Class Action Roundup – The Latest on Equifax, Plus Google, GrubHub, Apple [UPDATE]

We’re just more than two weeks out from when Equifax first announced the information of an estimated 143 million consumers was stolen in a far-reaching data breach. By our count, almost 100 proposed class action lawsuits have been filed by consumers nationwide against the credit reporting firm within the last two weeks alone, and the litigation show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

With the Equifax saga dominating the news cycle this month, it’s become difficult to wade through every development being reported. Here’s a brief rundown of the latest:

The timeline of events surrounding the data breach is now in question. New evidence seems to suggest that the initial cyberattack happened in March 2016, two months earlier than Equifax publicly reported.
The company and its top executives, including its recently retiredchief information officer and chief security officer, are now under the microscope of the Department of Justice, with the agency looking into the suspicious timing of the sale of roughly $2 million in stocks before alerting the public to the data theft. Experts say the criminal investigation will focus on whether Equifax officers violated insider trading laws.
A Washington Post report claims that before the data breach was discovered, Equifax spent serious money lobbying Congress to impose legislation that would put a cap on how much the credit reporting firm could be forced to pay if it faced consumer lawsuits. The Post writes that, according to federal disclosure forms, Equifax spent at least $1.1 million lobbying lawmakers last year, and $500,000 so far in 2017, on “data security and breach notification” matters.
If it’s any sort of reassurance for worried consumers, attorneys general from Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania have set their sights on Equifax and its handling of the data breach.
Equifax has even been hit with a proposed class action that includes all residents of Canada whose information was also compromised by the hack.
Lastly, a report this week from Gizmodo says Equifax has been rather sloppy in pointing consumers toward the correct website where they can enroll in identity theft protection services. Over two weeks, according to Gizmodo, Equifax tweets have been sending consumers to “Securityequifax2017.com,” and not its proper site, Equifaxsecurity2017.com.




Though it might seem hard to believe, we do have a few other newsworthy items to bring you today. Let’s dive in.

Google Pegged with Former Employees’ Wage Discrimination Lawsuit  

Google is facing a proposed class action lawsuit filed in California last week by three women over alleged systemic gender-based pay discrimination that one plaintiff described as a “pervasive problem” throughout the company. The plaintiffs, who are former Google employees, all reportedly quit their jobs after, the Associated Press said, they were put on career paths on which they would earn less than their male peers.

Associated Press writer Ryan Nakashima pointed out in his coverage of the case, published on U.S. News & World Report’s website, that the lawsuit was filed in the wake of a federal investigation that preliminarily found sprawling wage discrimination gaps among the 21,000 employees at Google’s headquarters.

Read Nakashima’s summary of the case here.


GrubHub COO Claims During Trial that the Food Delivery Company Is, In Fact, Not a Food Delivery Company

 During the trial last week for a lawsuit against GrubHub alleging it illegally misclassifies its delivery workers as independent contractors, the company’s chief operating officer testified that the delivery service is not a food delivery platform, but rather the “premiere marketplace” that connects diners with restaurants. As GrubStreet.com explained in its September 14 report, GrubHub exec Stan Chia, noting that the company began in 2004 as a site for restaurants looking to streamline carry-outs, said delivery service was added only “at the request of restaurants” in 2015.

 As GrubStreet.com writer Clint Rainey points out, GrubHub purchased delivery service Seamless in 2013, and pulled into its orbit Yelp’s Eat24 delivery offering a year later. Despite these recent acquisitions, Chia said GrubHub isn’t “doing any of this to grow a delivery business.”

Class Action: Apple’s Powerbeats Headphones are Shoddy, Contain Battery Defect

Revered tech website CNET writes that Apple is facing a proposed class action lawsuit that claims it falsely marketed its Powerbeats 2 and Powerbeats 3 headphones. The lawsuit, which notes that Apple retained the services of superstars such as LeBron James and Serena Williams in claiming its headphones were “built to endure,” alleges, among other claims, that the products’ advertised battery life is inaccurate. Moreover, the case claims the “shoddy” headphones “contain a design defect that causes the battery life to diminish and eventually stop retaining a charge.”

At further issue in the lawsuit are Apple’s claims that the headphones are sweat and water resistant, something the plaintiffs say isn’t true. From the lawsuit:

“But these costly headphones are neither ‘built to endure’ nor ‘sweat and water resistant’ and certainly do not have a battery that lasts for six or 12 hours. Instead, these shoddy headphones contain a design defect that causes the battery life to diminish and eventually stop retaining a charge. Often, after minimal usage, sometimes only days or weeks, the Powerbeats stop accepting a charge and the indicator light blinks red. Thus, the Powerbeats will either not power on at all, or will only power on for minutes at a time. Upon information and belief, thousands of users have experienced this identical defect with their Powerbeats after less than a year of use.”

Writer Chris Matyszczyk has more details over at Cnet.com.


Honda Hit with $605 Million Tab from Takata Air Bag Settlement

The beginning of September saw Honda Motor Co. agree to pay $605 million to settle a lawsuit filed over losses reportedly stemming from as many as 16.5 million vehicles nationwide it equipped with Takata Corp.’s recalled air bags. As Fortune reported, the settlement covers numerous types of damages sought through class action litigation, including out-of-pocket costs, lost wages, child care costs, and economic harm incurred by buyers who claimed they overpaid for their vehicles. With the settlement, Honda now joins Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota in settling the litigation filed in the wake of at least 18 deaths and nearly 200 reported injuries worldwide linked to the defective air bags. Fortune writes that all but one of the deaths linked to the faulty air bags occurred in a Honda vehicle.

To date, Ford is the only automaker yet to settle claims.

Parmesan Cheese Filler Lawsuits Shredded by Federal Judge

A federal judge sitting in Chicago dismissed a group of more than 50 class action cases against Kraft Heinz, Albertsons, Target and Supervalu alleging they and other companies marketed and sold products labeled as 100 percent Parmesan cheese when the goods contained filler material comprised of wood chips. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman ruled the allegations, which primarily took issue with the defendants’ alleged labeling practices, were “doomed by the readily accessible ingredient panels on the products that disclose the presence of non-cheese ingredients.”

 Chicago Tribune reporter Greg Trotter has more details at the publication’s website.

Mike Huckabee-Voiced Robocall Lawsuit Nets $32.4 Million Award

A class action lawsuit filed over alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations has resulted in a $32 million sum being awarded to more than three million people who received unwanted robocalls promoting the 2014 movie “Last Ounce of Courage.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber, sitting in St. Louis, could’ve handed down a $1.6 billion award, amounting to $500 per call, but held back, writing “the amount of damages prescribed by the statute [TCPA] are so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportionate to the offense and obviously unreasonable.” The final sum hashes out to $10 per automatically dialed call, which Judge Webber ruled “reflects the severity of the offense.”

 Notably, former presidential candidate and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee was the voice heard by consumers who received the calls. Huckabee was dismissed from the case after testifying that he never spoke to one of the film’s primary funders who the Post-Dispatch says ultimately spent $10 million marketing the film.

 Reporter Robert Patrick has more at the publication’s website.