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WaMu settles class action suit for $208.5 million
Class Action News |
2011/07/01 22:09
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Washington Mutual Inc. and its fellow defendants have agreed to pay $208.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from the lender's collapse in 2008, the biggest U.S. bank failure in history. The defendants and lead plaintiff Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board outlined the terms of the agreement in documents filed with U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday. The pact calls for Washington Mutual to pay $105 million, for a group of underwriters that includes Goldman, Sachs & Co., to pay $85 million, and for Deloitte & Touche LLP to kick in another $18.5 million. In exchange, the plaintiffs have agreed to dismiss all claims against the lender and its co-defendants. The settlement must be approved by a bankruptcy court overseeing Washington Mutual's reorganization plan. In 2008, the federal government seized WMI's flagship bank, based in Seattle, and sold its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion. Plaintiffs ranging from huge pension funds to small individual investigators accused WMI and its banking executives of securities fraud, claiming the bank's lending standards and practices were misrepresented, questionable business practices were not disclosed and federal financial reports were misleading. The Ontario teachers' pension fund has claimed it lost $24 million from alleged wrongdoing by WMI and the other defendants. Under the terms of the settlement deal, WMI and the other defendants did not admit any wrongdoing. |
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Decision in Wal-Mart case a blow to class actions
Class Action News |
2011/06/21 17:18
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Mounting a large-scale bias claim against a huge company will be more difficult in light of a Supreme Court decision that found no convincing proof of discrimination on which to allow a class action against retail giant Wal-Mart on behalf of as many as 1.6 million women. All the justices agreed in the decision released Monday that the case couldn't proceed as a class action in its current form, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. By a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the court also said there were too many women in too many jobs at Wal-Mart to wrap into one lawsuit. While individuals could still pursue their own cases, they would continue with the prospect of costly legal fees and long time frames and ultimately lack the power that would have accompanied the largest sex-discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history. Two of the named plaintiffs, Christine Kwapnoski and Betty Dukes, vowed to continue their fight, even as they expressed disappointment about the ruling. "We still are determined to go forward to present our case in court. We believe we will prevail there," said Dukes, a greeter at the Wal-Mart in Pittsburg, Calif.
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Court lets class action against Bayer proceed
Class Action News |
2011/06/16 14:05
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The Supreme Court will let two West Virginia residents revive a lawsuit against Bayer AG over its anti-cholesterol drug Baycol, which was withdrawn from the market in 2001 after reports of a severe and sometimes fatal muscle disorder. The high court on Thursday unanimously agreed to let Kevin Smith and Shirley Sperlazza's class-action lawsuit against Bayer go forward. The 8th U.S. Court of Appeals had thrown out their lawsuit out after a federal judge overseeing multistate litigation against Bayer refused to let other West Virginians file a similar class-action lawsuit against the corporation. The high court said that decision was incorrect. |
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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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Coventry says court accepts $150.5M La. settlement
Class Action News |
2011/05/31 12:21
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Coventry Health Care Inc. said Tuesday a court approved its $150.5 million settlement of a class action lawsuit that accused the health insurer of violating Louisiana laws.
The company will record a gain of $159.3 million, or 68 cents per share, in the second quarter because it set aside more money than it needed to cover the settlement. In July, a state appeals court affirmed a $262 million judgment against Coventry's First Health Group Corp. unit. In February the plaintiffs and Coventry agreed to settle the case for $150.5 million.
The lawsuit alleged that First Health Group violated notice provisions of Louisiana's Any Willing Provider Act related to the treatment of injured workers with worker's compensation claims. |
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Further Class Action Lawsuits Filed for Depakote Side Effects
Class Action News |
2011/05/08 15:49
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The Consumer Justice Foundation, a free online resource for those who are struggling with legal or personal injury issues in relation to insurance companies and/or large corporations, hereby announces that Depakote class action lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs in St. Clair County, Illinois against the manufacturer of Depakote, Abbott Laboratories. These Depakote lawsuits, which carry the case numbers of St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 10-L-651 and St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 11-L-143, respectively, seek damages for the classes of plaintiffs that would be used to compensate them for medical expenses incurred and future costs that will be incurred in caring for those who have been harmed as a result of using Depakote.
The Depakote class action lawsuits mentioned above involve claims regarding pregnant mothers who used Depakote while pregnant. Depakote is generally used by people in order to help them treat the symptoms of seizure disorders that include migraine headaches, epilepsy and the manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.
Unfortunately, parents around the United States have claimed that using Depakote while pregnant can lead to the possibility of children of mothers who used this medication while pregnant being born with severe birth defects. Examples of these alleged Depakote birth defects have included spina bifida, neural tube malformations, heart defects and brain defects.
The lawsuits that have been filed against Abbott Laboratories claim that the company knew of the risks of the use of one specific active ingredient, known as valproic acid and its tendency to raise the risk of birth defects developing in children of mothers who ingested this substance during the early stages of a pregnancy.
These Depakote class action lawsuits further claim that Abbott Laboratories misled doctors and the public in general by downplaying these known risks, and that this downplaying of these potential risks led to the harm suffered by the children who were born with these birth defects. Plaintiffs in these Depakote class action lawsuits are seeking compensation for medical expenses and future costs of care. |
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