Corporate Law

Catholic Healthcare Partners Named in Class-Action Suit

Cincinnati-based Catholic Healthcare Partners is among the defendants named in several class-action lawsuits that claim certain nonprofit medical systems charged uninsured patients inflated prices and went after those who couldn't pay with abusive bill collection practices. The 13 suits were filed in eight states, and the only Ohio defendant named was Community Health Partners in Lorain and its Cincinnati-based parent, CHP, according to a report from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Scruggs Law Firm of Oxford, Miss., is leading a team of law firms across the country, who are expected to file more suits.

Lawsuit Alleges Some Hospitals
Take Advantage of Nonprofit Status

JACKSON - Some of the country's largest nonprofit hospitals are targeted in class action lawsuits alleging they have distorted the extent of their charity care while using punishing tactics to obtain payments from uninsured patients. The lawsuits were filed late Wednesday by Richard Scruggs, a Mississippi attorney who earned millions of dollars and a national reputation with his legal pursuits of the tobacco and asbestos industries. The lawsuits claim that hospitals in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee used "creative" accounting practices to "grossly distort the small amount of charity care they provide to uninsured patients." Scruggs said the hospitals are "hoarding billions of dollars while dispensing relative pennies in health care."

Hospitals, Insurance Company Fighting Lawsuit Battle

After treating patients covered by Medical Savings Insurance Co., local hospitals eventually noted it owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills. How did Medical Savings respond? By refusing to pay. That move prompted Lee Memorial Health System to file a class action lawsuit last year, saying Medical Savings had run up $500,000 in unpaid claims. Earlier this month, Naples Community Hospital filed its own lawsuit because Medical Savings owed it $600,000. (On Feb. 17, a Lee County circuit judge dismissed Lee Memorial's lawsuit against Medical Savings, largely citing technical grounds.)

Tyson Shares Drop In Wake Of Ruling

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Shares of Tyson Foods were down 58 cents, or 2.8 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange Friday after a federal judge granted a summary judgment to the company. Tyson, the world's largest meat processor, was the subject of a securities class-action lawsuit. Plaintiffs had claimed the company lied about its reasons for attempting to back out of a deal to buy rival IBP.

Class Action Lawsuit Commenced Against Global Crossing

The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Global Crossing, John Legere, and Daniel O'Brien. The Complaint charges that Global Crossing and certain officers and directors violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market during the Class Period, thereby artificially inflating the price of Global Crossing's securities.

Class Action Lawsuit Commenced Against OmniVision Technologies

NEW YORK, NY -- A securities class action lawsuit was commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all persons who purchased or acquired securities of OmniVision Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) ("OmniVision" or the "Company") between February 19, 2003 through June 8, 2004, inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). A copy of the Complaint is available from the Court or from Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz, LLP.

Residents Can Now Join Class Action Suit Against Railroad

TAMAROA, IL -- A Saint Clair County Judge ruled in favor of hundreds of folks living in Tamaroa. The judges decision will allow more than 400 people seeking a settlement against Canadian National Railway and Illinois Central Railroad to join forces in court. The lawsuit comes after one of the railway company trains jumped the tracks in Tamaroa in February 2003. The derailment sent toxic chemicals spewing into the air for hours.

Tennessee to receive $64M from Microsoft

NASHVILLE - A $64 million state settlement with Microsoft over antitrust charges gives residents a chance at $5 to $10 rebates on the purchase of new products, authorities said. Under the terms of the settlement, which received a Davidson County judge's final approval Monday, buyers of Microsoft operating systems or software products from Dec. 21, 1995, through Dec. 31, 2002, are eligible to receive vouchers toward the purchase of new hardware and software.

ADM Settles Corn Syrup Price-Fixing Suit

Archer Daniels Midland Company's $400 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging that it conspired to fix prices of high-fructose corn syrup is the fifth-largest pact resolving an antitrust class action in U.S. history. Archer Daniels, the world's largest grain processor, announced the settlement Thursday. The suit was filed by customers, including PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, that bought the corn syrup in the early 1990s. The customers were seeking up to $1.6 billion in damages.

Gas gauges still failing 2 weeks
after Shell says it fixed problem

Some people are still reporting gas gauge problems more than two weeks after Shell Oil Co.'s refiner, Motiva Enterprises, said it removed all of the tainted gasoline from hundreds of gas stations in Florida. Two drivers in Broward County told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel their gas gauges stopped working after they purchased gas in the past few days.

