Officials at luxury-home builder Toll Brothers Inc. have agreed to pay $16.2 million to settle claims that they misled shareholders about the company’s future prospects while reaping $615 million from sales of the company’s stock.

The settlement was filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court. If approved, it would resolve claims that several Toll Brothers directors — including co-founders Robert and Bruce Toll — went to great lengths to convince investors that the company was uniquely positioned to weather a downturn in the housing market according to a 2008 lawsuit filed by Toll Brother shareholder Milton Pfeiffer. Read more…

A California federal judge refused to nix a group of retailers’ price-fixing claims against a slew of electronics makers in the liquid crystal display panel multidistrict litigation, deciding the indirect purchaser plaintiffs aren’t barred by the US Supreme Court Illinois Brick or the Ninth Circuit’s ATM fee ruling from seeking antitrust damages.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston denied two motions for partial summary judgment filed by Toshiba Corp., LG Display Co. Ltd., AU Optronics Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and 10 other LCD makers, saying the Illinois Brick ruling and Ninth Circuit’s ATM fee ruling did not do away with the exception that indirect purchasers can bring Sherman Act Antitrust claims if there is a conspiracy or ownership ties between the manufacturers and the direct purchasers, which was a question of fact in those cases.

A federal court has agreed to certify a class of California consumers alleg­edly misled by representations that AriZona Iced Tea® is “Natural” because it contains the processed, man-made ingredients high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and citric acid. Ries v. Arizona Beverages USA LLC, No. 10-01139 RS (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Cal., San Francisco Div., order entered November 27, 2012). But the court granted the certification motion “for the purpose of injunctive and declaratory relief only” thus foreclosing the recovery of “monetary damages, including restitution, refund, reimbursement and disgorgement.” Read more…