Class Action News 20th July 2015

NCAA players win class action suit

A federal judge approved a $60 million settlement for college athletes in a class action lawsuit filed against the NCAA and video-game maker Electronics Arts.

Steve Berman, a Seattle-based attorney for the plaintiffs confirmed Friday that U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken had approved the settlement during a hearing Thursday.

HKEx says settlement reached on US aluminium price-fixing claims

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd (HKEx) <0388.HK) said on Sunday it had settled two class-action lawsuit complaints against itself and subsidiary the London Metal Exchange (LME) over allegations of anti-competitive and monopolistic behaviour.

The lawsuits, brought by small aluminium manufacturers in the United States, accused banks and traders of hoarding metal in LME warehouses, driving up the prices of industrial products from soft-drink cans to aeroplanes.

Of 26 lawsuits filed against LME, 24 were consolidated into three complaints according to type of user: "first-level" purchasers that buy primary aluminium, consumer end users and commercial end users.

"The consumer end user plaintiffs and commercial end user plaintiffs have entered into a settlement and mutual release ... to bring an end to their class-action lawsuits," HKEx said in a statement, adding that no money had been paid by either side.

JPMorgan Reaches $388 Mln Settlement In Mortgage Securities Lawsuit

(RTTNews.com) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM ) agreed to pay $388 million to settle a suit by investors who claimed the bank misled them about the safety of $10 billion worth of residential mortgage-backed securities it sold before the financial crisis.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announced a $388 million recovery on behalf of a class of investors in nine 2007 residential mortgage-backed securities or MBS offerings issued by JPMorgan- bringing to a successful conclusion one of the last remaining MBS purchaser class actions arising out of the global financial crisis.

Lead plaintiffs and court-appointed class representatives Laborers Pension Trust Fund for Northern California and Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern California played a key role in achieving the remarkable result, said Robbins Geller partner Luke Brooks, one of the lead attorneys on the case.

Class-action suit targets Apple’s bag-search policy

Recently at a public revelation of an earlier case, it was noted that Tim Cook, the CEO was personally informed about the “embarrassing and demeaning” process of handbags checks by two of Apple Inc employees. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a potential class of more than 12,000 current and former employees. These include current employees as well as former employees, the ruling noted.

Reuters stated: “Lawsuits certified as class actions allow plaintiffs to sue as a group and generally give them more leverage to negotiate a settlement”.

Mourners Make First Visit to New York’s Potter’s Field after successful class action

The lonely island where New York City buries its unclaimed dead lies off the coast of the Bronx, off-limits to living mourners for so long that it has sometimes seemed like a mirage.

For years, family members and their advocates battled the city for the right to visit the unmarked graves of loved ones buried on Hart Island, the city’s potter’s field at the western end of Long Island Sound. The city refused such visits, with rare exceptions, citing safety concerns and the rules of the Correction Department, which controls the island and uses inmate labor for burials.

But on Sunday morning, under the settlement terms of a federal class-action lawsuit that sought regular grave site access for relatives, a small group was allowed to stand beside the very stretch of ground that holds their kin.

Judge Approves $60M Settlement in Student-Athlete Video Game Lawsuit

It's not going to make any student-athletes (or former student-athletes) rich, but a federal judge's approval of a $60 million settlement as part of a class-action lawsuit filed against the NCAA and Electronic Arts is still fairly monumental.

"This landmark decision marks the first time student-athletes will be paid for the likeness or image, and stands as a huge victory in the ongoing fight for student-athletes' rights," said Steve Berman, lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a statement.

Uber’s nightmare scenario: Here’s whata huge, expensive pain it would be to turn thousands of drivers into employees

Last month, the California Labor Commission made a ruling against Uber that could have big implications for the $50 billion ride-hailing company.

A San Francisco driver, Barbara Ann Berwick, filed a federal class-action claim against Uber saying she should be considered an Uber employee, not a contract worker. The California Labor Commission agreed with Berwick because it deemed Uber drivers are “involved in every aspect of the operation.”

Uber argues that the class-action part of the suit should be dropped and is appealing the ruling.

But if the Uber doesn’t get its way, the lawsuit could seriously impact Uber’s business model. In a worst case scenario for Uber, it would have to reclassify all of its California drivers as W-2 employees, as opposed to independent contractors, which would be expensive.