Class action lawsuit launched against Vicuron Pharmaceuticals

Hartford, Conn. -- The law firm of Schatz & Nobel, P.C., which has significant experience representing investors in prosecuting claims of securities fraud, announces that a lawsuit seeking class action status has been filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of all persons who purchased the publicly traded securities of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. between January 6, 2003 and May 24, 2004, inclusive. Also included are all those who purchased shares in the July 17, 2003 offering.

Class-Action Medicaid Suit Filed

LINCOLN - Getting a 50-cent- per-hour raise should have helped Kelly Bowlin and her children get back on their feet after her divorce. Instead it cost the Ogallala, Neb., woman her health coverage. It pushed her over the income limit for Medicaid, yet it wasn't enough to pay for the insurance that her employer offered. The state dumped her off Medicaid in January, with only 10 days' notice. Bowlin filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court claiming that Nebraska violated federal law by not giving transitional Medicaid coverage to her and others like her.

Supreme Court discusses class action laws

JACKSON, Miss. - A panel of lawyers, judges and Mississippi Supreme Court Justices spent more than six hours Monday discussing whether the state's highest court should adopt a rule allowing class action litigation. Supreme Court Justice Jess H. Dickinson said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the pros and cons of class action litigation in Mississippi.

Class-action suit claims Key Energy deceived investors

A New York-based law firm claims Key Energy Services Inc. artificially inflated its revenues, assets and income from the middle of 2003 to June and has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of investors. Milberg Weiss announced late Friday it has filed a class action suit on behalf of investors who purchased Key shares between April 29, 2003, and June 4.

EBay's PayPal to settle class action suit for $9.25M

SAN FRANCISCO -- PayPal, eBay's online payment system, said Monday it will pay $9.25 million to settle a federal class action lawsuit. In their 2002 lawsuit, which resulted from the consolidation of two separate cases filed in federal court in Northern California, some PayPal customers alleged that the company did not appropriately communicate about customer transactions and did not appropriately process limits that were placed on some customer accounts. The case involves individuals and businesses that had a PayPal account during the period from Oct. 1, 1999 through Jan. 31, 2004. PayPal users in European Union member countries are excluded.

Contractors in Iraq Face Class-Action Lawsuit

Two US companies that supplied interpreters and interrogators to the Pentagon have been hit with a class-action lawsuit in which they are accused of engaging in a conspiracy with unnamed government officials to torture and humiliate Iraqi prisoners in order to boost their profits. The civil lawsuit, filed in a California court on Wednesday, called for the companies - Titan Corp and CACI International - immediately to halt such activities, and to pay millions of dollars in compensation to the victims.

Floridians Sue DMV Workers Over Drivers' Records
Lawsuit Seeks Class-Action Status

MIAMI -- Four Floridians have sued the executive director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles and seven of his employees, claiming they violated a federal privacy law by disclosing personal information from drivers' records. The plaintiffs filed suit against Fred Dickinson and others in U.S. District Court in Miami. The lawsuit seeks class-action status to cover anyone in the state whose personal information was disseminated in violation of the Driver Privacy Protection Act.

Pryor Pens First Decision; Workers Lose

The first court decision penned by former state Attorney General Bill Pryor barred many employees of Federal Express Corp. from pursuing discrimination claims against their employer. Pryor has concurred in several decisions issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since his temporary appointment to the bench, but the 20-page decision issued Tuesday was the first to name him as the author.

Critics of Lawsuits Bill Gird for Senate Battle

WASHINGTON -- Opponents of a bill to curb class-action lawsuits are gathering an arsenal of amendments to try to dilute or derail it, after efforts to stop it from reaching the U.S. Senate floor appeared to have failed, aides said. The bill, the dream of the U.S. corporate community but the bane of trial lawyers, would transfer many large class-action lawsuits from state courts to federal courts, where experts say they have less chance of success.

Class-Action Lawsuit Against Microsoft Can Proceed

Microsoft may have reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice and several state Attorneys General on findings of monopolistic and anticompetitive conduct, but they are not out of the legal woods yet in the US. An appeals court in New York has overturned the decision of a lower court, ruling that a class-action suit against Microsoft may proceed. The lawsuit alleges that they created an "applications barrier" in Windows and also required OEMs to install Windows in order to keep serious competition from arising, both of which are alleged to be violations of New York's state business code.

