Tag Archives: class action lawsuits

Appeals Court Allows Class Action Lawsuit to Proceed against NJ Swindler who Defrauded ‘Hundreds, If Not Thousands’

Edison, New Jersey resident Jay Schlesinger told the Star-Ledger that he paid $4,893 to Dream Vacations International in June 2009, but he never received the benefits he was promised. Schlesinger was a client of Daryl Turner, an alleged scammer who authorities said “would open a travel club, solicit membership fees costing thousands of dollars, and shut the company’s doors before customers received promised discounted travel packages.” The Star-Ledger reported that he got his money back through a dispute with Chase, his credit card, but he thought it was “good news” to hear that a federal appeals court allowed a class action lawsuit against Turner and nearly a dozen travel clubs linked to the south Jersey huckster to move forward. “I’d like to see Turner really sweating,” Schlesinger told the Star-Ledger. “The guy needs to be locked up. He needs to be punished for what he put so many people through.” While…
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Class Action Lawsuits Allege Google, Yahoo! Violating Privacy of Email Users

As this video explains, some California residents filed class action lawsuits this past June claiming that Google and Yahoo! illegally intercepted emails sent from individual non-Gmail and non-Yahoo! subscribers to individual Gmail and Yahoo! subscribers, without their knowledge, consent or permission. The plaintiffs allege Google and Yahoo! are violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), which prohibits anyone from wiretapping or eavesdropping on emails without the consent, knowledge and permission of all parties. Both Google and Yahoo! Filed motions to dismiss the cases. According to Courthouse News Service, hearings for both motions are scheduled for March 21, 2013. The privacy concern is not solely a Caliornia issue—or even an American one. On October 8, 2012, the technology news website TechCrunch reported that a retiree in British Columbia also filed a class action lawsuit against Google. It alleges that the company’s Gmail service “intercepts, obtains and uses personal information it…
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Already ‘Connecting Buyers and Sellers Globally,’ eBay Now Connects Arbitrators Too

Last week, we discussed three cases concerning class action litigation that will be going before the US Supreme Court during its fall term. We have also called attention to the impact that the high court’s 2011 decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion had on class action lawsuits, as that case led to such companies as Microsoft updating their user agreements with clauses that force consumers to settle disputes through arbitration or small claims courts. On October 2, 2012, Los Angeles Times consumer columnist David Lazarus wrote that internet auction and shopping website eBay is “the latest high-profile company to declare war on class action lawsuits.” However, unlike the way other companies present provisions, eBay is at least offering customers the chance to opt out of the arbitration clause. While it is admirable that eBay is giving consumers a choice, Lazarus correctly noted that the process to opt out it “unnecessarily…
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Are Defendants Arguing Plaintiffs Should Seek More in Standard Fire Class Action?

This week, we wrote about two arguments the US Supreme Court will be hearing on November 5, 2012, regarding two class action lawsuits. The date for arguments has not been set in the final case we wanted to discuss this week, The Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles. In this case, the court has said the issue is: Whether, after Smith v. Bayer, when a named plaintiff attempts to defeat a defendant’s right of removal under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 by filing with a class action complaint a “stipulation” that attempts to limit the damages he “seeks” for the absent putative class members to less than the $5 million threshold for federal jurisdiction, and the defendant establishes that the actual amount in controversy, absent the “stipulation,” exceeds $5 million, the “stipulation” is binding on absent class members so as to destroy federal jurisdiction. The Class Action Fairness…
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