Ninth Circuit Affirms Certification of Commercial Food Preparer Class Led By CGL
Sitting en banc, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed district court certification of a class of Commercial Food Preparers, including restaurants, that purchased packaged tuna products in Olean Wholesale Grocery v. Bumble Bee Foods, — F.4th —, 2022 WL 1053459 (9th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022) (en banc). CGL serves as lead counsel for the Commercial Food Preparer class, and the Ninth Circuit’s opinion upholds a first-of-its-kind contested certification of a class of commercial indirect purchasers in antitrust litigation.
Senate Passes Open App Markets Act (OAMA)
On February 3rd, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Open App Markets Act (OAMA) by a strong bipartisan vote of 20-2. OAMA would prevent Apple and Google from using their market power to require app developers to use a specific in-app payment system or from unfairly promoting their own apps above those of competing app developers. This will mean app developers will be able to stop paying huge fees to Big Tech and app users will be able to pay less for apps. OAMA includes a private right of action, modeled after the treble damage remedy in the Clayton Act, for app developers to enforce the law.
The Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws, represented by CGL, worked with the bill’s sponsors on the private right of action provision.
House Passes the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act)
On March 17th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act) by a vote of 222-209. The FAIR Act would prohibit the enforcement of forced arbitration clauses in consumer, employment and civil rights disputes and in antitrust class actions. If it becomes law, the FAIR Act will open the courthouse doors to millions of individuals and small businesses who cannot effectively vindicate their rights in secretive, individual arbitration proceedings.
On behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws and the American Association for Justice, CGL plays a leading role in the coalition supporting the legislation.
CGL wins D.C. Circuit appeal, denying immunity to Pan American Health Organization for human trafficking of Cuban doctors.
The 3-0 decision marks the first time a federal appellate court has ever held that an international organization’s immunity in U.S. Courts cannot not cover commercial acts related to forced labor. The panel upheld CGL’s position that knowingly benefitting from participation in a forced labor venture is itself a wrongful act.
The doctors’ claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act will now proceed. They allege that from 2013 to 2018, PAHO kept $75 million of their wages and served as a financial intermediary to enable Cuba to traffic thousands of medical personnel to forced work programs in Brazil.
For more information, contact Peter Gil-Montllor at 202-789-3960 or pgil-montllor@cuneolaw.com
CGL filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, N.A. in DC Superior Court on behalf of Andrea S. Paterson, alleging the Bank made repeated errors that resulted in missing and terminated Social Security benefits owed to Ms. Paterson’s minor son. The lawsuit alleges that the Bank first refused to process one Social Security payment, then sent erroneous information about Ms. Paterson’s family to the Social Security Administration. Relying on this information, SSA stopped making payments owed to Ms. Paterson’s son from his late father, resulting in almost $10,000 in missed payments since August 2020. The lawsuit alleges that throughout this ordeal, the Bank has acted in a manner that is cynically indifferent to Ms. Paterson’s needs and has failed to correct its errors.
CGL partner Victoria Sims co-authored the cover article in the inaugural issue of a major new legal publication, the Class Action Monthly, with highly respected Philadelphia attorney and COSAL President Robert Kitchenoff. The article, titled “Running Up Against the Illinois Brick Wall,” discusses the pressing need for states without statutes permitting indirect purchaser recoveries under their antitrust laws to seriously consider passing such legislation.
Ms. Sims was awarded the American Antitrust Institute’s Outstanding Litigation Achievement by a Junior Lawyer Award (2017) for her work in the Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, 12-md-02311 (E.D. Mich), where she successfully represented automobile dealerships in thirty jurisdictions and recovered approximately $400 million on their behalf. Ms. Sims is currently Interim Co-Lead counsel for Reseller Plaintiffs in the Hard Disk Drive Suspension Assemblies Antitrust Litigation, 3:19-md-02918-MMC (N.D. Cal.) and also represents independent pharmacies and hospitals in Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2724 (E.D. Pa.).
Ms. Sims is also the co-author of “Proposals for Reform” a chapter in Private Enforcement of the Antitrust Law in the United States (edited by Albert A. Foer and Randy M. Stutz) (2012) as well as Remediation and Deterrence: The Real Requirements of the Vindication Doctrine (2013) (George Washington Law Review).
