Class Action Roundup – Navient, Disney, Ford, Google, Wells Fargo

Navient Must Face Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Class Action Lawsuit, Judges Rules

U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani has denied Navient’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed back in January by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) claiming that the country’s largest student loan servicer is systematically misleading, lying to and outright failing borrowers at every stage of the loan repayment process for the sake of profit.

According to a report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Navient, which services and manages more than $300 billion in federal and private student loans, argued, among other contentions, that the CFPB itself, as an institution, was unconstitutional, and failed to set rules outlining which practices are considered unfair, deceptive or abusive. In his 60-page decision, Judge Mariani wrote that the CFPB’s lawsuit “provides multiple specific examples of payment processing errors and then alleges Navient failed to have policies and procedures in place to identify and prevent the same processing errors from occurring month after month. These allegations are specific enough for Navient to respond by way of an answer.”

Elsewhere in the ruling, the Scranton, Pennsylvania-based judge affirmed the CFPB’s authority to file lawsuits while driving the point home that Navient was seemingly ignoring court-set precedent, federal laws, and existing agencies by arguing the agency’s constitutionality. Notably, Judge Mariani did not snuff out any of the CFPB’s claims made in its complaint from earlier this year, despite Navient’s objections to all eight counts against it in the case.

Judge Mariani’s decision is Navient’s second hefty defeat in as many months, coming a little more than one month after a Seattle judge rejected a motion from the company to toss out a lawsuit filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Another motion to dismiss, which Navient submitted over a lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is still awaiting decision.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via a Reuters report, and Bloomberg’s Shahien Nasiripour have more on these developments.

If it seems like the CFPB has been a mainstay in the news lately, you wouldn’t be wrong . . .

Congressional Republicans Set Sights on CFPB Director Richard Cordray

Outside of its pending legal fight against Navient, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made some noise last month when it handed down a rule banning banks and credit card companies from imposing mandatory arbitration clauses as a condition in consumer contracts. Shortly after the CFPB published its decision, many presumed Republicans would kill the rule before it could take flight. While that did come to fruition, Congressional Republicans have now moved on to calling for CFPB Director Richard Cordray to be fired, and even possibly face contempt charges for “refusing to respond sufficiently to congressional subpoenas.”

A July 30 Bloomberg report highlighted comments made by President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, calling for Cordray’s removal.

“He’s a person who is now all but running for governor in the state of Ohio, and he’s sitting in federal office right now,” Bloomberg wrote. “I hope that [new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly] looks at him moving forward and saying it’s time to act decisively.”

Here’s that Bloomberg report, by Benjamin Bain.

A Reuters report published on AOL.com on August 4 revealed Republicans in the House of Representatives are aiming for Cordray to be held in contempt of Congress after a report released the week prior said “ample evidence” existed for the charge. Reuters writes that Cordray reportedly didn’t respond adequately enough to congressional subpoenas stemming from Republicans’ search for records, such as communications about CFPB staff and external meetings, related to the CFPB’s aforementioned rule banning arbitration clauses.

Reuters reporter Pete Schroeder’s write up can be read here.

Class Action Claims Disney Tracks Kids Through Code in ‘Princess Palace Pets’ App

A doozy of a lawsuit was filed August 3 against The Walt Disney Company by a San Francisco mom (on behalf of her young daughter) who alleges the company behind the mouse, along with five others, violated the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting and maintaining personal information from players of the “Princess Palace Pets” app and other games for advertising purposes. The 27-page lawsuit, as reported on by The Hollywood Reporter, claims Disney and its co-defendants—Disney Enterprises, Inc., Disney Electronic Content, Inc. and three app developers—are responsible for identifying code implanted in “Princess Palace Pets” and other Disney games that “surreptitiously track child users for behavioral advertising, analytics, or both.”

Worse, the complaint claims the defendants are able to track a child’s activity “across multiple apps and platforms on the internet, and across different devices,” which the lawsuit says gives the companies a full scope and chronology of the child’s actions. “This information is then sold to various third-parties who sell targeted online advertising,” the complaint adds.

The case mentions more than 40 other game apps developed by Disney that allegedly track users’ information.

The full complaint for the lawsuit can be read here. The Hollywood Reporter’s Ashley Cullins has a breakdown of the case over at the publication’s website.

NHTSA To Dig Deeper in Ford Explorer Exhaust Leak Investigation

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced in late July it would be expanding its investigation into complaints of exhaust system leaks for 2011-2017 model year Ford Explorers. The NHTSA said its wider probe, which has entered a ramped up “engineering analysis” stage, now involves 1.3 million Explorer vehicles, including, Consumer Reports writes, Police Interceptor models sold directly to law enforcement agencies.

