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Jersey Shore Bar Caught in Vodka Switch Scam

December 13th, 2011. By AbiK

Is it any wonder that New Jersey gets the rap it does—surely you saw the “revised” map of NJ that was going viral last week—when there are consumer fraud stories like this to report? Full disclosure: this is being penned in “Christie Country”, per the new map.

Our focus, however, for this gem is Brigantine, NJ—just north of Atlantic City.

It seems that the Laguna Grill and Martini Bar there had been serving up lower than top-shelf vodka in top-shelf vodka bottles. So, for example, maybe the label being poured was “Stoli” but the vodka hitting the glass was Popov. Or in this case, Burnett’s or Absolut. It’s a higher stakes version of the put-Catsup-in-a-Heinz-bottle scam that’s been the ruin of many a fine french-fry order.

Here’s the thing that makes this a stereotypically Jersey story. See, it’s not like any self-respecting bar-frequenting martini drinker has never heard of such a practice—that can happen anywhere. And, in a heavily trafficked bar such a thing can be mitigated by asking for a new bottle—it won’t go to waste, after all. So no—the fact that a vodka scam like this was going on is not, in and of itself, a Joisey moment. That honor is derived from the fact that these fools got caught—and caught badly!

If you’re going to scam straight-up vodka or vodka-based martini drinkers, you need to be a few steps ahead of them. And for heaven’s sake, don’t take your cues from Hansel and Gretel and leave a blatant trail—the object is to NOT be found.

According to CourierPostOline.com, not only did investigators—who searched the premises of Laguna Grill after a few tips—find a “large red funnel” in the bar storage area, but—and this is key—there was also a cardboard sign posted telling bar staff to save the empty bottles of top-shelf vodka brand.

That perhaps would’ve been enough of a trail to make investigators raise an eyebrow–but this gets better.

On the heels of denying any allegations of scamming customers with cheap vodka, Prudenzia “Maria” Pullella (backstory: she’s the bar manager, and the bar is owned by Dominic “Tony” Pullella, who happens to be a Brigantine Councilman—can’t make this sh*t up!)—another little discovery was made.

A little accounts receivable tracking revealed that, gee whiz, more top-shelf vodka was being sold than was being purchased! How could that be?

And so, Maria Pullella had a bit of egg on her face as the jig—jigger?—was up.

And now it’s penalty time. The beachfront Laguna Grill and Martini Bar will close for a seven-day period in the summer (high season! cha-ching!) and will also fork over a $23,000 fine. That’s a lot of vodka—top-shelf or not.

Tags: Brigantine NJ, Consumer Fraud, Laguna Grill and Martini Bar, Maria Pullella, Vodka Scam
Posted in Consumer Fraud | 9197No Comments »2011-12-13+22%3A27%3A55AbiK

Yaz Scandal? Doc’s Accusations v. Bayer Unsealed, Revealed

December 7th, 2011. By AbiK

Admittedly, it lacks the titillating quality of Warren Commission Report—but it could, in its own right, be linked to what some plaintiffs would likely describe as murder, and also conspiracy theory.

Earlier this week, expert opinion regarding Yaz birth control was unsealed in a federal court in Illinois. The expert opinion was in the form of a 196-page document written by Dr. David Kessler.

What’s interesting—or take your pick of adjectives here: damning, alarming, scandalous—is that Dr. Kessler’s report point-blank accuses Bayer of hiding critical data regarding Yaz’ blood clot link (the basis for numerous Yaz lawsuits right now).

According to Kessler’s conclusion, “By failing to disclose all thromoembolic event risk information and marketing Yaz and Yasmin off-label, Bayer needlessly exposed large numbers of women to risks of serious or fatal thromboembolic events.”

Kessler’s accusation of failure to disclose comes as a result of his claim that, in 2004, Bayer wrote a white paper draft—the white paper being what would ultimately be submitted to the FDA for review—that initially stated that Yasmin had a “several-fold” increase in DVT (deep vein thrombosis), pulmonary embolism and VTE (venous thromboembolism) when compared with three other commonly used birth control pills.

