Class Action Podcast

sebrenner April 4th, 2007

William Lerach of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, more famous for shareholder lawsuits, has filed two Rule 23 class actions against Menu Foods, Inc. One suit in California and the other in Florida.

The suit alleges Menu Foods, Inc., “after receiving numerous complaints from concerned customers, Menu Foods belatedly recalled the toxic [pet] food.” However in a March 16, 2007 statement the FDA reports, “There has been a small number of reported instances of cats and dogs in the United States (none in Canada) becoming sick.”

Lerach’s states:

As of March 27, members of a Web site for U.S. veterinarians had reported at least 471 cases of kidney failure among pets in the previous 10 days. Experts and veterinary organizations estimate the final death toll could exceed 10,000.

The FDA suspects the toxicity and the subsequent complaints stem from melamine contamination of the pet food.

Melamine is a strong organic base used in the production of plastics and fertilizer. The FDA, in March 2007, found melamine in the recalled pet food. The suspected source of the melamine, was wheat gluten imported from China used in the production of the pet food. Menu Foods has stated they concur with this theory.

The class action is praying for a mutli-million dollar fund (of course, otherwise it would be worth the attorney’s time) to compensate grieving pet owners.

A complete list of affected pet foods is available at http://www.menufoods.com/recall/.

The original press release from Lerach is available.

If you are concerned you may have been affected by the contamination you can join the class action by joining PoisonedPetFood@lerachlaw.com.

Technorati Tags: FDA, Food, Lerach

Tags: dog food lerach menu foods

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sebrenner February 4th, 2007

William Lerach, head of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP announced a class action lawsuit against Dell Inc. The suit, filed by shareholders, alleges Dell inflated financial results, concealed negative information from shareholders, and accepted $250 million in rebates and kickbacks from Intel Corp. The suit alleges Intel’s payments ensured exclusive use of Intel chips in Dell computers.

Meetings discussing the rebate program were small and held behind closed doors.

The class action also names Michael Dell, Intel Corp, PricewaterhouseCoopers and recently departed former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins as defendants.

Lerach, an attorney specializing in securities fraud, has made such a name for himself that “leraching” is now an eponymous verb describing aggressive shareholder suits.

Parties interested in this suit can learn more at http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/dellinc/

Via Reuters.

Update: MarketWatch reports the suit also alleges widespread insider trading by Mr. Dell, Mr. Rolins and other high ranking members of Dell’s leadership team.

Technorati Tags: Dell, Lerach, Securities

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sebrenner June 14th, 2006

Vonage (VG), unlike most companies, made room for its customers in its recent IPO. Unfortunately the stock crashed after the public offering. It opened on June 8th at about $12 even though the offering price was $17. Today, about a week later, it is trading around $10- an big drop.

Now many investors, especially the customers who may not have been very astute investors, are filing law suits left and right. The law firms s of Stull, Stull & Brody; Spector, Roseman & Kodroff; and Schiffrin & Barroway have each filed actions against Vonage on behalf of

investors.

The day the stock opened my buddy called complaining he forgot to get in on the customer offer. Now he feels pretty smart.

Stull, Stull, & Brody Announces Class Action Against Vonage Holdings Corporation%3A Financial News - Yahoo%21 Finance

Tags: Roseman & Kodroff Stull, Stull & Brody, vonage ipo Schiffrin & Barroway Spector

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sebrenner March 19th, 2006

KinderStart’s traffic dropped 70% when they were dropped from Google’s search results.

Now the US based KinderStart is seeking class action status for a suit alleging Google’s search/indexing technique are anti competitive and infringe KinderStart’s free speech rights.

This suit will be an interesting test of Google’s ability to control what site’s it includes and what sites it excludes. If Google loses I suspect there will no limit to the number of sites that think they should be number one in Google’s results.

I did a quick google search for “kinderstart” and a UK based company was listed first the plaintiff’s site was not listed in the first few results. A Yahoo search for “kinderstart” listed the plaintiff’s site first.

This brouhaha hasn’t dissuaded KinderStart from running prominent Google AdWord Ads at the site.

I wonder what KinderStart did you get kicked out?