Federal Court Approves Hospital Complaint on Opioids
MDL Judge Dan Aaron Polster issued an order on April 3, 2020, upholding in principal part, hospital claims against manufacturers, distributors and large retail pharmacies who, the complaint allege, were responsible for the national opioid crisis. Judge Polster’s opinion is the third opinion upholding hospitals’ claims. State courts in Tucson, Arizona and in West Virginia have upheld hospitals’ claims. No court has dismissed them.
Pamela Gilbert is the 2019 recipient of the Public Interest Network’s Alumni Achievement Award, which is designed to recognize outstanding contributions to the public interest.
January 7, 2020: Pamela Gilbert is quoted in Consumer Reports magazine about the settlement of a lawsuit involving the death of a two-year-old killed by the tip-over of an Ikea dresser that did not meet voluntary industry safety standards.
https://www.consumerreports.org/furniture/ikea-settlement-furniture-tip-over-death/
Petersen v. Chase Card Funding, LLC et al., Case No. 19-cv-00741 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York)
Cohen et al. v. CapitalOne Funding LLC et al., Case No. 19-cv-03479 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York)
CGL attorneys have filed cases on behalf of certain New York individuals paying interest above 16% on credit card loans. The cases allege that through the process of credit card securitization, the defendant non-bank entities have acquired “all right title and interest” in class members’ credit card receivables, and have violated New York’s longstanding usury law by charging, taking or receiving interest above 16%. The complaints seek disgorgement of wrongfully obtained interest charges and an order prohibiting these defendants from continuing to violate the New York law.
For more information, contact Bill Frick or Charles LaDuca at 202-789-3960 or bill@cuneolaw.com or charles@cuneolaw.com.
CGL on path to prove industry-wide conspiracy rigged prices of generic drugs
August 15, 2019: CGL sustained claims of an overarching conspiracy in the generic drug market against a motion to dismiss filed by 29 generic drugmakers. CGL defeated the drugmakers’ motion by showing that their price-fixing scheme was an overlapping, interdependent conspiracy (an illegal agreement) with a common goal: to make billions of dollars by overcharging pharmacies and patients for basic generic drugs. Price fixing is a federal crime. The federal court in Philadelphia ruled that CGL had discovered enough evidence of an overarching conspiracy to sustain the theory that all the defendant drugmakers should be held jointly liable for their scheme to divvy up drug markets and increase prices.
On April 29, 2019, CGL, working with other law firms around the country, filed a lawsuit on behalf of thirty-seven hospitals in West Virginia and Kentucky against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and their co-conspirators. The case was filed in Marshall County, West Virginia. The Complaint charges that the Defendants committed a variety of illegal acts in marketing and distributing opioids throughout the Appalachian region. The Complaint also seeks damages and injunctive relief on behalf of the hospitals that incurred millions of dollars of increased and unreimbursed costs as a direct result of the opioid epidemic created and engineered by Defendants. This epidemic has taxed the hospitals’ resources and threatened their ability to provide quality health care to all in need. Ron Pellegrino, chief operating officer at West Virginia University Hospitals, which joined the lawsuit, said that the lawsuit was “a big step toward asking the responsible parties be held accountable for the role they played in this crisis.”
http:// https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/04/30/us/ap-us-opioid-lawsuit-hospitals.html
Pamela Gilbert is quoted in a New York Times article about lobbying efforts by Juul regarding e-cigarette regulations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/health/juul-lobbying-states-ecigarettes.html
Ninth Circuit Affirms Certification of Commercial Food Preparer Class Led By CGL
Sitting en banc, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed district court certification of a class of Commercial Food Preparers, including restaurants, that purchased packaged tuna products in Olean Wholesale Grocery v. Bumble Bee Foods, — F.4th —, 2022 WL 1053459 (9th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022) (en banc). CGL serves as lead counsel for the Commercial Food Preparer class, and the Ninth Circuit’s opinion upholds a first-of-its-kind contested certification of a class of commercial indirect purchasers in antitrust litigation.
Senate Passes Open App Markets Act (OAMA)
On February 3rd, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Open App Markets Act (OAMA) by a strong bipartisan vote of 20-2. OAMA would prevent Apple and Google from using their market power to require app developers to use a specific in-app payment system or from unfairly promoting their own apps above those of competing app developers. This will mean app developers will be able to stop paying huge fees to Big Tech and app users will be able to pay less for apps. OAMA includes a private right of action, modeled after the treble damage remedy in the Clayton Act, for app developers to enforce the law.
The Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws, represented by CGL, worked with the bill’s sponsors on the private right of action provision.
