Judge Robert E. Payne of the Eastern District of Virginia approved a nationwide class action settlement for over 460,000 victims of inaccurate background checks by Acxiom Corporation. Acxiom violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not reporting consumer information accurately, failing to provide consumers with all the information in their data files, and selling reports without having a FCRA purpose for doing so. As a result, many people were denied employment and suffered serious damages.…
Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the Eastern District of California approved a settlement of a class action lawsuit on behalf of a nationwide class of owners and lessees of 2006–2011 Honda Civics with rear drum brakes. Plaintiffs Stacie Zakskorn, Javier Hidalgo, and Rachelle Schreiber alleged that these vehicles had a defective braking system, causing the front brake pads to wear prematurely. Because of the defect, the brake pads required replacement approximately every 7,500 to 15,000 …
Caddell & Chapman represented current and former workers at American Airlines who were members of the Transport Workers Union (“TWU”) and accepted early separation offers in connection with American’s bankruptcy. TWU decided not to distribute any share of American equity that it received on behalf of its members in connection with the bankruptcy to those members who had accepted early separation. Plaintiffs alleged that their exclusion from any share in the equity was arbitrary, discriminatory, …
What’s a corporate defendant to do when a class-action consumer plaintiff has it dead to rights? When a complaint clearly shows that the consumer has a valid claim and that thousands of others are in the same situation?
One strategy is to make an offer of settlement to the class representative. If the class representative accepts, his or her claim will be moot, and someone else will have to represent the class. Since most people …