First payouts distributed in WWII ‘Gold Train’ case

USA Today is reporting that “the first payouts have been distributed from a $25 million settlement with Holocaust survivors who lost jewelry, artwork and other treasures when a Nazi “Gold Train” was commandeered by the U.S. Army during World War II.”

The U.S. government settled the class-action lawsuit in September, and lawyers involved in the case said Monday that about $4 million had so far been paid.

Rather than trying to directly compensate people whose items were stolen, the deal calls for distributing money through social service agencies to needy Hungarian survivors around the world.

The train was loaded with gold, jewels, silver, china, 3,000 Oriental rugs and 1,200 paintings that had been stolen from Hungarian Jews by the Nazis.

It was captured by U.S. soldiers from pro-Nazi Hungarian forces in May 1945. A U.S. investigation found in 1999 that some Army soldiers failed to return items initially “requisitioned” from the train.

MN Schools Get $55M From Microsoft Settlement

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced today that St. Paul schools will receive more than $55 million in vouchers to purchase new computers and computer software, thanks to a recent Microsoft settlement.

In Minnesota, 467 school district and charter schools will receive vouchers, which range in amounts from a few hundred dollars to $6.3 million.

The amount each school gets is based upon the school’s percentage of the state’s total free and reduced price lunch eligible students.

Microsoft will pay $174.5 million settlement from a class action lawsuit that alleged Minnesotans were overcharged on certain products. Under terms of the settlement, any consumer or business that purchased certain Microsoft products for use in Minnesota was eligible to receive vouchers to purchase new computer hardware or software.

After the deadline for the public passed, half the value of the unclaimed vouchers went to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Vouchers can be redeemed through January 2012.

Minnesota Cigarette Tax Challenged

Here’s something new — a suit *for* the smokers. TwinCities.com reports that three smokers have filed a suit over Minnesota’s 75-cent-per-pack fee:

Three smokers who pay the state’s 75-cent-per-pack “health impact fee” that a judge has declared illegal want their money back.

Two Minneapolis law firms filed the lawsuit Monday on behalf of the three individuals and are seeking class-action status on behalf of all the state’s smokers.

Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch ruled Dec. 20 that the fee violated a multibillion-dollar 1998 settlement between the state and the tobacco industry. His ruling means the state may have to repay about $100 million that the state collected between August and December. The state is appealing that ruling.

The new lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, says ordinary smokers “ultimately bore the economic burden” of the fee because tobacco distributors passed on the extra cost on to consumers, so they should get any refund. It says the 14 defendants, including tobacco manufacturers and wholesalers, aren’t entitled to keep the potential windfall.

The plaintiffs so far are a Stillwater woman and men from Maple Grove and St. Paul.

Attorney Marshall Tanick said they have precedent on their side. There are cases in which government-imposed revenue sources have been ruled invalid or illegal, he said. In those cases, such as utility rates, courts have ordered the relief be given to those who paid the unlawful fee or tax, he said. His firm, Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen, joined with the firm of Heins Mills & Olson in filing the lawsuit.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear the state’s appeal of Fetsch’s ruling in April. In the meantime, the state is still collecting about $20 million a month but is required to bank the money while the appeal is pending.

Wal-Mart class action in Philly

Betsey Piette of Workers World reports on the certification of another class action suit against Wal-Mart:

No matter how they try to sell it, Wal-Mart’s image just sustained another well deserved blow on Jan. 16 when a Pennsylvania state court judge certified a class-action suit against the billion-dollar chain store for failing to give meal and rest breaks to its workers or to compensate them for time worked through those breaks.

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark Bernstein granted the class-action treatment of the wage-and-hour claims. The Pennsylvania suit could cover nearly 150,000 current and former employees.

The proof was in the retail giant’s computerized records that showed that breaks were skipped on a routine basis and there was no compensation when those breaks were missed. Instead of “slashing prices,” Wal-Mart was slashing workers’ wages—already almost a $1 an hour lower than the industry average.

Rocky Flats Class Action Wrapping Up

Here’s the start of an AP article published at The Denver Channel:

After hearing months of testimony, a federal court jury was expected to soon begin deliberating whether the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant contaminated neighboring land with plutonium as claimed by thousands of residents.

Residents filed a class-action lawsuit against Rockwell International Corp. and Dow Chemical Co., which operated the plant at separate times for the federal government. The suit claims contamination from the plant, which shut down in 1989, drastically reduced property values for about 13,000 landowners.

Defense attorneys have said damages could reach $500 million. The government would cover the damages and the companies’ legal bills because they were operating as contractors.

Rocky Flats, just west of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads. It was closed because of safety problems and the end of the Cold War. Dow operated the plant from the 1950s until 1975; Rockwell ran it from 1975 until the plant was shut down.

For the rest, click here. For more information, try the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board.

Protests Put Netflix Settlement On Hold

“A proposed class-action settlement involving Netflix customers may be rewritten in response to complaints that the agreement does little for consumers while rewarding the company and the lawyers who filed the suit,” writes Caroline E. Mayer of the Washington Post.

A hearing over the $4 million settlement had been scheduled in California Superior Court today but was postponed for a month.

Plaintiff attorneys, who were slated to receive $2.5 million in the proposed settlement, said the delay enables both sides to review more than 50 objections, including one by the Federal Trade Commission and another by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a national public-interest law firm. Netflix Inc. declined to comment on the delay.

