lawsuits

Judge Suing Dry Cleaner For $54 Million Cries In Court

Judge Suing Dry Cleaner For $54 Million Cries In Court

By 6.14.07

“Never before in recorded history have a group of defendants engaged in such misleading and unfair business practices,” Pearson said in his opening statement. You don’t get a lot of firsts in recorded history in D.C. Superior Court, though I should add that Marion Barry was in the building for his day in traffic court, and the pants suit easily outdrew the ex-mayor-for-life.

It gets better. One of Fancy Pants Pearson’s witnesses testified, comparing the Mom and Pop dry cleaner to Nazi Germany:

“At 89, I’m not ready to be chased,” she said. “But I was in World War II as a WAC, so I think I can take care of myself. Having lived in Germany and knowing the people who were victims of the Nazis, I thought he was going to beat me up. I thought of what Hitler had done to thousands of Jews.”

Wait. It gets better.

Best Buy Attorney Admits To Falsifying Emails In Racketeering Case

Best Buy Attorney Admits To Falsifying Emails In Racketeering Case

By 6.6.07

The racketeering case against Best Buy and Microsoft has taken an ugly turn. An attorney for Best Buy has admitted to altering emails that were to be used as evidence in the case. If you’re new to this class action lawsuit, Microsoft is accused of paying Best Buy to collect and use customer’s credit card information without their permission, signing them up for “free trials” of MSN that they didn’t want and or weren’t aware existed. When the free trial period was up, MSN began to bill them without their knowledge or consent. A former Best Buy employee wrote in to confess to pulling this sort of scheme on customers, if you’re looking for more detail on how it all worked.

IRS Investigates Jackson Hewitt Further

IRS Investigates Jackson Hewitt Further

By consumerist.com 6.5.07

The IRS investigation into Jackson Hewitt’s malpractices has deepened, NYT reports:

The lawsuits filed against the Sohail-owned or controlled franchises said that employees had been pushed to crank out returns in exchange for bribes, to accept scant or false documents, like W-2 forms, and to falsify taxpayer data to receive the earned-income tax credit, a federal assistance program.

And that’s why we like accountants. Not only will a good one help you find deductions, they also know enough to not do stupid stuff. It’s you, not the tax form preparer, on the hook if you file a fraudulent return. — BEN POPKEN

RIAA Accused Of Extortion and Conspiracy

RIAA Accused Of Extortion and Conspiracy

By 6.4.07

According to Recording Industry vs The People, a new RIAA case in Tampa, Florida has some interesting counterclaims by the consumer, including extortion, conspiracy, and deceptive trade practices.

In the case of UMG v. Del Cid, the defendant has filed the following five (5) counterclaims against the RIAA, under Florida, federal, and California law:

Should Automakers Be Required To Install Stability Control Systems?

Should Automakers Be Required To Install Stability Control Systems?

By consumeristcarey 6.4.07

A California lawsuit is accusing GM of negligence for not including a stability control system as a standard feature on the Chevrolet Suburban. The lawsuit stems from a 2002 rollover involving a Suburban that killed a woman and her stepdaughter. GM paid the stepdaughter’s family almost half a million dollars to settle out of court.

“The safety benefits of stability control have been known to auto manufacturers since the mid 1990s,” Avila said. “But they delayed implementing because they felt that safety was not marketable, so instead of installing on the SUVs that needed it most because of their rollover problem, they put it on luxury SUVs and cars as a performance item.”

The federal government will require the inclusion of stability control systems by 2012, but GM will offer the systems on all models by 2010. Should automakers be required to install stability control systems? Tell us in the comments. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

Like A Good Neighbor, State Farm Wants To Steal Your Money And Send You To Jail

Like A Good Neighbor, State Farm Wants To Steal Your Money And Send You To Jail

By consumerist.com 6.2.07

Greg writes:

Walmart Sued For Dangerous Vomit Puddle

Walmart Sued For Dangerous Vomit Puddle

By 5.31.07

June and James Medema of Blue Grass, Iowa have filed a lawsuit against Walmart after June slipped and fell in a puddle of vomit. The owner of the vomit has not been identified, nor does the lawsuit specifically state how Walmart was negligent.

