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Families of Hillsborough Stadium Victims Sue British Police

Lawyers representing some of the families of 96 soccer fans crushed to death in a U.K. soccer stadium in 1989 have filed a civil suit against two British police forces, alleging misuse of power in office. The lawsuit —filed by Saunders Law on behalf of several hundred family members and survivors — was revealed Thursday after an inquest this week determined that the fans — the …


U.S. Regulator Seeks Return of Class Action Suits Against Credit Cards, Banks

New rules proposed on Thursday by a U.S. consumer watchdog would block credit card companies, banks and other firms from forcing customers to waive their rights to join class action lawsuits and settle disputes only through arbitration. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said financial firms should be barred from using fine print in contracts that mandates arbitration instead …


Canadian Movie Pirates Targeted in Reverse Class Action

When it comes to the business model of turning piracy into profit, the name Voltage Pictures is never far from the action. The Los Angeles-based movie outfit has tested the legal waters in several jurisdictions in an effort to extract cash settlements from alleged pirates, most recently in Australia with its movie Dallas Buyers Club. In 2012, Voltage targeted Canadian ISP Teksavvy in a long …



Accounting-Based Class Suits, Settlements Reach New Highs

Accounting-related securities class action filings hit a four-year high in 2015, a new Cornerstone Research report found. According to the April 19 report, 71 securities class actions involving accounting allegations were filed during the year, compared to the 69 cases seen in 2014 and the 10-year average of 67 filings. The report said the increase represented “a return to the more …


Are Class Actions Good for Investors and Singapore Markets?

Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or SIAS, announced this week that it will not hesitate to take errant companies to court – representing minority investors in class-action suits more commonly seen in jurisdictions like the United States. The association’s announcement begs the question: is such an action a viable alternative for minority investors here seeking…


Structuring a Settlement After Asserting Class Members Did Not Suffer Any Concrete Injury

Frequently, a class action complaint will set forth an elaborate theory of why the defendant’s actions were negligent or wrongful, but fall short when trying to identify how that conduct has harmed the class members. This kind of complaint invites a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the plaintiff has failed to demonstrate constitutional standing by identifying a “concrete, particularized,…


HIH Court Decision Means Companies Face More Risks in Shareholder Actions

HIH court decision means companies face more risks in shareholder actions A landmark court decision means shareholders will no longer have to prove they read a prospectus to sue a company.Rob Homer A landmark court decision in a shareholder action against HIH could lead to plaintiffs demanding bigger settlements and companies facing suits bearing greater risks. The decision by the NSW Supreme…


Ontario Court of Appeal Says G20 Class Action Can Proceed Against Toronto Police

The province’s top court said Wednesday that more than 1,000 people who were detained by police in Toronto during the G20 summit in 2010 can sue Toronto Police and others through class action. In its decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal said that class actions are appropriate and would provide strong remedies, agreeing that police cannot sweep people up in the hopes one of them may have done …


The Class Action Is Dead; Long Live the Class Action!

It’s been nearly five years since the Supreme Court decided, inWal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, that the claims of large groups of employees that involve differing calculations of damages must be litigated as individual claims, and not as a class action. At the time, and since, may pundits declared the wage-and-hour class action lawsuit dead (or at least with one foot squarely in the grave). …