House Passes the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act)
On March 17th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act) by a vote of 222-209. The FAIR Act would prohibit the enforcement of forced arbitration clauses in consumer, employment and civil rights disputes and in antitrust class actions. If it becomes law, the FAIR Act will open the courthouse doors to millions of individuals and small businesses who cannot effectively vindicate their rights in secretive, individual arbitration proceedings.
On behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws and the American Association for Justice, CGL plays a leading role in the coalition supporting the legislation.
CGL wins D.C. Circuit appeal, denying immunity to Pan American Health Organization for human trafficking of Cuban doctors.
The 3-0 decision marks the first time a federal appellate court has ever held that an international organization’s immunity in U.S. Courts cannot not cover commercial acts related to forced labor. The panel upheld CGL’s position that knowingly benefitting from participation in a forced labor venture is itself a wrongful act.
The doctors’ claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act will now proceed. They allege that from 2013 to 2018, PAHO kept $75 million of their wages and served as a financial intermediary to enable Cuba to traffic thousands of medical personnel to forced work programs in Brazil.
For more information, contact Peter Gil-Montllor at 202-789-3960 or pgil-montllor@cuneolaw.com
CGL filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, N.A. in DC Superior Court on behalf of Andrea S. Paterson, alleging the Bank made repeated errors that resulted in missing and terminated Social Security benefits owed to Ms. Paterson’s minor son. The lawsuit alleges that the Bank first refused to process one Social Security payment, then sent erroneous information about Ms. Paterson’s family to the Social Security Administration. Relying on this information, SSA stopped making payments owed to Ms. Paterson’s son from his late father, resulting in almost $10,000 in missed payments since August 2020. The lawsuit alleges that throughout this ordeal, the Bank has acted in a manner that is cynically indifferent to Ms. Paterson’s needs and has failed to correct its errors.
CGL partner Victoria Sims co-authored the cover article in the inaugural issue of a major new legal publication, the Class Action Monthly, with highly respected Philadelphia attorney and COSAL President Robert Kitchenoff. The article, titled “Running Up Against the Illinois Brick Wall,” discusses the pressing need for states without statutes permitting indirect purchaser recoveries under their antitrust laws to seriously consider passing such legislation.
Ms. Sims was awarded the American Antitrust Institute’s Outstanding Litigation Achievement by a Junior Lawyer Award (2017) for her work in the Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, 12-md-02311 (E.D. Mich), where she successfully represented automobile dealerships in thirty jurisdictions and recovered approximately $400 million on their behalf. Ms. Sims is currently Interim Co-Lead counsel for Reseller Plaintiffs in the Hard Disk Drive Suspension Assemblies Antitrust Litigation, 3:19-md-02918-MMC (N.D. Cal.) and also represents independent pharmacies and hospitals in Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2724 (E.D. Pa.).
Ms. Sims is also the co-author of “Proposals for Reform” a chapter in Private Enforcement of the Antitrust Law in the United States (edited by Albert A. Foer and Randy M. Stutz) (2012) as well as Remediation and Deterrence: The Real Requirements of the Vindication Doctrine (2013) (George Washington Law Review).
Federal Court Approves Hospital Complaint on Opioids
MDL Judge Dan Aaron Polster issued an order on April 3, 2020, upholding in principal part, hospital claims against manufacturers, distributors and large retail pharmacies who, the complaint allege, were responsible for the national opioid crisis. Judge Polster’s opinion is the third opinion upholding hospitals’ claims. State courts in Tucson, Arizona and in West Virginia have upheld hospitals’ claims. No court has dismissed them.
Pamela Gilbert is the 2019 recipient of the Public Interest Network’s Alumni Achievement Award, which is designed to recognize outstanding contributions to the public interest.
January 7, 2020: Pamela Gilbert is quoted in Consumer Reports magazine about the settlement of a lawsuit involving the death of a two-year-old killed by the tip-over of an Ikea dresser that did not meet voluntary industry safety standards.
https://www.consumerreports.org/furniture/ikea-settlement-furniture-tip-over-death/
Petersen v. Chase Card Funding, LLC et al., Case No. 19-cv-00741 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York)
Cohen et al. v. CapitalOne Funding LLC et al., Case No. 19-cv-03479 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York)
CGL attorneys have filed cases on behalf of certain New York individuals paying interest above 16% on credit card loans. The cases allege that through the process of credit card securitization, the defendant non-bank entities have acquired “all right title and interest” in class members’ credit card receivables, and have violated New York’s longstanding usury law by charging, taking or receiving interest above 16%. The complaints seek disgorgement of wrongfully obtained interest charges and an order prohibiting these defendants from continuing to violate the New York law.
