Subscribers of DirecTV that were assessed fees ranging from $100 to $500 for the early cancellation of their service filed a class action against DirecTV. The class action lawsuit alleges that these fees were illegal because DirecTV failed to inform subscribers that they were under any contractual obligation to maintain service for a given period of time (usually 18 months to two years) when they signed up for the service. Read more…
Class Actions Blog
Wal-Mart antitrust class action settlement gets preliminary okay
Wal-Mart recently surged into third place in the movie-download business, barely a year after buying the startup Vudu. Now, the giant internet retailer may have scored another coup.
A new court ruling gives Wal-Mart a major boost in its effort to muscle in on Netflix’s streaming subscribers. A federal court in California late last week approved a class-action settlement that requires Wal-Mart to pay out $27.5 million. But here’s the key element of the ruling: Wal-Mart will be allowed to pay the 40 million Netflix subscribers in the form of gift cards for Wal-Mart.com — where there is prominent advertising for Vudu, which rents and sells movies a la carte. Read more…
Bank of America – Countrywide suit removed to Federal Court
There is never a dull moment in Bank of America’s attempt to resolve its Countrywide mortgage-backed securities liability. In a stunning move on August 26, the law firm leading the fight against Bank of America’s proposed $8.5 billion settlement with Countrywide MBS noteholders removed the case from New York State Supreme Court to federal court. “The purpose of removal is to make sure that this proceeding is adjudicated in the proper forum, ” Grais & Ellsworth wrote in a letter to lawyers for Bank of New York Mellon (the Countrywide MBS trustee) and for the big institutional investors who crafted the proposed settlement. “We believe in good faith that this proceeding is subject to federal jurisdiction as a mass action under the Class Action Fairness Act.”
The removal to federal court plunges the proposed settlement, at least temporarily, into more uncertainty than ever. Judge Barbara Kapnick, who is presiding over the unusual state court proceeding to evaluate the proposed deal, had imposed an August 30th deadline for Countrywide MBS investors to intervene in the case. She had also established a preliminary schedule for the discovery Grais & Ellsworth and other objectors’ counsel have demanded from BNY Mellon, BofA, and the institutional investors and their Gibbs & Bruns counsel. The removal to federal court means that Judge Kapnick isn’t in charge of the case, so it’s not clear whether lawyers are required to abide by her schedule. Read more…
Third Circuit affirms certification of Antitrust Class Action; Hydrogen Peroxide requirements held to be satisfied
In Behrend v. Comcast Corp., No. 10-2865, 2011 WL 3678805 (3d Cir. Aug. 23, 2011), the Third Circuit has shown that the “thorough examination of the factual and legal allegations” required under In re Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litigation, 552 F.3d 305, 317 (3d Cir. 2008), does not preclude class certification of antitrust claims if plaintiffs present sufficient evidence that antitrust impact and damages are susceptible of common, not individualized proof. Plaintiffs in Behrend alleged that Comcast engaged in acquisitions and “swaps” of Philadelphia-area cable TV customers, deterring potential competitors from “overbuilding” Comcast’s territories and leaving it the sole provider. Plaintiffs offered expert testimony on class certification that this enabled Comcast to charge supracompetitive prices across the region, and also described a model to estimate the damages the class members allegedly sustained. Read more…
Cigarette smokers lose unjust enrichment class action against Philip Morris
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed against Philip Morris, Incorporated (“Philip Morris”) and several other tobacco companies and tobacco-related entities (“defendants”) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. (The case is entitled Brian Cleary et al v. Phillip Morris Incorporated et al, Class Action Case No. 09-CV-1596). The suit was brought on behalf of Illinois residents who bought or smoked cigarettes. The complaint alleged that for years the tobacco companies conspired to conceal the facts about the addictive and dangerous nature of cigarettes by intentionally using incomplete, misleading, or untruthful marketing and advertising.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s holding in the Philip Morris Tobacco smoke class action lawsuit that the unjust enrichment claim, as alleged by the plaintiffs, was not viable since a violation of the consumer’s legal right to know about a product’s risks, without anything more, cannot support an unjust enrichment claim against the product’s manufacturer.
Ameriprise Financial: Court approves class action settlement
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. obtained final court approval of a class action settlement. In July 2009, two issuers of private placement interests (Medical Capital Holdings, Inc./Medical Capital Corporation and affiliated corporations, and Provident Shale Royalties, LLC and affiliated corporations) sold by Ameriprise’s subsidiary, Securities America, Inc., were the subject of SEC actions (brought against those entities and individuals associated with them.) That resulted in the filing of several class action lawsuits naming both Securities America, Inc. and Ameriprise Financial. There were also regulatory inquiries. Read more…
