A class action lawsuit has been filed against the popular social network Facebook claiming that Sponsored Stories were advertisements that used Facebook members’ names and likenesses to sell products without their authorization or consent.  The case is entitled Fraley, et al. v. Facebook, Inc., et al., and is in the jurisdiction of the California Courts.  Class members in the case are defined as “All persons in the Class who additionally have or have had a Facebook account at any time and had their names, nicknames, pseudonyms, profile pictures, photographs, likenesses, or identities displayed in a Sponsored Story, while under eighteen (18) years of age, or under any other applicable age of majority, at any time on or before the date of entry of the Preliminary Approval Order [which occurred on December 3 2012].“.   If you or someone you know meets the above criteria it is recommended that you/they file a claim in the lawsuit.  A class member can file the claim online here or request a claim form by mail.  Please note that when downloading a copy of the claim form you will need Acrobat Reader.  Most people will find it easier to file the claim online by filing out a short form.  If you choose to submit the claim by mail please send it to:  Fraley v. Facebook, Inc. Settlement, c/o GCG, P.O. Box 35009, Seattle, WA 98124-1009.  FraleyFacebookSettlement.com provides a variety of court documents available for download to the public.

All claims forms are due not later than by May 2, 2013.  Eligible class members are thought to receive settlements 70 days after the settlement hearing.  The fairness hearing is scheduled to take place at 17th Floor, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102 on June 28 2013.

This is the first of what many legal experts are predicting will be a long line of lawsuits against Facebook.

AT&T is the target of another class action lawsuit.  If between the dates of  January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2010 you were charged a  Universal Service Charge you might be a member of the AT&T Mobility Service Charge Class Action Lawsuit and entitled to a cash refund or billing credit.   The case is entitled MBA Surety Agency Inc. v. AT&T Mobility LLC and is in the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis, Missouri.  The lawsuit claims that AT&T violated state and federal law by charging these fees (Universal Service Charges).  AT&T denies all and any actions of wrong doing but has agreed to a settlement payment of $152,634,430 to put this ugly lawsuit behind them.  The lawsuit claims that these charges were accessed on data pay-per-use plans, visual voicemail services, customer custom packaging plans, international calls outside the United States or voicemail service.  If your a current customer their is no need to file a claim form and any settlement payment will be applied as a credit to your monthly bill.  If your a former customer you will be required to file a claim form in order to receive a cash payment.  A former customer can submit a claim form online with a Claimant ID Number on Postcard notice and the Last Name or Business Name.  Or a former customer can print the form online here and mail it to:

ATTM USC Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 33309
Washington D.C., 20033-0309

The court will hold a settlement fairness shearing on February 20, 2013 to determine if the settlement is fair and reasonable.  If you would like to object to the settlement you must submit a signed deposition with any relevant documents to support your objections.  If you would like to also appear and make a statement at the fairness hearing you can do so by including your intention to appear at the hearing with your written objection.

If you are a former customer and do nothing you will get nothing.  The AT&T Mobility Service Charge Class Action Lawsuit  is case number 1222-CC09746.  attmuscsettlement.com provides more details about the case as well as relevant court documents.  The law firms of Robertson & Gorny, P.C and Huge Law Firm PLLC will represent class members.

eMachines never had the best reputation as a quality computer company but this class action lawsuit claims the computers were outright defective.  The lawsuit is entitled Collins v. eMachines Inc and is in the jurisdiction of the District Court of Cleveland County.  More information about the lawsuit can be obtained by calling 1-888-623-6174 or by writting to eMachines Settlement Administrator, c/o KCC Class Action Services, PO Box 43143, Providence, RI 02940-3143.  The lead class members include Kiley Stroud, Tammy Collins, Rudolph Roma, David Packard and John Hock.  The lawsuit states that eMachines sold computers that had a defect that caused loss or corruption of data written to, or read from, a floppy disk within the machine.  eMachines denies all wrong doing but has agreed to settlement terms.  The eMachines Floppy Disk Settlement provides class members with a possible $65 cash payment or a replacement computer and accessories.  The court will decide oif the settlement terms are fair and reasonable on March 25, 2013 at at the District Court of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 200 S. Peters Norman, OK 73069.   Class members are defined as anyone who bought a eMachines computer (see model numbers below) on or after December 31, 1997 in the United States.  Computer model numbers are shown below:

You do not have to attend the fairness hearing in order to participate in the settlement but you DO have to file a valid claim form before July 15, 2013.   The claim form can be filed online at the class administrators website.  Other important dates in the eMachines Floppy Disk Settlement include the objection and exclusion deadline which are both dated as March 8, 2013.

