A shareholder class action complaint has been filed against Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (NYSE: VSI) alleging the company issued materially false and misleading information regarding its operations, business trends and same-store sales trends. The class action lawsuit was filed in New Jersey federal court on behalf of purchasers of Vitamin Shoppe between May 8, 2012 and February 25, 2013. Read more…
Class Actions Blog
Vitamin Shoppe sued in securities fraud class action
Kellogg settles mislabeling class action for Frosted Mini-Wheats
California federal judge Irma E. Gonzalez approved The Kellogg Company’s revised $4 million class action lawsuit settlement concerning alleged false advertising of the cognitive benefits of its Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal. Previously, the Ninth Circuit rejected a $10 million settlement deal.
The prior settlement would have provided $5.5 million in food to charities that feed the indigent, but it was denied in July 2012 based on the cy pres doctrine governing the distribution of unclaimed funds. Cy pres requires an “as near as possible” connection between the settlement beneficiaries and the claims at issue. Read more…
Skechers obtains final approval of $40 million class action settlement
A federal judge approved a $40 million class action settlement Monday between Skechers USA Inc. and consumers who bought toning shoes after ads made unfounded claims that the footwear would help people lose weight and strengthen muscles. U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell in Louisville approved the deal, which covers more than 520,000 claims. About 1,000 people eligible for coverage by the settlement opted not to take part.
Those with approved claims will be able to get a maximum repayment for their purchase — up to $80 per pair of Shape-Ups; $84 per pair of Resistance Runner shoes; up to $54 per pair of Podded Sole Shoes; and $40 per pair of Tone-Ups. Russell also awarded $5 million for the attorneys in the case to split. Russell ordered that the money cannot come from the $40 million settlement fund set aside for consumers. Read more…
Fannie Mae and KPMG settle securities fraud class action
Two of Ohio’s largest public retirement systems are getting part of a $153 million settlement from Fannie Mae and its former auditor KPMG over claims it misled investors more than a decade ago. The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio served as lead plaintiffs in the classaction lawsuit accusing the companies of publicly issuing false and misleading financial reports that inflated the price of Fannie Mae’s securities. The settlement must be approved by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Read more…
JPMorgan to obtain identities of confidential witnesses in securities class action
JPMorgan Chase & Co has won a court order requiring plaintiffs’ lawyers pursuing a securities fraud lawsuit against it to disclose the identities of witnesses sourced anonymously in the complaint. The order on Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis in Manhattan added to the growing list of cases in which judges have allowed defendants to probe unnamed “confidential witnesses” used to support investor class action claims.
Filed in 2009, the lawsuit against the bank is one of a series of lawsuits by investors in mortgage-backed securities that went sour during the housing meltdown and 2008 financial crisis. Tuesday’s order came a week after U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the disclosure of the names of nine witnesses cited in a securities fraud lawsuit against Aeropostale Inc. Read more…
Wet Seal pays $7.5 million to settle discrimination claims
Wet Seal will pay $7.5 million to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit that accused the teen retailer of firing black employees to present a blond-and-blue-eyed front in its stores, according to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
The firm represented plaintiffs in a national class action filed against the struggling Foothill Ranch company in July in federal court in Santa Ana.
The lawsuit alleged that former top Wet Seal executives denied equal pay and promotion opportunities to black store managers or removed them outright, replacing them with white employees. Read more…
