News in Brief September 21 – LifeLock, Barnes & Noble and More

$68 Million LifeLock Settlement Locked In by California Judge

A $68 million class action settlement has been approved by a California judge against identity-theft protection service LifeLock Inc. The sum will come out of a $100 million December 2015 settlement LifeLock agreed to pay to the Federal Trade Commission after they accused the company of making misleading statements about its services and failing to adequately protect customer data. According to court documents, LifeLock not only failed to immediately alert consumers to possible identity theft, but also shortchanged its customers by falsely advertising that it safeguarded their sensitive personal information to the same extent as financial institutions.

Judge OKs $1.3 Million Kate Spade Overtime Settlement

Final approval has been granted to a $1.3 million payout that will settle a class action suit against Kate Spade. The suit alleged that the women’s accessory maker failed to properly compensate more than 1,000 retail workers for overtime work and didn’t provide mandatory rest and meal breaks. Despite this case’s favorable resolution, this is not the end of the retailer’s legal issues: Kate Spade is currently in the midst of a putative class action alleging the retailer tricked outlet shoppers into believing they were getting better deals than they actually were by advertising price markdowns alongside “original” prices that never existed.

Proposed Class Action Says Barnes & Noble Café Managers Deserve OT Pay

A class action proposed in New York federal court alleges Barnes & Noble purposely misclassified managers as salaried employees to get out of paying overtime – all despite the fact that the managers often perform job duties that are similar to those of non-exempt workers. Filed by a former café manager, the suit alleges the book retail giant hires a minimal amount of staff for its in-store cafes and closely monitors the hours worked by non-managerial workers to keep employees under 40 hours a week. As a result of this understaffing, the suit claims, salaried managers must then fulfill the duties that would normally be handled by non-managerial workers, which could include making food and waiting on customers. Furthermore, and perhaps most severely, the case alleges Barnes & Noble’s policy of knowingly misclassifying its managers under the Fair Labor Standards Act is “widespread, repeated and consistent” throughout its stores nationwide.

Flushable Wipes Warranty Class Certified in Target Suit

With another day comes another group of consumers alleging flushable wipes caused plumbing damage. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Ohio certified a class of Target shoppers who say the retail giant breached its warranties to consumers. The warranty class (the judge said claims of fraud couldn’t be resolved as a class) consists of people who purchased the wipes from April 18, 2010 until the formula behind the product was discontinued in 2014. The suit alleges that the company’s Up & Up brand of flushable wipes, despite claims made on the product’s label, are not safe for sewer and septic systems.

10k Cases of Eggo Waffles Pulled from Shelves Over Possible Listeria Contamination

The Kellogg Company has voluntarily recalled approximately 10,000 cases of Eggo Nutri-Grain whole-wheat waffles after discovering a possible listeria contamination. The recall applies to customers in 25 states whose packages of waffles may contain the bacteria, which can cause potentially deadly gastrointestinal issues. Kellogg said that the possible contamination was discovered after performing routine tests and that the products were mistakenly shipped to stores before receiving the test results. The company added that no other Eggo products besides the Nutri-Grain whole-wheat waffles are included in this week’s recall.