A copy of the settlement agreement and the Preliminary Approval Order are available at eMachinesFloppyDiskSettlement.com and are in PDF files, and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader software.  This is a fitting end for a company who made such terrible computers.

www.eMachinesFloppyDiskSettlement.com 

If you or someone you know made a purchase using a credit card or debit card at a FedEX Office store between April 2009 to April 2010 you might be a part of the FXO Class Action lawsuit.  The proposed settlement for class members who file valid claims is a $50 FedEx Office Store Value Card.  The case is entitled Razmig Tchoboian v. FedEx Office and Print Services, Inc and revolves around claims that FedEx Office stores released receipts that showed too many numbers of the customers credit or debit card which is in violation of the law under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.  The violations were committed by self-service machines at FedEx Office store locations nationwide.  The lawsuit claims that machines printed receipts that displayed the first two digits and the last four digits of customers credit/debit card numbers… this is not good.  The customer could of tossed the receipt in the trash not knowing and opened themselves up to potential problems down the road.  FACTA strictly prohibits companies from displaying the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date on any printed receipt and carries a fine of  $100 to $1,000 per violation.  FedEx denies are actions of wrong doing but has agreed to settlement terms.

In order to be eligible for the settlement a class member MUST submit a claim form no later than February 2, 2013.  FXOClassAction.com provides the claim form online or you can call toll free 888-756-3339 to have a Claim Form mailed to you.

A settlement fairness hearing will take place at U.S. District Court, 255 East Temple Street, Los Angeles, California 90012 on April 8, 2013 at 8:30 am. The hearing will be determine if the settlement is fair and reasonable.  If approved settlement store cards will be released within 60 days of the Court’s approval.  The Fedex Store Value Cards are fully transferrable but may not be redeemed for cash.  The case will be heard before the honorable Judge John A. Kronstadt.

www.FXOClassAction.com 

Pizza is the topic of today’s class action lawsuit settlement. Domino’s Pizza are in some trouble over claims that they used robo-calls (aka pre-recorded phone advertisements) to reach customers cell phones without consent. The case is entitled Spillman v. Domino’s Pizza LLC and RPM Pizza LLC and is in the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Louisiana. The lawsuit claims that Domino’s was in violation of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act when making these advertisement calls without customers authorization. The Defendants (Domino’s Pizza and RPM Pizza LLC) deny they violated the law but have agreed to a settlement amount of $9.75 million pending a fairness hearing. Class members in the lawsuit are considered as anyone in the states of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who received a robo-call on their cell phone by or on behalf of RPM advertising Domino’s pizza between the dates of May 20, 2006 to May 20, 2010. If you are unsure if your part of the settlement you may call toll free 1-877-552-1288 for more information. There will be two classes under the Pizza Settlement and they include the Merchandise Voucher Sub-Class and the Monetary Sub-Class. The Settlement under the Merchandise Voucher class include a voucher for one large one topping pizza which is in store pick up only. The settlement under the Monetary class includes a cash payment of up to $15. The monetary class is thought to contain about 400,000 members.

All claim forms MUST be field by May 4, 2013 in order to be eligible for any type of settlement. PizzaSettlement.com provides the claim form which can be filed online or mailed to:

Pizza Settlement
P.O. Box 2881
Faribault, MN 55021-8681

All class members who file claims in the lawsuit will be represented by the following court appointed lawyers: Philip Bohrer of Bohrer Law Firm, LLC, and Christopher K. Jones and John P. Wolff, III of Keogh, Cox & Wilson, Ltd.

A settlement fairness hearing will be held on March 12, 2013 at 11am to determine the fairness of the settlement terms. This date and time are subject to change. The hearing will be held at 777 Florida Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70801 and will be heard by the honorable Judge Riedlinger. More information about the case to include lawsuit documents can be found at the class administrators website.

Imagine driving a car down the highway and it starts accelerating without the driver stepping on the gas.  This is exactly what the Toyota Acceleration Class Action Lawsuit revolves around.  Over 16 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion cars were sold by Toyota Motor Corp that experienced “sudden unexpected acceleration.”  The lawsuit is entitled In Re: Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation and is in the jurisdiction of the United States District Court, Central District of California.  Toyota has agreed to settlement fund of over $1 billion pending a fairness hearing.  This is the largest settlement in relation to an automobile defect in the history of the United States.  The settlement funds will also create a driver education programs and promote new research into advanced safety technologies to help prevent this from happening again in the future.

