Lawsuits you should know about

Harvard law student Eva Hibnick has filed a class action lawsuit against Google stating that her personal information was made public on Buzz, Google’s new social networking service. The suit was filed by law firms in both San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Hibnick says she was frustrated when she was automatically opted into Google Buzz without her consent (all Gmail users were opted-in upon Buzz’s launch) and it made her contact list available to the public. This allows many people – people she had not spoken to in months – to follow her profile. The service notified Hibnick’s followers of her status updates.

In disclosing her personal information, the lawsuit says that Google violated federal laws such as the Federal Electronics Communications Privacy Act, the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Federal Stored Communications Act and California common and statutory law.

Hibnick said, “I feel like they did something wrong. They opted me into this social network and I didn’t want it.”

The lawsuit is open to all 31.2 million users of Buzz and seeks injunctions to prevent Google from automatically adding users to new services in the future and an undisclosed monetary amount.
Google has issued an apology and now has it set up so users can hide their contact list as well as block followers they don’t know.

Angry students and parents have filed a lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Pennsylvania for “”unauthorized, inappropriate and indiscriminate remote activation” of webcams. The webcams were part of MacBook laptops issued to 1,800 students at the two high schools in the district as part of a government funded intiative. The lawsuit claims the webcams were activated without the student’s knowledge or consent.

The use of the webcams came to light when a student, the son of Michael and Holly Robbins, was informed by Harriton High School assistant principal Lindy Mastko that he was “engaged in improper behavior in his home.”

When the student and his father confronted Mastko about the allegations, they were informed that the school district had the right to remotely activate the webcam.” It was believed that the student took a photo of himself and accidentally uploaded it to the school network.

The Robbins family filed the lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount for compensatory and punitive damages as well as an injunction to prevent the school district from activating the webcams.

Christopher McGinley, the superintendent, issued a statement on the school district’s website which admitted that “the laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today.” The statement went on to read that the school district would not be “reactivating the tracking-security feature without express written notification to all students and families.”

“The Biggest Loser” Trainer Jillian Michaels has had three separate lawsuits filed against her in the last week for the Maximum Strength Calorie Control diet supplement that she endorses.

The first plaintiff, Christie Christensen, filed a class action lawsuit against Michaels which states that the pills are “worthless,” “purportedly will cause weigh loss by itself with any additional effort,” and that taking them is “contrary to everything that Ms. Michaels has ever instructed.” Christensen is suing Michaels and Thin Care and Basic Research, the makers of the pills, for $5 million in damages. The lawsuit is also asking that the sale of the product be prohibited.

The second plaintiff, Stephanie Creer, filed a class action lawsuit just one day after Christensen. Her lawsuit claims that the product doesn’t live up to its packaging, which says “two capsules before main meals and you lose weight…That’s it!” Creer claims to have fought her weight her entire life and that the supplement pills didn’t help her lose any weight.

The third plaintiff, Kathy Hensley, said that the diet pills are potentially dangerous because they contain the ingredient citrus aurantium. In rare cases, citrus aurantium can cause high blood pressure and cardiac arrest. Hensley is suing Michaels, and Thin Care and Basic Research, and Walgreens, which sells the pills. The lawsuit is asking for less than $5,000.

The pills contain guarana, coffee bean extract, kola nut seed extract, citrus aurantium, and other herbs. The label does say that the product has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Michaels has issued a statement saying the claims are “baseless” and that she still supports the product. Thin Care pointed out that the company offers consumers a money-back guarantee and has said, “We are confident we will prevail.”

The city of Pittsburgh and 11 other paramedic service providers have joined a suit which pits them and the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania against statewide Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurers for what it calls “a pattern of attempted extortion.”

The suit accuses the defendants of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act by forcing or attempting to force the non-contract ambulance providers into below market rate contracts by refusing to pay them directly for their services. Instead of paying the non-contract providers for their transport services, the insurers have been accused of making payments directly to the patients, who may or may not in turn pay the providers.

The suit contends that providers have the right to be paid directly, whether they have entered into a contract with the insurers or not. By not sending payment to the providers directly, it is estimated that the providers have been “losing millions over the last four years.”

The suit goes on to state that the plaintiffs have also violated state law, including the Quality Health Care Accountability and Protection Act. This may turn into a class action suit involving up to 200 state paramedic services.

The complaint was filed against Capital Blue Cross, Highmark, Hospital Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross, Keystone Health Plan Central and Keystone Health Plan West in the U.S. District Court’s Western Division by attorney Charles Kelly of Kelly Hayden LLC. The city council voted last Thursday to pay $5,000 to Kelly Hayden to represent the city in the suit.

In addition to the city of Pittsburgh and the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, the plaintiffs also include Monessen Ambulance Service, Mon Valley Emergency Medical Services, Robinson EMS, Goodwill Hose Company Ambulance Association, Lancaster EMS Association, United Hook & Ladder Co., New Oxford Community Fire Co., Penn Township Volunteer Emergency Services Inc., Tremont Area Ambulance Association, Valley Ambulance Authority, Yoe Fire Company Ambulance Service and Northwest EMS.

LifeLock Inc., an identify-theft protection company, has been sued for breaking the law and defrauding customers. LifeLock says it has approximately 1.5 million customers who pay a $10 a month fee to protect their credit against theft. For that fee, the company checks the customer’s credit report with major credit bureaus. The company then provides customers with alerts (email, postal, or phone) when their personal info is being used to apply for credit. The company removes customers from pre-approved credit offers and sends the customers their credit reports every 12 months. It also provide a service to cancel all accounts if the customer’s wallet is stolen.

To prove the service worked, CEO Todd Davis televised a commercial in 2005 in which his personal social security number, which was protected by the service, was shown on screen.

