Articles Posted in Class-Action

Judge Certifies Nationwide Class in Lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch
A nationwide class has been certified in a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch for allegedly voiding gift cards issued to customers as part of a 2009 winter holiday promotion despite the fact that the gift cards stated “No Expiration Date.” Class counsel, DiTommaso Lubin, PC and Schad, Diamond & Shedden, P.C., has created a website http://www.abercrombieclassaction.com where potential class members can obtain more information and review important documents and dates.

A nationwide class has been certified in a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch for allegedly voiding gift cards issued to customers as part of a 2009 winter holiday promotion despite the fact that the gift cards stated “No Expiration Date.”
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) May 24, 2013
A judge in the Northern District of Illinois has certified a nationwide class in a class action lawsuit filed against Abercrombie & Fitch (case no.10-cv-04866). The lawsuit, filed by Tiffany Boundas through her attorneys DiTommaso Lubin, PC and Schad, Diamond & Shedden, P.C., alleges that Abercrombie and abercrombie kids issued $25 gift cards to customers as part of a 2009 in-store winter holiday promotion. Abercrombie then voided the gift cards a couple months later despite language on the cards that stated “No Expiration Date.” By doing so, the lawsuit contends, Abercrombie breached its contracts with customers. The lawsuit seeks a payment of the value of the gift cards that customers could not redeem as a result of Abercrombie’s actions. Abercrombie contends that more than $5 million is at issue in this lawsuit.

Copies of the Complaint, the judge’s opinion certifying the class, and the Class Notice can be obtained by going to http://www.abercrombieclassaction.com.

The judge has set a July 20, 2013 deadline for class members to exclude themselves from the class. For more information and to learn other important dates in this case, please visit http://www.abercrombieclassaction.com.

DiTommaso Lubin, PC is a law firm committed to fighting for consumer’s rights. With over two and a half decades of experience litigating class action lawsuits across the nation, the attorneys at DiTommaso Lubin, PC have recovered millions of dollars for consumers. DiTommaso Lubin, PC has offices in downtown Chicago and throughout the Chicagoland area. To learn more about DiTommaso Lubin, PC or to contact one of its attorneys please visit https://www.chicagobusinesslawfirm.com.

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Once a subscriber gives a company their credit/debit card or bank information to charge subscription fees, some companies will take advantage of that to raise their fees without notifying their subscribers. Such is allegedly the case with the Chicago Tribune.
Cheryl Naedler and Theodore Raab, two Tribune subscribers, filed a class-action lawsuit against the company in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The lawsuit alleges that the Chicago Tribune breached its contract with subscribers and violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act by charging an inflated subscription fee, without warning subscribers at least 30 days in advance of the change.

According to the class counsel, what the Chicago Tribune should have done, “is send notice at least one billing cycle in advance saying we’re going to increase it … if you agree to pay. And they didn’t do it.”

Our Chicago class action lawyers note that the Chicago Tribune recently began mailing out a proposed offer to settle the lawsuit. Although the company denies the allegations, it said that it reached the settlement to, “avoid the cost, risk, and delay of litigation and uncertainty of trial” according to the notice.

If the court approves the settlement, about 41,000 subscribers will receive $6.50 each as part of the settlement. Naedler and Raab, as the class representatives, will receive $2,000 each.

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Many people are on the look-out for a quick fix to lose weight and get in shape. It is therefore no surprise that hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of Skechers’s offer when they introduced shoes that claimed to help people lose weight and tone up.

Skechers’s ads featured celebrity endorsers such as Kim Kardashian and Brooke Burke. The shoe company claimed that its Shape-Ups were designed to promote weight loss and tone butt, leg, and stomach muscles with the shoe’s curved “rocker” or rolling bottom. Skechers said that this caused instability which would cause the wearer of the shoes to “use more energy with every step.” Shape-ups cost about $100 and are sold across the country.

