Another Monsanto Roundup Lawsuit filed in CaliforniaSan Francisco, CA Monsanto has been hit with another lawsuit claiming its Roundup product causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers. Plaintiff Michael Langford of Sacramento was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2007 and later developed other cancers. Langford’s Monsanto lawsuit filed in late June comes on the heels of a claim also filed in June. An Ohio resident filed suit in Delaware Superior Court claiming her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was also the result of many years’ exposure to Roundup in the care of her home garden.
Creeping Data Collection at Family Dollar, Dollar TreeChicago, IL Family Dollar collected Mantrise Herron’s fingerprints without her permission in apparent violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). BIPA is a privacy-protection law, and
Herron v. Family Dollar Inc. is a class action privacy protection lawsuit. But privacy is increasingly a luxury for the well-heeled and well-informed. The rubber hits the road when privacy concerns become unpaid wages claims or employment discrimination lawsuits. This is where many workers begin. Let us also begin at the beginning….
Uber’s Ratings System Racist?San Francisco, CA A former Uber driver claims in a California labor lawsuit that he was terminated due to poor ratings from passengers and the ride-sharing app’s star-based ratings system is racist. San Francisco U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria somewhat agrees, at least at the pleading stage, saying that “the inference that Uber’s practice is racially discriminatory is … strong.”
ERISA Lawsuit Alleges DuPont Underpaid RetireesWilmington, DE M.P. Moon will have another chance to persuade a Delaware federal court that DuPont and its corporate predecessors and successors cheated him and similarly situated retirees of thousands of dollars in pension benefits. His ERISA lawsuit describes years of misinformation, followed by internal procedural rules that protected DuPont from the necessity of correcting its own error.
Emergency Room Overcharges Patient now Debt Collector VictimArley, AL Catrina arrived at the hospital emergency room bent over in pain--three days later she was sent home after having her gallbladder removed. The surgery went well--until the bills arrived. Particularly galling was a CT Scan charge about three times more than the national average cost--a typical example of ER overcharges. (Granted, scans are typically more expensive when ordered in an ER.) Her total bill rings in at 86,381.04.
Magistrate Recommends Certification of Some Classes in Amazon Wage LawsuitSacramento, CA On June 8, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe recommended that the Eastern District of California certify several classes of plaintiffs in
Trevino v. Golden State FC LLC. In Trevino, workers at various Amazon fulfillment centers alleged that the internet retail giant had violated the California Labor Code by failing to pay wages due for regular and overtime hours worked and provide required meal and rest periods. The lawsuit sought class action certification for groups of similarly situated workers who could number in the hundreds of thousands and who worked at 50 California facilities. The Magistrate determined, however, that the claims of some workers were too individualized to merit inclusion in a class action lawsuit.
City National Bank Sued for Whistleblower Retaliation in California CourtLos Angeles, CA A former senior vice president for City National Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, alleges he was fired because of whistleblower retaliation and in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which allows California employees to sue their employers in federal court if the employer wrongfully terminates or retaliates against them for reporting potential unlawful conduct
Pilgrim’s Pride Settles Out of “Wage-Fixing” LawsuitBaltimore, MD Pilgrim’s Pride Group, one of many poultry processors/defendants, has agreed to settle out of
Jien v. Perdue Farms Inc. for $29 million and an agreement to cooperate against the remaining defendants. Rather than proceeding as an unpaid wages claim, Jien was brought as an antitrust case under the Sherman Act. The Sherman Act prohibits anticompetitive practices and has been used recently to protect wages. For workers, the effect of “wage-fixing” across an industry is very like the effect of failing to pay legally-required wages. Exploited workers, doing dangerous jobs, live at or near poverty.
Jander ERISA Lawsuit Settles, but Leaves QuestionsNew York, NY Jander v. Retirement Plans Committee of IBM, a long-running employee stock ownership lawsuit, settled on April 2, 2021 for $4.75 million. The attorneys who represented the retirement plan participants have now requested $1.4 million in fees for the latest Supreme Court phase of the case. In deciding whether to approve the fee, the Southern District of New York will consider the time and effort the lawyers expended.
Jury heard 3M Combat Arms Earplug Plaintiff Loud and ClearPensacola, FL In the third 3M earplug bellwether trial a federal jury determined that the company failed to provide adequate safety warnings about their combat arms earplugs. The plaintiff, veteran Lloyd Baker, was awarded $1.7 million.