USDA To Meatpackers: You Have No Right To Test For Deadly Diseases

USDA To Meatpackers: You Have No Right To Test For Deadly Diseases

By consumeristcarey 5.31.07

The USDA has vowed to safeguard your meat by fighting reckless meatpackers that want to test their dead cattle for mad cow disease. The USDA’s current policy of testing less than 1% of cows is clearly succeeding since none of you have caught Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of mad cow disease.

Class Action Filed Against XM Over Service Outage

Class Action Filed Against XM Over Service Outage

By consumerist.com 5.31.07

Credit For Outage, But You Gotta Call ‘Em…

Menu Foods Bullies Pet Owners To Settle Food Contamination Lawsuits

Menu Foods Bullies Pet Owners To Settle Food Contamination Lawsuits

By 5.29.07

Menu Foods’ latest strategy to become the most hated company since Halliburton has revealed itself in some interesting court papers.

MiracleGro Sues Sellers Of "Worm Poop" For Trademark Infringement

MiracleGro Sues Sellers Of "Worm Poop" For Trademark Infringement

By 5.24.07

TerraCycle a small, not yet profitable, organic fertilizer company based in lovely Trenton, New Jersey is being sued for trademark infringement and false advertising by the manufacturers of MiracleGro. The complaint stems from TerraCycle’s use of the colors yellow and green in their packaging. TerraCycle sells organic liquefied “worm poop” packaged in donated plastic soda bottles. Scott’s is a $2.7 billion dollar company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Burger King Sued For Taking Too Long To Drop Trans Fat

Burger King Sued For Taking Too Long To Drop Trans Fat

By 5.21.07

Anything KFC can do, Burger King should be able to do too, right? That’s what the Center For Science in the Public Interest is saying with a lawsuit against Burger King accusing the chain of dragging its heels on the trans fat issue.

Opt Out Of Comcast's Arbitration Agreement

Opt Out Of Comcast's Arbitration Agreement

By consumerist.com 5.21.07

If you’re a Comcast customer and in the event of a dispute, want to retain your right to sue Comcast in a court of law in a trial by judge or jury, a right afforded to you by the Constitution, rather than go by the decision of an arbitration company Comcast hires to mediate your dispute, fill out this opt-out form.

Bank Of America Sues ID Theft Victim For $23,312.04

Bank Of America Sues ID Theft Victim For $23,312.04

By 5.21.07

When you are the victim of fraud, you assume that your biggest friend will be your bank. They’re the ones that are supposed to help you put your life back together.

Walmart, Menu Foods, Del Monte Sued Over Pet Food Debacle

Walmart, Menu Foods, Del Monte Sued Over Pet Food Debacle

By 5.18.07

Schwinger alleges that his dog Sandy, an otherwise healthy 2-year-old, had to be euthanized as a result of eating Menu Foods’ Ol’ Roy Pet Food and Del Monte’s Canine Carry-out Bacon Bite, which were purchased at a Wal-Mart store in Cassville.

Bank of America Sued For Race Discrimination

Bank of America Sued For Race Discrimination

By 5.18.07

The plaintiffs, who seek class-action status, said Bank of America had disproportionately “steered” African-Americans bankers and brokers to largely minority or low-net-worth clients.

NY Sues Dell For So-Called "Award-Winning Service"

NY Sues Dell For So-Called "Award-Winning Service"

By consumerist.com 5.16.07

The computer manufacturer promises “award-winning service” available “24 hours a day, seven days a week,” but customers have to navigate a labyrinth to get any help. Dell also led customers to think they qualified for zero percent financing when very few people did, and some customers ended up paying 20% on the computer, the suit says.

Vonage Is Like, "We Are Totally Working Around Those Verizon Patents, OK?"

Vonage Is Like, "We Are Totally Working Around Those Verizon Patents, OK?"

By 5.16.07

We’re not sure if it’s hip to be on Team Vonage, but to hell with it. We are. At least, we’d like them to stay in business so they can worry about things like improving their crap customer service and not “Oh God, are we going to be able to feed Tiny Tim this Christmas?” We’re pro-capitalism like that. Anyhow, we’re pleased to announce that Vonage claims to be able to work around Verizon’s parents.

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