Microsoft feels it was tricked out of $750,000 in online ad dollars by three Vancouver residents, so it’s suing their pants off and trying to set a new precedent for throwing legal heft around in the digital advertising world.
lawsuits
White Castle Refuses To Serve Electric Scooter Rider Via Drive-Through
By 6.15.09
A White Castle in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a 24-hour establishment, but it locks its dining room doors at 11 pm. Unfortunately, its drive-through service is restricted to customers in cars, so the employees refused to serve a 37-year-old woman who pulled up on an electric mobility scooter. Now she says she’s madder than fish grease, which is pretty mad, and she wants to sue them for discriminating against customers who can’t drive.
Meet The People Behind The Car Warranty Robocallers
By 6.15.09
We know how much you just loooove those car warranty robocallers, so we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to introduce you to the folks the FTC says is behind the robot army.
Man Sues Match.com For Teasing Him With Non-Active Profiles
By 6.11.09
The Daily News says that one Brooklyn man is fed up with writing emails to potential dates on Match.com and never getting a response. It’s not that he has a “bad personality” — it’s that the profiles are of people who have canceled.
The Rockstar Energy Drink/Michael Savage Connection
By 6.8.09
Look, another update! I think I misinterpreted the point of the legal threats yesterday when I wrote this post. As Savage listeners point out in the comments below, Michael Savage has never hidden the fact that his son is the CEO of Rockstar Energy Drink. The legal threats seem to be against people who are claiming that Michael Savage is directly involved in the company, which he is not. And no, there’s no behind-the-scenes shenanigans at work here making me post this; I just feel I need to clarify it after reading the comments.
Affidavits On How Wells Fargo Gave "Ghetto Loans" To "Mud People"
By 6.8.09
Here’s the official court filing (PDF) so you can get the full details on how Wells Fargo pushed or even fraudulently placed black borrowers into sub-prime loans, even when those borrowers could afford prime loans, along with an office environment where employees threw around racist slurs, calling black borrowers “mud people” and their mortgages “ghetto loans.” The official statements referenced in the NYT article are in this document in full. The affidavits begin on page 48. Two screenshots inside…
Loan Officers Detail Wells Fargo's Blatantly Racist Subprime Loans
By 6.7.09
UPDATE: Read the affidavits here.
Bank of America Wins Right To Seize Social Security Benefits To Pay Overdraft Fees
By 6.5.09
The California Supreme Court has effectively reversed a 2004 San Francisco trial court decision that ordered BofA to pay $284.4 million in damages to more than 1.1 million customers. The California Supreme Court ruled that banks can tap Social Security benefits in bank accounts to cover bounced-check fees, a practice consumer advocates say is abusive because Federal law prohibits Social Security benefits from being seized to pay a debt. California law apparently doesn’t consider overdraft fees to be debt, so the fee party will be allowed to rock on indefinitely.
SEC: Countrywide CEO Called Mortgages "Toxic" Three Freaking Years Ago
By 6.5.09
Today, as expected, is a crappy day for former Countrywide CEO and co-founder Angelo “Orangey Orangerton” Mozilo. The SEC is suing Mr. Mozilo along with several of his colleagues, claiming that they profited from stock sales while hiding information from investors.
Lawsuit: Lowe's Cabinet Installers Drill Into Water Lines Three Times
By 6.5.09
Here’s an interesting little lawsuit from West Virginia. A customer is suing Lowe’s, claiming that installers contracted by the hardware giant drilled into his water lines. Not once. Not twice. Three times.
Alert: Crunchberries Are Not Real Berries
By 6.4.09
Late last month, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she’d been buying Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries cereal for four years under the assumption that crunchberries are a real berry. “The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said ‘berries’ were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls.”
Debt Collectors Will Stop Calling If You Sue Them
By 5.30.09 — Updated: 11.1.12
“Litigant Alert” from WebRecon promises to help debt collection companies ferret out “overly-litigious debtors” with “a history of suing collection agencies.” It’s basically a Do Not Call list of troublemakers who had the nerve to fight aggressive collection practices with the law. Debt collectors are apparently willing to pay $1,595 to figure out who they should leave alone.
If You Used Your Credit Card At Olive Garden They Might Owe You Some Dough. Or At Least Some Bruschetta
By 5.26.09
If you paid with plastic at Olive Garden in 2006-2007 then they might just owe you a $9 appetizer. The Italian eatery was recently sued in a class-action lawsuit stemming from a 2006 change to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which made it illegal to print more than the last five digits of a customer’s credit card number on a receipt. Olive Garden never stopped its practice of printing the last six digits, and could soon be issuing $9 “apology” vouchers to every customer affected.
Comcast Will Probably Charge Customers Extra For Red Zone
By 5.25.09
Last week’s word that Comcast and the NFL finally put their blood feud behind them to make the elusive NFL Network available on the basic digital tier was nice and all, but the out-of-nowhere bonus that the Comcast would also snag Red Zone Channel, which lets you keep tabs on all the games simultaneously, was a phenomenal revelation.
Federal Court: Cigarette Makers Are Liars And "Low-Tar," "Light" Cigarettes Are Dangerous
By 5.23.09
Cigarette companies have conspired for decades to defraud and mislead the public about the health risks of “light” and “low-tar” cigarettes, a federal appeals court said yesterday. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that a federal district judge was right to ban the terms from appearing on cigarette packages. Under the ruling, cigarette companies may soon be required to issue a public mea culpa admitting that they were killing people when they said cigarettes were safe and non-addictive.
Recent Class Action Lawsuits: Are You Eligible?
By 5.22.09
We’ve heard about quite a few recent class-action settlements that you just might be eligible for, as well as cute little baby suits still looking for claimants. Products included: energy drinks, name-brand prescription drugs, and zombie microwaves.
Hot Dog War: Ball Park Franks Sues Oscar Mayer Over Taste Test Claims
By 5.21.09
Sara Lee, maker of Ball Park Franks, has sued Kraft, manufacturer of Oscar Mayer hot dogs over advertising that claimed that the Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks beat Ball Park and ConAgra Foods’ Hebrew National hot dogs in a national taste test. Turns out, it wasn’t that simple.