That was the draft version.

The version that Kessler states was submitted, according to Medpage Today, said, “The spontaneous reporting data do NOT signal a difference in VTE rates for Yasmin and other [oral contraceptive] uses. We see NO signal of a difference.”

Key to those edits, according to Kessler’s accusations, is that there was no additional data presented by Bayer to support the 180-degree turnaround in their conclusion.

According to MedPage, Kessler went on to state “…that Bayer presented a selective view of the data, and that presentation obscured the potential risks associated with Yasmin.”

Compounding this is Kessler’s assertion that Bayer extensively marketed Yaz off-label for PMS—for which Bayer did get a wrist-slap fine—but the aggressive marketing, it’s alleged, exposed a greater number of women to the potential risks of the drug.

The unsealing of the Kessler report comes mere days before the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee is to meet. Their agenda: the risks and benefits of oral contraceptives that contain drospirenone (including Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella, Safyral). LawyersndSettlements.com has reported extensively on drospirenone-based birth control and its link to DVT and VTE.

Is a new warning label in the offing? Stay tuned.

Tags: Adverse Events, Bayer, Dr David Kessler, Drospirenone, DVT, FDA, VTE, Warning Label, Yasmin, Yaz, Yaz lawsuit, Yaz side effects
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues, lawsuits, Personal Injury | 9166No Comments »2011-12-07+15%3A13%3A50AbiK

Matco Tools, TD Bank Franchise Class Action Lawsuit: Something Screwy?

December 6th, 2011. By AbiK

Here’s a scenario: it’s 2008. You’ve lost your job. The economy sucks. Jobs are few. You’d love to be in business for yourself—if only the right opportunity were there. And there it is—bingo! A Matco Tools franchise!

Franchising has always had its allure—just invest upfront, play by the rules, and watch the money roll in. Sounds like a no-brainer. Assuming the franchise is a successful one.

And therein lies the rub of the Matco Tools class action lawsuit that’s been filed. TD Bank’s also in on this one—as a defendant.

The lawsuit, filed by David Villano III and his father, David Villano, Jr., alleges that Matco Tools and TD Bank (Commerce Bank at the time—TD Bank has since acquired Commerce) conspired to make Matco Tools franchise opportunities appear a bit rosier than perhaps they really are. The idea, the lawsuit claims, was that by inflating the appearance of Matco’s annual performance projections, lenders would approve small business loans, allowing the sale of the franchise to the franchisee.

Only thing was, the class action lawsuit claims, that the soon-to-be-franchisees weren’t shown those inflated projections—and so they received their loans and set off to start what they thought was a viable business. Hell, if the bank loaned the money, it must be viable, right? However, according to the lawsuit, that business was destined to fail and the money never should’ve been lent in the first place. Financial fraud? Where have we heard that before…?

According to an article that ran in the New York Post a while back, loans to Matco franchisees had a default rate of 37 percent in 2004. That compares to an eleven-year average Small Business Administration (SBA) loan default rate of 11.64% according to a study done by the Coleman Report. Something seem a bit screwy? (forgive the tool pun…)

Ahh, but you ask, wouldn’t the bank have raised a red flag or denied the loan? Well, here’s the thing—small business loans are granted by SBA-approved lenders who in turn receive an SBA guarantee on the loan in the event of default. Bottom line: if the loan then defaults, the lending bank can recoup its losses up to the amount of the SBA guarantee. Not a bad deal, eh?

And for Matco, the allegations would mean they could simply re-sell the franchise once the initial franchisee defaulted.

So, the bank would allegedly reap the interest paid on the loan prior to default—with minimal risk, and Matco would allegedly get to basically flip its franchises.

And, if you’re one of those franchisees caught in the middle of it all, that just might make you flippin’ mad.

