JD Journal » class action

Blogger Sues Huffington Post and AOL for $105 Million

aostler — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:13:22 +0000

On Tuesday, April 12, Jonathan Tasini filed suit against the Huffington Post and AOL, alleging that they didn’t share in the profits they made on the content that he and other freelance writers gave to the news company. Tasini said that the lawsuit was brought on by AOL’s recent purchase of the Huffington Post for $315 million.

Tasini is seeking class-action status to represent the more than 9,000 writers and contributors on the popular news site, and is asking for a minimum of $105 million in damages.

Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer were named as the defendants in the suit.

According to the lawsuit’s claims, the Huffington Post sets an “artificially low price” on content provided by its unpaid contributors since it doesn’t share the profits received from this content, which is “depressing the market for such content.”

In response to the lawsuit, which AOL says does not have any merit, AOL spokesman Mario Ruiz said the following in a statement, “As we’ve said before, our bloggers use our platform – as well as other unpaid group blogs across the web – to connect and help their work be seen by as many people as possible. It’s the same reason hundreds of people go on TV shows to promote their views and ideas. HuffPost bloggers can cross-post their work on other sites, including their own.”

Morning Roundup

joshua — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:50:46 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Thursday, November 4th. Here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s stories.

Although California’s controversial measure to legalize and tax medicinal marijuana failed, several cities joined with Oakland in imposing city-based taxes…

Ira “Ike” Sorkin, perhaps best known for his role representing Bernie Madoff, will leave Dickstein Shapiro for Lowenstein Sandler…

A settlement was reached in the Google Buzz class action suit…

Kilpatrick Stockton will merge with IP firm Townsend and Townsend…

Settlement Reached in Google Buzz Class Action Suit

joshua — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:21:03 +0000

On Tuesday, users of Google’s Gmail service received information in their inbox regarding a settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against Google by users of the service related to the launch of “buzz” as part of Gmail in February of this year. Within days of the launch, there were numerous complaints from internet privacy advocates about the way Google handled private information, including exposing the most frequent contact list to other Gmail users without notification or consent.
The court has given preliminary approval to a settlement agreement in the case under which no Gmail users will receive compensation, but requires Google to do three things. First, Google is required to make changes to the privacy settings within Gmail and to provide its users with better information and control over the privacy settings. The settlement agreement acknowledges that Google has already taken this step. Second, Google must do more to educate its users about the privacy aspects of its service, and the final plan for this must be approved by plaintiffs’ attorneys. Third, Google will pay $8.5 million dollars into a general fund that will be distributed to various groups that advance privacy interests. This money will not be paid to individual users because under the terms of the settlement both sides agree that most users did not suffer compensable damages and the class size is too large for a fair distribution of the funds.
Final approval of the settlement will be considered by the court in January. In the meantime, full details of the settlement including information on how to object or how to opt out can be found here.

Class Action Filed Against Pfizer by Brualdi

eric — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:34:07 +0000

Per Globe Newswire, the Brualdi Law Firm has filed a class action suit against Pfizer in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit has been filed on behalf of all Pfizer shareholders who purchased stock between late July 2005 and mid-January 2009.

The suit charges Pfizer with violations of the Federal Securities and Exchange Act. The crux of the suit is that Pfizer falsely marketed or promoted a varied series of drugs and failed to notify shareholders of the purported tortious conduct.

The Brualdi Law Firm, PC is based in New York City and specializes in mergers and acquisitions and shareholder derivative litigation. It also extensive experience prosecuting antitrust lawsuits, consumer and employment discrimination cases, as well as cases involving all aspects of securities litigation.

Judge Appoints Berman Co-Lead Counsel In Class Action Against Toyota

eric — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:59:35 +0000

A Federal judge has appointed Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, as co-lead counsel in the current class action pending in the Central District of California against Toyota. The class action is potentially one of the largest in US history and stems from the various product defects discovered in Toyota automobiles in the last several months.

More than 70 law firms, according to Businesswire, applied for the job.

Hagens Berman is a Seattle Based firm that represents plaintiffs in securities, investment fraud, product liability, tort, antitrust, consumer fraud, employment, environmental, and ERISA cases. It has managed multi-state and nationwide class actions and has offices Phoenix, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.

Bernard M. Gross Files Class Action on Behalf of Transocean Shareholders

eric — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:07:21 +0000

The fallout from the Gulf oil spill continues. Market Watch and Globe Newswire posted this morning that the Law Offices of Bernard Gross filed a class action suit in the Eastern District Court of Louisiana. The suit is filed on behalf of all shareholders of Transocean, Ltd.who purchased their stock between August 2009 and May 2010. Not only does the complaint name Transocean but it names a number of its officers and directors for a number of claims arising from violations of Securities Exchange Act.

