|
|
|
Sun-Times Media Group Settling Class Action Suits
Class Action News |
2007/08/01 13:17
|
Sun-Times Media Group Inc. (STMG) said late Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement to settle the securities class-action lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada that accused the publishing company formerly known as Hollinger International of making misleading disclosures and omissions about "non-competition" payments, and paying excessive management fees. The settlement will be funded entirely by $30 million in proceeds from STMG's insurance policies, the company said.
The lawsuits, which were consolidated in U.S. District Court in Chicago, were filed against the company, several former directors and officers, some affiliated companies, and STMG's auditor KPMG LLP.
The lawsuits accused the defendants of violating securities laws in the U.S. and Canada. Former Hollinger International Chairman Conrad Black was convicted last month on U.S. federal fraud charges he improperly pocketed phony non-compete fees in the sale of three groups of community newspapers. A jury found him not guilty of fraudulently taking non-compete fees in several other sales. Black faces sentencing in November.
"The settlement includes no admission of liability by the company or any of the settling defendants and the company continues to deny any such liability or damages," STMG said in a statement.
Under terms of the proposed agreement, which needs the approval of courts in the U.S. and Canada, STMG insurers will deposit $24.5 million in insurance proceeds into an escrow account to fund defense costs the company incurred in the securities class action, and other litigation.
The carriers will then be released from any other claims for the July 1, 2002 to July 1, 2003 policy period.
STMG and the other parties "will then seek a judicial determination" on how to allocate the $24.5 million among insured parties, it said.
STMG said it has been in negotiations with Toronto-based Hollinger Inc. -- the holding company convicted former newspaper baron Conrad Black used to control his once-worldwide collection of newspaper -- to determine how the proceeds should be allocated among themselves.
If negotiations fail, they have agreed to go to binding arbitration, STMG said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aquila settles class-action suit for $10.5M
Class Action News |
2007/07/26 18:34
|
| Aquila Inc. has agreed to settle for $10.5 million a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company should have recommended dumping its stock from employees' retirement funds during Aquila's risky boom years. "It's just more efficient for the shareholders for us to settle than to go through a protracted legal case," Aquila spokesman Al Butkus said Wednesday. Aquila admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Butkus said. The company will record the $10.5 million charge in its second or third quarter, he said. The proposed settlement was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The suit was filed in late September 2004 in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City. A former employee sued the Kansas City-based company (NYSE: ILA) and its board of directors for promoting the company's stock as a "conservative" investment for participants in the company's retirement plan. The class included more than 7,000 current and former employees who put Aquila stock into the company's retirement plan from 1999 to May 5, 2004. A hearing on the settlement' s final approval has been scheduled on Nov. 13 before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
California Class-Action Lawsuit Filed against Microsoft
Class Action News |
2007/07/23 18:58
|
| Christine Moskowitz and Dan Wood found themselves the apparent victim of poorly crafted Xbox 360s, or so according to the complaint they filed in Federal Court in California. The class-action lawsuit they filed seeks $5 million in damages for Xbox 360 buyers affected by the console which apparently damages game discs, making them unstable and impossible to play. According to the Gamasutra post, Moskowitz lost Gears of War, Crackdown and Saints Row to the console’s scratching. Wood lost Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. After both of the parties contacted Microsoft and reported the problem, they were refused reimbursement or replacement discs. That’s when they decided to take legal action. Microsoft has acknowledged the obvious defects in its consoles with the red rings of death, but they have yet to acknowledge any defects in their console which scratches discs. Perhaps they will have to add on to the $1 billion they’ve already set aside to deal with the red rings. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
U.S. District Court Final Approval of Settlement of Class Action
Class Action News |
2007/07/23 14:00
|
Copernic Inc., (the "Company"), (NASDAQ: CNIC), formerly Mamma.com Inc., previously announced on March 8, 2007, that an order by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in the consolidated securities class action was filed preliminarily approving the proposed settlement of the class action. The court has approved the settlement following a hearing on July 9, 2007, at which time the Court heard from all parties before concluding that the settlement is fair and all procedural requisites were met. As a result, all claims asserted in the class actions against the Company and the individual officer defendants have been resolved, with the exception of three shareholders who have indicated they will exclude themselves from the settlement so as to preserve rights to maintain separate actions should they elect to do so. The amount paid into escrow, along with any interest earned, will be distributed as provided under the settlement to pay class members, plaintiffs' attorney fee, and the costs of claims administration. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sony Wants Class Action in Federal Courts
Class Action News |
2007/07/20 23:04
|
The Sony Electronics Corporation "removed" a class action lawsuit from California state court to federal district court on Tuesday. The lawsuit concerns defects to Sony's "Trinitron" televisions. Sony refuted the complaint but admitted that the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million. "Removal" is a legal term allowing a defendant to move a case from state court to federal court if it believes (and defends a challenge from the plaintiff) that federal court is the correct venue in which to try the suit. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 requires that all class actions involving damages exceeding $5 million be brought in federal district courts rather than state courts. In this case, Sony is arguing that because the damages sought will likely exceed $5 million dollars, federal court, rather than state court, is the proper venue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Midway Hit With Class Action Lawsuits
Class Action News |
2007/07/19 14:01
|
The law firm of Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler has given notice of a class action suit against Midway Games on behalf of all common stock purchasers. The complaint alleges that Midway violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and charges the company with failing to disclose that it was "grossly underperforming because it was experiencing operational difficulties." Said difficulties would, according to the suit, force Midway to secure debt financing, making the company's previous financial statements so much stuff and nonsense. Or, as the suit puts it, "lacking in any reasonable basis when made."A bevy of similar suits have been filed by the law firms Federman & Sherwood, Brower Piven, and Brian M. Felgoise, P.C. The suit filed by Vianale & Vianale is particularly juicy, alleging that Midway execs forgot to mention that they'd ditched their own stocks after learning that one of the company's prominent investors, Sumner Redstone, was pulling the plug all further investments with Midway. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|
Lawyer News RSS