For more information, contact Bill Frick or Charles LaDuca at 202-789-3960 or bill@cuneolaw.com or charles@cuneolaw.com.
CGL on path to prove industry-wide conspiracy rigged prices of generic drugs
August 15, 2019: CGL sustained claims of an overarching conspiracy in the generic drug market against a motion to dismiss filed by 29 generic drugmakers. CGL defeated the drugmakers’ motion by showing that their price-fixing scheme was an overlapping, interdependent conspiracy (an illegal agreement) with a common goal: to make billions of dollars by overcharging pharmacies and patients for basic generic drugs. Price fixing is a federal crime. The federal court in Philadelphia ruled that CGL had discovered enough evidence of an overarching conspiracy to sustain the theory that all the defendant drugmakers should be held jointly liable for their scheme to divvy up drug markets and increase prices.
On April 29, 2019, CGL, working with other law firms around the country, filed a lawsuit on behalf of thirty-seven hospitals in West Virginia and Kentucky against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and their co-conspirators. The case was filed in Marshall County, West Virginia. The Complaint charges that the Defendants committed a variety of illegal acts in marketing and distributing opioids throughout the Appalachian region. The Complaint also seeks damages and injunctive relief on behalf of the hospitals that incurred millions of dollars of increased and unreimbursed costs as a direct result of the opioid epidemic created and engineered by Defendants. This epidemic has taxed the hospitals’ resources and threatened their ability to provide quality health care to all in need. Ron Pellegrino, chief operating officer at West Virginia University Hospitals, which joined the lawsuit, said that the lawsuit was “a big step toward asking the responsible parties be held accountable for the role they played in this crisis.”
http:// https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/04/30/us/ap-us-opioid-lawsuit-hospitals.html
Pamela Gilbert is quoted in a New York Times article about lobbying efforts by Juul regarding e-cigarette regulations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/health/juul-lobbying-states-ecigarettes.html
Pamela Gilbert is quoted in the New York Times about the need to recall an infant product that has led to multiple deaths.
Breaking News:
On March 13, 2019, United States District Judge Vince Chhabria, certified a Nationwide Class of hotels in Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca’s (“CGL”) case against Expedia under the Lanham Act.
CGL represents a group of hotels challenging Expedia’s misleading advertising tactics, which direct consumers away from hotels that cannot be booked through Expedia or will not pay commissions to it, and toward hotels where Expedia can earn a commission.
“Expedia misleads consumers by publishing fake telephone numbers for hotels and making false statements that they are sold out when, in fact, they have rooms available,” said Joel Davidow from CGL. In so doing, Expedia re-directs consumers to hotels that Expedia is able to book and earn a commission.
The US District Court for the Northern District of California’s ruling granted CGL’s motion to certify a class of hotel owners who are seeking an injunction and will help to put a stop to this practice.
Pamela Gilbert comments on the impact of the federal shutdown on product safety.
Michael J. Flannery, Katie Van Dyck, and Michael Smith of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP and Gary Burger of the Burger Law Firm, a well-known St. Louis trial attorney, announce that they obtained a $113,714,632 verdict for wages that the Missouri Department of Corrections had failed to pay a class of 13,000 Corrections Officers. A jury in Jefferson City, Missouri, agreed that the Department of Corrections had unlawfully refused to pay those employees for hundreds of thousands of hours worked by them since 2007. These men and women had their day in court after six years of litigation, overcoming many legal obstacles. The case is now on appeal.
Provide Or Update Your Information For Hootselle v. MDOC
On August 13, 2018, CGL attorneys Jonathan Cuneo and Joel Davidow filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the American Antitrust Institute, Consumers Union and Public Knowledge in United States of America v. AT&T, Inc., et al. This brief supported the Antitrust Division’s challenge to the merger between Time Warner and AT&T.
Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation Update. On July 23, 2018, Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP, Larson King, LLP, and Barrett Law Group, P.A. announced a new proposed settlement for Automobile Dealerships.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has won release of all substantive information contained in the 2013 Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation small business subcontracting plan (plan) filed with the Department of Defense (DOD), after a 4 ½ year Freedom of Information Act battle. Most of the plan was released November 10, 2017, with the remaining substantive portions released March 15, 2018.
On December 7, 2017, DOD and Sikorsky filed a motion for summary judgment (the second) as to the remaining information it had withheld from ASBL. On January 23, 2018, the Court substantially denied the motion, including as to all issues pertaining to purportedly proprietary commercial information, holding that Sikorsky was only entitled to keep from the public images of certain signatures.
