Jun 2, 2026

Federal Judge Tosses Out Texas Lawsuit Seeking to Block Syrian Refugee Resettlement

A federal judge on Thursday tossed out a Texas lawsuit filed to prevent Syrian refugees from settling in the state. In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge David Godbey said the state failed to make “a plausible claim for relief” in its filing. Today’s ruling is a victory for President Barack Obama and a refugee resettlement group named International Rescue Committee, both …


Internet Trolling Paper Published Email Without Consent; Retraction Sparked Lawsuit Threat

When a paper was retracted earlier this year with an opaque notice, we set out to figure out why. We’re still not entirely clear of the reason, but we’ve uncovered one aspect of the paper that raised objections from another researcher: The paper, on internet trolling, included an email he sent without his permission. The retraction sparked our interest, both because of the journal’s opaque …


Wrongful Death Suit Fired Over Marshall Square Fire

The suit was filed Thursday by Barbara Ellington, the last surviving daughter of Dorothy Carpenter, the lone resident who died in the fire. Ellington’s lawsuit is the first to claim negligence by Columbia Coun­ty as well as individual employees, including the county’s fire marshal Brian Clark, battalion chief Jimmie Paschal, special operations chief Danny Kuhlmann, Capt. Gary Griffith and Lt. …


MillerCoors Gets Blue Moon ‘Craft Beer’ Lawsuit Thrown Out

MillerCoors LLC won the dismissal of a proposed class action lawsuit by a self-described beer aficionado who said the brewing giant tricked consumers into paying premium prices for Blue Moon by falsely portraying it as “craft beer.” U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego said the plaintiff, Evan Parent, did not show MillerCoors affirmatively misrepresented the origins of Blue Moon, a …


Caddies Appeal Dismissal of $50 Million Lawsuit Against PGA Tour

The Battle of the Bibs continues. Mike Hicks and 167 other professional caddies have appealed U.S. District Judge Vince Girdhari Chhabria’s decision to dismiss their $50 million class-action lawsuit against the PGA Tour. The caddies raised contract, antitrust and intellectual property claims against the Tour when they filed suit in February 2015, alleging that the Tour had reduced them to …


HSBC Pays $1.6 Billion to End 14-Year Mortgage-Lending Lawsuit

Thursday, a unit of HSBC Holdings said it will pay $1.575 billion in order to end a 14-year old shareholder class action lawsuit. The lawsuit stems from questionable mortgage lending undertaking more than a decade ago from the Household International consumer finance business that HSBC bought in 2003, according to an article by Jonathan Stempel for Reuters. In the second quarter, the company …



Feds Appeal Ruling in St. Bernard, Lower 9 MR-GO Damage Case

The U.S. Justice Department has formally appealed a federal judge’s approval of class action status for a lawsuit blaming the Army Corps of Engineers for declining lost property values caused in St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward by floodwaters during Hurricane Katrina and later storms. That status would make thousands of residents and businesses eligible for damage awards that …


Some Volkswagen Owners Say $15 Billion Settlement Doesn’t Go Far Enough

The largest auto maker settlement to date may not be enough to buy back the trust of some drivers. On June 28, Volkswagen VOW, +4.15% submitted a settlement plan worth $14.7 billion to a federal judge following the company’s admission in September of cheating emissions tests by placing a “defeat device” in 11 million of its diesel vehicles world-wide. The settlement gives about 475,000 diesel …


EEOC Investigating Google for Age Discrimination, Lawsuit Says

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating complaints of age discrimination by Google, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. Cheryl Fillekes, a systems engineer who interviewed with but was not hired by Google when she was 47, made reference to the EEOC investigation in …