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LAs leave 25% of class action settlements unclaimed
Legal Interview |
2009/10/05 22:32
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UK – Local authority pension schemes could be losing up to £125m (€136m) by not participating in class actions, a report from the Goal Group has claimed.
The firm, which provides specialist class action services, calculated that between 2007 and 2008 UK local authority pension schemes lost almost £8.5bn on their investments, of which around £140m could be recovered through legal action.
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Between 2008 and 2009, however, it revealed the losses by UK local government pension schemes (LGPS) increased to £22.5bn while the potentially recoverable funds from class actions more than doubled to £370m, because the financial crisis is likely to create a "far more sustainable stream of cases, albeit at less inflated settlement values".
In total, this means LGPS' lost around £31bn between 2007 and 2009 but have the potential to recover £500m. Goal Group claims, however, that £125m, or 25% of potentially recoverable funds, could be left unclaimed if local authorities do not start to increase their participation in legal actions.
Goal Group quoted statistics from Nera Economic Consulting stating the number of federal class action filings in US courts, the main location for these cases, peaked at 258 in 2008. This was the highest level since 2002, but the report noted the first half of 2009 has already seen 127 cases filed, of which 67% named at least one financial company as the primary or co-defendant.
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Madoff trustee sues Madoff family for almost $200M
Headline Legal News |
2009/10/02 22:58
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Bernard Madoff's brother, sons and a niece used the family finance business like a "piggy bank," a court-appointed trustee charged Friday as he demanded in a lawsuit that they return almost $200 million in money to be distributed to cheated investors.
The trustee, Irving Picard, sought $198.7 million from Madoff's brother, Peter, who had worked at Madoff's Manhattan investment company since 1965, and sons, Mark and Andrew. Also sued was Shana D. Madoff, Bernard Madoff's niece and Peter Madoff's daughter. Lawyers for the Madoff's brother and sons did not immediately return a phone call for comment. A message for comment left at Shana Madoff's East Hampton home was not immediately returned. Lawyers for Picard said in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan that Madoff's family-run business "was operated as if it were the family piggy bank." They said each of the family members withdrew huge sums of money to fund personal business ventures and to pay for expenses ranging from multimillion dollar homes, cars and boats to monthly credit card charges for restaurants, vacations and clothing. The lawyers said $141 million identified as fraudulent proceeds were received by the family members in the six years before Madoff surrendered and revealed his plot last December while at least $58 million was received in the last two years. Peter Madoff was the company's senior managing director and chief compliance officer while Mark and Andrew shared the title of co-director of trading. Mark had worked with his father at the company since 1986 while Andrew had been there since 1988. Shana Madoff, a lawyer, had worked there since 1995 as compliance counsel and in-house counsel, the court papers said. |
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Obama's nominees for federal court vacancies
Legal Topics |
2009/10/02 22:58
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A look at President Barack Obama's nominees to fill federal court vacancies: ___ NOMINEES CONFIRMED _ Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, nominated June 1, confirmed Aug. 6. _ Gerard Lynch, 2nd Circuit, nominated April 2, confirmed Sept. 17. _ Jeffrey L. Viken, district judge-South Dakota, nominated June 25, confirmed Sept. 29. ___ APPEALS COURT NOMINEES AWAITING CONFIRMATION _ Joseph A. Greenaway, 3rd Circuit, nominated June 19. _ Thomas I. Vanaskie, 3rd Circuit, nominated Aug. 6. _ Andre M. Davis, 4th Circuit, nominated April 2. _ Barbara Milano Keenan, 4th Circuit, nominated Sept. 14. _ Jane Branstetter Stranch, 6th Circuit, nominated Aug. 6. _ David F. Hamilton, 7th Circuit, nominated March 17. _ Beverly Baldwin Martin, 11th Circuit, nominated June 19. ___ DISTRICT COURT NOMINEES AWAITING CONFIRMATION _ Irene Cornelia Berger, district judge-West Virginia, nominated July 8. _ Louis Butler Jr., district judge-Wisconsin, nominated Sept. 30. _ Edward Milton Chen, district judge-California, nominated Aug. 6. _ Charlene Edwards Honeywell, district judge-Florida, nominated June 25. _ Dolly M. Gee, district judge-California, nominated Aug. 6. _ Abdul K. Kallon, district judge-Alabama, nominated July 31. _ Roberto A. Lange, district judge-South Dakota, nominated July 8. _ Jacqueline H. Nguyen, district judge-California, nominated July 31. _ Richard Seeborg, district judge-California, nominated Aug. 6. |
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Comic Artie Lange pleads guilty to DUI in NJ
Areas of Focus |
2009/10/01 22:56
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Comedian and radio personality Artie Lange has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a habit-producing drug in a minor traffic accident in New Jersey.
The 41-year-old Lange was charged following the July 10 accident in Toms River, about 40 miles southeast of Trenton. He entered his plea Wednesday in municipal court. Judge James Ligouri revoked his driving privileges for seven months. Lange, a regular on radio's "Howard Stern Show," said he was under the influence of prescribed sleeping pills, which he had last taken the night before the crash. |
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Lawsuit puts Lake Tahoe boating facilities on hold
Areas of Focus |
2009/09/28 17:21
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A federal judge is blocking construction of boating facilities on Lake Tahoe while he resolves an environmental lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the SierraClub, challenges new regulations that would allow more than 100 newprivate piers, 10 new public piers, new boat ramps, mooring buoys andhundreds of slips.
