Goldman Sachs

Week Adjourned: 8.25.17 – Goldman Sachs, Talc Powder, Sony

Top Class Action Lawsuits

Did they not get the memo? Goldman Sachs Group (GSG) Inc, got hit with a discrimination class action lawsuit filed by a black female banker working in GSG’s personal wealth management unit. Specifically, plaintiff Rebecca Allen alleges GSG steered top clients to her Caucasian colleagues and denied her promotions because of her race. Seriously?

Allen states in the Goldman Sachs discrimination lawsuit that Goldman’s senior leadership team is virtually all-white and favors white bankers for promotions and lucrative accounts, resulting in their earning more than their black colleagues.

“Simply put, Goldman Sachs does virtually nothing to hire, promote or develop black talent, instead focusing its efforts on retaining and promoting white employees to positions of leadership,” the complaint states.

Allen was hired by GSG in 2012. According to the complaint, in 2016 she was removed from an account she had worked on for three years by a Goldman partner, Christina Minnis, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Allen says her supervisor met with Minnis about the decision and said she made racist and anti-Semitic comments about Allen, who is also Jewish.

Well, that about covers all the bases. See you in court!

The case is Allen v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:17-cv-06195.

Top Settlements

Big award for talcum powder cancer lawsuit … California just handed down a $417 million verdict to the plaintiff who claimed she developed terminal ovarian cancer after using the company’s talc-based products such as Johnson’s Baby Powder. The talc cancer case is the first to be heard in California against Johnson & Johnson (J&J). It is brought by California resident Eva Echeverria who alleges the company failed to provide adequate warning about the risk for cancer linked to the use of its talc-based products.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury found in favor of Echeverria, awarding $70 million in compensatory damages and $347 million in punitive damages. This is the sixth trial against J&J to go to court, following five previously heard in Missouri state court which resulted in more than $307 million in damages against J&J. Prior to the Echeverria verdict, the largest single award was $110 million.

During the trial, Echeverria’s attorney’s alleged that despite J&J’s knowledge of years of studies that show a link between ovarian cancer and death and the use of genital talcum powder products, the company continued to encourage women to use those products.

Talcum powders are made of talc, a mineral comprised of bits of magnesium, silicon and oxygen that absorbs moisture. Some talc contains asbestos, a known carcinogen, in its natural form. While J&J is likely using in court information that commercial products sold in the US have been asbestos-free since the 1970s, some women used talc before the 1970s. Echeverria is 63 years old, and claims she used J&J products all her life. Feasibly, she used talc containing asbestos for more than a decade.

The case, which J&J said it plans to appeals, is Echeverria et al v. Johnson & Johnson, Los Angeles Superior Court, No. BC628228.

A bit water-logged over at Sony? Sony has agreed a preliminary settlement potentially ending a class action lawsuit alleging the company designed, manufactured, distributed, advertised and sold certain Mobile Devices that were alleged to be misrepresented as “waterproof.” The consumer fraud lawsuit asserts that the phones are, in fact, “not waterproof and are not designed for or capable of ordinary underwater use.”

The class action also claimed that “Sony exploited certain international water resistance ratings in order to launch a deceptive marketing campaign promoting the Devices.”

The Plaintiffs seek certification of a nationwide class of all persons who purchased the devices as well as Illinois and California subclasses, excluding certain persons and entities who/which, by way of example, purchased the devices for resale.

The proposed Sony settlement has received preliminary approval and would settle class claims in the United States of US customers only. The final Fairness Hearing is scheduled for December, 2017.

Those included in the class purchased, own(ed), received as a gift or received as a customer service exchange the Mobile Devices manufactured, marketed, sold and/or distributed by Sony Mobile Communications (USA), Inc. in any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The settlement provides for: (1) a warranty extension; (2) changes to packaging, labeling and advertising; and (3) a claim process relating to prior water-related warranty claim rejections.

Eligible class members may submit claims for prior water-related warranty claim rejections by Sony for their in-warranty Mobile Devices. This is the only way to be reimbursed for 50% of the at-issue Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (“MSRP”) for the applicable Mobile Device.

Ok – That’s a wrap for this week. See you at the bar!

