he was allegedly exposed to through the negligence of Avondale Shipyards, Cajun Insulation and Union Carbide Corp. The jury produced a four page verdict, which found that Avondale, Cajun and Union Carbide were strictly liable and that the products in their possession were a “substantial and contributing cause” of Granier’s mesothelioma.

The jury also found that Union Carbide, in particular, was strictly liable because asbestos materials incorporated into the company’s Taft, La., plant were a “substantial and contributing cause” of the man’s cancer. I guess there’s no surprise there.

Avondale shipyard was, at one time, the largest employer in the state of Louisiana, employing more than 20,000 people. The shipyard was acquired by Northrop Grumman Corp., and is now slated to close in 2013. Northrop Grumman made the decision as a result of a reduced order for warships from the US Navy.

20,000 employees is no small business…I wonder how many more asbestos lawsuits Avondale could find itself on the end of?

Would You Prefer Still, Sparkling or Tap Water? Maybe it’s further proof that tap is just fine, thanks, as this sounds like a nightmare come true—a woman who was mistakenly given a bottle containing a poisonous chemical instead of drinking water subsequently suffered second and third degree burns to her esophagus and permanent damage (no kidding). She sued, and was recently awarded $3.3 million in her product liability lawsuit.

Julia Ellis suffered the life-altering burns in 2007. She was at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Hotel and Casino in Stateline, NV, when she was given a bottle labeled “Harrah’s Purified Drinking Water.”

As a result of her injuries, Ellis can now eat only pureed or soft foods. She sued Harvey’s and Harrah’s on claims of strict products liability, breach of warranty and premises liability.

OK. That’s it for this week. See you at the Bar. Watch what you’re drinking!

Week Adjourned: 5.13.11

Top Class Actions

Put your paycheck on a diet? These women don’t think it’s a such a good idea. Two Long Island women who worked for Jenny Craig filed a unpaid wages class action lawsuit, alleging that the well-known weight-loss chain put their paychecks on a diet.

The women, in a suit filed May 10 In New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, claim that Jenny Craig Operations Inc., the Carlsbad, Calif.-based chain owned by multi-national food giant Nestlé’s, improperly shortchanged them by a 1/2 hour a day for every shift they worked, even though they worked during their 30-minute break times. The alleged underpayments violate New York’s labor laws, according to court papers.

The suit, which seeks class action status, was filed by Tammy Weinstein, of Bellmore, who has been a program director and weight loss consultant since November 2002 at Jenny Craig locations in Valley Stream and Massapequa, and by Melissa Pallini, of Holbrook, who was a weight loss consultant, program director, part time receptionist, and stocker from June 2008 until June 2010 at the chain’s East Patchogue location.

The suit seeks to represent all New York employees of Jenny Craig who worked as weight loss consultants, receptionists, stock persons, program directors and any other employee at Jenny Craig weight-loss centers. According to court papers, the class included more than 500 people who’ve worked at Jenny Craig since May 2005. The chain has 30 locations statewide, 10 of them on Long Island, in Centereach, E. Patchogue, Great Neck, Farmingdale, Freeport, Hicksville, Huntington Station, Massapequa and Valley Stream.

The employees worked about 15 to 35 hours a week on shifts of five to eight hours one day to five days per week, according to court papers.

Jenny Craig, a commercial program that features portion-controlled, prepackaged meals supplemented by store-bought vegetables and fruit, received top marks this week from Consumer Reports for diet success. The chain offers support through weekly counseling sessions.

The diet chain’s celebrity spokespersons have included actress Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli, Queen Latifah, actresses Sara Rue and Nicole Sullivan, actor Jason Alexander and, since January, actress Carrie Fisher.

Top Settlements

Where there’s smoke, there’s gas… This is certainly an interesting twist on an old theme. A Flordia judge recently ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in litagation over defective Chinese drywall. The Hillsborough County judge, Robert Foster, ruled that homeowners’ insurance should Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 5.13.11”

Week Adjourned: 4.1.11

Top Class Actions

Rosetta Stone getting a lesson in securities litigation? The manufacturer of learning software—and apparent sure-fire way to win the girl (see ad above), got hit with a securities lawsuit this week, over allegations that they’re not playing straight, so to speak. The suit, which has not yet been certified, was filed on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Rosetta Stone, Inc. (“Rosetta Stone” or the “Company”) (NYSE: RST) between February 25, 2010 and March 1, 2011, inclusive (the “Class Period”).

