Consumer Fraud Legal News Articles & Interviews

Los Angeles, CA On December 1, 91-year-old actor Ed Asner and nine other participants in the Screen Actors Guild-Producers Health Plan filed a class action ERISA lawsuit against the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund and Trustees of the Plan. The early coverage of the lawsuit focuses on what appears to be age discrimination against veteran actors, many of whom sacrificed television residuals for pre-1960 movies to fund the health plan at its outset.

Atlanta, GA On December 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard oral arguments in Garcia v. Wachovia Bank, one of the bank overdraft fees lawsuits, consolidated in In Re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation. The checking accountholders are appealing a September 2019 District Court decision that denied them the chance to proceed through a class action lawsuit, forcing them to arbitrate their claims individually. That would effectively end their chance to dispute excessive overdraft fees that resulted from Wells Fargo’s and Wachovia Bank’s practice of reordering checks from high to low amounts in order to maximize profits.

Boston, MA  Toomey v. DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc., a class action ERISA lawsuit filed in the Massachusetts District Court in 2019, will settle for $17.5 million and prospective changes to the plan’s investment strategy, pending the court’s final approval in April 2021. While ERISA industry advisors have characterized the DeMoulas (Restated) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust’s investment management style as “too conservative,” the Complaint is far more brutal. It describes the performance of the investment fund as “abysmal.”

St. Louis, MO A panel of three judges with the Missouri Appeals Court has found Johnson & Johnson “Outrageous because of Evil Motive or Reckless Indifference” and upheld an award of over $2 billion in damages: $500 million in compensatory damages, plus another $1.62 billion in punitive damages. This group of 22 ovarian cancer victims-- all of whom developed ovarian cancer from J&J’s baby powder-- has now received the sixth largest award in U.S. legal history. 

Santa Clara, CA “The FDA has clamped down on a few e-cigarette companies that have behaved very irresponsibly, but the big boys, the multinational tobacco companies, are taking over the e-cigarette business,” says Dr. Stanton Glantz, a globally recognized expert on e-cigarettes and anti-smoking activist since the 1970s.

Santa Clara, CA A federal court last week slammed the EPA for approving dicamba-based weed-killing products sold by agricultural giants Bayer AG, BASF and Corteva Agriscience, now making it illegal for farmers to use dicamba herbicides. The EPA also sided with Monsanto and its Roundup weedkiller, which has tragically resulted in more than 125,000 Monsanto cancer lawsuits.

Santa Clara, CA Back in 2017, a law was passed to protect Californians against surprise medical bills for non-emergency care. Before that, AB1611 was proposed: it was supposed to protect against emergency room overcharges but California consumers are still getting gouged by out-of-network providers.

Ottawa, ON Some people opposed to vaping would say that former Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose has put profit over people, specifically Juul e-cigarettes over teenage health.

San Francisco, CA Last year Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital reduced a patient’s emergency room charges from $20,243 bill down to $200—after the patient, Nina Dang, contacted the media. She broke her arm on the pavement in a bike accident. Can’t reach the media? Of course lawyers experienced with negotiating ER overcharges can also substantially reduce hospital costs, both for insured and uninsured patients. “It’s frustrating that I have to hire a lawyer, but so far it’s been worth it,” said another ER patient, Alexa Sulvetta.

Santa Clara, CA Vaping and e-cigarette companies are using the corona virus crisis as a sales tool, despite warnings from health officials that vape and e-cigarette users might be at a higher risk for complications from COVID-19. And an attorney general accuses the FDA of vape fear mongering.