If you bought, or your pet ate, pet food recalled after March 17, 2007, keep tabs on this $24 million settlement. This would be the pet food purposely cut with melamine, a (poisonous) byproduct of coal production, because it made the food look it was higher in protein and was cheaper than actual protein. The case is called Re: Pet Food Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1850, Civil Action No. 07-2867 (NLH). The final hearing is on October 14, 2008. The final date for submitting a claim form will be November 24, 2008. To see if you’re eligible, check the list of recalled products affected by the settlement (PDF). Food by Nestle-Purina, Royal Canin, Sierra Pet products, Chenangono Valley Pet Food, CJ Foods, Diamond Pet Food, Hill’s, American Nutrition, and Del Monte are on the list. Claim forms and more can be found at PetFoodSettlement.com.
class actions
Verizon Settles Early Termination Fee Lawsuit For $21 Million
Verizon has agreed to pay $21 million in a California class action lawsuit brought over early termination fees. The plaintiffs alleged that the fees violated California state laws. Next case: Sprint, which Californians are suing for the same reason.
Class Action Certified In Suit Against Citibank Over IPod Mini Promotion
When Citibank offered free 4 GB iPod Minis to new customers in 2004 and 2005, the product was retailing for $249, and Citibank indirectly acknowledged the value of the product by saying they’d substitute an mp3 player of “equal or greater value” if there were fulfillment problems. There weren’t, but by the time Citibank got around to passing out the iPod Mini, it had dropped in price and a new 6 GB version was now on the market for $249. Citibank chose to take the savings and distribute the now cheaper 4-gig versions. Now there’s a class action lawsuit against Citibank in California, where it seems all class actions are born. You can read the ruling for the certification here (PDF).
Massive TransUnion Settlement To Reveal Credit Scores
Did you have a credit card between Wednesday and 1987? Great! You’re part of a massive class action settlement with TransUnion. The credit reporting agency has agreed to fork out services worth over $100 to every cardholder as a way of saying “sorry for grossly violating federal privacy laws by selling your private data to businesses!”
The Sleep Number Difference Is Mold
A recent class action claims that Select Comfort Sleep Number beds are nothing more than overactive allergen mills. According to the suit, the bed’s faulty air chambers allow moisture to form under the mattress foam, providing a perfect breeding ground for mold spores.
Southwest Passengers Sue Over Missed Inspections
The AP is reporting that four Southwest passengers have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Southwest broke its contract with passengers by skipping important safety inspections… over a period of six years.
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Sorry, light cigarette smokers! The Second Circuit denied you class-action status in your suit against the tobacco companies. A district court judge had held that “virtually all Americans who had purchased cigarettes labeled as ‘light'” could be part of the class. The appellate court laughed at this broad certification, saying it would not “reduce the range of issues in dispute and promote judicial economy.” [Consumer Law & Policy Blog]
False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit: How To Get Your Airborne Refund
Yesterday we mentioned that the makers of Airborne had reached a tentative settlement over claims that it falsely represented its product as a “miracle cold buster,” by citing a study done by a research firm that ABCNews describes as “a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors.”
Walmart Hated "Vista Home Basic" And Thought It Should Not Exist
Computerworld has posted some excerpts from internal Microsoft emails that seem to imply that Walmart was not happy with “Vista Home Basic.”
Sears Settles "Stove Tipping" Class Action Lawsuit
Consumer groups, which were not involved in the lawsuit, say more than 100 people have been killed or injured from scalding and burns caused by hot foods and liquids spilling from the stove top, or from being crushed by the weight of a stove that has tipped over.
Class Action Targets Ticket Resellers
Remember RMG Technologies, the horrible little company that made five-year-olds cry by snatching up all the Hannah Montana tickets? Boaz Lissauer, a New Jesery plastic surgeon, recently sued them and other ticket resellers after paying $195 for nosebleed seats worth $63 to see the Police in Madison Square Garden. Lissauer is now asking a Pittsburgh court for class action status.
Tmobile Sued For Charging For Unwanted Text Messages
Tmobile was hit with a class action suit yesterday over its charging customers for unwanted text messages. Unscrupulous marketers can get your cellphone number, send you “premium” texts (for dating services, daily jokes, horoscopes, etc), and then have Tmobile bill you for them. Tmobile gets to keep a piece of the profit. Other cellphone companies let you disable text messages sent from the internet, where most text spam originates, or turn off text messages all together. Tmobile has refused to give customers this option.
$1 Billion ETF Class Action Against Verizon Approved
Somehow, an arbitrator has approved a massive $1 billion class action lawsuit against Verizon over their early termination fees. In letting the lawsuit proceed, the arbitrator wrote, “…millions of class members are entitled to adjudication of the central common questions of fact or law in this arbitration related to whether the $175 early termination fee imposed by respondents Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless … is based upon an unenforceable liquidated damage clause.” With cellphone companies switching to prorated ETFs and the rise in ETF-related lawsuits around the country, one wonders if we won’t see the death of ETFs in the next few years. By that time, cellphone companies will have figured out a new technique to keep people from leaving their contracts.
Class Actions: T-Mobile's Mandatory Arbitration Clause Ruled "Unconscionable"
A class action lawsuit can proceed in Washington after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled T-Mobile’s mandatory binding arbitration clause “unconscionable and unenforceable under Washington state law.”
U-Haul To Pay California Customers $50 For Failing To Honor A Guaranteed Reservation
U-Haul has settled a class-action suit by agreeing to pay customers $50 each time they fail to honor a confirmed reservation. The settlement comes after an appeals court agreed that the rental giant had “engaged in fraudulent practices.”
Sprint Will Allow Departing Customers To Unlock Their Phones
Sprint will relinquish unlock codes to departing customers in good standing as part of proposed class action settlement.The class was formed last year by California consumers who argued that the locked phones bound them to Sprint by making it more expensive to switch carriers. Sprint claimed that releasing the codes was unnecessary since the service contract clearly informed consumers that phones would only work on Sprint’s network.
Organic Principles, Regulations Ignored By Nation's Largest Organic Dairy
Consumers in twenty-seven states are suing Aurora Dairy, the nation’s largest organic dairy for selling milk that failed to meet basic organic standards. The suit is bolstered by findings from USDA inspectors, who found that between December 2003 and April 2007, Aurora: “labeled and represented milk as organically produced, when such milk was not produced and handled in accordance with the National Organic Program regulations.”
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal In Best Buy, Microsoft Racketeering Lawsuit
The Supreme Court has rejected Microsoft and Best Buy’s appeal in the MSN racketeering lawsuit, says the Wall Street Journal, thus “ending a bid by the two companies to stop a class-action lawsuit over a joint marketing campaign for MSN Internet Access service.”
