Class Action Roundup – January 13, 2017

Harmless Harvest Quickly Settles “Organic” Coconut Water Class Action for $1 Million

The plaintiffs who filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Harmless Harvest Inc. have filed for the preliminary approval of an undisputed $1 million settlement that will end the lawsuit before it ever really got started. In addition to paying the monetary component of the deal, Harmless Harvest has agreed to remove from the labels of its coconut water allegedly misleading statements claiming the products are “100 percent organic” and “raw.”

The settlement was submitted for its preliminary OK on December 27, not even a week after the proposed class action was filed in New York district court.

Learn more about the settlement from Legal Newsline’s Jessica Karmasek over at Forbes.com.

NJ Soccer Facility Behind Third Class Action Against FieldTurf

Out of New Jersey district court comes the third proposed class action against FieldTurf claiming the company lied to its customers about the purported quality and longevity of its artificial sports fields. The lawsuit, filed by the owner of a Clifton, New Jersey soccer facility, claims his field has “fallen apart” and that FieldTurf has “brushed off” his complaints about their suspect product. The man also claims in his lawsuit that FieldTurf officials told him shortly after the field began to deteriorate that it would “improve over time.”

Read more about this lawsuit, as well as the thoroughly researched investigation into FieldTurf’s business practices, over at NJ.com.

Court Rules Apple Must Face Class Action Lawsuit Over App Store Monopoly

A San Francisco federal court has decided Apple must face a proposed class action alleging the company “monopolized the market for iPhone apps from 2007 to 2013,” a Bloomberg report published on BizJournals.com says. The lawsuit, which was initially dismissed by a lower court judge purportedly because of proposed class members’ lack of standing, claims consumers are entitled to recover “most of Apple’s 30 percent cut from app store sales.” Filed in 2011, the lawsuit alleges Apple overstepped federal antitrust laws when it mandated that iPhone apps be sold only in its App Store and forbade developers from selling their products anywhere else.

Though it has yet to be granted class certification, the lawsuit’s proposed class may include everyone who has bought an iPhone app from the App Store.

Justice Department: Volkswagen to Pay $3.4B Settlement, Plead Guilty to Felony Charges

A statement released by the Justice Department earlier this week said Volkswagen will plead guilty to three felony charges and shell out a $4.3 billion settlement to squash civil and criminal allegations stemming from its practice of cheating diesel emissions testing. According to a detailed breakdown of the developments from NPR, the settlement shakes out to $2.8 billion in criminal penalties, with $1.5 billion allotted to the many civil claims against the embattled car company. Further, Volkswagen has reportedly also agreed to work with an independent monitor for three years.

The Justice Department’s report noted that six of Volkswagen’s top executives were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with “conspiracy to defraud the United States, defraud VW’s U.S. customers and violate the Clean Air Act” because of their alleged connection to the emissions ruse.

Dive into the latest developments in the Volkswagen diesel emissions saga with Merrit Kennedy’s piece for NPR.org.

Multi-State Lottery Association Hit with Class Action Over Allegedly Rigged Jackpots

Two Des Moines, Iowa, law firms are behind a class action claiming jackpots handed out by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) were rigged by a former employee. The lawsuit was reportedly sparked by the discovery that a former MUSL employee tampered with the software on computers tasked with randomly selecting lottery winners. This employee, the lawsuit claims, used the software to predict the numbers that would be drawn, which allegedly allowed him and his friends and family to buy winning tickets.

Check out Kelly Maricle’s write up of the class action lawsuit over at WHOTV’s website.

Settlement Ends Class Action Against MGM Over Unpaid Internships

MGM will pony up $232,500 to settle a proposed class action against the studio over unpaid internships. The former intern behind the suit, who worked for no pay at MGM for less than three weeks, filed the class action in 2015 as other Hollywood and media entities were beginning to face the music of their treatment of unpaid interns. According to Eriq Gardner’s HollywoodReporter.com post, what made this particular class action stand out over similar complaints was that it was filed in California under the scope of the state’s labor laws. Many other internship cases, Gardner notes, are filed in New York federal courts.

The proposed settlement reportedly covers anyone who participated in an unpaid internship for the defendant since April 30, 2011.