December 23, 2003
More than a dozen plaintiff law firms have brought class-action lawsuits against major mutual fund companies since New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer unearthed the industry scandal in September. From Alliance to Invesco, fund firms are finding themselves on court dockets nationwide.
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04:09 PM
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire approved the settlement of the outstanding shareholder class action litigation against Andover-based Enterasys Networks Inc., which was filed in connection with the company's restatement of financial results for the 2001 fiscal and transition years.
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04:08 PM
Law Offices Of Charles J. Piven, P.A. today announced that a securities class action has been commenced on behalf of shareholders who purchased, converted, exchanged or otherwise acquired the common stock of LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF) between August 20, 2003 and October 21, 2003, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The action charges that defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of materially false and misleading statements to the market throughout the Class Period which statements had the effect of artificially inflating the market price of the Company's securities.
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04:06 PM
Acacia Research says it was prompted to seek a class-action assignment for its litigation against two defendants in order to "more efficiently" reach all adult entertainment companies using their claimed streaming media patents without a license.
"This fits in with our previously announced strategy of reaching all infringers," Acacia executive vice president Robert Berman told AVN Online, four days after the company filed suit against eight new defendants. The company didn't name those eight defendants but has named Global Media Resources (the parent of Python Video) and Cybernet Ventures (which includes Adult Check) as the companies they want to have represent the class, if a federal court assigns class action to the litigation.
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04:04 PM
Derek Smart is taking legal action against Dreamcatcher, publishers of his space simulation game that was recently re-branded Universal Combat. Smart - a long time fan of VE - states that the legal proceedings are occurring because Dreamcatcher has decided to use his RC1 build of the game for duplication. Smart believes this version is crippled, poor, and not a patch on RC2, which he has yet to send to Dreamcatcher, and refuses to unless they destroy all RC1 CDs:
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04:01 PM
A judge in New Jersey yesterday denied class-action status in a case that alleges that Seattle-based Washington Mutual defrauded borrowers by failing to properly service mortgages. The ruling marked the second time this year that a court has declined to confer class-action status in a case making similar allegations against WaMu. The earlier ruling came in March in King County Superior Court.
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03:59 PM
Peter Kugi isn't expecting a big financial payoff in his class-action lawsuit against Strong mutual funds. But Kugi, who agreed to be the plaintiff in a suit by a San Francisco law firm with expertise in class-action litigation in securities cases, said he hopes the pressure of legal action will force regulators and mutual fund firms to clean up the system.
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03:58 PM
In a new wrinkle in the clergy abuse scandal, two attorneys representing people who contend they were abused by priests filed a class action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic dioceses of San Diego and San Bernardino on Monday.
The class action suit, if allowed to go forward, would cover people who claim they were abused, but have not yet filed suit and would not meet the Dec. 31 deadline to file such lawsuits, according to attorney Irwin Zalkin.
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03:56 PM
More lawsuits were filed Monday against the San Diego Diocese, including a class action lawsuit. The class action suit was filed on behalf of three alleged victims. All three are now grown men, and claim they were abused as children by Father Edward Rodrique in the 1970's.
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03:52 PM
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2003--The law firm of Weiss & Yourman announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of securities of INVESCO Mutual Funds managed by Invesco Funds Group, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Amvescap PLC (NYSE:AVZ), during the period of December 5, 1998 to November 24, 2003, inclusive.
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03:50 PM
December 05, 2003
Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company confirmed last week that a settlement has been reached to resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of former Kansas City, Missouri pharmacist Robert R. Courtney and Courtney Pharmacy, Inc. A class action was filed Monday, Dec. 1, in Jackson County, Missouri Circuit Court, and Judge Lee Wells has given preliminary approval to the class settlement. If approved by the Circuit Court, the settlement will provide for a payment of $35 million from Pharmacists Mutual into a trust fund to be administered under court supervision for the benefit of class action members who file appropriate claim forms showing proof of injury. Settlement of the class action will resolve all known and unknown claims against Courtney. Over 500 claims were filed in court, and it is believed there may be many more victims.
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02:50 PM
An 8.7 million dollar settlement was approved in a federal lawsuit against a Tennessee funeral home over uncremated bodies at the Tri-State Crematory in northwest Georgia. The settlement was reached Thursday as part of the class-action lawsuit against Tri-State Crematory and funeral homes that did business with it. Elizabeth Cabraser, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said some of her clients could receive payments before the end of the year.
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02:47 PM
The relatives of people allegedly desecrated in the cemeteries expressed their relief or disdain for SCI, the world's largest funeral service company, after lawyers formally announced the terms of the $100 million settlement. Broward Circuit Judge J. Leonard Fleet will review written terms of the settlement, due Jan. 5, before officially approving it. Fleet cited the severity of the allegations against SCI. "When there are events that occur after the interment to resurrect the pain," he said, "this is the most difficult thing of all to deal with."
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02:45 PM
Sunnybrook & Women’s College hospital is remaining silent after word that a local, but unnamed dentist who was treated at the facility, launched a $200-million class action lawsuit against the hospital. The doctor, whose name is not known because he fears his dental practice would be affected over the scare of the spread of HIV, said he was among more than 800 men who received letters after hospital officials learned there was a sterilization problem with an instrument used for taking a prostate biopsy.
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02:42 PM
December 04, 2003
An administrative law judge has approved the settlement of a class-action lawsuit accusing the U.S. Postal Service of discriminating against injured employees - a deal that will cost the government millions of dollars, according to attorneys. An estimated 25,000 postal employees who have been hurt on the job and reassigned since 1992 are eligible to apply for part of the settlement. It offers $25,000 each to employees who can show they were discriminated against because of their rehabilitation status.
