Consumer Law

Insurer sued over claim it refuses to cover disabled homeowners who have pit bulls as service dogs

A major insurer is facing a federal housing discrimination case over its alleged refusal to provide homeowner coverage to individuals who have a pit bull as a service animal. Several Travelers insurance companies and two insurance agents are named in the suit brought by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.…

Jun 2, 2015 1:50 PM CDT

Foreclosure-rescue law firm and others ordered to pay $27M, but their assets total only about $655K

A federal judge has ordered a Florida foreclosure-rescue law firm, its former managing partner and affiliated companies to pay a $27.7 million judgment for charging homeowners illegal upfront fees and failing to perform promised work for clients. However, the federal and state regulators who brought the suit are unlikely to…

Jun 1, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

Legislators pursue a standardized measure for a pint of beer

You'd think bills requiring pints of beer to contain a requisite 16 fluid ounces would meet with resounding cries of "We'll drink to that." But recent attempts to pass so-called honest pint laws in Maine, Michigan and Oregon have come up dry.

Jun 1, 2015 6:40 AM CDT

Jury in Delaware awards $100M to 51-year-old woman in transvaginal mesh case

Delaware is not a state known for big jury verdicts in individual personal injury cases. But on Thursday a jury there awarded a 51-year-old former bank teller $25 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitives against Boston Scientific Corp. Deborah Barba said she suffered constant discomfort, urinary tract…

May 29, 2015 12:25 PM CDT

Class action claiming Yahoo intercepted email for advertising analysis gets OK from federal judge

A federal judge has given the green light to a class action alleging Yahoo Inc. invaded the privacy of non-Yahoo account holders by analyzing—for advertising purposes— email they sent to Yahoo Mail accounts. The suit says Yahoo violated the federal Stored Communications Act by searching the email for keywords that…

May 27, 2015 1:00 PM CDT

New issue in Takata air bag recall: Are replacements safe?

Investigations are ongoing by automakers, safety regulators and air bag manufacturer Takata Corp. to determine why inflators failed on some Takata airbags, sending metal shrapnel into drivers and passengers at high speed. Meanwhile, the largest recall in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration history is underway. But until the cause of…

May 26, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

Law firm asks 3rd Circuit to block court-ordered interviews of over 30 clients

Facing sanctions over thalidomide birth-defect litigation that was determined to be either baseless or time-barred, did the plaintiffs’ law firm dismiss 27 cases for its own benefit? That is the question a federal judge in Philadelphia is asking and seeking to answer by having special master William Hangley interview more…

May 20, 2015 1:05 PM CDT

Air bag maker Takata’s expanded recall of nearly 34M vehicles is largest ever

After sparring with U.S. regulators over the past year, Takata Corp. has expanded its recall of defective air bags to nearly 34 million vehicles. Announced Tuesday, the recall is the largest in National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration history. At issue are air bags containing inflator mechanisms made by Takata. A defective…

May 20, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Does full settlement offer moot plaintiff’s claim? Supreme Court to decide in texting case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a case is moot when the plaintiff receives an offer of complete relief on his claim. At issue in the would-be class action is whether a complete settlement offer, made before the class is certified, moots individual as well as class…

May 19, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Jury awards $250K plus $82M in punitives to woman sued over someone else’s credit card bill

A lawsuit over a $1,130.14 credit-card bill she didn’t owe resulted in a jury verdict of over $250,000, plus $82 million in damages, for a Kansas City, Missouri, woman this week. “The jury issued a verdict that it thought would get this company’s attention,” said attorney Gina Chiala, who represented…

May 15, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Businesses say plaintiff who won $360K in dozens of ADA suits may not be disabled

Carl Barnum III won $360,000, plus another $135,000 for his lawyer by filing over 100 disability discrimination suits. Then a group of California businesses hired a lawyer and aggressively defended his claims. They claim that they discovered that Barnum, who filed suit under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act may…

May 15, 2015 12:00 PM CDT

Permanent ban on law firm’s nursing home ad is overturned

The Georgia Supreme Court is giving a law firm another chance to contest a nursing home’s bid to stop it from publishing an ad that criticizes the facility. In a decision on Monday, the court said the Mississippi-based McHugh Fuller Law Group did not have sufficient notice before a judge…

May 12, 2015 6:55 AM CDT

Fiat Chrysler seeks new trial in boy’s fiery crash death after $150M damages award

Fiat Chrysler is asking a judge for a new trial in the case of a fiery crash that killed a 4-year-old Georgia boy. A jury last month awarded $150 million in damages to the parents of Remington Walden, who was killed in March 2012 when the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee…

May 11, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

After the ‘Fight of the Century,’ new parties seek to duke it out with Mayweather, Pacquiao in court

Three days after Floyd Mayweather cruised to victory over Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday in what was billed as the Fight of the Century, new opponents are seeking a share of the all-time-record prize money. Two fans filed a federal class action lawsuit in Nevada on Tuesday contending…

May 6, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Los Angeles sues Wells Fargo for fraud, says bank workers opened accounts without customer OK

The city of Los Angeles has filed suit against Wells Fargo Bank, contending that it engaged in unfair business practices by encouraging employees “in unfair, unlawful and fraudulent conduct.” Pressured by their employer to meet sales quotas, Wells Fargo workers routinely opened bank and credit card accounts for existing customers…

May 5, 2015 9:45 AM CDT