Consumer Advocate Legal Update : Class Action Lawyers & Attorneys : Khorrami Pollard & Abir Law Firm : Mass Torts, Products Liability

Last week, Wal-Mart settled a lawsuit with millions of current and former customers of Netflix for illegally colluding with Netflix to stay out of each other’s markets. Wal-Mart agreed to back out of offering DVD rentals by mail, and Netflix agreed to endorse Wal-Mart’s DVD sales. A group of Netflix customers filed suit against Wal-Mart and Netflix over the deal, alleging illegal collusion. Collusion is an agreement to limit competition in a market, which has the effect of guaranteeing larger market shares and keeping prices high in that market. Many, but not all, of these agreements are illegal under U.S. antitrust laws.

Wal-Mart has agreed to settle the lawsuit, but Netflix is continuing to fight. There is a website online for more details of the settlement here: https://onlinedvdclass.com/. Current and former customers of Netflix who paid a subscription between May 19, 2005 and September 2, 2011 can file a claim here: https://onlinedvdclass.com/ClaimForm.aspx.

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 On Tuesday, a D.C. federal judge preliminarily approved a $12 million settlement against National City Bank. Back in February, a class action suit was filed against National City Bank alleging that the bank engaged in unlawful and deceptive practices by improperly charging customers overdraft fees on debit card transactions. The plaintiffs claimed that the bank reordered electronic debit transactions from highest to lowest in order to deplete the account funds quickly while still maximizing the number of overdraft fees collected. 

The $12 million settlement allegedly represents 17% to 24% of what the plaintiffs would expect to get at trial. Settlement class members would receive $36 for each eligible overdraft fee incurred during a two month period. One objector complained that limiting the recovery period to two months would insufficiently compensate class members who released their claims for overdraft fees over a six-year period. Judge John Bates said that restricting the recovery to two months prevents “chronic overdrafters … from being unjustly rewarded for their behavior” and added that the two months need not be consecutive. 

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New interesting articles and legal updates:

Product Liability Blog - FDA to Crack Down on Dietary Supplements, - Antibacterial Soap Can Hurt You, - Drop-Side Cribs Finally Banned.

Food & Drug Safety Blog - Dannon to Settle Complaint over Yogurt Ad, - Minnesota Man Awarded 1.7 Million in Levaquin Trial

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After more than two years of litigation, Sonali Kolhatkar et al v. Jane Arellano et al, SACV07-1394-DOC (RNBx), comes to an end, as the Plaintiffs have reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Filed in August 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, this class action served to be the first of its kind, as it aimed to bring an end to the often prolonged and indeterminate naturalization process of immigrants. Specifically, the Class Complaint alleged that the 2002 institution of FBI name checks to the naturalization process resulted in indefinite delays, with measurable effects on legal permanent residents awaiting adjudication.  As a direct result of such delays, Plaintiffs alleged that the federal government was not only effectuating considerable damage to Plaintiff, but that they were also defying laws which mandate the processing of citizenship applications within six months of submission.   See 8 U.S.C. §1571 (b). 

The terms of the settlement require USCIS to finally adjudicate the hundreds of pending citizenship applications from the greater Los Angeles area. Particularly, USCIS has agreed to ensure the processing of such applications from the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Bernardino areas within six months. Plaintiffs’ Counsel have essentially secured this process will be timely by mandating access to the relevant data used by the Federal government and auditing their progress.  In doing so, the immigration backlog, which has prevented many legal residents from enjoying the benefits of citizenship, will finally meet its end.

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