Steve Larson has been representing investors, consumers and employees in class actions in Oregon for over 20 years. He is a shareholder at the law firm of Stoll Berne in Portland, Oregon.
See Steve’s Full Bio
This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.
A class action was certified in federal court in California against Procter & Gamble on behalf of customers who allege that the company’s “flushable” wet wipes weren’t actually flushable.
A federal judge in Ohio ruled that a certified class of nearly 7,000 insurance agents were misclassified as independent contractors by American Family Insurance Co. and are in fact employees under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
The Economic Policy Institute just released a fact sheet debunking industry claims that consumers recover more money in arbitration than class actions.
On July 20, 2017, Congressional Republicans began a process to attempt to eliminate a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that stops companies from putting class action bans in their arbitration clauses and makes it easier for consumers to sue banks, credit card firms, payday lenders and other service providers in court.
Ruby Life, Inc., the parent company of online dating website Ashley Madison, reached an $11.2 million deal to resolve a class action in which users alleged that Ashley Madison had failed to use proper care to secure their personal information after a data breach allegedly disclosed information regarding 37 million users.
Paul Bland has written an excellent article in The Hill that reviews the background behind the publication of the new CFPB rule banning mandatory arbitration, and addresses the merits and criticisms of the new rule.
On July 10, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a new rule to ban companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses to deny groups of people their day in court.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman upheld a magistrate judge’s recommendation to deny in-part and grant in-part motions to dismiss filed by Sidley Austin LLP, Deloitte & Touche, Tonkon Torp, TD Ameritrade, EisnerAmper and Integrity Bank in a proposed class action case alleging that the defendants violated the Oregon Securities Law by participating and aiding in sales of securities totaling in excess of $650 million.
The Second Circuit affirmed a district court ruling finding that Foot Locker owes an estimated $100 million-plus in benefits to a class of about 16,000 workers whose retirement benefits it cut.
Anthem Inc. has agreed to a negotiated settlement valued at $115 million to end class action litigation over a massive data breach.
On June 20, 2017, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial judge’s dismissal of a putative class action case finding that a pick-off attempt was unsuccessful.
The Department of Justice announced on June 16, 2017 that it will switch sides in a Supreme Court case, dropping its previous support for workers to throw its weight behind management.
A participant has filed suit claiming that a stable value fund provider “improperly exercised its discretionary authority to maximize its own compensation and retain large profits rather than crediting the participants and beneficiaries of the plans with appropriate returns.”
Former shareholders of Rentrak Corp. sued the company and its directors in Oregon state court over a now-completed merger with comScore Inc.
Spotify has agreed to pay $43 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the streaming service failed to pay proper royalties to thousands of songwriters.
On April 26, 2017, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that it had detected a breach of the system it uses to process customers’ payment card information.
Lawyers for automobile purchasers asked a Michigan federal judge to approve a proposed $7.6 million deal to settle claims in multidistrict litigation that an automotive bearings supplier and its Swedish affiliates participated in a price-fixing scheme with manufacturers in the U.S., Japan and Germany.
CBS News recently published an article on how forced arbitration harms consumers.
On May 4, 2017, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken approved a $13.5 million settlement between drugstore giant Duane Reade and a class of assistant store managers who claim that the defendant did not pay them proper overtime wages.
J.C. Penney agreed to pay $97.5 million and make other concessions to a class of investors who had accused the retailer of lying about its financial health.