Transcocean, Ltd is the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor and was involved, along with British Petroleum, in the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident which caused the Gulf oil spill, one of the largest on record.

The Law Offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C., located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, provide legal services concentrating on individuals, classes of individuals, or businesses who have been injured as a result of negligence, fraud, violations of the antitrust laws, securities laws, ERISA, or consumer protection laws in federal and state courts throughout the country.

Supreme Court Issues Major Class Action Decision

joshua — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:59:28 +0000

The Supreme Court today handed down its decision in Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates v. Allstate Insurance Co., a case which is sure to find its way into CivPro textbooks and final exam hypotheticals for years to come.

The case involves a class action law suit brought by Shady Grove against Allstate under New York state law. Allstate is alleged to have failed to pay or dispute claims within the time frame allotted, entitling Shady Grove to statutory interest. Shady Grove filed on behalf of itself and at least 100 similarly situated plaintiffs in federal court, under diversity jurisdiction.

Allstate claimed that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction because New York procedural laws do not permit class action suits to be brought for statutory penalties. The district court sided with Allstate and the 2nd Circuit upheld the lower court decision. The Supreme Court today, in an unusual alignment of justices, reversed and sent the case back down.

At the heart of the case is Federal Rule 23, which lays out the requirements a class must meet to be certified as a class action in federal court. According the majority opinion, written by Justice Scalia, Rule 23 is exhaustive and cannot by limited by state laws. Allstate argued that §901(b) of the New York Civil Practice Rules was not in conflict with Rule 23 because Rule 23 determines whether a class may be certified while §901(b) determines the eligibility of a type of claim for class treatment but the Court rejected this formulation saying “…the line between eligibility and certifiability is entirely artificial. Both are preconditions for maintaining a class action.”

The Court noted that the New York law appeared to be addressing the concern that allowing class action suits to proceed for statutory damages could create situations where defendants are forced to pay out debilitating sums of money, far more than the original law envisioned. Today’s opinion leaves open the possibility that state laws that capped or limited damages in class action suits might be acceptable but said that whatever the intent of the New York legislature in this particular case, §901(b) sought to prevent the class from being formed at all in direct conflict with the controlling federal rule.

Andrew Tulumello, the vice-chair of Gibson Dunn’s class action and complex litigation group, noted in a story in the National Law Journal that states could effectively limit damages under this formulation but that state legislatures would have to be more careful in wording the limitations “in order to get it right.”

UnitedHealth Fraud a Symptom of Sick Economy

joshua — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:43:33 +0000

Since the severe economic downturn of 2008, securities-fraud class-action suits have increased tremendously and show no signs of slowing down. Last year, UnitedHealth Group‘s massive $925.5 million dollar settlement brought the grand total to just over $3.8 billion. Laura Simmons, a Cornerstone researcher and a professor at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, noted that settlements last year did not even account for the downturn of 2008 and are more representative of class-action suits brought between 2004 and 2006.

In 2009 the average class-action securities settlement was $39 million, up from $28 million in 2008, according to the Cornerstone study.

A majority of these suits included purported violations of widely agreed upon accounting practices. Twenty six percent of the class-action securities-fraud plaintiffs were represented by San Diego firm, Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, during the last 2 years. It was Coughlin who took on the UnitedHeath case. UnitedHeath was accused of secretly giving backdated stock options to executives.

ACLU: Indiana Law Examiners Can’t Ask About Mental Illness

Erik Even — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:54:57 +0000

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has launched a class action lawsuit against the Indiana Board of Law Examiners, alleging that investigating the mental health history of law license applicants violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ACLU is representing an anonymous woman who seeks an injunction prohibiting the BLE from asking certain questions about mental fitness. She suffers from an anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress.

Similar cases have resulted in the modification or removal of such questions in Maine, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Founded in 1920, the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU Foundation, which focuses on litigation and communication efforts; and the American Civil Liberties Union, which focuses on legislative lobbying. The ACLU’s stated mission is “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

Cohen Milstein Hires Litigators Away from Schoengold

Erik Even — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:05:11 +0000

Cohen Milstein has hired two new litigators for its New York office, Joel Laitman and Christopher Lometti, both from Schoengold Sporn Laitman Lometti.

Laitman and Lometti will handle complex securities fraud and investor protection litigation. Both were name partners at Schoengold.

New York City’s Schoengold Sporn Laitman & Lometti is a leading securities fraud law firm that specializes in the representation of individuals, Taft-Hartley pension and benefit funds and other Institutional Investors in securities fraud class action and derivative litigation.