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High-Sulfur Shell Gas Leads To Class-Action Lawsuit
Lawyers Want $100 Million For Broken Gas Gauges

Florida drivers are suing Shell and its refiner, Motiva Enterprises, claiming defective gasoline damaged their cars. Lawyers for Miami-area motorists with broken gas gauges will seek more than $100 million in damages. The suit estimates 1 million vehicle owners pumped high-sulfur gas supplied by the Shell-owned refinery before Shell and Texaco shut down about 400 stations just before the Memorial Day weekend.

Another Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Against Shell Over Tainted Gas
Attorney Seeks Compensation For Towing, Rental Cars, And Other Expenses

MIAMI, Fla. -- Another day, another lawsuit for Shell Oil. Their gasoline was tainted with elevated sulfur levels and has damaged thousands of cars. The bad gas is gone -- but blame is still going around. An attorney is seeking up to $100 million dollars, saying Shell isn't doing enough to reimburse the real costs of bad gas. It's been three weeks since Myriam Valle filled up her Lincoln Town Car at a Miami Shell station. In fact, she still has the receipt. Ever since, her gas gauge has read "full."

Advocates Call For Reform of Madison County Legal System

COLLINSVILLE -- State and local leaders urged community residents Tuesday night to stay steadfast in the fight for Illinois legal reform or prepare for further deterioration of Madison County, where rising malpractice insurance costs keep doctors and businesses on the run. Class action lawsuits in Madison County jumped to 106 in 2003 from 77 in 2002, and the county has seen an increase of more than 5,000 percent in the number of filings since 1998. The number of asbestos cases in Madison County went from 65 in 1996 to 809 in 2002.

Denny's Sued by Family Over Race Issues

Fifty-three African-Americans have sued Denny's Restaurant Corp., contending they were forced to leave a Springfield location because of their race. Alonzo and Annette Hilton and their relatives alleged that Denny's employees called them racial epithets as they left the 2823 N. Glenstone Ave. restaurant on July 11, 2002, according to a petition filed last week in Greene County. The plaintiffs — most of whom reside in Madison County, Ill., in the St. Louis area — suffered humiliation and emotional distress from the alleged incident, their Springfield attorney Eric Jensen said.

OT Lawsuits to Cost Longs $11 Million

Longs Drug Stores Corp. reached an agreement to settle two overtime lawsuits for $11 million, the Walnut Creek drugstore chain said Tuesday. The lawsuits that were seeking class-action status alleged that Longs Drugs improperly classified current and former store managers and assistant managers as exempt under California's wage and hour laws.

Snapple Distributor Suing Company

A distributor of Snapple juices who alleges that the company tried to put him out of business has dropped his lawsuit against 18 competitors who he said got their product at discounted prices. But Mitchell Camarda, a Bronxville man who sells Snapple Beverage Group Inc. products to merchants, is continuing to press his lawsuit against the Rye Brook-based company, according to documents posted on the federal court system's Web site this week.

Class-Action Suits Filed Against Pozen

Chapel Hill-based pharmaceutical company Pozen was hit with a two class-action lawsuits Friday - three days after the company's lead migraine drug candidate was rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Pennsylvania-based law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway and New York-based Geller Rudman filed the suits in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, which covers Chapel Hill. Named as defendants in both suits are Pozen, company CEO John Plachetka, former Chief Financial Officer Matthew E. Czajkowski and John R. Barnhardt, the company's vice president of finance.

High Court Allows Holocaust-Era Lawsuits

WASHINGTON -- A California woman can sue to retrieve $150 million worth of family paintings stolen by the Nazis, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in opening American courts to World War II-era disputes the Bush administration had wanted settled diplomatically. The ruling was celebrated by Jewish leaders, who hope for jury verdicts while some Holocaust survivors still are alive. The court ruled 6-3 vote that 88-year-old Maria Altmann could pursue a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles that seeks to force Austria to turn over six Gustav Klimt paintings that include portraits of her aunt. The paintings are among an estimated 600,000 art works the Nazis stole during Adolf Hitler's rule in Germany.

Longs Pays $11 Million to Settle Overtime Suit

Longs Drug Stores Corp. of Walnut Creek said Tuesday it has reached a preliminary agreement under which it will pay $11 million to settle two purported class-action lawsuits regarding overtime wages for managers at the company's California stores. The lawsuits accused the retailer of improperly classifying former and current store managers, as well as assistant managers, as exempt under the state's wage and hour laws.

Managers File Overtime Lawsuit Against Starbucks

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Two Starbucks baristas are suing the world's largest coffee shop chain, alleging they were denied overtime pay in violation of federal law. The lawsuit was filed June 3 in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. It alleges the two employees were denied overtime pay because they were classified as store managers, although less than 10 percent of their time was spent on managerial duties. They are seeking unpaid overtime compensation damages and attorneys' fees. They are also seeking class-action status for their lawsuit.

