Asbestos - Part 2

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: 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: 12.11.09

Top Class Actions

You Know the Drill…? Apparently not if you’re one of the shareholders who allege, among other things that when Canadian Superior Energy drilled off the shores of Trinidad (the “Intrepid” Block 5(c)) their execs didn’t disclose that the discovered reserves were below the economic threshold for development. Canadian Superior Energy, Inc. got hit with a securities class action this week. The allegations? That certain of Canadian Superior’s former executives violated federal securities laws.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of anyone who purchased the common stock of (NYSE Amex: SNG) between January 14, 2008 and February 17, 2009, inclusive. If you have this stock as part of an employee shareholder package—you may also be eligible for the class action under something known s ERISA…

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This Land is Your Land, but… The US government has announced that it will pay (or pay back?) Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 12.11.09”

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”