Not only was this unexpected acceleration a huge safety risk but it also killed the resale value of the automobiles.  Class members in the Toyota EL Settlement are defined as anyone who own or owned, purchase(d), lease(d) and/or insure(d) the residual value as a Residual Value Insurer of a Subject Vehicle equipped or installed with an ETCS distributed for sale or lease prior to December 28, 2012.  The deadline to submit a claim will be 150 Days From the Notice Date.

The settlement fairness hearing will be held before U.S. District Judge James Selna at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and United States District Court.  You do not have to attend this hearing to be par to be part of the settlement.  The courthouse is located at 411 West Fourth Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701 in case you do attend.

The deadline to object or exclude yourself from the settlement has been set at May 13, 2013.  If you exclude yourself from the settlement terms you will not be bound by any decisions made as a part of the class action settlement.  If you decide to remain in the lawsuit you will be represented by the law firms of Steve W. Berman at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP; Marc M. Seltzer at Susman Godfrey LLP; and Frank M. Pitre at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.  These law firms are known as the Class Counsel and you will not be charged for these lawyers if you remain in the settlement.  The class administrators web portal contains a copy of the following court documents: Settlement Agreement (With Exhibits)

• Long Form Notice
• Safety Research and Education Plan
• List of Subject Vehicles
• Plan of Allocation

If you or someone you know purchased a 1998-2001 Chrysler Dodge Ram truck, model 2500 or 3500 you might be a part of this class action lawsuit. The truck must be equipped with a Cummins ISB 5.9 liter, diesel engine built using a “pattern 53” engine block to qualify.  Class member will receive a $500 settlement for the cost of replacing or repairing the engine block.  The lawsuit is in the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and is case Number 08-1677.  This is not the first time a class action lawsuit has been filed over a faulty automobile.  It should be noted that the company being sued is Cummins Inc. and not Chrysler.  The current proposed settlement if not official until a hearing has been held before a judge to determine of the terms are fair, reasonable, and adequate.  If you have a Dodge Ram truck but are still unsure if you are a part of this settlement please call 1-877-564-7093 for assistance.

The deadline to file a claim will be January 26, 2013, please do not delay.  If you file a claim you will become part of the settlement and will be represented by the law firms of Murphy, Rogers, Sloss & Gambel and Willis & Buckley.  These court appointed attorneys will work on your behalf at no charge but will receive a cut of the approved settlement.  It has been determined that the attorneys will not be paid anything more that $750,000.00. To file a claim be visit the Cummins Pickup Block Settlement website and click on claim form.  You will then be required to provide the notice Number from the front of the post card you received.  This deadline to file a claim is quickly approaching.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Bayer claiming that their One-A-Day Men’s Health Formula multivitamins did not live up to the benefits as advertised.  The particular statements made by Bayer associated with the multivitamins that were cited in the lawsuit were “support prostate health” and “may reduce the risk of cancer”.  Claimants states that they were overcharged for the vitamins alleging the product did not provide the advertised prostate health benefits as stated.  Like any good defendant Bayer denies any wrong doing in the case but has agreed to settlement terms.  A settlement fund of $300,000 has been developed and will be made in cash payments to class members who file timely claims.  The case is in the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio and is entitled Godec v. Bayer Corp.  Class members in the Men’s Vitamins Lawsuit are defined as anyone who in the State of Ohio purchased a One-A-Day Men’s Health Formula multivitamin from February 2, 2006 to November 30, 2009.  Class members will have until May 23, 2013 to file a claim.  The settlement payout will be based upon on how many people file valid claims.  Class members will be paid on a pro rata share basis.  MensVitaminsLawsuit.com provides the claim form and other court related documents.  The claim forms can be filed online or by mail.  If by mail please mail the claim form to:

Godec v. Bayer Corporation
c/o GCG
P.O. Box 35028
Seattle, WA 98124-3500

A fairness hearing will be held on February 22, 2013 at 8:30 a.m..  The hearing will take place at the the Northern District of Ohio, 801 West Superior Avenue, Courtroom 18A, Cleveland, Ohio 44113.  The hearing will determine if the settlement amount is fair and the judge will listen to people who would like to speak in relation to the Bayer Men’s Vitamin Class Action Settlement.  Class members do not have to appear at the hearing in order to participate in the settlement payout.