Week Adjourned: 4.15.16 – 24-Hour Fitness, Cold FX, Goldman Sachs

Top Class Action Lawsuits

Fitness Flub…24 hour Fitness has its feet to the fire again, this time—well, as always—it’s a consumer fraud class action lawsuit alleging the national fitness chain raised its customers’ fees for use on lifetime memberships, in violation of various state laws in California, Texas, and Oregon.

Filed by Kevin O’Shea of California, Mark Vitcov of Oregon, and Rod Morris of Texas, individually and for all others similarly situated, the 24 Hour Fitness lawsuit claims sales representatives employ aggressive sales pitches to induce consumers into buying lifetime memberships to its gyms. Under the terms of these lifetime memberships, customers must prepay three years of membership fees, following which they pay only nominal renewal fees.

However, according to the lawsuit, while the annual renewal fees were supposed to remain constant for the rest of the member’s life, when the defendant came under new ownership it stopped honoring its lifetime fee guarantees and announced that it would raise lifetime members’ annual renewal fees beginning in 2016. Can you say “Scamorama?”

The lawsuit alleges fraud, violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, its Unfair Competition Law, and its Health Studio Services Contract Law, violation of Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act, and violation of Texas’s Health Spa Act and its Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The case is US District Court for the Northern District of California San Francisco Division Case number 3:16-CV-01668-EDL.

Placebo FX? A Canadian consumer fraud class action lawsuit to report this week. It was filed against the makers of the popular over-the-counter cold treatment, Cold-FX, alleging the product is no more effective at preventing colds and flu than a placebo. Now there’s a thing.

The Cold FX lawsuit was originally filed by Vancouver Island resident Don Harrison in 2012, against Cold-FX, which is owned by Valeant Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiary, Afexa Life Sciences. The lawsuit cites advertising in which Cold-FX claims to provide “immediate relief of cold and flu” if taken over a three-day period at the first sign of symptoms.

Here’s the rub, according to the complaint, the defendants ignored their own research and misled consumers about the short-term effectiveness of the popular cold and flu remedy. Hey—if it’s true—they wouldn’t be the first.

According to Harrison’s notice of claim, Valeant and Afexa continued to “knowingly or recklessly” promote Cold-FX despite evidence the natural-health product only had a possible positive impact after being taken daily for prolonged periods of two-to-six months. That’s a long lead time for any cold remedy—you would be on this stuff for life, effectively. Or not. Wonder if it’s publicly traded…

The lawsuit claims that people paid money for a worthless product. According to the attorney representing Harrison, Valeant and Afexa failed to release data from an internal study conducted in the early 2000s that contradicted the health claims around Cold-FX. The defendants knew at least as early as 2004, when they had a study done themselves, that Cold-FX might be even less effective than a placebo, the lawsuit alleges.

An identical lawsuit has been filed in Saskatchewan.

Top Settlements

Goldman Sachs hit with $41 Million Bill…stemming from allegations brought by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in yet another residential mortgage-backed (RMBS) securities lawsuit. Ka-Ching!

The charges specifically allege misconduct during the bank’s marketing and sale of RMBS prior to the 2008 economic collapse—remember that? Goldman Sachs allegedly failed to disclose the true risk associated with many of its RMBS investments.

According to the terms of the settlement, GS will pay $25 million to the Illinois’ pension system and $16 million will be given in relief to Illinois consumers.

This settlement is part of a larger, $5 billion national settlement resulting from legal action taken by the US Department of Justice and state attorneys general and other entities.

Ok—That’s a wrap folks…Have a good one. See you at the Bar!

Week Adjourned: 1.18.13 – Clinique, Dell, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs

The week’s top class action news–lawsuits and settlements that made the buzz this week. Top stories include Estee Lauder’s Clinique line, Dell computers, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Top Class Action Lawsuits

Speaking of wrinkles—it appears that Estée Lauder has hit one. The maker of Clinique cosmetic and skin care products is the latest to face a consumer fraud class action lawsuit over allegations of false and deceptive marketing practices.

In the Clinique false advertising lawsuit, entitled Margaret Ohayon et al. v. Estee Lauder Inc. et al., Case No. 2:33-av-00001, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, plaintiff Margaret Ohayon alleges Estee Lauder uses deceptive advertising tactics to promote its Clinique Repairwear, Youth Surge and Turnaround collection as having the ability to make wrinkles “disappear,” rebuild firming collagen, and produce other anti-aging benefits.

