Posts Tagged ‘ Citigroup ’

Week Adjourned: 12.2.11

December 2nd, 2011. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Are your text messages being traced–by your own hand, so to speak? Ten years ago this would have been the stuff of a James Bond film. Today, sadly, it seems to be business as usual–or more accurately—if you can get away with it…

A group of consumers filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit this week, alleging that smartphone manufacturers HTC Corporation, HTC America, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd use software developed by Carrier IQ, Inc. (“CIQ”) that illegally intercepts incoming text messages and captures users’ key strokes—including those used to compose email and text messages or to dial numbers—without consumers’ knowledge or permission. The lawsuit asks the court to award damages under the Federal Wiretap Act, and prevent companies from including similar software in future smartphones.

The back story—in mid-November, software developer Trevor Eckhart published a video blog illustrating the operation of the CIQ software recording keystrokes, including information sent to secure websites using HTTPS security protocols used in e-commerce and other security-sensitive sites.

After Eckhart published his discovery and documents he found on CIQ’s website, CIQ accused him of copyright violations and threatened legal actions unless he capitulated to the company’s demands. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public-interest digital rights watchdog stepped in to defend Eckhart and CIQ later apologized to Eckhart and rescinded its demands.

According to CIQ, its software is embedded on smartphones to allow the company to collect data for the benefit of cellular carriers and device manufacturers, which is important to improving customer experience, such as logging information related to dropped calls. CIQ says its program does not log keystrokes or intercept messages and it does not store or resell the information.

The lawsuit alleges that, in reality, the program does record keystrokes and the content of messages, and could transmit the information to third parties, possibly including information sent to secure websites using HTTPS security protocols used in e-commerce and other security-sensitive sites such as banking.

The complaint was filed on behalf of four smartphone users and names smartphone manufacturers HTC and Samsung as defendants along with CIQ. The lawsuit could be amended to include other smartphone manufacturers that embed the CIQ software on their devices.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses the companies of violating the Federal Wiretap Act and California’s Unfair Business Practice Act. The Federal Wiretap Act prohibits the unauthorized interception or illegal use of electronic communications.

Very creepy.

Top Settlements

Could this be a Christmas Bonus? Borders Group Inc has agreed to settle an employment class action lawsuit brought by 198 former employees over Borders’ alleged violations of the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act.

Borders, unfortunately, is in the last stages of liquidation, but has agreed to pay $240,000 as settlement to the former employees who claim they were laid off without sufficient notice, violating federal regulations. After legal fees are deducted, reports indicate that each plaintiff could receive $797. The lawsuit was filed by former employees of Borders’ Ann Arbor headquarters, led by an employee named Jared Pinsker. According to the settlement filing, the parties agreed to settle their dispute to avoid a protracted and costly legal battle.

Borders, which finished closing its stores and liquidating its inventory in September, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. The company converted its case into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy liquidation in July. A U.S. bankruptcy judge in Manhattan must approve the settlement. Fingers crossed on this one.

Citigroup Settlement Update. Here’s an update on a proposed settlement we wrote about in late October, involving Citigroup and allegations of investor fraud. Judge Jed Rakoff, of the infamous New York Southern District, has rejected a proposed $285M settlement offered by Citigroup to end an civil complaint brought by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations that they defrauded investors through highly risky mortgage-backed investments. The specific transaction referred by the SEC involved a $1 billion portfolio of mortgage-related investments. (Anyone seen “Margin Call”?)

According to a report by Forbes, “Rakoff is a critic of the custom that allows firms to use their pocketbook to settle charges rather than admitting guilt, and said there is a public interest in finding out the truth.” Consequently, Rakoff has scheduled a trial, for July 16, 2012. However, the SEC and Citi could bring a settlement to the table prior to that, again pending judge’s approval, which, if approved would keep the case out of court. Me thinks an example may be made here.

Ok–That’s enough for this week. See you at the bar.