In the past few years, both the FTC and the trial lawyers group have been actively protesting class-action settlements that bring little value to consumers, usually coupons with little monetary value, but pay off handsomely for lawyers.

For more, check out the Washington Post.

Attorney-manned Help Desk for Civil Litigants

Though this isn’t directly related to class actions, it’s definitely useful advice that I’m sure someone out there (especially someone living in Chicago!) could use:

CHICAGO - Mountains of paperwork and confusing legal terms can be intimidating to the thousands of people who forgo a lawyer and represent themselves in court. But a federal court here is staffing a new help desk with an attorney to assist people involved in civil cases, and experts say it is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

The attorney offers free advice on how to file motions and interpret documents, and tells people if a lawsuit would be a waste of time.

“These are lay people and so they are walking into a legal world that is strange and alien to them,” said Charles P. Kocoras, chief federal judge for the Northern District of Illinois. “This desk will put people on the right track at the beginning of a case where there is often a lot of lost time.”

Kocoras said the help desk, which opened Thursday, will help unburden the judicial system by eliminating unnecessary cases. It also allows people to access proper legal forms.

“It helps the judges because we have to sift through these pleadings and see if they’re comprehendible to us,” he said. “It eliminates a lot of stuff that we have to deal with at some point.”

In 2004, people without attorneys, excluding prisoners, filed 1,026 civil cases in the Northern District of Illinois, up from 913 cases the previous year, said Sheldon H. Roodman, executive director of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.

“The cost of legal services is very high, and getting higher, so these cases are springing up in court systems throughout America,” Roodman said.

Similar help desks have been effective in state, circuit and U.S. bankruptcy courts around the country to help low-income clients or those who simply choose not to hire an attorney, said Dick Carelli, spokesman for the federal courts’ administrative office. But the Chicago help desk is believed to be the first to have a real attorney giving advice, he said.

Not everyone thinks the program cuts to the core of the problem.

Gilda Klein, 53, of Chicago, represented herself in a lawsuit she filed in 2001 against the U.S. Postal Service, claiming she was unjustly fired. She said federal agencies that investigated her complaints created obstacles even before she could file the suit, which was dismissed in 2002.

“The whole process of filing complaints even before you get to court was too bureaucratic,” she said. “People get lost in the process even before they get to court.”

The help desk was the brainchild of the U.S. District Court and the Chicago Bar Foundation. The Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Chicago Bar Association, supplied more than $100,000 for the project.

“A lot of people, not having anywhere else to turn, come to court and file something that may not have any merit,” said Bob Glaves, executive director of the Chicago Bar Foundation. “If they had the opportunity to speak to an attorney beforehand, they might understand that court isn’t their best bet. On the flip side, if a person hasn’t been able to articulate his case, the desk will be able to help those with valid cases.”

“Help Desk Offers Advice to Civil Litigants” was penned by AP writer Megan Reichgott.

Chalk’s Ocean Airways sued after fatal crash

A class action suit has been filed against Chalk’s:

MIAMI — Family members of the 20 people who died on a Chalk’s seaplane crash off Miami Beach are filing a class action lawsuit against the airline.

Early investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board showed that the stress fractures in the right wing of the plane might have led to the crash. NTSB investigators said the final report on the cause of the crash is still months away.

The 47-year-old plane was bound for Bimini, Bahamas, when it crashed into Government Cut just after takeoff.

The class action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that Chalk’s Ocean Airways failed to properly maintain the seaplane.

For more information, click here.

Sempra Energy to Pay $377 Million

Sempra Energy will pay $377 million to settle the energy crisis-related class action suit:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Sempra Energy said on Wednesday it will pay $377 million in cash to settle a class-action lawsuit related to the California and Western energy crisis of 2000-2001.

The energy holding company, which operates San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company, said the after-tax cost of the settlement is $350 million, including a $100 million charge recorded in the latest fourth quarter.

The company said earnings in future years won’t be materially hurt by the settlement.

Under the terms of the settlement, Sempra Energy denied any wrongdoing.

Sempra also said it expects to earn $3.60 per share for 2005, the upper end of its previous guidance range of $3.40 to $3.60 per share, due to improved performance in the company’s commodities business. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect the company to earn, on average, $3.61 per share for 2005.

The class-action lawsuit is separate from another case filed by the California attorney general, which alleged Sempra illegally manipulated natural gas prices during the energy crisis from 2000 to 2001.

The settlement is subject to approval by the San Diego Superior Court, the Nevada District Court for Clark County, the City of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach, Calif.

Shares of Sempra, which have traded between $35.53 and $47.86 over the last year, closed down by 60 cents at $45.54 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Did H&R Block get you to sign away your class-action rights?

Attorneys are alleging that H&R Block has convinced some customers to sign away their class-action rights, according to David Twiddy of the Associated Press:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tax preparer H&R Block Inc. has tried to encourage thousands of customers to unwittingly sign away their right to participate in a class-action lawsuit over the company’s use of refund anticipation loans, plaintiffs’ attorneys said this week.

In documents filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois, the lawyers said H&R Block has included language in more recent applications for the refund loans to say customers agree to resolve all disagreements in arbitration, as opposed to court.

They added that the applications don’t inform customers of the class-action lawsuit, although some applications mention other lawsuits that the company recently settled.

In particular, the attorneys are concerned about customers who first accepted refund anticipation loans between 1987 and 1996 - the period the class covers - but who obtained another loan in 2000, 2001, 2002 or 2005.

For the rest of the article, click the above link.

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