Emergency Room Overcharges Patient now Debt Collector Victim

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Emergency Room Overcharges Patient now Debt Collector Victim
Arley, 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 Lawsuit
Sacramento, 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 Court
Los 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” Lawsuit
Baltimore, 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 Questions
New 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 Clear
Pensacola, 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.

Entry-Level Manager Sues Amazon for Misclassification
Oakland, CA Arguments in Michael Ortiz v. Amazon.com LLC opened in the Northern District of California on June 21, nearly five years after the California wage and hour lawsuit was initially filed. Much has already happened; the court has stripped out claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and denied the plaintiffs’ request to proceed as a class action lawsuit.

Syngenta Sues Insurers to Mount Defense, Pay Excess Claims
Wilmington, DE On May 17 Syngenta, the manufacturer and distributor of paraquat-based herbicides, filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware seeking a declaratory judgment that would compel nearly 100 insurers to undertake Syngenta’s defense in the growing number of product-based personal injury lawsuits. The underlying lawsuits focus on the link between the herbicide and Parkinson’s disease, which appears with disproportionate frequency in professionals who used the product under license and according to the manufacturer’s directions. Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC v. Travelers Casualty and Surety Company also seeks damages against insurers who, according to the company, also breached other contractual provisions. Some of these breaches allegedly occurred decades ago.

J&J Talc Plaintiffs: It Pays to Persevere
Washington, DC Twenty women who sued Johnson and Johnson, claiming its baby powder was key in their ovarian cancers, stuck to their guns: the U.S. Supreme Court won’t overturn a $2.1 billion against J&J, which was cut from a 2018 Missouri Court verdict of $4.7 billion. These women persevered through an exhaustive and harrowing court battle including the company’s last ditch appeal in March. But nine women have died from ovarian cancer since the trial began six years ago.

Ninth Circuit Reverses $102 Million Wage Penalty against Walmart
San Francisco, CA On May 28, the Ninth Circuit reversed a decision by the Northern District of California that had required Walmart to pay $102 million in penalties for violations of the California Labor Code. The Ninth Circuit’s decision in Roderick Magadia v. Wal-Mart Associates was a blow to thousands of Walmart workers. It may also have significant repercussions for the future of California labor lawsuits under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). Ultimately, the latter may be more of a problem.

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