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Ohio judge says Ford must pay dealers $2B
Class Action News |
2011/06/11 06:35
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Ford Motor Co. must pay nearly $2 billion in damages to thousands of dealerships in a 2002 class-action lawsuit that said the automaker violated dealer agreements, an Ohio judge ruled Friday.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan in Cleveland issued the ruling based on a Feb. 11 jury determination that the company overcharged dealers for commercial trucks over an 11-year period.
The $2 billion award covers more than 3,000 dealerships and about 474,000 trucks. It includes a judgment of about $781 million and about $1.2 billion in interest.
"In awarding the dealers the amount of money they overpaid for trucks, the jury verdict places ... the dealers in the financial position contemplated by the terms of the contract," said James Lowe, a Cleveland attorney for Westgate Ford Truck Sales Inc., a dealership in Youngstown that represents the class.
Ford's annual report, filed on Feb. 28, says the class action included all dealers who purchased a 600?series or higher truck from Ford from 1987 to 1997. It says the lawsuit accused the automaker of failing to reveal that price concessions were given to some dealers. |
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Toyota class action suit to start with Utah case
Court Feed News |
2011/06/10 20:35
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The first lawsuit to go to trial in a massive class action against Toyota Motor Corp. over acceleration problems that led the company to recall 14 million cars will involve a crash that killed two people in western Utah, a federal judge said Friday.
U.S. District Judge James Selna told attorneys the case of 38-year-old Charlene Jones Lloyd and 66-year-old Paul Van Alfen, whose Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010, is scheduled to go to trial in February 2013.
The case — Van Alfen v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. — will be the first of several bellwether lawsuits, intended to determine how the rest of the litigation will proceed.
Selna wrote in a tentative order that he hoped the selection would "markedly advance these proceedings."
"The Court believes that selection of a personal injury/wrongful death case is most likely the type of case to meet that goal," Selna said.
Toyota said it welcomes the Utah case as the first suit to reach court.
"We are pleased that the initial bellwether will address plaintiffs' central allegation of an unnamed, unproven defect in Toyota vehicles, as every claim in the multi-district litigation rests upon this pivotal technical issue," the company said in a statement.
Toyota has previously argued the plaintiffs have been unable to prove that a design defect in its electronic throttle control system is responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly. It has instead blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals. |
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Court sides with Massey in W.Va. mine appeal
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/06/10 16:14
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A federal appeals court has sided with the former Massey Energy in a dispute over the company's investigation of last year's deadly Upper Big Branch mine explosion. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled Friday that Massey is entitled to appeal restrictions placed on its investigation by federal investigators. The federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission had rebuffed Virginia-based Massey's request to appeal the restrictions last year. Massey wanted the commission to set aside restrictions barring it from taking photos and collecting dust samples from the southern West Virginia mine, among other things. The appellate court set aside the commission's decision rejecting Massey's appeal. New Massey owner Alpha Natural Resources declined comment. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration had no immediate comment. |
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Woman faces prison in Calif.-to-Ohio pot scheme
Criminal Law Updates |
2011/06/10 13:14
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A California woman who initially claimed ignorance about the contents of multiple suitcases she was bringing to Ohio faces up to 10 years in prison Friday when she is sentenced in a $3 million marijuana shipping scheme. After her arrest in in June 2010, Lisette Lee told investigators she planned to visit a boyfriend and transport equipment to a horse farm. She also said a friend paid her $60,000 to take suitcases from Los Angeles to an unattended hotel room in Columbus, stay for a few days and return with fewer pieces of luggage, the government said. Lee later told investigators that she and her entourage knew the horse story was phony and that they were likely involved with "weapons and money laundering or something," authorities wrote in court papers. Lee, 29, pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley earlier this week, Lee said she deeply regretted getting involved in drugs. |
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US appeals court overturns release of detainee
Legal Career News |
2011/06/10 12:36
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A Yemeni detainee ordered to be freed from Guantanamo Bay has to stay now that a U.S. appeals court has overturned his release.
The U.S Court of Appeals in Washington says circumstantial evidence of terrorist ties can be enough to keep a prisoner like Hussain Salem Mohammad Almerfedi at the U.S. naval prison in Cuba.
Almerfedi was captured in Iran after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and eventually transferred to U.S. authorities through Afghanistan. Government attorneys argue he was staying at an al-Qaida-affiliated guesthouse, based on the testimony of another Guantanamo detainee. Almerfedi denied it, and a lower court judge found the testimony against him unreliable and ordered him released.
But the appeals court said the judge erred in finding the testimony unreliable and found it was likely Almerfedi was part of al-Qaida. |
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Banks lose battle to delay cap on invisible fee
Business Law Info |
2011/06/09 16:04
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Merchants trumped bankers in a battle for billions Wednesday as the Senate voted to let the Federal Reserve slash fees that stores pay financial institutions when customers pay with debit cards.
Whether consumers will see any of that money remains to be seen.
The Fed will now issue its final rules on debit fees, called interchange fees, on July 21. It has recommended cutting the average 44 cents that banks and credit unions charge for each debit card transaction to no more than 12 cents, although the final plan could change slightly.
The fee is now typically 1 to 2 percent of each purchase. It produces $16 billion in annual revenue for banks, credit unions and the credit card companies that operate the huge payment networks, the Fed estimates.
Merchants say lower fees should let them lower prices. Banks warn that they'll have to recoup the lost revenue through other charges that likely will come directly from consumers' pockets, such as higher checking account fees. |
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