Settlement Archive

CertainTeed Organic Shingle Settlement has Green Light

June 16th, 2010. By AbiK

Know what gets a lot of traffic at LawyersAndSettlements.com? Anything CertainTeed. CertainTeed lawsuits. CertainTeed settlements. CertainTeed-related comments about the weather. You name it, folks love clicking a CertainTeed link. So, in honor of all of you who’ve clicked away, here’s a CertainTeed story that might pay off for you: the CertainTeed Organic Shingle Settlement was approved at a court hearing last week.

[Little disclosure: as with the Lawn Mower settlement, LawyersAndSettlements.com has absolutely nothing to do with this—we’re not affiliated or connected in any way to the Settlement, not in bed with the law firms involved, not getting any cut of this…we’re just reporting it…]

So this Settlement is the result of a defective product lawsuit claiming that CertainTeed Organic Shingles that were manufactured between July 1, 1987 and December 31, 2005 were defective and failed to perform as promised when installed on homes and/or buildings in the US and Canada.

Now, don’t get all giddy too quickly. I’m telling you upfront, this Settlement—if you’re a part of it—will require a bit of homework on your part. So here we go…

The settlement applies to these folks only (aka, the “Class Members” —and yes, you need to be a member of this little club to receive any settlement monies) AND you also need to meet certain eligibility requirements once you pass the “test” to be considered a Class Member. So first, let’s look at who qualifies as a Class Member…

You are a CLASS MEMBER of the CertainTeed Organic Shingle Class Action Settlement if you:

1. Owned a home or other building in the US or Canada as of December 15, 2009 on which CertainTeed Organic Shingles were or had been installed;

OR

2. Owned such a home or building prior to December 15, 2009 but sold or Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Certainteed, CertainTeed Organic Shingles
Posted in Class Action, Defective Products, Emerging Issues, Settlement | 18 Comments »

Join me as I Submit my United Healthcare Out of Network Claim

May 26th, 2010. By AbiK

The much-anticipated Notice of Proposed Settlement for the United Healthcare (UHC) class action lawsuit about Out-of-Network (OON) charges being improperly reimbursed has finally landed in my mailbox—perhaps yours, too.

Chances are, if you’ve received the UHC OON settlement notice, you glazed over it and tossed it aside while simultaneously feeling some sort of nagging inside—that nagging you feel when you know you should do something but it’s just too much of a pain in the ass to do it. Windexing the windows falls into this category as well. The difference between the windows and the UHC settlement though is that at least you KNOW how to do the windows; just try to figure out how to submit a claim for this settlement.

So I’m going to go through the process with you—yes, I’m going to fill out the paperwork and post about it so I can feel your pain and hopefully help you make sense of it all along the way. And so our little journey begins…

My UHC Out of Network Settlement Experience: DAY 1

The UHC OON Proposed Settlement in hand, I rip it open to find a sea of text that immediately starts to confuse me. It’s not the lawsuit I’m confused about—we’ve followed the AMA v. UHC class action. It’s what the heck I need to do now. So I force myself to read the hideously dense serif text and here’s what I need to do:

1. Ask myself, was I a United Healthcare Subscriber…

at all between March 15, 1994 through November 18, 2009? Ok, yes, I was.

2. How long do I have to submit a Claim Form for this?

(i.e., how long can I procrastinate?) I have until October 5, 2010 to submit a UHC settlement Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: OON, out of network, Out of Pocket, UHC, United Healthcare
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues, Insurance, Settlement | 231 Comments »

Flip Side of Lawn Mower Lawsuit: Briggs & Stratton Earnings

April 22nd, 2010. By AbiK

A few of you had commented on the Lawn Mower Class Action settlement post about the impact that the settlement would have on the companies (defendants) involved, including engine maker Briggs & Stratton.

Today, Briggs & Stratton reported fiscal third quarter earnings, and—no surprise—the company said earnings were down due to the lawsuit. Five percent down, according to AP. Briggs & Stratton earned $24.1 million, down from $25.4 million a year ago. The company reported it would have earned 85 cents per share had it not been for the lawsuit; rather, it reported 48 cents per share, down from 51 cents per share a year earlier.

According to Briggs & Stratton, revenue rose 3 percent to $694.6 million from $673.8 million a year ago. The increase was attributed to engine shipments rising 6 percent over 3Q 2009—but the company stated the increase was offset by lower average prices.