The regulations were adopted last year by the Tahoe Regional PlanningAgency after years of controversy. Environmentalists argue that newpiers and ramps would increase motorized boating and the pollution thatgoes with it.
In a recent ruling, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton issued apreliminary injunction. It bars construction of the piers and ramps butallows the planning agency to move ahead with processing permits forthe facilities.
Still, boaters might want to hold off.
"The court notes that its independent review indicates that plaintiffs have shown some likelihood of success," Karlton wrote.
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Microsoft Lawsuit Shows Malicious Advertising a Growing Issue
Legal Business |
2009/09/21 19:37
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Microsoft announced on Sept. 18 that it has filed lawsuits against five entities that it claims have been spreading "malvertising," or online advertising used to port malware onto end users' machines. Microsoft is asking the court to shut down those entities, saying that they used Microsoft’s AdManager service, which lets Website owners manage their own advertising inventory, to launch their attacks.
The lawsuits are just the latest leveled by Microsoft against spreaders of malicious code. Earlier in the summer, Microsoft’s Internet Safety Enforcement Team filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington against what they described as a massive click-fraud scheme. In that case, the accused individuals had developed click-fraud attacks against online advertisements for auto insurance and World of Warcraft.
In 2009, Microsoft also targeted legal action against a party, Funmobile, which it accused of "spimming," or spreading links to possibly malicious software through instant messaging. Hong Kong-based Funmobile had apparently been sending instant messages to thousands of Windows Live Messenger users since March 2009.
The Sept. 18 filings represent yet another front in the battle.
"Our filings in King County Superior Court in Seattle outline how we believe the defendants operated," Tim Cranton, Microsoft’s associate general counsel, wrote in an official Microsoft blog posting on Sept. 1. "In general, malvertising works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements. These ads then lead to harmful or deceptive content."
Microsoft’s court filings aim at entities using the business names "Soft Solutions," "Direct Ad," "qiweroqw.com," "ITmeter INC" and "ote2008.info," which Redmond says used malvertising to spread malware and scareware. |
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Pulman, Cappuccio, Pullen & Benson, LLP Files $80 Million Lawsuit
Areas of Focus |
2009/09/15 16:39
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SAN ANTONIO--(Business Wire)--
Pulman, Cappuccio, Pullen & Benson, LLP filed a lawsuit today in a San Antonio,
Texas state court on behalf of 97 former investors at Stanford International
Bank. The lawsuit, styled Rupert, et al. v. Winter, et al., seeks almost $80
million in damages from insurance brokers Willis Group Holdings, Ltd. and Bowen,
Miclette & Britt, Inc. and from a trust company, Aleman, Cordero, Galindo & Lee,
affiliated with a Panamanian law firm.
"Allen Stanford didn`t build this bank all by himself," said lead attorney and
firm managing partner Randy Pulman. "He had help. Companies like Willis, Bowen
Miclette, and the Aleman firm and trust company were too close to the action at
Stanford International Bank to avoid responsibility for this debacle."
Stanford International Bank took in $7.2 billion in deposits from all over the
United States and Latin America until it was shut down this February by the
Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC claims that the bank was a "massive
Ponzi scheme" whose founder, Allen Stanford, is in jail outside of Houston,
Texas awaiting trial.
The lawsuit against the insurance brokers seeks to hold them responsible for
"Safety and Security" letters they sent to the plaintiffs saying that deposits
at Stanford International Bank were protected by insurance and that the bank was
made up of "first class business people." "Allen Stanford counted on these
insurance companies to help him separate our clients from their money - now,
we`re counting on them to put it back. It is against the law in Texas for an
insurance broker to tell someone something is insured when it`s not," explained
Pulman.
Many of the plaintiffs` Stanford deposits were held in trust accounts served by
Stanford Trust Company Limited and Aleman, Cordero, Galindo & Lee Trust (BVI)
Limited as trustees. The lawsuit alleges that the trust company, the firm, and
its principals breached fiduciary duties to the trusts.
The lawsuit also seeks damages from several individual employees of those
companies, and several former employees at Stanford Fiduciary Investor Services
and Stanford Trust Company. The suit alleges that all the defendants are also
liable for securities fraud.
Randy Pulman has already filed suit on behalf of five Stanford depositors
against Lloyd`s of London and the Stanford Receiver in a Dallas, Texas federal
court. The lawsuit, styled De Leon v. Lloyd's of Lond, seeks damages and a
declaration from the court that the proceeds of Stanford International Bank`s
"Bankers Blanket Bond" insurance policies should be held for the depositors.
Pulman, Cappuccio, Pullen & Benson, LLP is a fifteen-lawyer firm in San Antonio,
Texas that specializes in representing investors and businesses in litigation
and transactions. The firm is also home to San Antonio`s second largest
bankruptcy practice. For more information, visit the firm website at
http://www.pulmanlaw.com. |
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Headline Legal News for You to Reach America's Best Legal Professionals. The latest legal news and information - Law Firm, Lawyer and Legal Professional news in the Media. |
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