The Resistance Runner shoes were advertised as a fitness tool that could help people who wore them increase “muscle activation” by up to 85% for posture-related muscles and 71% for muscles in the buttocks.

The current lawsuit against Skechers consolidates more than 70 lawsuits from across the country into one lawsuit in federal court in Louisville, Kentucky. U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell recently approved the settlement reached between Skechers and the plaintiffs for $40 million. The judge also ordered Skechers to pay an additional $5 million for the attorneys in the case to share. Russell ordered that the money cannot come out of the $40 million settlement.
The two lead plaintiffs in the case will receive payments of $2,500 each.

Those with approved claims will be able to collect repayment for their purchase – up to $80 per pair of Shape-Ups; $84 per pair of Resistance Runners; up to $54 per pair of Podded Sole Shoes; and $40 per pair of Tone-Ups. The settlement covers more than 520,000 claims. About 1,000 people who are eligible for coverage by the settlement opted out.

Eleven objections to the settlement were filed, including people seeking the full purchase price of their shoes and one person saying the settlement would prevent him from seeking damages on his own. The judge rejected all of these arguments.

The settlement comes just one year after Skechers reached a deal with the Federal Trade Commission regarding the ads. A settlement with the Federal Trade Commission bars Skechers from ever again running the ads. If there is any money left over from the $40 million after all of the claims have been processed, the judge has ordered that the remainder of the money is to go to the Federal Trade Commission.

Skechers denies the allegations but said that it is settling in order to avoid a long and costly litigation.

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With the economy firmly stuck in a “jobless recovery”, many students feel more pressure than ever to further their education in the hopes that it will make them more employable. Colleges likewise release and advertise the employment rate of their graduates to entice new students to enroll.

However, many students are finding that they are unable to get the jobs that they felt the colleges promised them. There are currently more than a dozen law schools facing class action lawsuits from students who were unable to attain employment in their field after graduation. Recently, six of those lawsuits have been dismissed by the courts, six have had their motions to dismiss rejected, and three have motions to dismiss which are still under review.
Included among the cases which have been allowed to move forward, is Harnish v. Widener University School of Law. The lawsuit alleges that the school publicized misleading and incomplete graduate employment rates in violation of New Jersey and Delaware consumer fraud acts.

Judge William H. Walls of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey pointed to the broad nature of the New Jersey statute when he denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The statute, he says, extends to purchases made for business purposes and does not require proof of reliance in order to be enforced.

Eight Widener University law school alumni who graduated between 2008 and 2011 comprise the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit. Initially, the court determined that the plaintiffs failed to assert any common law fraud causes of action. The plaintiffs then voluntarily dismissed their cause of action which alleged violation of Delaware’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The two remaining causes of action allege that Widener violated the New Jersey and Delaware consumer fraud acts. According to the lawsuit, Widener violated these laws by allegedly:
1) stating that approximately 90-95% of their graduates secured employment within nine months of graduation;
2) manipulating the employment data to make it seem as though the overwhelming majority of recent graduates secure full-time, permanent employment for which a J.D. is required or preferred;
3) distributing false post-graduate employment data and salary information to various third parties (such as the ABA and U.S. News and World Report);
4) making deceptive and misleading statements and omissions about Widener’s reputation with potential employers, the value of a Widener degree, and the pace at which recent graduates can expect to obtain gainful employment in their field; and
5) making students pay inflated tuition based on these misleading statements and omissions.
The court agreed that, taking these allegations at face value, the plaintiffs have plausible claims under the consumer fraud acts.

The court concluded that the 90-95% employment rate posted on Widener’s website was indeed allegedly misleading. Although the statement may have been technically true, Walls agreed that it was plausible for a law student to believe that the figures referred to law-related employment. In making this decision, Walls pointed out that the figures were posted in a class profile which was sandwiched between “judicial clerkships” and “full time legal employers”.
Walls further stated that Widener’s website aims to persuade students to obtain a law degree through their program and that the figures were sent to third-party evaluators to establish Widener’s standing.