Now, although this was a consumer fraud lawsuit and Briggs & Stratton admitted no wrongdoing, they did settle 65 class action horsepower-related lawsuits in February, agreeing to pay $31 million along with agreeing to change how they would label the horsepower of their engines for the next ten years. (And of course, the rest of the lawn mower settlement details you can read about over at the initial story we posted.)

Though 3Q earnings were down, the company stated that it would have earned 85 cents per share without the lawn mower lawsuit settlement. The reason for this was rising engine sales, particularly in the lawn and garden market.

According to AP, the adjusted earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations where analysts had expected 67 cents per share.

The postscript: Briggs & Stratton was up 35 cents (1.6 percent) to $22.21 in reports on afternoon trading.

Tags: Briggs & Stratton, Lawn Mower, Lawn Mower Class Action
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Settlement | 5 Comments »

Got a Gas-Powered Lawn Mower? There’s a Class Action Settlement…

April 6th, 2010. By AbiK

UPDATE 1 (4/8/10): Editor’s Note – A number of you have had difficulty in going to the LawnMowerClass.com site; click on this link and you should get to the correct page.

UPDATE 2 (4/9/10): For those of you who are having difficulty identifying the ID numbers, the information can be found here for each brand, model or make of lawnmower involved. Please do not submit a claim form to LawyersAndSettlements.com–we are not the claims administrator; you need to go to the website above to submit your claim.

As you’re out there getting the lawn ready for another summer season, take a look at your gas-powered lawn mower. You may be a part of the Lawnmower Class Action.

Yes, there is such a thing and we reported on the lawsuit when it was first filed. And a notice of proposed settlement just landed in my mailbox today.

Here’s what you need to know…

If you purchased a gasoline-powered lawn mower with an engine up to 30 horsepower for your own use between January 1, 1994 and April 12, 2010—yes, the class period is like sixteen years—then you may be eligible to submit a claim for up to $35 for a walk-behind mower or $75 for a riding mower. You may also receive extended warranty benefits.

Note—the lawn mower class action lawsuit is not about lawn mower safety. At issue is that the plaintiff claimed the defendants—American Honda Motor Co. Inc., MTD Products, Sears Roebuck  & Co., Sears Holding Corp., Kmart Holding Corp., Deere & Company, Tecumseh Products, TecumsehPower Co, Platinum Equity LLC, Briggs & Stratton Corp., Kawasaki Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Briggs & Stratton, Deere, Husqvarna, Kawasaki, Kohler, Lawn Mower Class Action, Lawnmower, Sears, Toro
Posted in Class Action, Settlement | 452 Comments »

AG Edwards Settlement has Plaintiffs Ticked Off

March 29th, 2010. By AbiK

And I have to say, I’d be ticked too.

Plaintiffs got a little gift in their mailboxes last week: they received notice of the proposed settlement from the AG Edwards class action. Guess how much some plaintiffs are receiving? The initial report of the proposed settlement put the average payout at $20-25 customer. One commenter at LawyersAndSettlements.com quotes his notice as saying he’ll receive $20.42. You can read the notice yourself at agedwardsclassactionsettlement.com. (Note the name change of the website—prior to the proposed settlement, the site was agedwardsclassaction.com; the URL has been updated to reflect that the case now has a propsed settlement.)

Keep in mind, if you’ve read the comments that came flowing in from our post on where the AG Edwards class action suit was heading, many of the Class Members claim they lost their “life savings” compliments of AG Edwards. And remember, this was back during a class period of 2000 – 2005—not post-2008 when we all saw our savings take a dive.

The AG Edwards class action had been brought against the brokerage firm in 2005 claiming that AG Edwards breached its fiduciary duties to the Plaintiffs (folks who owned AG Edwards accounts) and that AG Edwards was “unjustly enriched by receiving millions of dollars in improper payments from mutual fund companies whose funds were held by Plaintiffs“. The Class Period had covered five years—and getting to a proposed settlement then took five years.

That’s a long time to wait for some resolution and ideally, restitution.

Another aspect of the proposed settlement is what the lawyers’ take will be. Apparently it’s $21 million—plus $600,000 in expenses. That’s 35% of the total proposed settlement of $60 million—and Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AG Edwards, AG Edwards Settlement, Class Action, Mutual Funds, Wells Fargo
Posted in Class Action, Emerging Issues, Financial, Securities, Settlement | 48 Comments »