Class action over traffic cams in Ohio

Everyone who received a citation from traffic cameras in Steubenville, Ohio, may now “join in a class action lawsuit against the city and camera company.”

Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge David Henderson ruled a class-action lawsuit was the correct action and he also ruled that everyone who received a ticket could be a part of the class, an action the defense was hoping to avoid.Traffipax and the city are defending themselves against a lawsuit brought by attorney Gary Stern on behalf of his wife, April Stern. Arguments regarding the class-action status of the suit were presented before Henderson Monday.

Jury Clears Merck in Vioxx Federal Trial

The Associated Press (via Yahoo News) is reporting that Merck has been cleared in federal court:

NEW ORLEANS - A federal jury handed Merck & Co. a major victory when it cleared the drug maker of any responsibility in the death of a 53-year-old Florida man who had a heart attack after taking its once popular painkiller Vioxx for less than a month.

This was the second court victory for Merck, and the first in a federal court. The company had argued in this case that plaintiff lawyers never proved any link between Vioxx and the heart attack Richard “Dickey” Irvin suffered in 2001. Merck’s lawyers contended Irvin’s age, gender and diet all put him at risk for heart attacks.

Netflix may change settlement terms

According to the Associated Press, Netflix might revise the terms of its class-action settlement:

LOS GATOS, Calif. Los Gatos-based Netflix appears ready to ready to revise a proposed class-action settlement affecting millions of consumers.

The online DVD rental company yesterday indicated its willingness to drop the automatic renewal clause when its lawyers updated a San Francisco Superior Court judge on the settlement talks.

As it had been written, unless participating consumers canceled after the free month, the company planned to begin automatically charging for the service.

The Federal Trade Commission protested the settlement last month, arguing the automatic renewal feature smacked of a promotional gimmick designed to help Netflix attract more subscribers.

The original class-action complaint alleges Netflix exaggerated how quickly it delivers movies to customers.

Asbestos Bill Dies in Senate

The Senate bill that would have established a $140 billion fund to compensate victims of asbestos was defeated last night because of budgetary questions. The vote to override the budget objection failed on a 58 to 41 vote.

Majority leader Bill Frist had said he would not try to bring the bill back later in the year, but one Senator who missed the vote because hiw wife was sick said he would have voted yes, opening the door for possible passage later.

What this means for those who have been poisioned by asbestos is that the courts are still the only way to get restitution. It’s estimated that 10,000 people a year die from asbestos related illnesses, but about 60 percent of the money in asbestos court settlements goes to lawyers instead of victims.

Still, many liberal Democrats said the bill did not go far enough to compensate victims and would serve only as a way to bail out companies that should be held liable for the damage. Some Republicans hesitated to create what they thought would become another entitlement program.

(Source: New York Times

First obesity lawsuit over soda set for MA

The class action lawsuit, aimed at sugary soft drinks in schools, will be filed imminently in the northern US state, BeverageDaily.com has learnt.

Lawyers bringing the suit said they also planned to launch legal action in other states soon afterwards.

They will target bottlers of soft drinks and allege that these companies were negligent and violated consumer protection laws by establishing so-called ‘pouring rights’ supply contracts with schools.

School boards in the area have been informed of their potential involvement in proceedings, which will inevitably touch on the processes by which soft drinks firms sealed supply deals with schools.

“A similar bill has been introduced by Rhode Island and another is reportedly working its way through the state of Indiana.”

For the rest of the article by Chris Mercer, click here.

iPod Nano Class-Action Spreads

Gregg Keizer is reporting that the iPod Nano class action has grown:

Consumers in Mexico and the U.K. have joined the attack on Apple Computer’s iPod nano, charging that the company knew the portable player’s screen would easily scratch, lawyers representing those joining the class-action said Monday.

The filings follow an October lawsuit in the U.S., where a California man accused the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and electronics maker with knowing the nano was defective, and under normal use, would mar so that its screen would be unusable.

Steve Berman, the lead attorney of a Seattle-based firm which filed the U.S., U.K., and Mexican lawsuits, said the new actions were prompted by the large number of international requests for inclusion in the class-action. “It seems that wherever the nano is sold, problems with the defective design soon follow,” Berman said in a statement.

Judge dismisses class action suit against Florida Power & Light

According to NBC6 in Florida, “A judge dealt a setback Wednesday to electric customers who sued Florida Power & Light Co. over the widespread electricity outages after Hurricane Wilma.”

Broward County Circuit Judge Victor Tobin flatly rejected a portion of the lawsuit asking him to order FPL to hurricane proof its system, agreeing with the utility that state law grants that authority only to state Public Service Commission.

“But the judge said he would allow lawyers for the customers to file an amended lawsuit seeking damages if they can find additional proof of negligence.”

Here’s some background on the suit:

The lawsuit, initially filed in November on behalf of a Broward County man who runs a computer consulting business, seeks class-action status to represent all business and residential customers who lost power after Wilma. Its main contention is that FPL was negligent in preparing for hurricanes because its maintenance workforce was reduced in the years before the hurricane hit.

Nortel may settle 2 class actions

AP is reporting that Nortel Networks has reached a tentative settlement deal:

Telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. said Wednesday it has reached a tentative agreement to pay $2.47 billion in cash and stock to settle two shareholder class-action lawsuits over the company’s accounting scandal.

Nortel, which has been working to recover from the scandal that forced it to restate previous financial results and terminate several senior executives, said it wants avoid being tied up in prolonged litigation. Shareholders filed numerous lawsuits against Nortel for allegedly violating U.S. and Canadian securities laws after it issued revised financial expectations for the 2001 fiscal year.

Under the proposed settlement, Nortel said it would pay $575 million in cash, issue 628.7 million shares, or 14.5 percent of its current equity, and contribute half of any funds it recovers from suits against former senior officers whom the company fired in April 2004.

For the rest, click here.

CA Board of Education sued over exit exam

From the LA Times website:

A group of high school students and their parents filed a class-action lawsuit today against the State Board of Education on behalf of the tens of thousands of California students who have failed the exit exam required to graduate.

The suit seeks a court order allowing students in this year’s graduating class to earn their diploma regardless of whether they passed the math and English portions of the exam. Lawyers for the students plan to argue that underfunded schools have failed to adequately prepare minority and disadvantaged students for the exam and that the state board did not consider alternatives to the test, as required by law.

EFF sues AT&T over U.S. wiretapping program

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties organization based in San Fran, filed a class-action lawsuit today against AT&T for giving the U.S. National Security Agency “direct access to its databases of communications records, including whom their customers had phoned or sent e-mail to in the past” without court authorization.

The EFF alleges that this behavior on the part of AT&T violates several federal laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), he said. It also violates the first and fourth amendments, which protect U.S. citizens’ right to speak freely and not to be subject to unreasonable searches, Bankston said.

The ECPA was enacted in 1986 as a update to a 1968 law against wiretapping phones that set out provisions for gaining access to electronic communications. Among other things, it prohibits the U.S. government from requiring disclosure of electronic communications from a service provider without proper procedure.

The EFF is asking the court to award each AT&T customer involved in the suit about US$21,000 in damages, Bankston said.

For the entire article, click here.

Next Page »