News in Brief September 30 – Disney, Experian, Starkist and More

Judge Dismisses Lyric Captioning Case Against Hollywood Power Players

Several heavy hitters in the world of film and television have dodged a class action lawsuit claiming they deceived hearing-impaired viewers and violated civil rights laws by not captioning song lyrics in shows and movies. Filed in October 2015, the suit alleged Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros., Universal and other similar media entities broke the law by failing to provide deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals with captioning or subtitling of song lyrics, as well as misrepresenting on DVD labels and streaming services that content would be “fully captioned.” According to the California judge who dismissed the suit, the plaintiffs came up short in showing that “consumers would actually be deceived as to the amount of subtitled content provided,” adding that omitting captioning for song lyrics is a common practice throughout the industry.

Experian Credit Data Misreporting Suit Thrown Out

A judge has dismissed a proposed class action against Experian that claimed the credit tracking outfit incorrectly reported short sales of consumers’ property as foreclosures, a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The named plaintiffs in the suit claimed an antiquated number-coded system used by Experian to track consumers’ borrowing history caused the Federal National Mortgage Association to incorrectly record short sales—sales of real estate that do not recoup debts secured by liens against a property—as foreclosures. According to the California judge who oversaw the suit, the “false-positives” were a result of loan company Fannie Mae’s software system incorrectly interpreting Experian’s number codes, not from any wrongdoing within Experian’s processes.

Suit Over Underfilled Starkist Tuna Cans Settles for $12M

A $12 million settlement has been approved by a federal judge in a class action alleging Starkist jipped consumers by underfilling 5-ounce cans of tuna. “This was an outstanding settlement that will provide full recovery to more than 2.5 million class members that filed claims,” plaintiffs’ attorneys said. Filed in 2013, the class action said the former Del Monte Foods-owned company violated consumer protection laws by underfilling some cans of its products. The $12 million deal came down after revisions were made to a previous agreement that, the judge said, “included an overly broad release of future claims.”

Judge Signs Off on Record $76M Cruise Marketing Robocall Settlement

In what experts say is perhaps the largest settlement ever in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case, up to $76 million will be paid by multiple cruise marketing companies accused of robocalling consumers. As a result of the settlement, class members included in the suit against Caribbean Cruise Line Inc., Berkley Group Inc. and Vacation Ownership Marketing Tours Inc. may be able to receive roughly $500 per call. Certified in 2014, the class action specifically alleged that the cruise marketing groups called at least 900,000 numbers—the owners of which may all be entitled to compensation—with a recorded message advertising a free cruise for those who completed a survey.

$1.15M Settlement Approved in AM Retail Group OT Pay Suit

AM Retail Group Inc. will pay $1.15 million to settle a class action filed by store managers who claim they were illegally misclassified as exempt employees and therefore deprived of extra wages when working more than 40 hours per week. The payout will be split between more than 3,600 class members who worked for G.H. Bass & Shoe Co. in California between October 10, 2010 and October 5, 2015. Among other claims, the named plaintiff in the suit alleged that although she was a sales manager, her day-to-day duties included tasks asked of nonexempt workers, including customer service and store maintenance.