A special section of our site dedicated to class actions, collective actions, and impact litigation. Featuring selected court cases, news stories, firms, case websites, and cy pres awards.
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In the Courts
In the News Featured Firms Case Websites Cy Pres Awards |
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In the Courts
Springman v. AIG Mktg.
7th Circuit Court of Appeals | Decision Date: April 15, 2008
In a class action suit against insurers alleging that defendants violated fraud and consumer protection law by underpaying accident insurance claims submitted by the plaintiff and the members of his class, denial of the plaintiff's motion to remand to state court is affirmed where the substitution of a defendant did not relate back to the original suit since the plaintiff's delay in moving for substitution prevented the new defendant from knowing that, but for mistake, the action should originally have been brought against it. Thus, the filing date of the lawsuit for removal purposes under the Class Action Fairness Act was the date of substitution, which placed the action within the Act's effective date and allowed for removal to federal court. Read the decision.
Jonites v. Exelon Corp.
7th Circuit Court of Appeals | Decision Date: April 3, 2008
In a suit alleging that defendant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by the way it implemented its on-call program and also by forcing plaintiffs to work during their lunch break without pay, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the on-call requirements did not restrict the plaintiff' activities such that the wait time for on-call assignments constituted work time; and 2) the lunch issue was better suited for determination by an arbitrator. Read the decision.
In the News
Merrill Discrimination Suit Moves Forward After Failed Settlement Talks
Balestriere PLLC Files Class Action Complaint Against NASD
On Wall Street, a Question of Bias
Davis v. Kraft Foods Memorandum & Order
Galeno v. Blockbuster, Inc.
Denial of motion to remand a class action -- involving disgruntled customers of Blockbuster alleging that the "no late fee" program is a decptive forced sale scheme -- to state court is vacated as the district court made no findings and offered no explanation as to how it calculated the amount in controversy here to be more than $5 million, the jurisdictional amount. [Sign in required.] Read the full story.
Order Granting Class Certification
2nd bias suit filed vs. Albertsons
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a second lawsuit against the Albertsons LLC grocery chain for racial bias at its Aurora, CO distribution center. In a suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Colorado, the EEOC claims Albertsons intentionally retaliated against employees who opposed discriminatory practices. Read the full story.
$33 million bias suit payout
Citigroup Inc. will pay $33 million to settle a lawsuit filed by three female brokers in Santa Rosa who charged its Smith Barney unit denied equal opportunities for women. As many as 2,500 current and former Smith Barney female brokers can share in the class-action settlement, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Read the full story.
Lawsuit says HSBC violated labor laws
A former California branch employee of HSBC Bank USA is suing the British-owned bank for violating federal and California labor laws by failing to properly pay overtime to sales staff and not compensating workers in that state for missing lunch breaks. Read the full story.
American Airline pilots win leave time lawsuit
American Airlines has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought by more than 350 pilots who said they were unfairly penalized by being barred from accruing vacation time and sick days while on military leave, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Read the full story.
McCormick & Schmick's faces discrimination suit in Baltimore
The federal government accused McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants in court Monday of discriminating for a decade against African American workers and applicants in its Baltimore restaurants. Earlier this month, the Portland-based chain agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a similar case in San Francisco. Read the full story.
Featured Firms
Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan: Challenging Corporate Power and Tips Abuse
LawyersandSettlements' interview with Shannon Liss-Riordan, a partner in the labor, employment, and class action law firm of Pyle, Rome, Lichten, Ehrenberg & Liss-Riordan, P.C. was delayed a day. That's because Liss-Riordan had to be in court for the verdict in a Massachusetts tips case taken against American Airlines. It was the first thing she mentioned when we reached her the next morning, so we took it from there. Visit our website at www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/10398/shannon-liss-riordan.html.
Attorney Laura L. Ho on a Large-scale California Class Action
Laura L. Ho is a partner in Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen and Dardarian (GDBBD), a California firm practicing in a broad range of public interest class actions. A 1991 graduate of the University of Washington, Ho received a JD from the Yale University School of Law in 1994. Recently, as co-lead counsel in a California state class action against Starbucks, she gained an award of over $105 million in damages for unpaid tips for over 120,000 past and present baristas. Visit our website at www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/10336/laura-ho-interview.html.
Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a sixty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Beverly Hills and Nashville. Lieff Cabraser has a comprehensive and diverse practice that is unique among law firms that represent only plaintiffs. Our cases typically involve dangerous or defective products, securities and investment fraud, consumer fraud and false advertising, employment discrimination and unlawful employment practices, aviation disasters, environmental damage and toxic exposures, antitrust and ERISA violations and the abuse of human and civil rights. Visit our website at www.lieffcabraser.com.
Nichols, Kaster and Anderson
Nichols Kaster and Anderson, PLLP (NKA) is a firm of passionate, talented, and experienced attorneys. As "The voice for employees," NKA focuses on representing employees whose rights have been violated by their employers. From class action overtime and employment discrimination claims, to ERISA and sexual harassment claims, NKA and its lawyers are dedicated to serving the best interests of the client in all cases. Visit our website at www.nka.com.
Case Websites
Race Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit Against McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/mccormickcomplaints.htm
On May 11, 2006, Plaintiffs Juanita Wynne, the only African-American server at Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California, and Dante Byrd, a qualified African-American job applicant who was denied a position, filed a nationwide race discrimination class action lawsuit against McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants.
Gender Lawsuit Against Smith Barney
http://www.genderlawsuitagainstsmithbarney.com/
We are pleased to announce that, after over three years of hard-fought litigation, the parties have reached a proposed settlement in our gender discrimination case against Smith Barney, Amochaev, et al. v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. d/b/a Smith Barney, Case No. C- 05-1298 PJH.
Fourth Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report
The fourth Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report by national law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP analyzes the leading class action and collective action decisions of 2007 involving claims against employers. The class action rulings stem from high-stakes lawsuits filed in federal courts under Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and in state courts under a host of other laws applicable to workplace issues.
Cy Pres Awards
Kosen v. American Express Financial Advisors (Miller-O’Brien, LLP; Sprenger & Lang, PLLC)
In this gender discrimination class action suit, female financial advisors alleged that male advisors received preferential treatment in assignments and promotions. After distribution of the settlement fund, the unclaimed amount of $191,000 was distributed to three charities, including Workplace Fairness, to further employment opportunities for women and to protect their rights in the workplace.
FLSA Overtime Case (Nichols, Kastor & Anderson)
In an FLSA overtime collective action which settled for $6 million, a separate $25,000 contingent fund was created to settle cases not part of the collective action. The terms of the contingent fund settlement allowed the leftover funds to be granted to a 501(c)(3) organization of the plaintiff counsel's choosing. As a result, $20,000 was donated to Workplace Fairness at the conclusion of the case, as directed by Nichols, Kaster and Anderson.