Without much further discussion, the court agreed that the plaintiffs had also pleaded enough information to withstand the motion to dismiss their cause of action under the Delaware consumer Fraud Act.

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Amidst the many legal and financial troubles it has been facing lately, Apple can scratch one class-action lawsuit off the list. The class-action combined a number of lawsuits that had been filed in San Francisco against the company and dealt with Apple’s warranty policy for its iPhone and iPod touch.

According to the lawsuit, Apple allegedly refused to repair or replace merchandise still under one- or two-year warranty if a piece of white tape inside the device had changed color. The tape was supposed to turn pink or red when it came into contact with water. Since said water contact is known to damage electronic devices, Apple customer service personnel were instructed not to repair devices with tape that had changed color.

However, the tape manufacturer, 3M, allegedly said that humidity could potentially turn the tape at least pink. The customer service manual also states that “If a customer disputes whether an iPod with an activated [Liquid Contact Indicator] has been damaged by liquid contact and there are no external signs of damage from corrosion, then the iPod may still be eligible for warranty service.”

Although the tech giant admits no wrongdoing, it has agreed to settle the case for $53 million. This has the potential to affect hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS owners as well as customers who bought the first three generations of the iPod touch media player. Each member of the claim could get as much as $400 although, if there are enough people with claims, it could end up being less than half that much.

This is not the first time Apple has had to contend with complaints regarding its warranty policies. Recently, the CEO, Tim Cook, apologized to China after the state-run CCTV network and Chinese celebrities chastised the company on its replacement and repair policies in the more than 1 billion customer market.

The EU has also repeatedly castigated the firm over its warranty policies and Italy even threatened to close Apple’s offices if a warranty concern wasn’t addressed.

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Amidst the many legal and financial troubles it has been facing lately, Apple can scratch one class-action lawsuit off the list. The class-action combined a number of lawsuits that had been filed in San Francisco against the company and dealt with Apple’s warranty policy for its iPhone and iPod touch.

According to the lawsuit, Apple allegedly refused to repair or replace merchandise still under one- or two-year warranty if a piece of white tape inside the device had changed color. The tape was supposed to turn pink or red when it came into contact with water. Since said water contact is known to damage electronic devices, Apple customer service personnel were instructed not to repair devices with tape that had changed color.

However, the tape manufacturer, 3M, said that humidity could potentially turn the tape at least pink. The customer service manual also states that “If a customer disputes whether an iPod with an activated [Liquid Contact Indicator] has been damaged by liquid contact and there are no external signs of damage from corrosion, then the iPod may still be eligible for warranty service.”

Although the tech giant admits no wrongdoing, it has agreed to settle the case for $53 million. This has the potential to affect hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS owners as well as customers who bought the first three generations of the iPod touch media player. Each member of the claim could get as much as $400 although, if there are enough people with claims, it could end up being less than half that much.
This is not the first time Apple has had to contend with complaints regarding its warranty policies. Recently, the CEO, Tim Cook, apologized to China after the state-run CCTV network and Chinese celebrities chastised the company on its replacement and repair policies in the more than 1 billion customer market.

The EU has also repeatedly castigated the firm over its warranty policies and Italy even threatened to close Apple’s offices if a warranty concern wasn’t addressed.

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Many food and beverage companies are labeling their products “Natural”, “100% Natural” or “All Natural” in order to attract more health-conscious consumers. Two such consumers are Lauren Ries and Serena Algozer. Ms. Ries claims she bought an “All Natural Green Tea” at a gas station because she was thirsty and looking for a healthy alternative to soda. Ms. Algozer claims she purchased several AriZona ice teas over the years, but neither plaintiff has a receipt for any of these purchases, nor can they remember the prices.