The lawsuit alleges that if, in fact, the Clinique products could “rebuild stores of natural collagen” or “deliver 63% of the visible wrinkle-reducing power of a laser procedure,” the products would be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Not to mention your girlfriends would be all over it—like you could keep the effects a secret—I don’t think so.

The Clinique consumer fraud class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of a proposed class of all consumers who have purchased at least one Clinique product from the Repairwear, Youth Surge or Turnaround collection in the US.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory, treble and punitive damages; restitution; injunctive relief and more for alleged breach of express warranty, unjust enrichment, and violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and consumer fraud laws of various states.

Top Settlements

Heads up: Taxing Situation at Dell… An unfair business practices class action lawsuit filed in California against Dell Computer Corp, has reached a tentative settlement totaling $275 million in potential refunds.

The class action lawsuit revolves around the payment of California sales tax on Dell service contracts…read on…

The lawsuit, entitled Mohan, et al. v. Dell, Inc. et al. alleged the Defendants (Dell Inc. f/k/a/ Dell Computer Corp.; Dell Marketing LP (“DMLP”), on its own behalf and as successor by merger to Dell Catalog Sales LP (“DCSLP”); BancTec, Inc.; and Worldwide Tech Services, LLC f/k/a/ QualxServ LLC) improperly charged California use tax on purchases of certain Optional Service Contracts and remitted these taxes to the California State Board of Equalization (“SBE”).

The parties have reached two distinct settlement agreements to resolve the legal action: the Dell Settlement and the SBE Settlement. Under the terms of the respective settlements, which cover purchases made between April 8, 1999 and June 30, 2008, funding for the settlements will be provided by Dell and the California State Board of Equalization. The settlements followed a 2006 trial court’s decision, later affirmed on appeal by the California Court of Appeals in 2008, ruling that optional service contracts sold by Dell were not subject to California sales or use tax, as they did not constitute tangible personal property and were readily separable from the computer hardware with which they were sold.

Further, the terms of the two settlements stipulate that customers of Dell who purchased and paid tax on service contracts covering computer hardware during the class action period will be entitled to a full refund of all such taxes that they paid.

The settlement consists of more than $275 million in refunds. Notices will be mailed to customers informing them of the amounts of refunds available to them and instructions for the timely filing of claims. The Court will review the settlement agreements at the Final Hearing to be held in April, 2013.

Class members who are eligible to receive a refund under one or both of these settlement agreements must file a claim or claims to receive any refund(s). Each settlement agreement has different criteria for eligibility. For more information on eligibility and how to file a claim for the separate settlements, visit sctaxsett.com.

Welcome Home[Owner] News. This one’s a whopper…and some welcome news for home owners who suffered dodgy loan servicing and/or foreclosure at the hands of Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs. This week the Federal Reserve announced it has reached a settlement with the two financial institutions over alleged loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.

Under the terms of the settlement, reported by CNNMoney.com, Morgan Stanley will provide $97 million in direct cash payments to borrowers and $130 million worth of other relief, including loan modifications and the forgiveness of deficiency judgments. Goldman will pay $135 million to borrowers with a further $195 million provided as relief.

Here’s the skinny. The settlement provides for over 220,000 homeowners who held mortgages with the two banks’ former subsidiaries: Goldman’s Litton Loan Servicing and Morgan’s Saxon Mortgage Services, and subsequently faced foreclosure in 2009 and 2010. According to CNNMoney.com “over four million borrowers will split a total of $3.5 billion in cash compensation, with payments ranging from a few hundred dollars to potentially as much as $125,000 in a small percentage of cases. Those eligible are expected to be contacted by the end of March, regulators said.”

This settlement follows the $8.5 billion agreement announced last week by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency with 10 other banks over foreclosure issues.

Goldman Sachs was ordered to review its subsidiary’s foreclosure practices in September 2011, as was Morgan Stanley in April 2012. Those reviews were not initiated and will now be scrapped as a result of this settlement deal.

Well this news is worth a minor celebration—on top of the fact that it’s Friday. So—see you at the bar!