The law firms of Climaco, Wilcox, Peca, Tarantino & Garofoli Co., L.P.A.; Scott Kalish Co., LLC; and the Piscitelli Law Firm have been appointed by the court to represent class members.  If you would like to exclude yourself from the settlement have up until January 23, 2013 to do so.  If you choose to be a part of this class action lawsuit you will lose the opportunity to file a claim in any other lawsuit or proceeding.  If a class member does nothing they will not take part in any settlement payout.

www.MensVitaminsLawsuit.com

This lawsuit does not involve a Disco ball, bad music or ugly clothing but claims that consumers were sent text messages without their permission.  The lawsuit is entitled Pimental v. Google Inc., et al. and claims that Slide Inc violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending customers unsolicited text messages from the Disco group text messaging service created by Slide.  It should be noted that Slide Inc is a subsidiary of Google.  One class members contends that he received over 100 text messages in one day from Slide… that is more than 4 every hour!  Talk about annoying.  The defendants deny any actions of wrong doing but have agreed to settlement terms.  A total settlement amount of $6,000,000 has been agreed upon in the Disco Text class action lawsuit.  Class members in the Disco Text Settlement are defined as anyone who received a text message regarding the Disco messaging service that was sent through the Disco messaging service without their prior express consent.  The class member must of also lived in the United States or its territories in order to be considered a class member.  Under the settlement terms class members will receive a CASH payment that will not exceed $500.  Class members have until 06/28/2013 to file a claim.  The number of class members is predicted to be around 400,000.  Please note that a class member can only make one claim regardless of how many text messages they received.

The case is in the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and will be heard before the Honorable Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.  The law firms of Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, and Christopher L. Dore of Edelson McGuire, LLC will represent that class members and they will receive 33% of the proposed settlement amount.  If a class member would like to exclude themselves from the settlement please write a letter to:

Disco Text Settlement Administrator
PO Box 3967
Portland, OR 97208-3967

They will be required to include their name, address, phone number, signature and exclusion request in writing.  The deadline for class members to object or exclude themselves from the lawsuit is 04/02/13.  A settlement fairness hearing will be held before Ronald V. Dellums at 2pm on on May 14, 2013 to determine if the settlement is fair.  The hearing will be located at 1301 Clay Street, Oakland, California 94612.  The class counsel can be reached at:

350 North LaSalle Street, Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60654

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Commerce Bank revolving around overdraft fees.  If you had a Commerce Bank checking account and paid Overdraft Fees between the dates of April 6, 2004 and August 16, 2012 you may be entitled to a part of the $18.3 million class settlement.  Commerce Bank admits no wrong doing in the case but has agreed to settlement terms.  Please note that a class member in the case also includes anyone in the state of Illinois who had a checking account and paid overdraft fees between April 6, 2000 and December 31, 2002.  The Commerce Bank Overdraft Settlement is in the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division.  Any questions or concerns about the lawsuit can be brought to the attention of Settlement Administrator at 1-866-841-764 or by email at info@CommerceBankOverdraftSettlement.com.  The class admin website also include the claim form, the detailed notice, settlement agreement and the preliminary court approval order.  The case is entitled In re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation and will be heard before the Honorable Judge James Lawrence King.  The following law firms have been appointed by the court to represent class members:

• Kopelowitz Ostrow
• Podhurst Orseck
• Bruce S. Rogow
• Grossman Roth

Class members will not be charged for the services of these law firms but the lawyers will receive a portion of the final settlement.  A class member can hire their own attorney but they will have to pay for the services.

In order to receive a settlement payout of any kind a class member MUST file a claim before May 21, 2013.  A claim form can be found online at the class admin web portal.  The member can file the claim online or by mail.  If by mail please send it to:

Commerce Bank Overdraft Settlement
P.O. Box 3775
Portland, OR 97208-3775

A settlement fairness hearing will be held on March 22, 2013 at 10:00 am.  The hearing will take place at the United States District Court for Southern District of Florida in Court Room #2 at 99 Northeast Fourth Street, Miami, FL 33132.

The Commerce Bank Class Action Lawsuit is just another of a long string of lawsuits that have been filed in relation to corrupt overdraft fees.  Commerce was not the first and it won’t be the last class action lawsuit revolving around these type fees.