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll is a plaintiffs’ class action law firm, with offices Washington DC, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Confirmed: Skadden Gets O’Melveny’s Beisner & Team [UPDATE]

Erik Even — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:00:10 +0000

Blawgs are reporting that Skadden has lured over prominent attorney John Beisner and two others from O’Melveny & Myers.

Beisner is the chair of O’Melveny’s Class Actions, Mass Torts, and Aggregated Litigation Practice. He will bring with him Jessica Miller and Steve Harburg.

Apparently Beisner is a major player at O’Melveny & Myers, and his loss would be a serious blow to the firm.

If you can confirm this news or provide details, please send us a confidential tip!

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, founded in 1948, is a prominent law firm based in New York City. With over 2,000 attorneys, it is one of the largest and highest-grossing law firms in the world. Forbes magazine called Skadden “Wall Street’s most powerful law firm.”

O’Melveny & Myers LLP is the 19th largest law firm in the world. It employs 1200 attorneys in 14 offices worldwide.

UPDATE

Skadden has confirmed that Beisner, Miller and Harburg have joined the firm.

240 Ex-Thelen Associates & Staff Could Sue Under WARN Act

Erik Even — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:31:02 +0000

Thelen has identified 240 former associates and staff who could assert claims alleging the firm violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act by failing to pay adequate wages and vacation time over its December 1st, 2008 dissolution.

Thelen announced its dissolution on October 30th, and laid off most of its employees on November 30th.

The suit, filed November 24th by three former associates and one former staff member, alleges that under the WARN Act Thelen should have paid its employees their salaries, bonuses and other compensation, plus allowed for 401(k) contributions and health insurance coverage, during the 60 days following the initial announcement of its dissolution.

The employees also are seeking unpaid vacation pay.

If successful the plaintiffs, who are seeking class certification, could obtain an award of several million dollars.

In a list provided by Thelen, about 240 former employees — 60 associates, 20 counsel and 163 staff members — are identified as putative members of the class.

Steven Blum of Los Angeles-based Blum Collins, who represents the plaintiffs, said that list doesn’t include California employees, who could number hundreds more.

Thelen Won’t Pay Laid-Off Workers

Erik Even — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Defunct law firm Thelen LLP is telling courts it couldn’t possibly pay its employees accrued vacation, or give 60 days’ notice of impending layoffs.

In response to ex-employees seeking damages under the federal WARN Act, the firm says it should be excused from its obligations because they were impossible to fulfill. Also, because the firm had been seeking capital to keep in business, informing employees would have jeopardized attempts to secure a loan.

Thelen told its employees in late October that it would cease doing business by December 1st. Citibank, the only secured creditor, seized the firm’s bank accounts and did not allow it to pay employees accrued vacation.

Steve Blum, who represents plaintiffs in the federal class action, said it’s a “cop out” to blame the banks. The partners should have ponied up the money for the employees, he said.

Latham & Watkins partner Wayne Flick, who filed the answer on behalf of Thelen, declined to comment.

Thelen owed Citibank $60 million when it dissolved. It has paid off about $25 million and is continuing to collect payments, according to bankruptcy partner Peter Gilhuly at Latham & Watkins.

Blum is also representing former Heller employees in a potential class action against that firm, which filed for bankruptcy in December.

Lawyer Confesses To Losing 2.8 Million Dollar Settlement

todd — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:20:14 +0000

Attorney Sandeep Baweja has withdraw as counsel in a class action case after he confessed in court papers that he lost a large portion of the $2.7 million settlement.

Baweja was supposed to distribute the funds amongst 800 class members who sued ZipRealty. He instead placed the money in an Ameritrade brokerage account last spring, according to the Daily Journal. Court papers claim that Baweja lost everything except for $54,000 due to bad investments as well as the state of the stock market.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero said, “I’m extremely, extremely disappointed in what occurred here, but my disappointment pales in comparison to the class.”

Jeffrey Rutherford of Crowell & Moring is Baweja’s lawyer. Rutherford claims that Baweja borrowed more than $500,000 from friends and family in an attempt to payback the lost settlement. He has also notified the state bar as well as state and federal authorities about his actions.

Baweja’s admission stunned colleagues, according to the Orange County Register.

FTC Exec to Join Wilson Sonsini

Erik Even — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:53:15 +0000

Lydia B. Parnes, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, will ankle the agency after 27 years to join the Washington, DC office of Palo Alto, California’s Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, as part of their consumer regulatory practice.

FTC Chairman William Kovacic has tapped Eileen Harrington, the bureau’s deputy director, to serve as acting director. The Bureau of Consumer Protection enforces consumer protection laws and trade regulation rules, investigates business practices, sues law violators, develops rules to protect consumers and provides consumer and business education.

