Posts Tagged ‘ Tyson Foods ’

Tyson Chicken Settlement Raises Question of Lawyer Compensation

January 20th, 2010. By AbiK

Tyson Chicken Settlement...Lawyers Take too High? So the Tyson Chicken proposed settlement could give consumers $5 million in refunds and coupons.

The Tyson Chicken proposed settlement could also give the plaintiffs’ attorneys $3 million in fees and court costs. Not.

Not if federal Judge Richard D. Bennett has anything to do with it. And I can’t entirely blame him—but not for the reasons you think.

Before I have a slew of attorneys bashing me, I have previously defended the payments attorneys request as part of settlements. Let’s face it, the attorneys usually put up the money themselves to litigate a case—i.e., there’s zip in cash flow until the case is settled—and won. So all the hours they work, travel they incur, office rent, staff salaries—all of it has to be paid out-of-pocket. Additionally, a case can take years to wind its way through the system—again, while there’s zilch in income. And let’s not forget that there isn’t one attorney pocketing whatever comes their way in a settlement; when we’re talking class actions, we’re talking lots and lots of lawyers, researchers, admin staff…who need to get paid (did I mention the electric bill?).

So when you hear a settlement of $3 million, and think that the first lawsuits in this case were filed in 2008, well,

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Tags: Tyson Chicken, Tyson Foods
Posted in Emerging Issues, Settlement | No Comments »

Week Adjouned: 5.29.09

May 29th, 2009. By admin

So, where to start this week? hootershotpants 269x300 Week Adjouned: 5.29.09

Top Class Actions:

Wanna be a Hooters girl? Cough up $9.95 for those hot pants (they’re for sale at Hooters—seriously). That’s what eight ladies who used to work at Hooters, specifically 4 Hooters franchises in California, claim in a class action they filed over the working conditions and costs associated with the infamous waitressing positions. Their allegations claim almost Victorian conditions, including having to buy their own trademark uniforms from the restaurants; paying for cash shortages or customer walkouts, or face being disciplined (what could that mean?); and not being paid to work special events. One wonders how much of their earning the waitresses actually take home. You Go Girls!

Many happy returns at Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart’s also back in the news, and the courts, this time the class action complaint alleges that the world’s largest retailer is not living up to the terms of its own return policy. It seems they’re getting petty over sales tax, in that people returning goods to a Wal-Mart store location with a lower applicable sales tax rate than where the merchandise was originally purchased, get reimbursed the lesser sales tax rate. So what happens to the left-over sales tax that’s not reimbursed? Does that go to the government?

Tags: Acetaminophen, Americash Advance, Hooters, Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, Week Adjourned
Posted in Emerging Issues, Personal Injury | No Comments »