The specific allegations? Violations of federal securities laws—such as the free and lower-priced competitive product offerings, not a temporary reduction in advertising, was having a material adverse effect on the Company’s Class Period revenues, particularly U.S. consumer revenues; and that the favorable sales booking numbers Rosetta Stone reported during the Class Period was the result of key retail partners maintaining inventory of the Company’s products well above historic levels; and—oh yes—there’s more—that Rosetta Stone’s reported sales bookings and revenues during the Class Period were the product of manipulation.

However, on February 28, Rosetta Stone announced fourth quarter revenue of $74.3 million, a 5% decrease from the prior year, net income on a GAAP basis of $5.0 million, a decrease of 60% from the 2009 fourth quarter. On this news, RS’s shares fell $1.77 to $13.19 per share. Let’s hope it’s not just the shareholders who get an education from this.

Top Settlements

$17 million for workplace asbestos exposure. Sounds nice—but maybe not so much. As big Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 4.1.11”

Week Adjourned: 11.12.10

Top Class Actions

More Foreclosure Fraud. It seems that between Chinese drywall and questionable foreclosures, Florida homeowners just can’t catch a break. A class action lawsuit was filed this week on behalf of tens of thousands of homeowners in the Sunshine State, who have allegedly been suffered as a result of GMAC’s use of fraudulent affidavits and other documents in foreclosure proceedings.

It seems that GMAC employees admitted in sworn testimony to signing whatever was put in front of them in foreclosure cases, regardless of the accuracy of those documents, without personal knowledge of the truth of what they are signing, without reviewing the underlying documents to determine whether the documents are accurate, and often not even in the presence of a notary.

Geoffrey Huber, one of the plaintiffs, said he discovered a “robo-signed” affidavit had been filed in foreclosure proceedings on the house he owns in Florida. “I don’t know how they thought they legally could get away with this.” Maybe because very few people ever check the fine print? Seems like a good time to start.

The Complaint alleges that the defects in virtually every foreclosure case filed in the last several years are not mere “technicalities,” nor just “sloppy paperwork.” Indeed, one of the lead plaintiffs in this case alleges that he was not actually in default at the time GMAC initiated foreclosure proceedings.

The lawsuit is seeking damages based on claims GMAC’s actions violated the homeowners’ Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 11.12.10”

Week Adjourned: 8.27.10

Top Class Actions

Care Doesn’t Discriminate? You would think that healthcare might be the one environment in which race would not be the priority. Not so, apparently. One of San Francisco’s biggest hospitals, Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), which also operates St. Luke’s Hospital, is facing a class action over allegations that it is engaged in systematic discrimination against the hiring of Filipino registered nurses. The suit, brought by the California Nurses Association (CNA), alleges contract violations in a systematic policy of discrimination.

The CNA held a press conference over the matter during which former nursing supervisors and nurses of CPMC spoke out about the discrimination they themselves had faced. The CNA have also made public data from a review they conducted which show that in early 2008 there was a major demographic shift among the nurses being hired at St Luke’s. “Before February 2008, 65% of St Luke’s RNs were Filipino. After February 2008, only 10% of RNs hired were Filipino,” the press releases states.

“St. Luke’s and CPMC RNs, many of them Filipino, have been outspoken in defense of their patients, and in opposition to Sutter and CPMC’s plans to reduce services to the largely lower income, minority community depending on St. Luke’s from SOMA to the Excelsior,” said CNA Co-president Zenei Cortez, RN.

“Rather than respond to the concerns of the community, CPMC and Sutter have chosen instead to retaliate by carrying out a punitive, illegal, and immoral campaign of discrimination,” said Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 8.27.10”

Week Adjourned: 5.22.10

Top Class Actions

Seems there’s no end of trouble in sight for the beleaguered auto industry…

“We’re Leading by Example”? What’s that line about not throwing stones if you live in a glass house? Perhaps Ford ought to rethink using that headline as this week the company got hit with a class action lawsuit stemming from consumer complaints about alleged ‘defective’ rear axles on its Windstar model 1999-2003 minivans.

Apparently, the rear axles in question are unsealed hollow cylinders that basically collect water and ‘corrosive agents’ and, you guessed it, over time can corrode and crack, or even split into pieces. Um. That sounds like a quality product…not.