Beef Lawsuit Becomes Class-Action Case
Aberdeen judge opens door for compensation for producers

The federal case of cattle producers versus the nation's four largest meatpackers will be tried as a class-action suit. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Charles Kornmann of Aberdeen filed the class-action order on Monday. The trial is expected to be in Aberdeen; no date is set. A jury will decide if the packers owe producers money due to incorrect price reports about three year ago.

Final Approval Given to Some Settlements in Georgia Crematory Case

ROME, Ga. - Final approval has been given to pay out roughly one-third of the $39.5 million in settlements in a lawsuit over hundreds of corpses that were dumped at a northwest Georgia crematory, according to a lawyer involved in the case. The final approval came Friday on $13.5 million in settlements by 22 funeral homes that sent bodies to the Tri-State Crematory, plaintiffs lawyer Robert Smalley said Tuesday. Families have until June 18 to file claims for a piece of that money, Smalley said.

NCGA Says Payouts in StarLink Lawsuit Getting Closer

Farmers filing claims as part of the class action lawsuit against StarLink corn may soon receive compensation for their losses, according to the legal firm handling the case. The Garden City Group is the law firm involved in the matter and has said thousands of growers who grew corn for grain between 1998 and 2002 were eligible to receive a recovery from the “Non-StarLink Farmer Actions” settlement.

States Win Lawsuit; Pearl Jam CDs in settlement

Pearl Jam and Willie Nelson are coming to the state's schoolrooms, thanks to Washington's settlement of a national antitrust lawsuit with music labels and retailers. As part of an estimated national $143 million settlement with record labels and music retail outlets, Washington schools will receive 72,800 compact discs and state libraries will get 40,000 CDs -- a musical package worth more than $1.5 million. As part of the settlement, 213,000 state residents who filed a claim in the class-action suit will receive checks for $13.86.

Aetna Drops Suit On Abbott Drug Pricing

Two days after filing an unprecedented class-action lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories over the increased price of an important AIDS drug, insurance giant Aetna Inc. abruptly dismissed the complaint Thursday. The lawsuit, which had drawn praise and surprise from consumer groups, was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to challenge Abbott's decision in December to raise the price of the AIDS drug ritonavir, known by its brand name as Norvir, by more than 400 percent.

Justices Appear Split Over Allowing Class Action for Overtime Pay

California Supreme Court justices appeared divided yesterday over whether to allow a pair of Sav-On Drug Stores managers to bring a class action on behalf of hundreds of their fellow employees who did not receive overtime pay. Chief Justice Ronald M. George questioned attorneys for the plaintiffs and Sav-On as to whether it was appropriate for the Court of Appeal to “second-guess” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Irving S. Feffer, who two years ago certified a class of up to 1,400 workers whom the company classified as “operating managers” or “assistant managers” at its 300 retail stores.

Refusing the Medicine

Last week, as two new studies showed that prescription-drug prices increased in 2003 at least three times faster than the rate of inflation, Leon County joined the growing number of states and local governments -- including Palm Beach County -- exploring the purchase of medicines from Canada. The ultimate solution to the nationwide problem of expensive medicine is not reimporting cheaper prescription drugs, but the contagious civil disobedience is forcing overdue bipartisan discussion in Congress.

Appeals Court Allows Evidence in Wyeth Diet Drug Case

NEW YORK -- A U.S. appeals court vacated an injunction Tuesday that limited the evidence former fen-phen users could present in state court litigation against Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth. The ruling is a boost for the plaintiffs, who had opted out of a pending class-action settlement of $3.75 billion and are pursuing their own claims. Wyeth has paid out about $1 billion from the AHP Settlement Trust set up in 1999 to compensate people who took Pondimin or Redux and to settle class-action lawsuits.

E-Ferol Case Granted Class Action Status

Victoria Klein of Wichita Falls was just a baby when she was given 16 injections of a vitamin E supplement later to be found toxic. That was 20 years ago. On May 11, the case of Klein and Ashley Swadley, a Dallas newborn two decades ago, was granted class action status, allowing thousands nationwide to sue the supplement's creator and manufacturer. U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer granted class action status to a civil lawsuit against the Maryland Heights, Mo., E-Ferol creator, O'Neal, Jones & Feldman Pharmaceuticals, and the manufacturer, Carter-Glogau Laboratories of Glendale, Ariz.