After the tragic death of Anton Yelchin in July—known for his role as Pavel Chekov in the recent Star Trek movies— Fiat Chysler Automobiles has found itself in the middle of a massive class action lawsuit. The multi-million-dollar lawsuit springs from the gear shifter design in the 2012-2014 models of Dodge Chargers and the 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee models. According to the plaintiffs, the suit alleges that Chrysler hid problems with the shifter. The shifter would change position and permit the car to move. In Yelchin’s case, the shifter moved and caused his Jeep Cherokee to roll down his driveway […]

Car makers Audi and Volkswagen were hit with a new class action suit in late May. The suit alleges that the companies fraudulently sold certain models that contained a hidden engine defect. The complaint also alleges that VW and Audi knew of the dangerous defect but did not issue a recall or compensate owners for any repairs occuring outside of the warranty period. The engine defect springs from defective timing chain tensioners that fail prematurely. This is the second class action for VW and Audi—the first claimed that the timing chain tension system was defective and caused the chain to […]

A consumer fraud class action suit has been filed against Edgewood Personal Care, which owns Playtex—the parent company of the Banana Boat sunscreen maker. Banana Boat specializes in making sunscreens and is a staple sunblock brand. The plaintiff that filed the suit alleges that he purchased a bottle of Banana Boat Kids SPF 50 after seeing a Consumer Reports study that stated that Banana Boat’s—among other brands— products were overstating the amount of SPF contained. He sent the tube to a testing facility in North Carolina which reported that the sunscreen contained little over 12 SPF despite being labeled at […]

Gift cards make popular and versatile gifts, and for some companies, make for massive lawsuits. Various companies have been sued for gift card violations. For example, last August, Dave & Buster’s was sued in California for violating the cash-out provision under California’s gift card law. In California, a gift-card issuer must allow the holder of a card worth less than $10 to redeem it for cash upon request. Moreover, California does not permit gift cards to carry an expiration date. Major retailers are being threatened with litigation for not following California’s gift card laws. Groupon, for instance, had to settle […]

It is no news that debit and credit cards are now the primary form of retail payments. Some sources estimate that sixty percent of retail transactions involve card payments, opening retailers to significant data breaches and lawsuits. Congress is considering enacting federal standards to protect consumers following data breaches that would supersede state-breach statutes and provide more a more uniform response nationwide. In the last year, various retailers have been sued because of stolen customer information. Home Depot, for example, recently settled a case for $13 million to reimburse class members for their losses and expenses incurred in trying to […]

Headlines read “Exploding Toilets!” and while funny at first glance, it turns out to be a serious safety issue. Some consumers reported that their toilets exploded violently, sending pieces of porcelain everywhere with great force. These explosions led to a massive recall by Flushmate, makers of the high pressure flushing systems. The affected toilets were made between 1997 to 2011 and include various models. The company estimates that it is recalling over 3 million toilet systems and is asking consumers to stop using the toilets immediately until they receive the repair kit. However, the repair kits didn’t stop consumers from […]

Lawsuits have increased in recent years against various companies by blind and deaf plaintiffs that are alleging that the websites violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The cases are mostly concentrated in California, New York, and Pennsylvania. The cases have become more complicated because the Department of Justice announced in 2010 that it would be issuing formal regulations but not until 2018. Various judges, however, refuse to wait that long. In California, one judge granted summary judgment to a plaintiff suing Colorado’s Bag’n Baggage company for four thousand dollars. Among the companies being sued are eBay, Netflix, Patagonia, Ace Hardware, […]

Bank overdraft fees are standard practice for banks—and a great source for profit. Many banks assess fees for going over the bank account balance. Some estimates state that the banking industry has made over $35 billion off of customers in the last year. Among the banks facing lawsuits are Sovereign Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, M&T Bank and Wachovia. These companies are being accused of charging unreasonable fees when customer balances fell below a minimum balance. They are also being accused of manipulating deposits and charges to overdraft the account and recover fees. Some banks will charge the larger […]

Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act Last week, Lumber Liquidators Inc. was hit with nine separate class action lawsuits on behalf of consumers alleging violations of the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act for defective laminate flooring. More than a year ago, investigative reporters exposed alarming formaldehyde levels in laminate flooring sold by Lumber Liquidators, which sparked a string of investigations and lawsuits.   Although it is common for formaldehyde to be used in manufacturing laminate flooring, the amount used is intended to evaporate quickly and thus not pose any health risk to people living in homes where the floors have been installed.   Tests on […]

On Tuesday, September 13th, 2016, many Hewlett-Packard (HP) consumers who used non-HP, private label ink cartridges found that their printer displayed an error instructing the ink cartridges must be replaced.  Thousands of HP printers around the world started to show the error message, “One or more cartridges appear to be damaged. Remove them and replace them with new cartridges“. The error was not a coincidence, but rather a pre-program act by HP in several different printer models.  Programmers found that in a firmwire update, the pre-programmed failure was installed. HP responded to complaints today after the news of it’s pre-programmed […]