In fact it sounds quiet dangerous—and it is, because the axles are susceptible to failing while the minivan is being operated. Nice.

The law firm that filed the potential class action suspects that “more than 949,000 Windstars were manufactured with a defective axle.” That’s a lot of minivans—and a lot of families…

Top Settlements

The Week the Women Won…5,600 women that is, who filed a gender discrimination class action against their employer, Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Bloomberg reported it as the largest ever employment discrimination verdict—according to their data.

The payoff? $250 million in punitive damages and roughly $3.36 million in compensatory damages for each of the 12 women who are named plaintiffs and who took the stand in the case. Incidentally—the case was filed in 2004—so that’s six years of living the legal wars and all the rest.

Some of the stuff that came out in the courtroom was quite worrying. Here’s a clip from an official press release on the verdict—you be the judge—” On the first day of the trial in the defense’s opening Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 5.22.10”

Week Adjourned: 4.23.10

Top Class Actions

Testing the limits of virtual reality… Second Life—you may have heard of it—an enormously popular and just plain enormous virtual reality platform that enables you to totally reinvent yourself—many times over if you wish… (Think Avatar). Well, it’s the subject of a potential class action lawsuit filed this week. There’s a laundry list of allegations, including consumer fraud, stemming from real estate transactions that took place within the platform.

The simpleton’s version (because Second Life can seem a bit non-sensical to those of us with our feet on terra firma), is that people—members—of Second Life who used real world money to purchase virtual real estate within the platform, have been duped. How? The allegations are that “Linden Research induced thousands of people to invest as much as $100 million of real money in virtual properties, then reclaimed those virtual properties from the purchasers without compensation.” There’s nothing virtual about that allegation.

The law suit also claims that Linden Labs stated that it would protect members’ rights to their virtual property, and that those properties could be used as a source of revenue for the owners. However, the plaintiffs contend that members who purchased virtual real estate were in fact increasing the value of Linden Research in advance of an initial public offering or sale of Second Life. And, Linden Labs, at no time, made any attempt to compensate an estimated 50,000 participants who purchased virtual real estate based upon the company’s promises.

None of this sounds even vaguely like science fiction—more like art imitating life…there really is no escape…

Top Settlements

Big Asbestos Settlement in Texas. A 67-year old man was awarded roughly $11 million by a jury this week, in settlement of his asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit. FYI—this is reportedly the largest settlement of its Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 4.23.10”

Week Adjourned: 10.30.09

Bit of irony, no? The Age of the Overtime Class Action…

Top Class Actions

Wells, It’s Official… Wells Fargo is now facing a wages and overtime class action filed by technical support staff who allege that they were not paid for time worked in excess of 40 hours per week.

The suit covers all network engineers, operating systems engineers, information security analysts, technical service specialists, systems support analysts, web engineers, web support engineers, web systems engineers, operating systems analysts (level 2), systems QA analysts (levels 2 or 3), computer operations analysts (levels 3 or 4), database administrators (levels 2 or 3), and applications systems engineers (level 3) who worked for Wells Fargo as exempt employees at any time during the past three years anywhere in the United States. It is estimated that about 3,000 employees are eligible to participate in the unpaid overtime class action.

Eligible employees have 75 days to join the lawsuit.

BOA Constricting Overtime Pay? And then there’s Bank of America: A lawsuit was filed this week on behalf of telephone-dedicated employees for unpaid wages and overtime worked at company call centers across the country. The lawsuit was filed as a collective action, which Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 10.30.09”

Week Adjourned: 10.9.09

Top Class Actions

Giving new meaning to Renaissance architecture? Hundreds more people in Florida may be onboard with a new Chinese Drywall class action filed this week. The suit names Coastal Condominiums and Precision Drywall as defendants, and alleges that the toxic drywall used in the construction of Renaissance Commons (at right) is emitting toxic gases into people’s homes.

During the Florida building boom hundreds of millions of pounds of drywall was shipped to ports around the United States from China. While 25 states have reported issues, problems were first noted in Florida, likely because the defective drywall seems to react strongly in humid conditions.

Apparently, some 600 Floridians in 30 counties have reported symptoms such as irritated eyes, bloody noses, rashes and insomnia. This certainly puts a new twist on that old expression— ‘there’s no place like home…’

Mario Aliano is one pissed off beer drinker (bad pun, I know). In fact he’s so angry Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 10.9.09”