During the late 1990s Internet boom, large investment Wall Street banks allegedly conspired to drive up prices of initial public offering prices of technology companies.
In 2001, several class action lawsuits were filed on grounds of alleged securities fraud. Citing lawyers involved in the case, The New York Times reported that the investment banks faced the prospect of making payments of billions of dollars to settle the accusations -- if they chose not to risk a trial -- involving potentially millions of investors.
The IPO lawsuit involved more than 300 individual investors, 309 issuers and 55 underwriters – that is nearly all firms on Wall Street and described by many as the largest consolidated securities class-action case ever.
Cigna Corp, allegedly, had hidden major problems with a new computer system it installed to handle claims. Next, stock shares plunged when it bungled for one of the largest publicly owned providers of health care, disability, life and accident insurance benefits in the United States and selected markets around the world.
The fingers pointed to four of the company's senior executives accused of making materially false and misleading statements to investors to drive up the stock price and concealing material adverse information.
On December 8, Cigna Corp. agreed to pay $93 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System. Payments from the settlement will benefit those who purchased Cigna stock from Nov. 2, 2001, through Oct. 24, 2002.
Kraft makes and markets "guacamole" dip products with avocado as the main ingredient. Then tomatoes, onions, citrus juice and spices are blended to make a delicious partner for crispy tacos.
But not a hint of avocado, the consumers are complaining, shelving their taco chips, for now. A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status on behalf of all purchasers of a certain so-labeled “guacamole.” The lawsuit centers on alleged consumer fraud or deceptive advertising as “guacamole” products manufactured by Kraft -- which is also in the business of selling cigarettes.
Oprah is well loved -- with loyal subscriptions to the TV host’s eponymous O Magazine as an attestation. But something got in the way and now complaints are desperately arranged. Raise that to a lawsuit to merit O’s attention.
Allegedly, O Magazine and Hearst Magazine subscribers often receive letters informing them their subscription payments are past due. The notices come with threats that unpaid accounts will affect credit standings. "I was double billed," claims one disgruntled subscriber.
The lawsuit argues that the publisher is allegedly employing a nationwide scam to trick, deceive and scare subscribers into paying money they do not owe, when in fact subscriptions are already paid for in full.
We were all privy to the goings on over Martha Stewart's fence.
"She may have done the time, but Martha Stewart is still paying for the crime," says E! Online. Never mind, at $30 million scheduled payout, looks like the homemaking maven is not putting any shoddy renovation.
The six-figure settles a class-action complaint, which are consolidated lawsuits that were filed in 2002, in the wake of Stewart’s insider-trading scandal that stemmed from her sale of 4,000 shares of ImClone stock in December 2001 – one day before the biotech company went public with stock-damaging news that the Food and Drug Administration publicly rejected Erbitux, a new cancer drug created by ImClone. (By the way, the feds ultimately approved the drug in 2004.)
In January 2006, says one of the eight plaintiffs in the class suit filed against IBM:
"I think it is going to be a very large case in terms of the number of people, in terms of the number of hours, and eventually a very large settlement of dollars."
And it turned out just that way. On November 22, IBM said it agreed to pay $65 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it unlawfully withheld overtime pay from some employees.
IBM has set aside a provision for the settlement in the third quarter of this year. However, the settlement has no attachment of admittance for wrongdoing or liability.
The rejoinder of Mega Brands president and CEO Marc Bertrand:
"As an organization that is fully committed to providing creative and safe play experiences for children and families, we deeply regret these events and have taken proactive measures to ensure the safety of our products. We are pleased to put this behind us and avoid the uncertainty and distraction of litigation, allowing us to focus all of our attention on growing our business."
The Attorney to the plaintiffs, involving 14 families, has this response:
"The families and myself are very happy with the results. They’ve been treated fairly. I think Mega Brands stepped up and did the right thing, acted responsibly, and took care of the problem."
Airline practices like fixing prices on airfreight and cargo is being scrutinized anew. This time a class action lawsuit has been filed in BC Supreme Court alleging dozens of worldwide airlines took part in cartel by agreeing to fix prices, signaled increases in surcharges and took active steps to conceal the unlawful conspiracy from customers.
No news has been released yet on the identity of the subject airlines.
The lawsuit also claimed that the airlines agreed to act in concert to one another in demanding fuel and security surcharges.
The alleged ‘cartel’ is an organization of hub carriers that dominate hub markets, as demonstrated by market share.
With the French consumer associations pushing for the change, class action lawsuits will soon be introduced into France's legal system. A legislation was drafted by French Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industry Thierry Breton during a weekly cabinet meeting November 8.
Currently, each claimant must be named individually in a lawsuit wherein the French consumers can be collectively represented by a legitimate association.
This time around, class actions still will only be brought by national consumer associations. If court decides to hear the initial claim, additional claimants can be added to the suit. The French version of class actions will be limited to goods or services valued less than 2000 euros ($2,550). Notably, the bill would exclude health-related issues.
A class action lawsuit was filed October 31 in Putnam Circuit Court on behalf of all West Virginia residents against the former Putnam General Hospital -- now officially CAMC Teays Valley Hospital, for medical malpractice and professional negligence by failing to properly follow disinfection procedures relative to its endoscopic instruments.
The complaint, calling the conduct negligent, careless and reckless, was based on a November 1, 2004 letter from the hospital saying it had committed medical malpractice and/or professional negligence involving patients who underwent endoscopic procedures at the hospital between March 1, 2003, and September 30, 2004.