Tags: Borders, Borders Class Action, Borders Layoffs, Carrier IQ Inc, CIQ, Citigroup, Citigroup Settlement, Federal Wiretap Act, HTC America Inc, HTC Corporation, internet security, Rakoff, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, SEC, WARN Act
Posted in Class Action, Emerging Issues, lawsuits, Settlement, Week Adjourned | 9144No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+12.2.112011-12-02+20%3A46%3A12LucyC

Mary Watson v. Plastic: A Tale of One Pissed-Off Retailer

April 18th, 2011. By Hunter West

We’ve been ticked off at credit card companies for a long time, haven’t we? The high interest rates, the late-payment fees, and the propensity to jack up the rates at the drop of a hat. Congress finally called the credit card companies to the carpet and forced them to reign in some of their practices—although critics have always maintained there will be other ways found to make up for any lost revenue.

And that’s just for us—the schmucks who use credit cards. What about the merchants?

Well, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed Monday in Canada, merchants aren’t happy with the status quo, either…

Mary Watson is a retailer who operates a furniture store in British Columbia. She has since 1990. And like most merchants who sell big-ticket items, she can understand that most people would rather use plastic to buy that pricey leather sofa, than pull out a wad of hundred-dollar bills.

No, she’s okay with that. What Mary is upset about are all the fees charged to her business when a consumer uses plastic. The fees are hard to track. What’s more, she’s not allowed to promote, or suggest that her customers use an alternative form of payment, such as cash or debit.

She’s not exactly required to suggest her customers use their credit cards. But at the same time, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bank of America, Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO Financial Group, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Capital One, Citigroup, Credit Card fees, credit cards, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec, Mary Watson, MasterCard International, National Bank of Canada, Retailer fees, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Visa Canada
Posted in Financial, lawsuits | 7447No Comments »2011-04-18+14%3A15%3A43Hunter+West

Week Adjourned: 10.15.10

October 15th, 2010. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Equality? What equality! Where’s Gloria? A gender discrimination lawsuit was filed against Citigroup this week, brought by five former directors and analysts and one current employee.

Interestingly, Bloomberg crunched the numbers and found out that Citigroup’s female finance managers, which include bank tellers as well as executives, earned 63.9 cents for every dollar of income men earned in 2000, based on median salaries. Bloomberg analyzed Government Accountability Office (GAO) statistics to produce its report. And, they also found that in 2007, the last year for which data are available, that figure was down—incredibly—58.8 cents. Not only is that number utterly depressing, but it’s going in the wrong direction!

The suit, filed on behalf of women at job levels from analyst to managing director, alleges that Citigroup is an “outdated boys club” and claims “systematic and pervasive discrimination and retaliation” in decisions involving compensation, promotion and termination.

Top Settlements

Beat Finally Does Go On… Finally—unbelievably, a settlement of the lawsuits against Medtronic over defective Sprint Fidelis leads.

The leads were recalled three years ago in 2007, due to the alleged defect that made the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: chinese drywall, Citigroup, Medtronic, Sprint Fidelis
Posted in Emerging Issues, Week Adjourned | 5266No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+10.15.102010-10-15+19%3A14%3A52LucyC

Week Adjourned: 10.23.09

October 23rd, 2009. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Wynn Gambling with Employees Health? After all the noise about second hand smoke being a known risk factor for cancer, you would think the last thing an employer would want to do is wilfully expose its employees to the carcinogen. At the very least, why risk the lawsuit, right?

Wrong. The employees at Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino filed a class action lawsuit this week, alleging that Wynn failed to provide a safe work environment for its employees and failed to protect them from the effects of second-hand smoke.

According to the suit, the risks are exacerbated for employees because not only is smoking permitted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but it is also encouraged. In some cases the casino gives cigarettes away to gamblers on the casino floor. What? That’s bad judgement no matter how you look at it.

The suit further claims employees that complain about the smoke risk losing their jobs. So, let’s see, you have to choose between risking your health or your livelihood. Or sue. Well—I’d choose the last option as well.