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02:38 PM
PORTLAND — A jury has ordered Farmers Insurance Co. to pay $9.5 million to policyholders the company defrauded in Oregon by reducing the payments for their medical expenses after auto accidents. After two days of deliberations, the jury ruled that from 1998 to 1999, Farmers used a formula to reduce the reimbursement to doctors, claiming charges were higher than reasonable compared with the charges of other medical providers in the same geographic area.
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02:37 PM
CHICAGO -- Wednesday's police chase that ended in a fiery crash along I-94 in southern Wisconsin is the latest in a string of dangerous accidents involving Ford Crown Victorias. The cars, commonly used as police cruisers, have been implicated in the deaths of more than a dozen officers nationwide.
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02:36 PM
CHARLESTON - The West Virginia Supreme Court granted DuPont's request for a writ of prohibition so the company will not have to pay for C8 blood testing for plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit pending in Wood County Circuit Court. DuPont also asked the high court to disqualify Wood County Circuit Judge George W. Hill from continuing to preside in the case. DuPont's attorneys contended Hill was a member of the class covered by the lawsuit since he resides in Parkersburg where C8 has been detected in water supplies. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said, pending a ruling from the chief justice, Hill will be disqualified from the case for now.
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02:34 PM
December 03, 2003
KNOXVILLE -- The city of Knoxville has been dismissed as a defendant in three lawsuits over dumping of contaminated dirt. It was requested by the attorney for homeowners suing over the polluted soil dumped on their property. The city remains a defendant in a $250 million class-action lawsuit filed by citizens who live near one of the sites. They claim pollutants contaminated their wells.
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02:28 PM
Hutchinson — ONEOK Inc., which is the subject of a class-action lawsuit stemming from destructive gas explosions here, has asked that the trial be moved out of Reno County. "It's hardly an epiphany to anyone in this courtroom, but it's impossible to impanel a jury that doesn't have chips in the game here," said Charles Lee, attorney for ONEOK, the state's largest retail gas supplier.
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02:26 PM
US Cellular customers in Rock Island, Moline, East Moline and some other municipalities may see a partial refund if the cell phone company wins a class-action suit against Illinois communities. The lawsuit was filed in July against all the state's municipalities that charged a municipal Telecommunications Infrastructure Maintenance Fee to cell phone users between 1998 and 2001. The cities of Chicago and Rockford already settled their claims from the cell phone companies.
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02:24 PM
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Charging that more than 107 Stratford High School students were terrorized in a school-authorized raid in which police pointed guns at them, apprehended and restrained them, used excessive force, and conducted unreasonable search and seizure, a class-action lawsuit was filed today on the students' behalf.
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02:20 PM
Hundreds of Florida homeowners have been overcharged when they had vinyl siding installed by Sears Home Improvement Products Inc., a lawsuit against the company alleges. The suit, filed recently in Duval County Circuit Court on behalf of Samuel D. Porterfield, seeks to establish a class action on behalf of all other Florida residents who have had vinyl siding installed since April 1999 by Sears Home Improvement Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Roebuck and Co. The subsidiary's Florida headquarters are in Longwood.
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02:15 PM
ROYAL Bank of Scotland is being sued by the University of California in a class action suit in the US following the accusation by a bankruptcy investigator that it may have "aided and abetted" Enron in transactions which hid the collapsed energy giant's massive debts.
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02:04 PM
Circuit Court Judge Neil Thomas is weighing a decision on whether a class action will be kept in place for the more than 200 Tennessee lawsuits filed against the Tri-State Crematory and the Marsh family. Defense attorneys say the class action should be dissolved, saying the lead plaintiff and others have joined in a federal class action at Rome, Ga. The lawsuits were filed after 339 uncremated bodies were found at the Noble, Ga., facility in mid-February of last year.
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02:02 PM
December 02, 2003
Owners of some properties along the Panhandle Trail in Washington and Allegheny counties are in line to receive payments. A settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit filed on their behalf, and pending approval by a federal judge at a Dec. 19 fairness hearing, they stand to receive compensation for land originally used for railway easements.
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02:00 PM
WASHINGTON -- Compromise class action reform legislation crafted by U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is drawing mixed reviews, including harsh criticism from consumer advocate and Green Party leader Ralph Nader. The Class Action Fairness Act, both in its original and compromise forms, would shift most large class-action lawsuits from state to federal courts. The move is favored by the business community, which believes it gets a fairer shake in federal court, but opposed by consumer groups, which argue that the legislation tips the scales in defendants’ favor.
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01:57 PM
December 01, 2003
Key senators agreed to a compromise Tuesday on long-stalled legislation to limit class-action lawsuits and large damage awards against corporations, a GOP senator and officials said Tuesday. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he hoped the measure would be brought up for a vote early in 2004. Several Democratic officials confirmed the agreement.
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01:53 PM
Microsoft Corp. has agreed to pay $64 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in Tennessee that alleged it overcharged for its software, the software maker said. The deal is similar to settlements that Microsoft has reached in other states. Tennessee residents who bought Microsoft Windows, Office or stand-alone Word or Excel products between Dec. 21, 1995, and Dec. 31, 2002, can apply for vouchers that may be used to buy desktop or notebook computers, software or certain peripherals, Microsoft said in a statement.
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01:52 PM
A federal judge is allowing University of Iowa employees to join a lawsuit against school and state officials for what a UI employee thinks is a gender-biased parental-leave policy. In June, David Johnson, who works in the Registar's Office, filed suit in Johnson County District Court claiming the school's parental-leave policy discriminates on the basis of gender. He was not permitted to use up to five accrued sick days when his daughter was born in November 2002.
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01:49 PM