So franchise, business and estate attorneys Marks & Klein are representing the plaintiffs, and the class action has been filed. Stay tuned.

Tags: Commerce Bank, Matco Tools Class Action Lawsuit, Matco Tools Franchise, TD Bank
Posted in Class Action, Emerging Issues, Financial, lawsuits | 91516 Comments »2011-12-06+18%3A48%3A01AbiK

LawyersandSettlements.com on Best of the Web

December 2nd, 2011. By AbiK

As we enter the holiday season and anticipate celebrations with family and friends, we also—sadly—are reminded every day of things like shopping scams, defective products, toys with lead in them—the list goes on—that attempt to tarnish everyone’s holiday spirit.

That’s why we’re dedicated to ensuring our readers have the latest legal news—emerging issues, recalls, lawsuits filed, settlement announcements—in order to make informed decisions about whatever issues they may be facing that may require legal help.

We’re proud of our 10+ years of reporting on the legal issues that can, and do, affect each of us every day—and we continue to be proud of our A+ BBB rating.

It’s in that spirit that we’re also proud to announce our inclusion in the Best of the Web directory. We’re in some pretty good company as part of the Best of the Web directory, and we’re honored to be listed among such revered sites.

Thanks to all our readers—you’re the reason we continue to strive to deliver the “best legal news you can use”.

Tags: BBB, Best of the Web Directory, lawyersandsettlements.com, Legal News
Posted in Complaints/Comments, lawsuits, Settlement | 9137No Comments »2011-12-02+19%3A59%3A21AbiK

Are you Gay Enough to Play Ball? Prove it

November 29th, 2011. By AbiK

Sexual preference has long been a hot-button discrimination topic in the courts. Only typically, it tends to be a straight v. gay/bi/lesbian/transgender type of situation. Not a intra-LGBT thing. They’re supposed to all be on the same team, right? Which is why this latest lawsuit settlement makes you take pause.

Seems there was a lawsuit filed by three gay softballers after they were disqualified from a softball competition—the 2008 Gay Softball World Series (sidenote: the New York Times ran a priceless headline on the story: “Three Straights and You’re Out in Gay Softball League“)

Why? Because the men were thought to be too—don’t utter the word!—heterosexual. And, as the name of the Gay Softball World Series denotes, one must be gay—and gay enough—to play ball. Not hetero. Not even bi.

So the men—who claim to be varying degrees of gay—filed a discrimination lawsuit against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance and sought not only to have their team’s second place standing in the Series restored, but also each sought $75,000 in damages for emotional distress.

The whole thing raises some interesting questions. For one, it puts the honor system of labelling oneself as “gay” in question. Well, is he or isn’t he? How can we be sure? In other amateur sports it’s common to self-declare your skill level—and you may indeed be challenged on that if, say, you declare yourself to be a much less-skilled player merely to boost your W-L ratio. But self-declaration in such instances is about the obvious—it’s about skill; and skill as such is fairly conspicuous.

But your level of gayness? That’s a behind-closed-doors type of thing—at least as far as proof is concerned.

It also presents a pretty ugly side of discrimination—”it’s not ok to treat me differently because I’m gay, but since you’re only half-gay (aka, “bi”), well, that’s different”. Uh-huh.

At the time of the 2008 Gay Softball World Series, there had been a “straight cap” that limited the number of heterosexual players a team could have to two—otherwise you had to be gay, as in 100% gay. (A bit odd that hetero’s were allowed at all, no?) However, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance has since changed how it defines “gay”. Gay now includes bisexual and transgender people. How nice to be included.

The lawsuit, filed by San Francisco team members Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ, has settled according to an NYT update, with the three men receiving an undisclosed sum—and their team will recoup their second place finish.

Tags: Discrimination Lawsuit, Gay Softball World Series, LGBT, North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, Settlement
Posted in Discrimination, lawsuits | 9124No Comments »2011-11-29+19%3A00%3A02AbiK