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.
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This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.
Bumble Bee Foods LLC will plead guilty to fixing prices for packaged tuna and pay a criminal fine of at least $25 million in the first charges to be filed against a corporation in the U.S. Department of Justice’s ongoing criminal antitrust investigation into the seafood industry, the DOJ said Monday, May 8, 2017.
A proposed class-action suit has been filed in Illinois federal court against online dating service conglomerate, Match Group Inc., accusing the company, through its website OkCupid.com, of fraudulently enticing subscribers to upgrade their profiles to a premium level.
A former Lyft driver has filed a proposed class action lawsuit in California federal court accusing Uber of spying on Lyft drivers’ locations with a secret software program referred to internally as “Hell.”
On April 13, 2017, students unhappy with the way their student loans were being handled filed a class action lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court against payment processing company Higher One Holdings Inc. and bank entities WEX Bank and Customers Bancorp.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. and its spinoff Halyard Health Inc. were hit with a $454 million jury verdict, which included $350 million in punitive damages in a class action alleging that their surgery gowns were passed off as essentially impermeable, but were actually very porous.
After five years of legal battles, a class action was certified on behalf of over 170,000 disgruntled British Airways frequent fliers in New York federal court on March 31, 2017.
Just in time for the start of the 2017 baseball season, a federal judge in California has certified a class action on behalf of thousands of disgruntled Minor League Baseball players who allege that they should be paid minimum wage and overtime.
On the April 11, 2017, BBC World News Program, the announcer told a reporter for the Atlantic that traditionally in the United States, if a group of consumers were being treated unfairly by a large corporation, it might result in a lawsuit.
A proposed class action filed in California federal court alleges that Uber’s upfront pricing model charges passengers a higher fare based on a longer route, but requires drivers to take the shortest route, allowing Uber to pocket the difference.
On April 6, 2017, the California Supreme Court unanimously held that an arbitration agreement that waives the right to public injunctive relief is contrary to California public policy and therefore is unenforceable under California law.
Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $110 million to resolve class actions that allege bank workers opened unauthorized accounts in customers’ names or enrolled them in the bank’s services without their consent.
Doctor’s Associates, Inc., doing business as Subway, has settled a putative class action with customers who allege the sandwich chain unlawfully printed full credit card expiration dates on receipts.
The final four manufacturers named as defendants in an antitrust class action involving lithium ion batteries have agreed to settle the remaining claims.
A few months ago, real estate company Redfin Corp. won a battle to get a proposed class action transferred to arbitration.
Electronics companies Pioneer and Philips (“PLDS”) will pay a combined $50.5 million in another settlement with consumers in a class action alleging an industry-wide price-fixing scheme over optical disk drives.
An Alabama federal judge has certified two subclasses of patients who accuse a hospital of negligence and breach of contract for its failure to prevent and minimize the impact of a former worker’s theft of their personal information.
Recently, the Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a bill intended to make it more difficult to bring class actions.
Dan Karon, one of the leaders of the ABA Class Action Committee, has authored an article that explains how the proposed class action bill, H.B. 985, will hurt businesses that supporters of the legislation contend the bill is designed to assist.
According to a motion for preliminary approval, Google Inc. has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of advertisers who claim the tech giant placed their purchased ads on unused or inactive websites. The lawsuit was filed in 2008.
Stoll Berne recently obtained a final judgment in a long running class action case brought on behalf of children with autism against Providence Health Plan (“Providence”).
