A class action lawsuit has been filed alleging some of the largest poultry processors have engaged in a wage-fixing scheme that has suppressed the pay of plant workers for years. If you worked in a poultry plant at any time since 2009, it’s possible that you were underpaid as a result of this alleged conspiracy.
If you had a problem with your credit report, attorneys working with ClassAction.org may be able to help. They're offering to review people's credit reports, free of charge, to help determine whether the company that ran or ordered the report broke the law.
Elmiron Maculopathy Lawsuit. Lawsuits are now being filed on behalf of Elmiron patients who suffered permanent retinal injuries and seek to recover money for physical and mental anguish, medical expenses and more.
Attorneys are investigating whether consumers are being charged illegal and hidden fees on foreign payment card transactions. If so, they may be able to get a class action lawsuit started to help those affected.
A number of companies have been sued in California for failing to provide their workers with accurate wage statements. The lawsuits claim the paystubs were missing important information – such as the total number of hours worked and hourly pay rates – and that this violates state labor law.
A number of Amazon delivery drivers have sued the companies they work for, alleging that they’re not being paid properly.
Class action lawsuits have been filed alleging that Zantac exposes users to unsafe levels of a probable carcinogen and that the manufacturers knew about the risk but failed to disclose it.
Many banks and credit unions are only too well aware that they are the targets of an industry of plaintiff’s law firms. The latest wave of class actions targeting financial institutions is directed at institutions that impose multiple non-sufficient funds (“NSF”) charges on a single “item” and/or that assess overdraft ...
If confronted with a newly filed class action of this genre, associating defense counsel skilled with class action work is at least as important as retaining trial counsel who is well schooled in the vagaries of deposit operations law and regulations. Being able to beat, or at least credibly threaten the ability to defeat, the plaintiff-firm’s ability to carry the case forward as a class action can be as important as being able to prevail on the substantive banking law issues.
Again, the plaintiffs’ basic claim is that they were misled by the institution’s account terms or disclosures and that the imposition of an overdraft fee is consequently improper. Plaintiffs are also alleging that multiple overdraft fees are charged on a single transaction each time an item is processed for payment.
One of the predominant allegations made in these new class action lawsuits is that multiple NSF fees are charged on the same transaction, in violation of the institutions’ account terms. A complaint’s allegations often claim that the bank or credit union’s account agreement documents do not permit multiple NSF fees or that those agreement’s terms are too vague to allow the financial institution to rely upon its account rules as a defense. For example, financial institutions often respond to these complaints by seeking the dismissal of the lawsuit. Unfortunately, there are now a number of reported court rulings finding that the account terms are not so clear as to justify early dismissal, and often on the grounds that additional discovery is required.
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to grant its consent to such waiver terms when concluding that arbitration clauses in employment agreements were enforceable and could prevent workers from joining together in certain class actions.
Some years ago, our Blockchain and Banking Blog published an article discussing the advisability of including a class action waiver clause within the financial institution’s standard account agreement terms. That decision often turned on applicable state law (state laws addressing arbitration and/or class action waivers varies) and the individual financial institution’s business interest. Then later, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule limiting waivers of class action remedies for consumer customers and members. However, in 2017, the CFPB’s rule was blocked by Congress. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to grant its consent to such waiver terms when concluding that arbitration clauses in employment agreements were enforceable and could prevent workers from joining together in certain class actions. Consequently, in certain situations, class action waivers can deprive the current wave of litigation of its economic fuel.
The complexity of class action litigation is not something covered in banking school. However, it is undoubtedly a primary driver for this new wave of litigation. Plaintiff’s law firms recognize that an individual customer’s grievance, even if meritorious, is generally not an attractive business proposition. However, if that law firm can use a single aggrieved customer to sue on behalf of a large number of customers in the form of a class action lawsuit, then the case against a particular bank or credit union begins to make greater economic sense.
A class action lawsuit has been filed alleging some of the largest poultry processors have engaged in a wage-fixing scheme that has suppressed the pay of plant workers for years. If you worked in a poultry plant at any time since 2009, it’s possible that you were underpaid as a result of this alleged conspiracy.
If you had a problem with your credit report, attorneys working with ClassAction.org may be able to help. They're offering to review people's credit reports, free of charge, to help determine whether the company that ran or ordered the report broke the law.
Elmiron Maculopathy Lawsuit. Lawsuits are now being filed on behalf of Elmiron patients who suffered permanent retinal injuries and seek to recover money for physical and mental anguish, medical expenses and more.
Attorneys are investigating whether consumers are being charged illegal and hidden fees on foreign payment card transactions. If so, they may be able to get a class action lawsuit started to help those affected.
A number of companies have been sued in California for failing to provide their workers with accurate wage statements. The lawsuits claim the paystubs were missing important information – such as the total number of hours worked and hourly pay rates – and that this violates state labor law.
A number of Amazon delivery drivers have sued the companies they work for, alleging that they’re not being paid properly.
Class action lawsuits have been filed alleging that Zantac exposes users to unsafe levels of a probable carcinogen and that the manufacturers knew about the risk but failed to disclose it.