Class Action Roundup – September 23

Class Action Status Approved for Racketeering Case Against State Farm

A lawsuit filed against State Farm accusing the insurer of breaking federal racketeering laws has been granted class certification by an Illinois judge. The suit alleges State Farm violated the Racketeer Influence and Corruption Organizations Act, known popularly as RICO, by channeling money into the election campaign of an Illinois Supreme Court justice with the hopes of influencing a ruling in a 1997 appeal of a $1.05 billion verdict against the insurer. The alleged money-funneling plot, court records detail, involved State Farm “donating” millions in “dark money” to the US Chamber of Commerce – funds that would then be sent to the justice’s election campaign. It is estimated that the class action could produce a nearly $7.6 billion payout for State Farm’s estimated 4.7 million policyholders. To learn more, read Edith Brady-Lunny’s piece on the case on the Herald Review’s website.

World’s Largest Diamond Retailer Hit with Sexual Discrimination Class Action

Signet Jewelers, parent company to Zales, Jared’s and Kay Jewelers, is staring down a proposed sexual discrimination class action filed by about a dozen former female employees. Since the lawsuit’s initial filing in 2008, the case has ballooned into a class action comprised of thousands of potential claimants who say they were paid less and promoted more infrequently than their male counterparts. They also say they were treated “as little more than sexual opportunities to exploit.” Court documents mention specific instances of female workers being “subject to comments about their clothes and bodies” amid a work culture in which women were “devalued” in comparison to males. Read Almie Rose’s report over at Attn.com.

Subscriber Files Class Action Against SiriusXM Over “Lifetime” Subscriptions

The plaintiff in a class action filed in California against SiriusXM says he was misled when he purchased a “lifetime” subscription from the satellite radio giant. Specifically, the plaintiff claims SiriusXM, formed after the merger of Sirius and XM in 2005, did not disclose over the phone that a “lifetime subscription” referred to the lifetime of devices on which satellite radio is played, and not his own lifetime. Before the two companies merged, customers were allowed to transfer their subscriptions between as many devices as they wished. Lifetime subscriptions purchased after the date of the merger, however, can only be transferred between devices as many as three times, except if one of those devices is a car radio. Where this case gets murky is that SiriusXM requires users to agree to a binding arbitration agreement, which prohibits them from pursuing their claims through a class action lawsuit. Read more from Laura Northup’s article over at The Consumerist.

Class Action Status Given to Investors’ Mexico Bribery Suit Against Wal-Mart

A lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart by its investors alleging the company covered up a bribery plot in Mexico will proceed as a class action, a federal judge ruled. Among other things the case alleges Wal-Mart’s Mexican division issued millions in bribes to “speed up building permits,” as well as to cash in other favors with the hopes of improving the retail behemoth’s business outlook. The alleged bribery was uncovered after Wal-Mart could not explain certain financial losses discovered after accounting was done for the Michigan-based City of Pontiac General Employees’ Retirement system. Learn more about the suit by reading Anne D’Innocenzo’s write up of the case on the Seattle Times website.