Legal News Articles & Interviews

Peterborough, NH Being Philips’ Scapegoat has resulted in SoClean filing a lawsuit against the CPAP sleep machine manufacturer alleging unfair and deceptive practices and “causing it to suffer at least $200 million in damages”. Philips suggested that SoClean was to blame for its 15 million faulty CPAP and BiPAP machines.

Chicago, IL On October 19, Maria Guadalupe Amador filed a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action lawsuit against Kemper Corp., alleging that the insurance giant cheated her and other call center workers out of wages due under federal and Illinois law. Recent lawsuit news coverage has often focused on whether very small (de minimus) amounts of time must be counted in wage calculations under federal law. Ms. Amador’s off the clock work claims are not small, however. Further, the tasks to be accomplished during the unpaid time seem to have been essential to the workers’ performance of other tasks.

Oakland, CA Rollins v. Dignity Health, a nearly nine-year old ERISA lawsuit that has been moving through the federal court system since 2013, may be one step closer to settling. The Northern District of California has preliminarily approved a deal with the addition of an additional sub-class of plaintiffs. The same court rejected proposed settlement agreements twice before on a variety of grounds. This is further toward resolution than the parties have gotten before.

Silver Spring, MD The FDA reviewed Boston Scientific’s latest studies of the pros and cons of using transvaginal mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and doubled down on its earlier conclusion that the risks outweighed the benefits. In 2019, after a spate of surgical mesh lawsuits, the FDA ordered Boston Scientific to immediately pull its transvaginal mesh products off the market.

San Diego, CA Two Ninth Circuit judges have asked former Hewlett Packard employee Bryant Fonseca to show more evidence in his allegation that HP and 3D Systems Inc., had cut a “no-poach” deal that resulted in diminished wages. The judges questioned why this third amended complaint should be revived – plaintiff’s attorney answered that Fonseca’s California labor lawsuit identifies which executives were allegedly involved in the deal when it went into effect and the actions each company took to maintain the anti-competitive agreement.

Atlanta, GA After waiting in the Emory Decatur Hospital ER for seven hours to treat a head injury, Taylor Davis couldn’t wait any longer and went home. She later received an emergency room bill for $688.35. Are you familiar with the old English proverb that “Children should be seen and not heard”? Here’s a new American phrase: “Patients are charged for not being seen.”

Los Angeles, CA Not once but twice has the California Labor Commissioner’s Office fined Bodega Latina (doing business as El Super) grocery stores for not providing or delaying supplemental paid sick leave or other benefits to 240 workers affected by COVID-19. In July Bodega Latina was fined $447,876 for similar California labor violations that affected 95 grocery store employees. Being fined twice begs the question: will conscientious consumers boycott El Super?

Washington, DC On October 12, the U.S. Supreme Court denied DoorDash Inc’s petition for certiorari, thus declining to review the decision of the California Court of Appeals in Brandon Campbell v. DoorDash, Inc. The Court of Appeals’s decision permitted Campbell, a DoorDash driver, to proceed with his Private Attorneys General (PAGA) claim, without first submitting it to arbitration. Campbell’s PAGA claim was based on his allegation that DoorDash’s payment scheme violated the minimum wage requirements of the California Labor Code.

Birmingham, AL On September 21, the District Court for the Northern District of Alabama denied AT&T’s motion to dismiss Roy Robinson’s ERISA lawsuit. Robinson v. AT&T Services, Inc alleged that the company fired Robinson to avoid paying him severance benefits. AT&T claimed that he had failed to exhaust internal company remedies before filing his lawsuit. The court’s decision does not address the merits of Robinson’s claim. It simply permits Robinson to proceed to settlement negotiations or to trial.