They filed a class-action lawsuit against AriZona Ice Tea in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that the drinks contained ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup and citric acid. According to the lawsuit, these ingredients are man-made products rather than the natural flavorings they claim to be, thereby making the “natural” labels misleading.

AriZona Ice Tea though, was able to provide testimony from expert witnesses that said otherwise. Dr. Thomas Montville, for example, a Rutgers University food scientist, maintained that both these ingredients are natural substances. The beverage company was also able to provide declarations from their suppliers that both citric acid and high fructose corn syrup are natural ingredients.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys on the other hand, were unable to produce a single expert witness in the three years of the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial on May 13, 2013. They also failed to respond to contentions that the plaintiffs failed to support their claims for restitution or disgorgement. They pointed to the fact that patents existed for the production of high fructose corn syrup, but the judge refused to take “judicial notice” of the fact. The judge was also unconvinced by the deposition of Don Vultaggio, the owner of Hornell Brewing Company, which supported the plaintiffs’ claim that consumers are likely to be confused and misled by the “natural” labels on the ice tea containers.

The lawsuit sought restitution, disgorgement of profits, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees. They claimed these under California laws such as the False Advertising Law, the Unfair Competition Law, and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

Judge Richard Seeborg had partially certified the class for the injunction against the “natural” label, but had refused to certify a class for restitution. Recently, Judge Seeborg found in favor of the defendants and granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs. According to his 13-page order, the plaintiffs “offer not a scintilla of evidence from which a finder of fact could determine the amount of restitution or disgorgement to which plaintiffs might be entitled if this case were to proceed to trial”.

The judge also determined that the plaintiffs’ counsel could not adequately represent the class and, on those grounds, granted the request to decertify the class.

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Although banks have not generally been looked upon favorably lately, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald decided to look favorably upon 16 banks seeking dismissal of antitrust allegations, racketeering, and state-law claims. The allegations come from leading suits which had been seeking class action certification and claimed that the banks broke federal antitrust laws by allegedly suppressing the London Interbank Offered Rate (otherwise known as Libor).
Libor is calculated on a daily basis for different currencies on estimated borrowing rates submitted by banks on panels. The lawsuits are targeting banks who sat on the panels used to work out US-dollar rates. Executives and traders at certain banks allegedly tried to manipulate Libor in order to increase trading profits or improve the banks’ image.

However, Judge Buchwald says in her 161-page ruling that, because the Libor-setting process is a “cooperative endeavor” and was “never intended to be competitive” the banks would have had no motivation to intentionally put in false numbers. Therefore, any losses suffered by investors and other plaintiffs would have resulted from the banks’ “misrepresentation, not harm from competition”. With this being the case, the banks can not be charged with breaking federal antitrust laws.

Banks have already been hit hard by federal regulators. So far, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) has agreed to pay $612 million to U.S. and British authorities. UBS AG agreed to pay $1.5 billion, and Barclays agreed to pay $453 million. About a dozen firms still remain under scrutiny, including Citigroup, Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, Duetsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC, WestLB AG, and Royal Bank of Canada, among others.

Judge Buchwald acknowledged that, because of these settlements to federal agencies, her ruling may be “unexpected”. She pointed out though that, unlike government agencies, private plaintiffs have many requirements to meet under the statutes to bring a case.
“Therefore, although we are fully cognizant of the settlements that several defendants here have entered into with government regulators, we find that only some of the claims that plaintiffs have asserted may properly proceed.” Among the claims that she did not dismiss are the allegations of breaching commodities laws.

Michael Hausfeld, chairman of Hausfeld LLP, which is representing the city of Baltimore as a plaintiff in one of the largest Libor class-action suits, says that his clients will now have to decide if they want to file an amended suit or appeal the judge’s ruling. Unless the plaintiffs successfully appeal the ruling, it will mean a significant reduction in the potential costs to the banks. The ruling is also likely to diminish the financial incentive for new plaintiffs to join the investors, cities, lenders, and other parties that have already filed suits.

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