Category: Class Action

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Bank of America for its role in the widespread fraud involving California Employment Development Department (EDD) debit cards provided by the bank to people getting unemployment benefits. According to a CBS San Francisco news report, the lawsuit lists a number of failings by Bank of America saying that the suit is a wakeup call for the bank, and that the problems could have been foreseen. …Read the rest »

Trek Bicycle is being sued for about $5 million by a consumer who says the company is making misleading claims that its Bontrager WaveCel helmets are safer than other brands. According to a news report, the lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that the WaveCel helmet technology was touted by the defendant as the most significant advancement in cycling in the last 30 years when it was released in early 2019. …Read the rest »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting pet owners about high levels of aflatoxin in some pet foods after 28 dogs reportedly died from the toxin and eight others became sick. According to a CNN news report, the pet food containing the toxin has been identified as certain Sportmix products manufactured by Midwestern Pet Foods. The company has voluntarily recalled these products. …Read the rest »

A class action lawsuit filed by a Chevy Bolt owner in California says that a battery recall over fire hazards was issued too late by General Motors and does too little. According to a report on Car Complaints, the Bolt battery recall only offers an interim repair that will cause cars to lose 10% of their mileage range. The lawsuit also alleges that GM held off on a formal recall even though the batteries are unsafe and unable to be fully charged without catching fire. …Read the rest »

A judge in California has signed off on a $4.5 million settlement in a 2018 class action lawsuit, which alleged that Walgreens failed to pay non-exempt workers at a distribution center for the time that was spent in pre-and post-shift security checks. The lawsuit stated that the company essentially rounded downtime on employees’ timecards and failed to pay premium wages to employees who were denied rest breaks required under California law. About 2,600 workers will split the net settlement of $2.8 million. Each individual participant in this class-action lawsuit will receive about $1,200. …Read the rest »

The University of California system would pay $73 million under a proposed settlement reached in a class action lawsuit filed by seven women who accused their former gynecologist at UCLA of sexual abuse, the Los Angeles Times reports. The gynecologist, 67-year-old James Heaps, who is criminally charged with sexually abusing seven patients – not the same seven who are involved in the class action – is accused in the civil litigation of sexual assault and sexual misconduct between 1983 and 2019 when he was at the UCLA student health center as well as the UCLA Medical Center. …Read the rest »

California’s restaurants that have been financially battered by the coronavirus pandemic have filed government claims to recover more than $100 million in fees for liquor and health permits and tourism charges that they say were assessed even though their businesses were closed or only partially operating due to COVID-19 restrictions. …Read the rest »

As indoor dining still remains unavailable in many parts of California, it makes good sense to get dinner delivered or to go. But, as a consumer, you may want to think twice about using your credit or debit card at a restaurant because this is apparently a busy time for hackers as well. Restaurants are perfect targets for cyber attacks because of the sheer number of credit cards that go through their systems each day. Now, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, which has a number of restaurants in Southern and Northern California has been targeted by cybercriminals in a data breach, leaving millions of customer credit cards exposed. …Read the rest »

The state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), which oversees workplace safety, has slapped Amazon with $1,870 in fines for coronavirus-related safety violations. The Los Angeles Times reports that over the course of several months beginning in May, investigators with the agency found that two Amazon warehouses in Southern California – one in Eastvale and one in Hawthorne – failed to mitigate workers’ potential exposure to the novel coronavirus because they failed to provide effective safety training to employees. …Read the rest »

Cincinnati Financial Corp. is facing a number of business interruption coverage lawsuits due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Biz Journals, the insurer, like many others across the country, has been sued by companies that have purchased policies and have been diligently paying premiums over the years. They claim they suffered business losses when the pandemic led to forced business shutdowns. Insurance companies have argued that their policies cover physical damage to businesses and that COVID-19 has not resulted in physical damage. …Read the rest »