Following that decision, DOD elected not to proceed to trial, and to release all remaining substantive information that it had withheld from ASBL, as reflected in a notice filed with the Court on March 8, 2018. DOD then released a substantially complete version of the Plan on March 15, 2018, with the only redactions relating to images of signatures and personal contact information of individuals. Click here for a copy of that document:
Lex Machina’s “2018 Top Law Firm Report” identified Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP as the second busiest plaintiff-side antitrust firm in the nation from January 2013 through December 2017. The study used data from U.S. district court cases, which were categorized into practice areas such as patent, trademark, copyright, securities, employment, product liability, and antitrust, to identify which firms have filed or defended the most cases.
Among the 168 antitrust cases the study identified that CGL’s antitrust practice handled during the last five years are several massive multidistrict cases, including In re: Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 12-md-02311 (E.D. Mich.); In re: Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 15-md-02670-JLS-MDD (S.D. Cal.), and In re: Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 16-md-2724 (E.D. Penn.). CGL attorneys hold court-appointed leadership positions in all of these cases.
This case concerns allegations that the Samsung Gear S Smartwatch does not live up to Samsung’s assertions concerning battery life. Samsung claimed that the Smartwatch would last 1-2 days on a single charge. In reality, Plaintiff Noble, and many other consumers, experienced battery life of just four hours or less. Because the Gear S was the first watch to integrate cellular services into the watch consumers believed they were purchasing a device that could offer them connectivity for calls, navigation, music streaming and other services without the need to keep a phone on them. The failure of the device to last even a day without a charge thwarted the reasonable expectations of Plaintiff Noble and the Class.
Noble v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Case No. 15-cv-3713 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
In order to avoid litigation of the case in court, Samsung first sought to compel individual arbitration, which would have forced Mr. Noble out of court and eliminated any possibility of a class action. Judge Madeline Cox Arleo denied Samsung’s request to compel arbitration and Samsung appealed. Following an unsuccessful appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Samsung again moved to dismiss Plaintiff Noble’s case. On February 5, 2018, Samsung’s motion to dismiss was largely denied—leaving intact four of Plaintiff’s six claims. The case is now proceeding with discovery and active litigation.
If you have any questions concerning this case or would like to share your experience with the Samsung Gear S Smartwatch, please contact Charles LaDuca at 202-789-3960 or charles@cuneolaw.com.
This case concerns allegations of false advertising, hair loss, and scalp irritation for those that use MONAT Haircare Products. The Products are sold through a multi-level marketing scheme that touts them as both safe and natural. In point of fact, the Products are neither safe or natural. Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, along with our co-counsel are pursuing claims on behalf of injured consumers.
Whitmire v. MONAT Gloabal Corp., Case No. 1:18-cv-20636 (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida).
If you have any questions concerning this case or would like to share your experience with MONAT Haircare Products, please contact Charles LaDuca at 202-789-3960 or charles@cuneolaw.com.
On Friday, February 5, 2018, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo issued an order upholding four of six counts in Noble v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (Samsung Gear S Watch Batteries). This first-of-its-kind litigation challenges Samsung’s battery life assertions for the Gear S smartwatch. Judge Arleo’s decision follows a long and unsuccessful appeal by Samsung which sought to force Plaintiff Noble to arbitrate his claims rather than pursue them on behalf of the class. The litigation will now proceed with discovery and active litigation. Should you have any questions about this matter, please contact Charles LaDuca. at 202-789-3960 or charles@cuneolaw.com.
DOJ & Sikorsky update. On January 23, 2018, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco denied, in principal part, a motion for summary judgment filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) & Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Sikorsky) in the four-year-long Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation concerning Sikorsky’s small business subcontracting plan. The Court ruled that the case would go to trial as to whether information being withheld by DOJ & Sikorsky could continue to be withheld from public view on the basis that its release would reveal trade secrets. CGL’s client, the American Small Business League (ASBL) has been seeking an unredacted version of Sikorsky’s small business subcontracting plan since August 2013. The Court held that disputed issues of fact require a trial, and that DOJ and Sikorsky were not entitled to a judgment based on the factual record presented to the Court. 01/23/2018.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
CGL is currently engaged in dozens of cases from product defect class actions to antitrust litigation to civil rights advocacy.
If you feel we could represent you in any of our current cases or in a new case, we would love to hear from you.