Archive for 2009

Arbonne Recall for Bacteria: Scrub it in – Ouch!

September 11th, 2009. By AbiK

Yes, Arbonne has just put out a voluntary recall on its Seasource Detox Spa Foaming Sea Salt Scrub. It’s only on one lot, so don’t go crazy–and that lot number is Z928. Shipping dates on that lot number ranged from March 28, 2008 to July 15, 2009.

I’d just blogged on a what-price-beauty theme the other day–and I steered clear of OTC beauty products; after all, outside of the hype about parabens and maybe some reports about trace bits of lead in lipstick, for the most part drugstore and cosmetic counter beauty if fairly tame.

But a body scrub? With bacteria? Specifically, Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, which as the recall states can “cause dermatitis, soft tissue infections, bacteremia, and a variety of system infections, particularly with users who are immunosuppressed”. No thank you.

Arbonne’s doing the right things: Voluntary recall and offering to replace or exchange the product or refund money paid for the recalled product, at the purchaser’s choice. Simply call them at 1-800-ARBONNE.

And hold off on the at-home spa treatment this weekend…

Tags: Arbonne, Beauty
Posted in Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Jessica Simpson ain’t no SunTrust-er

September 11th, 2009. By AbiK

Sure as shootin’ Ms. Simpson doesn’t need a mortgage. But I noticed the TMZ.com video of Jessica Simpson doing her “I’m not an Indian-giver” quip in July. Seems the comment was in reference to whether she would take back the $100,000 boat (rumored to be a Malibu Wakesetter) she gave former boyfriend Tony Romo for his birthday. (Yes, file her comment under “what was she thinking?”)

But it got me thinking about things—and hey, it’s Friday—I could use a little levity. Clearly “Indian-giver” is not the most p.c. thing to say. And I’m betting it’s pretty much past anyone knowing or recalling what the phrase originally meant or was in reference to. So it’s time to come up with a more modern and applicable expression for Jess to use—one that can easily enter our lexicon of colloquialisms and mean “someone who gives something and then takes it back”.

And there it was…we’ve been talking about SunTrust this week, so this one just fell in my lap. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: SunTrust
Posted in Emerging Issues | 2 Comments »

$150M Zurich Insurer Settlement…by the numbers

September 11th, 2009. By AbiK

Here’s the down and dirty on the insurer price fixing class action settlement imposed on Zurich Financial Services and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.—the settlement was upheld on Tuesday after going through an appeal process stemming from the original 2006 settlement ruling. The upheld settlement was reported on in the NJ Law Journal.

[By the way, if you want to read about Zurich’s history with price fixing, see previous Zurich articles here]

Settlement Amount:

$150 million, plus $29.9 million in legal fees and costs, paid by the insurance companies as follows:

$122 million to be paid by Zurich Financial Services

$28 million to be paid by Gallagher & Co.

$29.9 million to be paid separately by Zurich to plaintiffs’ lawyers

Who Gets the Settlement Money:

3.79 million potential class members–maybe more, according to estimates

How’s the Settlement Money’s Divided:

51.7% goes to Zurich policyholders who bought excess casualty insurance from 2001 to 2004

33.9% to policyholders who bought other lines of insurance or excess policies at other times

9% to non-policyholders who were affected by the alleged wrongdoing

States party to the Settlement Agreement:

10…California, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia

Tags: Gallagher, Insurance, Zurich
Posted in Settlement | 3 Comments »

SunTrust HELOC Accounts: Now you see it, now you don’t?

September 11th, 2009. By Kristine B

Do you believe in magic? Seems maybe you should if you were one of the folks who allegedly saw their SunTrust HELOC account do a disappearing act for no apparent reason. It’s kinda like that bewildered feeling you have after sitting through some dazzling Vegas magic act—asking, how’d they do that?

Guess it’s gotten to be a bit commonplace to ask “how’d they do that?” when you’re talking about banks. Given the recent troubles faced by numerous financial firms over the past year or so, it should be no surprise that many clients are filing lawsuits against their financial firms, alleging, among other things, mismanagement of accounts. 

However, when lawsuits arise alleging that banks are singling out vulnerable individuals and freezing, decreasing or altogether terminating their lines of credit, you have to wonder what’s going on. And your “how’d they do that?” starts to become “why’d they do that?”

Take the SunTrust Bank situation. SunTrust is accused of taking drastic action against senior citizens— Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: SunTrust
Posted in Emerging Issues | No Comments »

SunTrust HELOC, ERISA…RUOK?

September 10th, 2009. By AbiK

SunTrust bank’s been popping up in the news—and in chat rooms lately. Granted, in the chat rooms there’s a lot of griping about NSF’s, fees that seem to appear out of nowhere, trouble with closing accounts…and on and on. They’re the beefs we all have with big banks. SunTrust is also in the news this week as authorities continue to look for the guy who cashed close to $9,000 in fraudulent checks last summer at some SunTrust banks in Maryland.

But the bigger issues with SunTrust right now are lawsuits it may be facing in regard to its HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) loans and allegations that it may have breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA.

First, the SunTrust HELOC…

SunTrust is not alone when it comes to having frozen or stopped HELOC accounts. The difference here—which LawyersAndSettlements has been reporting on—is that there was allegedly no real “heads up” given to SunTrust clients who received letters informing them that their HELOC loans were frozen—and worse yet, no explanation or clear grounds for doing so. From reports to date, folks who were affected by the freeze-out were on time with loan Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: SunTrust
Posted in Emerging Issues | No Comments »