Week Adjourned: 7.20.12 – Yoplait Greek, MC/Visa, Goldman Sachs

The weekly wrap of top class action lawsuits and settlements, for the week ending July 20, 2012; top stories this week include Yoplait Greek yogurt, Mastercard, Visa, and Goldman Sachs.

Top Class Action Lawsuits

How Greek is your Yogurt? In fact, is your yogurt even yogurt? If you’ve been buying Yoplait Greek yogurt from General Mills, there’s a consumer fraud class action lawsuit that alleges the giant food processor has been misrepresenting the product as being Greek and yogurt.

“Yoplait Greek does not comply with the standard of identity of yogurt,” the lawsuit states. “Indeed, Yoplait Greek contains Milk Protein Concentrate (“MPC”) which is not among the permissible ingredients of yogurt, non-fat yogurt, and low-fat yogurt (collectively “yogurt”) as set forth under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.”

The Yoplait Greek yogurt class action lawsuit also states “The use of MPC is financially advantageous to defendants.” It allows General Mills to manufacture more product at lower cost, and that’s why they use it in the production of the yogurt.”

If this leaves you stuck for breakfast options—may I recommend last night’s leftovers…

Top Settlements

Card Sharks Caught. This is one for all you conspiracy theorists out there—it’s pay day! A preliminary $7.2 billion settlement has been agreed by credit card giants MasterCard Inc, and Visa Inc, making it the largest antitrust settlement in US history.

The MasterCard Visa settlement, if approved, would resolve lawsuits brought as far back as 2005 by retailers who allege the credit card companies fixed debit and credit card swipe fees. Swipe fees are a small percentage of the purchase price and are taken by the credit card companies on every transaction made using their cards.

According to the terms of the settlement, filed in federal court in New York, Visa will pay $4.03 billion and MasterCard will pay $2.02 billion to a class of merchants, including small businesses and stores.

Additionally, both Visa and MasterCard will also agree to cut swipe fees by 10 basis points (0.1 percent) for eight months, which amounts to an additional $1.2 billion in relief for merchants.

The settlement also allows merchants and stores to impose a “checkout fee” to pass onto consumers, which is limited by a cap. It’s your lucky day!

Also included in the proposed settlement are credit card issuers such as JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and Bank of America. Time to switch to the dark side…

Sachs Sacked. Remember 2008—(how could you forget, right?) The collapse of the financial world as we knew it—and the institutions such as Goldman Sachs who were in part responsible? Well, in 2009 The Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi filed a securities class action against the financial institution, alleging New Century Financial Corp, which originated a Goldman Sachs $698 million mortgage-backed securities offering, failed to adhere to its underwriting standards and overstated the value of the collateral backing the loans.

The fund claimed Goldman Sachs didn’t conduct proper due diligence when it bought the loans in 2005. If I’m not mistaken, that was the crux of the entire meltdown—lack of due diligence—on everyone’s part.

This week, a preliminary Goldman Sachs securities class action settlement was announced.

The lawyer representing the retirement fund told U.S. District Judge Harold Baer in a letter made public that both sides had accepted a settlement proposed by a mediator. Details of the agreement weren’t disclosed, according to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek.

The case is Public Employees Retirement System of Mississippi v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., 09-cv-01110, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Ok—That’s a wrap. Happy Friday! See you at the bar!

Week Adjourned: 7.17.10

Top Class Actions

Recall on a Rolling Basis. This week’s pharmaceutical lawsuit is against Johnson &Johnson (J&J) alleging fraud and racketeering and demanding compensation for recalled children’s allergy and cold medicines—you remember—the recall that kept going and going—first on April 30thconcerning over 40 different types of kiddies cold meds, and then again in June—’oops—we maybe should have recalled these also…’ and once more for good measure in July.

But it’s not the recall that’s the problem apparently, it’s the fact that J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare and McNeil-PPC had offered consumers coupons for refunds of the recalled products, which consumers have rejected, according to the suit.

According to a report on Bloomberg’s Businessweek, the complaint states the coupons are worthless because McNeil has stopped making the medicines and “wrongly assumes that all consumers will want to purchase the company’s children’s products at some uncertain future date.”

So, the suits seek to proceed on behalf of plaintiffs’ groups for residents of Illinois, Texas and Florida, as well as consumers in the U.S. and Canada, who have bought the drugs since December 2008.

