Top Class Actions
Forgot their Dutch lessons? Perhaps the folks at Wachovia didn’t spring for a trip to Holland to learn how to run an auction. So if you bought Wachovia stock between March 19, 2003 and February 13, 2008 you may be interested to know that Wachovia Corporation was served with a potential class action this week. What did they do? Well, the complaint alleges that throughout the above mentioned period (the class period), Wachovia Securities and A.G. Edwards “engaged in deceptive and manipulative tactics directed at ARS investors to create the appearance of a functioning auction market.” That doesn’t sound good, never mind legal.
If you own this stock you may want to follow this one.
Top Settlements
DanActivate that Settlement! Dannon has been ordered to pay up in a class action settlement alleging misleading advertising about its Activia and DanActive yogurt products. You mean pro-biotic yogurt can’t cure everything that ails you?
The lawsuit was filed back in January 2008, and this week a settlement was reached. If approved, this means that you the consumer of Dannon’s Activia and DanActive products (you must qualify as a class member), could be eligible for up to $100 reimbursement for any relevant products purchase. The total settlement fund is a proposed $35 million.
That’s one helluva beer shot…This one’s a doozey. Dan Maddy, a man who was attacked in a bar by a drunken patron armed with a half-full beer mug, was awarded just over $10 million this week, as settlement of the suit he brought against Kenneth Comfort—the guy who nearly killed him.
I don’t quite know how Comfort accomplished this—but he reportedly downed “the equivalent of 19 beers in 3 hours.” During those 3 hours he somehow found time to talk—intermittently (no kidding) to Mr. Maddy. However, it all went horribly wrong, and Comfort struck Maddy in the face with the 22-ounce mug. The mug shattered and severed Maddy’s carotid artery. That would seem reasonable cause for a personal injury lawsuit.
Apparently the 21-year old bartender who was working that night and new to the job, couldn’t remember if she’d seen a company training video that instructed staff not to serve more than 3 drinks to a customer per hour… No, I’m not kidding. But then the bar—Ruby Tuesday—has apparently been sued for numerous incidents of liquor liability.
That’s it for this week, see you at the bar—but not that bar!