News in Brief June 14 – Kraft, Walgreens and More

Walgreens, Theranos Partnership Ends

Walgreens has announced that it’s cutting ties with Theranos, the company that has been the center of several class actions as of late – one of which Walgreens was dragged into because of the partnership. When Walgreens made the announcement on Sunday, it marked the closing of the 40 remaining Theranos Wellness Centers. Walgreens said that the termination of its relationship with Theranos was in the best interest of customers.

MasterCard, Green Dot Sued for Wal-Mart MoneyCard Disruption

MasterCard and Green Dot Corp. have been hit with a proposed class action claiming that the companies cut off Wal-Mart MoneyCard users from their funds. According to the lawsuit, consumers weren’t able to access their money for three days due to a system update that was only supposed to take 12 hours, but kept some people from buying food or paying their rent on time. The lawsuit is looking to represent anyone who had a Wal-Mart MoneyCard as of May 14, 2016.

Home Buyers Aren’t Pleased with Bank of America, Countrywide

Bank of America, Countrywide Financial and LandSafe, Inc. are facing a proposed class action that accuses the companies of conducting fake appraisals so they could close on loans quickly. According to the complaint, the company charged consumers $300 to $600 for appraisals that never actually happened and violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in the process. Allegedly, it went down like this: Countrywide (now owned by Bank of America) required its borrowers to use LandSafe as their appraisal firm so Countrywide could lie about the appraisals and avoid the lengthier (and more legal) process that normally comes before a loan is closed.

Kraft Cheese Color Suit More Complicated Than Judge Previously Thought

Like most of the lawsuits you see pondering the meaning of the word “natural,” the proposed class action against Kraft over the artificial color in its cheese is proving to be more complicated than previously anticipated. Judge John Kronstadt tentatively denied certification of the class, but maintains that there are issues that still need to be worked out. Under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines, a product can’t be called “natural” if the color has been altered – which means that even if the agent changing the color is natural by itself, it has to be called “artificial coloring.” So does the court agree with Kraft and say that because they added a natural ingredient to a natural product it stays natural? Or will it find that the FDA’s “artificial color” rule trumps the actual origin of the ingredient? I, for one, have no idea. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this one turns out.

Transvaginal Mesh Patients Protest Caldera’s $11.75 Million Deal

Caldera Medical offered to pay $11.75 million to settle thousands of claims that its pelvic mesh implants injured patients, but 36 women are opposing the deal. The women told the court that Caldera should be forced to liquidate if that would offer more money to those who were allegedly injured by their medical devices.