Sweating the Glass Ceiling? 24-hour Fitness also got hit with a class action this week brought by its employees over allegations of discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin and gender.

Apparently this very large chain of fitness facilities—as in 400 fitness centers, Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 7.17.10”

Week Adjourned: 6.26.10

Top Class Actions

Anadarko Petroleum. Who? Just know, if you don’t own shares in Anadarko Petroleum breathe easy. If you do own shares, you better strap yourself in. A shareholder lawsuit seeking class action status was filed against the petroleum company this week, on behalf of anyone who purchased company common stock of between June 12, 2009 and June 9, 2010, inclusive—otherwise known as the “Class Period”.

Anadarko, it seems, owns 25 percent of the Macondo/Deepwater Horizon well—you know—the gusher currently leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico with ramifications so far reaching it’s impossible to get your head around the scope of the disaster.

The suit alleges that Anadarko and certain of its officers, failed to disclose, “among other things:

1) that there was no effective Exploration and Oil Spill Response Plan for Macondo/Deepwater Horizon;

2) that BP implemented drilling procedures solely to cut costs at the expense of safety;

3) that the Company lacked adequate systems of internal, operational or financial controls to maintain adequate insurance reserves or to meet the known or foreseeable risks associated with its deepwater drilling liabilities; and

4) that defendants lacked any reasonable basis to claim that Anadarko was operating according to plan, or that Anadarko could achieve guidance sponsored and/or endorsed by defendants.”

And the allegations go on, mentioning false and misleading statements that were issued concerning the amount of the clean-up, and the company’s liability etc, all which culminated in massive drops in share prices. So it’s off to court they go.

Only one problem, if the company is stripped of millions of dollars in lawsuits, and this goes for BP as well, who’s going to pay for the clean-up, and all the other costs we haven’t even begun to see yet?

And it’s on from Big Oil to Big Banks…those leading lights of the international Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 6.26.10”

Week Adjourned: 5.22.09

Everyone must be busy getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend—I just hope everyone’s making sure those beef patties for the weekend barbeque aren’t part of the recent recall for E Coli…hmm. Well, while you’ve been doing party prep, here’s what’s been going on…

Top Class Action Suits

Bringing good things to life? General Electric and Samsung are now the focus of what could amount to a large class action lawsuit over defective microwave ovens. While the class is pending certification there doesn’t appear to be any uncertainty surrounding the defect. In a nutshell, the ovens can turn themselves on…good trick, just not very safe. I’m sure you could imagine some potential scenarios. The guy who filed the suit has smoke damage to his house—he was lucky.

Will that be on your Sears charge? And it seems Sears has been in the business of selling things it doesn’t own, specifically, its cardholders’ personal and private information. Who’s buying? Interested third parties—companies who want to sell you things that Sears isn’t selling you—like insurance. Shame on Sears! The retail giant is a founding member of American retail…

Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 5.22.09”

Week Adjourned: 5.15.09

Top Class Actions: The Week of the Biggies

Hotel Costco: You can clock in, but you can never leave? It appears to have been another busy week in law firms and courthouses across North America. Let’s start with Costco—last week Costco was in the news for having settled an unfair business practices class action and this week they’re in the news for “falsely imprisoning” employees in its California warehouses. Whaaat?

When I first read this my mind reeled, “what new business venture is this?”

Turns out it’s yet another unpaid overtime and wages class action centered in California. What is it about California? (I’m referring to the endless labor law violations).

The class action centers on employees who were and are forced to remain in the warehouses after closing while store managers make goods secure and lock up. This has been going on for years, apparently. But now there is a lawsuit, of course, and the lawyers are seeking US $50 million in damages.

O Canada!—who was standing on guard at Guidant? Across the border in Canada, not a land well-known for class action lawsuits—something large is taking place. Earlier this month a national class action was certified against Guidant Corp, alleging that the company knowingly sold defective pacemakers. The class so far represents more than 28,000 people, and the lawyers are seeking CD$525 million in damages.

Highway Robbery? And a class action that’s been getting a lot of media this week is the Massachusetts Turnpike lawsuit, whose plaintiffs are being represented by a lawyer made famous in the 1998 film “A Civil Action“, Jan R. Schlichtmann.

Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 5.15.09”