Via: AP Wire | 03/17/2006 | Web site files complaint against Google

Tags: kindestart seo google

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sebrenner January 20th, 2006

Matthew Enderlin of Arkansas is seeking class action status in a suit alleging XM Satellite Radio falsely clams to be “commercial-free.” The suit claims XM Satellite

Mr. Enderlin is represented by S. Gene Cauley, managing partner of the Little Rock law firm Cauley Bowman Carney & Williams.

The case faces two obstacle- who qualifies for the class and what does “commercial-free” mean. Mr. Enderlin is suing under

Mr. Cauley and his law firm are quite busy with class actions. Over twenty class actions they are party to are listed on their site and include many big name companies. If you think you are only a class action law suit away from retirement you might contact Cauley Bowman Carney & Williams.

XM Satellite Radio not commercial free, suit says - Business - The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper:

Tags: XM Satellite Radio Advertising Commercial-Free Enderlin

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sebrenner January 20th, 2006

Instaloans Financial Solution Centres, of Canada is alleged to have charged over 60% interest on payday loans. Wow!

Edmonton lawyer Graham McLennan, who represented Instaloans, said the company couldn’t run a business charging 60 per cent.

‘It’s just ridiculous to suggest that,” he told The Chronicle-Journal Thursday.

McLennan said one out of every five customers defaults on their loan.

From this brief quote it is hard to determine if McLennan believes 60% is too low or too high.

According to the Chronicle Journal payday lenders change transaction fees to increase the effective interest rate above 60%.

For an more libertarian view of usury read Mises.org.

Expect more suits related to payday loan centers and to bank fees in general.

Tags: pay day loan usury Instaloans Financial Solution Centre

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sebrenner December 28th, 2005

Washington state Lane Bryant employees sue Charming Shoppes alleging company policy requiring employees to wear Lane Bryant brand clothing at work violates a state statute.

Attorneys with the firm of Connor & Chung, which filed a similar lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch two years ago, are asking that the case be certified as a class-action lawsuit and are seeking reimbursement for employees who have worked at any of the named Charming Shoppes stores since February 2002.

via: Seattle Times

Tags: clothing Lane Bryant employees Charming Shoppes Connor

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sebrenner December 26th, 2005

Instaloans Financial Solution Centres, of Canada is alleged to have charged over 60% interest on payday loans. Wow!

Edmonton lawyer Graham McLennan, who represented Instaloans, said the company couldn’t run a business charging 60 per cent.

‘It’s just ridiculous to suggest that,” he told The Chronicle-Journal Thursday.

McLennan said one out of every five customers defaults on their loan.

From this brief quote it is hard to determine if McLennan believes 60% is too low or too high.

According to the Chronicle Journal payday lenders change transaction fees to increase the effective interest rate above 60%.

For an more libertarian view of usury read Mises.org.

Expect more suits related to payday loan centers and to bank fees in general.

Tags: pay day loan usury Instaloans Financial Solution Centre

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sebrenner December 21st, 2005

Nash Finch, a Fortune 500 Food Distributor, is the defendent in a class action filed by law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP of New York on behalf of investors who purchsed Nash Finch stock between February and October of 2005.

As with most class actions brought by investors the suit alleges the management, Ron Marshall (CEO), and Le Anne M. Stewart (CFO and Senior Vice President), made false and misleading statements related to finances. In this case the defendents are alleged to have mislead the market with overly optimistic statements regarding the recent acquisition of Roundy’s Distribution Center. Compoung the investor’s ire the defendents are alleged to have engaged

in the fraudulent and wrongful conduct to sell more than $300 million in notes in a private placement and in order for Company insiders, including defendant Marshall, to sell more than $17 million of their privately-held Nash Finch shares while in possession of material adverse non-public information about the Company.

Milberg Weiss is currently looking for a lead plaintiff in this case.

Milberg Weiss | Case Information | Nash Finch Co. Via: Businesswire.com

Tags: Nash Finch Milberg Weiss Bershad Schulman Ron Marshall

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sebrenner December 21st, 2005

The plaintiffs in a class action suit filed against FEMA were handed a resounding victory by Judge Duval of the Eastern District of Louisiana. Duval ordered FEMA, “must pay the hotel bills of hurricane evacuees until Feb. 7.

FEMA’s bill for Katrina related hotel expenses already top $350 million. I can’t help but suspect the hotel and hospitality industry may be supporting the plaintiffs in this matter.

Judge Orders an Extension of FEMA Aid - New York Times

Tags: fema hurricane disaster nytimes katrina lousiana nola n

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