News in Brief May 25 – Trader Joe's, Kmart and More

Trader Joe’s Soy Milk Lawsuit Dropped

Trader Joe’s and the two consumers who filed a class action against it have mutually agreed to drop a lawsuit filed in California federal court. The suit claimed that Trader Joe’s soy milk could be mistaken for dairy milk and that several other products, including some yogurts, were mislabeled. Even though the case was dismissed, other Trader Joe’s shoppers may still be able to file a lawsuit making the same claims. It has not been reported whether the two original plaintiffs received any type of settlement.

GMAC Mortgage Settles Force-Placed Insurance Class Action

A judge has granted final approval to a $13 million settlement that will end a class action claiming GMAC Mortgage overcharged customers for force-placed hazard insurance. The lawsuit was filed four years ago and accused GMAC of accepting money from insurers in exchange for forcing customers to buy their insurance. Although the racketeering allegations were dropped last year, close to 144,000 people will now be able to claim part of the settlement.

Kmart to End Overtime Suit with $3.8 Million Deal

Kmart has agreed to pay $3.8 million to end claims that it illegally classified its assistant store managers as exempt from overtime. If the settlement gets approved, 422 Kmart employees will be eligible to claim around $9,000 each.

Plaintiffs Claim Apple Hasn’t Reimbursed “Error 53” Victims

Five plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Apple are asking the court to preserve their proposed class action saying that Apple hasn’t done enough to help iPhone “Error 53” victims. Apple argued that they had restored the phones affected by the error and that there was nothing more that could be reasonably gained from a lawsuit. The plaintiffs claimed that Apple’s software fix for Error 53 had poor results and that the company didn’t offer any proof that customers were reimbursed for replacing or fixing their phones.