As Bureau director, Parnes helped lead many of the bureau’s efforts, including the National Do Not Call Registry and the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is a leader in the fields of corporate governance & finance, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, securities class action litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and antitrust. It has offices in Austin, New York, Palo Alto, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and DC.

Merged Firm Escapes from Dreier Fiasco

Erik Even — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:17:48 +0000

About 20 lawyers at Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George, the Santa Monica, California-based affiliate of Dreier LLP, are leaving to reconstitute Browne Woods George, a litigation boutique that merged with Dreier, Stein & Kahan one year ago.

Marc Dreier, founder and managing partner of New York’s Dreier LLP, was charged by federal prosecutors and the SEC with masterminding an investment fraud of more than $100 million.

Dreier is the only equity partner in Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George, which was formed in 2007 and employs several prominent Los Angeles lawyers; entertainment lawyer Larry Stein; corporate attorney Robert Kahan; and Eric George, a business litigator and the son of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George.

The California firm’s partners sent a letter to Dreier last week, saying he breached their employment contract, which guaranteed a certain compensation for three years. The partners have a multimillion dollar arbitration claim filed against Dreier.

Browne Woods George also is in negotiations to recruit up to four class action lawyers from Dreier LLP to open a New York office.

About 35 lawyers remaining at Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George, including Stein and Kahan, are in talks with several firms to merge. Among the possible merger candidates are LA’s Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif; Pittsburgh’s Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney; Boston’s Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo; New York’s Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel; and Atlanta’s Troutman Sanders.

The firm’s entertainment group and most of the corporate group are looking to stay together as part of a possible merger.

Via NLJ.

Lakin Law Firm Renamed In Wake of Drug Scandal

Erik Even — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:52:35 +0000

The Lakin Law Firm has been renamed LakinChapman LLC, and former Appellate Court Judge Charles Chapman will join Brad Lakin as a named minority partner in the Wood River, Illinois firm.

Chapman, 66, was a Madison County circuit judge from 1979 to 1988, when he has elected to the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon.

Following his retirement from the bench in 2001, Chapman has been engaged in a trial practice as an attorney associated with the Lakin Law Firm.

The firm will be divided into seven practice areas: maritime law, railroad law, class action, nursing home abuse, workers compensation, personal injury and appellate law.

In October, Tom Lakin, founder of the Lakin Law Firm, was sentenced to six years in prison for drug charges. Lakin pleaded guilty to drug charges of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, distributing cocaine to a person under 21 and maintaining a drug house.

Law Firm Sued Over Failed Trump Development

Erik Even — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:31:25 +0000

Wes & Diane McLeod, who placed a deposit on a unit at Trump Tower Tampa, are suing the developers of that failed project in a potential class action claiming escrow money from deposits was improperly spent.

The McLeod’s filed their complaint in circuit court against developers Frank Dagostino, Robert E. Lyons and Patrick Sheppard, as well as the law firm that once managed the escrow, Macfarlane Ferguson & McMullen.

Rachel Green from “Friends” of Tampa’s Forizs & Dogali is representing the McLeods.

The McLeods claim that 109 buyers deposited nearly $19 million with SimDag/RoBEL LLC, Trump Tower’s development company, representing up to 20% of a unit’s purchase price. Buyers typically placed 10 percent deposits in cash, and used a bank letter to secure the other 10 percent. But some simply paid the additional 10 percent in cash, which the developers were allowed to use for construction purposes.

SimDag/RoBEL “improperly diverted” $2.3 million from the account, the suit says, and now there isn’t enough money to refund the 10 percent deposits to buyers.

“We have documented every penny spent on the property, and we did nothing inappropriate – not one thing,” developer Dagostino said. “There’s just no merit to it. If you look through this lawsuit, it’s all ridiculous.”

Bill Taylor, a managing partner with Macfarlane, said his firm “acted in full compliance with the duties and obligations that it had pursuant to the escrow agreement.”

A bankruptcy judge who is hearing a Chapter 11 asset protection case from SimDag/RoBEL filed last summer could freeze the suit. SimDag/RoBEL is not named in the suit, thus shielding it from the bankruptcy court.

But there is no reason the lawsuit shouldn’t be part of the bankruptcy case, especially since it involves money already under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court, Dagostino said.

SimDag/RoBEL settled a licensing dispute with New York real estate celebrity and bizarre toupee aficionado Donald Trump in September, over more than $1 million Trump claimed he was owed for the use of his name on the project. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in June after it failed to build its planned $225 million, 52-story luxury tower in downtown Tampa.