Though Ford has issued service bulletins to dealerships about the exhaust system issues, no recall has been announced; that may change considering the NHTSA has upgraded the status of its investigation to “engineering analysis,” one step away from a proper recall. At the center of the NHTSA’s study are reports of carbon dioxide odors present inside the cabin of affected vehicles reportedly seeping through small cracks in the cars’ exhaust manifolds.

At last count, more than 2,700 complaints have been lodged with Ford and the NHTSA, as well as reports of a few crashes with injuries.

“The alleged injuries, as affirmatively indicated on the VOQ reports, range from unspecified to loss of consciousness, with the majority indicating nausea, headaches or light headedness,” the NHTSA said.

Writer Nick Kurszewski has complete coverage over at ConsumerReports.org.

Following Now-Fired Employee’s Anti-Gender Diversity Screed, Report Says More than 60 Women Planning Class Action Against Google

In the wake of a controversial 3,000-word, employee-penned anti-diversity manifesto (over which its author was swiftly fired) that went viral last weekend, The Guardian reports more than 60 women are planning to file a class action against Google over alleged sexism and gaps in pay between men and women. The lawsuit, which is being prepared by civil rights attorney James Finberg, is expected to argue Google systematically pays women less than men, an argument the memo’s software engineer author indirectly tried to support in his long-winded, misogynistic post, first shared in Google’s internal discussion board.

According to The Guardian, Finberg has interviewed roughly half of the women who plan to join the suit, each of whom has reportedly expressed concern that “women are channeled to levels and positions that pay less than men with similar education and experience,” the attorney said. Expanding on this, several women reportedly said they make roughly $40,000 less than males who do the same work.  

As Google’s gender inequality crisis now develops in a public forum, catch up with the latest with Sam Levin’s piece on The Guardian’s website. If you’re looking for more, Recode’s Kara Swisher has a breakdown of this pending class action, as well as the labor complaint filed by the first software engineer, here.

Wells Fargo Owes U.S. Government $108 Million Over Hidden Fees in Veterans’ Loans

What’s a roundup without some Wells Fargo items, right? The New York Times, citing Reuters, reported on August 4 that Wells Fargo will pay the United States government $108 million to end a whistleblower class action alleging the bank charged veterans hidden fees to refinance their mortgages and concealed the fees when applying for federal loan guarantees. In announcing the settlement, Wells Fargo said that its Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans should have been ineligible for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees under its loan guarantee program.

The lawsuit, The Times wrote, was filed in 2006 and brought to public light in 2011. The plaintiffs, two Georgia mortgage brokers, have also sued eight other lenders to recover similar economic damages.

“Wells Fargo made a lot of money passing off charges to the veterans that Wells Fargo was supposed to pay itself,” the plaintiffs’ attorney said.

The New York Times report on the settlement can be read over at the publication’s website.

While we’re discussing Wells Fargo. . .

Proposed Class Action Claims Wells Fargo Overcharged Hundreds of Thousands for Unnecessary Auto Insurance

A new proposed class action claims Wells Fargo violated federal racketeering laws after the wounded financial giant admitted in an internal executive report to charging more than 800,000 consumers who took out car loans from the bank for auto insurance they never asked for or needed, which reportedly resulted in many delinquencies. Reported on by (surprise) The New York Times, the lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, is just the latest incident in a months-long and continuing public image and trust collapse for Wells Fargo, which has lost its CEO along with millions of dollars in fines.

Wells Fargo said it would dole out approximately $80 million to roughly 570,000 customers—nearly 25,000 of whom reportedly had their vehicles repossessed—who were wrongfully charged for auto insurance between 2012 and 2017.

Gretchen Morgenson’s write-up on Wells Fargo’s latest crisis is well worth your time.

Fire in the Sky: Flight Attendants’ Lawsuit Claims New Uniforms Caused Health Problems

A report from the Los Angeles Times details a proposed class action filed by two American Airlines flight attendants who claim uniforms issued last year made by defendant Twin Hill are to blame for an outbreak of rashes, headaches, fatigue, vertigo and respiratory issues among thousands of similarly situated workers. The Times writes all American Airlines employees were offered the option of wearing alternative uniforms despite numerous rounds of testing done by the airline that concluded the attendants’ new threads contained no out-of-the-ordinary materials. One named plaintiff claims in the complaint that he experienced “fatigue, rashes, eye irritation and throat irritation,” among other ailments, after receiving his new uniform last November, while the other lead plaintiff claims she experienced “blinding headaches.” According to a union representing American Airlines flight attendants, more than 3,500 complaints have been submitted over the uniforms.

Los Angeles Times writer Hugo Martin has more.