Did you file a claim in the recent class action settlement with EA that claimed they took advantage of an unfair marketplace for officially licensed football games? Watch your mailbox: tipsters report receiving their settlement checks in the mail. [More]
lawsuits
Lawmakers Aim To Stop Patent Trolls From Shaking Down Businesses For Using Basic Office Equipment
By 11.8.13
We’ve written before about the lowest level of patent troll, the kind that claims to have a patent on some widely used technology — like photocopying or scanning — and instead of targeting the companies that make products that allegedly violate those patents, they try to bully small businesses into paying thousands of dollars for the use of basic office equipment. [More]
Psychologist Deems Dad Unfit Parent For Not Feeding McDonald’s To 5-Yr-Old
By 11.7.13
You’d think that most parents would be applauded for not giving in to their kids’ demands for fast food, but a court-appointed psychologist in New York City (New York City?!?) has reportedly decided that one father is an unfit parent because he failed to feed his 5-year-old son’s craving for McDonald’s. [More]
Bank Of America Caught Refusing Mortgages To Women On Maternity Leave
By 11.5.13
Compared to $40 billion-plus in penalties, settlements, adjustments, and legal fees Bank of America has already racked up because it flat-out stinks at servicing home loans, a $45,000 payment split between two couples is a molecule in a drop of water in the bucket. But this story, in which BofA decided that pregnant homeowners were too big a risk for mortgage refinancing, is a good reminder of consumers’ rights under the law and of BofA’s general incompetence. [More]
Johnson & Johnson To Pay $2.2 Billion To Settle Deceptive Marketing Claims
By 11.4.13
For nearly a decade, various state and federal agencies have been looking into Johnson & Johnson’s marketing of the drugs Risperdal, Invega, Natrecor, and others, claiming the company was putting consumers at risk by paying kickbacks to doctors and pharmacists to suggest these drugs to patients and for pushing unapproved uses for these medications. Today, the Justice Dept. announced that J&J will pay out more than $2.2 billion to settle these claims. [More]
Philadelphia City Councilman Pleads With Sriracha Makers To Relocate Factory There
By 11.1.13
With the makers of Sriracha chili sauce feeling the heat from folks in Irwindale, CA, who say the Huy Fong factory is releasing a smelly, stinging odor into the neighborhood, one Philadelphia City Council member is calling on the company to relocate its saucy operation to the City of Brotherly Love. [More]
Porn Troll Lawyers Hit With Legal Fees For Bullying Defendant
By 10.31.13
Back in 2012, John Steele of Prenda Law — a firm that specializes in threatening to sue alleged porn file-sharers in order to force a settlement — was publicly bragging about his success, referring to himself in an interview as “the original copyright troll.” Recently, things haven’t gone so well, due in no small part to a disastrous attempt to sue Comcast and AT&T for phony claims of “hacking” one of their client’s websites. [More]
Hot Food Lovers Rejoice! Sriracha Factory Avoids Shutdown For Now
By 10.31.13
Days after a lawsuit by a California city put the future of the much-loved but hard-to-pronounce Sriracha chili sauce in jeopardy, the judge in the case has denied the plaintiff’s request to shut the plant down until it deals with odor issues. [More]
College Board & ACT Sued For Selling Personal Info Of Test-Takers
By 10.31.13
As anyone who took the ACT or SAT tests remembers, shortly after you get your scores, your mailbox is flooded with brochures, pamphlets, and catalogs from schools that want your tuition money. This isn’t a coincidence, as The College Board and ACT, Inc. — the companies behind these tests — sells test-takers’ information to colleges. But a new lawsuit alleges that this practice is a breach of contract as it’s done without the test-takers’ consent. [More]
Court To Hear Arguments In Case That Could Allow Companies To Litigate In Secret
By 10.30.13
Companies don’t ever want the public to know they’re involved in lawsuits. This is one of the many reasons that a growing number of businesses now force consumers to agree to mandatory arbitration for resolving disputes; it keeps the fight out of the public eye and often doesn’t allow for multiple consumers to join their complaints. Tomorrow, a federal appeals court will hear arguments regarding a case that ultimately could give companies the ability to litigate cases under a veil of secrecy. [More]
Water Company Sues Customer For Defamation Over Video Of Faucet Spouting Yellow Liquid
By 10.29.13
If you look up the definition of defamation in the dictionary — just kidding, we’re not going that route. But it does remain to be seen whether filming yellow water coming out of a faucet counts as defamation, as one utility company in Arizona claims. [More]
DirecTV, TWC, Charter Mulling Over Aereo-Like Services
By 10.28.13
While Aereo — the online service that transmits over-the-air network feeds to subscribers’ computers and mobile devices — is slugging it out with broadcasters in court, the operators of several cable and satellite services are reportedly looking to launch similar products of their own, setting the stage for an all-new TV war. [More]
Toyota To Pay At Least $3 Million In Sudden Acceleration Wrongful-Death Suit
By 10.25.13
Only two weeks after a California jury sided with Toyota in a wrongful-death lawsuit related to claims of sudden unintended acceleration in one of its vehicles, a jury in Oklahoma City has found that the car-maker is to blame for a separate incident that killed a woman in 2007. [More]
Sony Sues United Airlines For Polluting The In-Flight Air With Copyrighted Music
By 10.24.13
Have you been on a United Airlines flight and soothed your nerves by listening to a Britney Spears or Michael Jackson provided by the plane’s in-flight system? According to a new lawsuit from Sony Music, that music was being played without permission. [More]
Couple Sues Carnival Over “Deplorable Conditions” On Poop Cruise They Weren’t Even On
By 10.24.13
A lawyer in Texas has had to admit that he goofed — which is putting it lightly — when he recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a couple, claiming they had been aboard the ill-fated Carnival Triumph cruise (AKA the “Poop Cruise”) that got stranded out to sea after an engine fire in February. Thing is, that couple not only hadn’t been on the ship, they were on the record with local media about not being on the ship. [More]
Bank Of America Found Liable For Countrywide’s “Hustle” Scam
By 10.23.13 — Updated: 7.31.14
A federal jury has found Bank of America (and a current JPMorgan executive) liable for a Countrywide Financial program that knowingly sold piles of cruddy home loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, meaning the bank could face nearly $850 million more in penalties added to the $40 billion-plus court tab it has tallied since acquiring the cratering mortgage-lender in 2008. [More]
Mayors Beg DOJ To Pretty Please Let US Airways/American Airlines Merger Happen
By 10.23.13
While US Airways and American Airlines have had to indefinitely postpone their nuptials because the Justice Dept. decided the union might result in problems for consumers and the airline industry, the mayors of those cities that would be most positively affected by the merger are now pleading with Attorney General Eric Holder to see that these two companies obviously love each other and should be allowed to be together. [More]
Aaron’s Agrees To Stop Snooping On Customers Via Rented Computers
By 10.23.13
In Sept. 2012, Aaron’s was one of several rent-to-own retailers caught using software to illegally snoop on customers who rented computers. Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Aaron’s has agreed to settle these charges and make sure franchisees cease the spying. [More]