Many critics charges that LifeLock was charging customers for a service that was offered for free by the major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. People who believe they have fallen victim to ID theft can ask that alerts be sent from these credit bureaus for free.

Experian filed a lawsuit against LifeLock in February 2008. The lawsuit stated that the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows only for individuals to set the fraud alerts, not companies such as LifeLock. Experian stated that when LifeLock sets a fraud alert, it costs them money because they must in turn contact the other two agencies and mail notices to consumers. It believes that LifeLock’s fraud alerts clogs the system and prevents it from working as it should.

Last May, the judge in the federal lawsuit, Andrew Guilford, ruled that LifeLock fraud alerts, which are the cornerstone of its services, are illegal. LifeLock is challenging the decision, stating that their services offer a convenient way for customers to manage alerts. Davis likened it to changing your oil – you can take the time to do it yourself or have someone do it for you. Since the ruling, both Experian and Equifax have stopped accepting fraud alerts from LifeLock. However, TransUnion is still accepting them and when the LifeLock alerts are sent to them, it are required to forward the alert to the other two bureaus.

Other lawsuits filed against LifeLock concerns what some see as LifeLock’s misleading loss coverage policy. One of their commercials states “If anything happens for any reason while you’re a client of LifeLock, we will cover all losses and all expenses up to $1 million.” However, the terms and conditions state that this doesn’t cover actual losses by the customers, but the hiring of a third party to clean up their credit after the theft.

During the recent home building boom, many contractors in the country found there was a shortage of drywall that was manufactured in the U.S. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, most drywall used in the U.S. was made here, but the demand for drywall increased after the storms and many contractors began using drywall from China. The Associated Press estimates that more than 500 million pounds of defective materials from China were used in houses post-Hurricane Katrina. Recently, there have been lawsuits filed by consumers, claiming that the Chinese drywall caused them health issues.

It is estimated that as many as 100,000 homes built between 2004 and 2008 used the Chinese drywall that may be defective and dangerous due to high levels of sulfur. These high levels of sulfur may release fumes that are not only making home owners ill, but also ruining their homes by causing corrosion of copper in wiring, fixtures, and appliances including televisions and computers.

Homeowners who believe they have been made sick by the drywall face a conundrum – they don’t want to stay in the houses, they can’t afford to walk away from them and they know the houses will be impossible to sell. Alice and Patrick Martin of Fort Myers, Fla. are worried about the financial strain the drywall has put on their family, but they are also concerned about the potential health hazards, especially for their 5 year old son Leo.

After the family filed a lawsuit, their lawyer Jerrold Parker spent time in their home going over their case and was reportedly sick for five days afterwards. The family is suing the Chinese manufacturer of the drywall, but for some of the homeowners it won’t be as easy. Some homes have drywall made by several Chinese companies.

Mary Ann Schultheis has suffered from burning eyes, sinus headaches, and a heaviness in her chest for a few years – every since she moved into her South Florida home. Her builder has since filed for bankruptcy. Some builders themselves have filed suit against the Chinese manufacturers, saying they were not aware the building materials were tainted.

Complaints from homeowners led to a Consumer Product Safety investigation as well as investigations by health departments in Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida, and Washington. The Florida and Louisiana governors have asked the federal government for assistance. The Louisiana health department has received over 350 complaints from homeowners while the Florida health department has received at least 230 complaints.

At least one Chinese company, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin has downplayed the potential health hazards but released a statement saying they plan to “get to the bottom of what is precisely going on.”

There is a bill before Congress titled “The Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2009” that would require foreign manufacturers to agree to abide by U.S. law and thus be held accountable for any problems their products cause and have a company agent in at least one state where the company does business to accept any legal papers served to them.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that prolonged exposure to the compounds believed to be found in the drywall – hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon disulfide – can lead to breathing problems, chest pain, and possibly death.

If you are the owner of a home built between 2004 and 2008 and you are suffering from unexplainable illnesses such as respiratory problems, burning eyes, or headaches, contact your builder to find out what type of drywall was used in your home.

The over the counter intranasal cold remedy called Zicam was recalled by manufacturer in June of 2009. Zicam is a product that was designed to be used to decrease the duration of the common cold. It was introduced into the marketplace in 1999 by Zicam, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. The products that were affected were Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel, Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs Kids Size.

On June 16, 2009 the FDA issued a public safety alert regarding the three Zicam products listed above. The FDA reported that it had received 130 reports of anosmia from people who have used the product. Anosmia is the inability to smell. In the news release issued by the FDA, the agency advises that this anosmia might be long lasting, or even permanent.

According to the information provided by the FDA in some of the cases of anosmia reported, the condition was experienced by a person after the first dose. Other users indicated their loss of their sense of smell happened after using the product multiple times.

Right now there are several lawsuits pending in federal court against the maker of Zicam. They allege that the active ingredient in these cold remedies, zinc gluconate, produces a caustic action on the nasal passages, and over time could lead to anosmia.  On September 24, 2009 there will be arguments heard in a Richmond, VA court over whether all pending and future Zicam lawsuits should be consolidated in one federal court as an MDL.  MDL is a legal procedure where one judge oversees all pending civil cases of a similar type.

The pet store chain Petland, Inc. is the defendant in a lawsuit filed against the company by the Humane Society of the United States on Monday, March 16, 2009 in the US District Court in Phoenix, AZ.  Other pet owners who say they purchased sick puppies from Petland are also parties in the suit.  The lawsuit seeks class action status and challenges the companies’ conduct under the federal racketeering statute and under consumer protection laws of 20 states.

The lawsuit alleges that Petland intentionally misled thousands of customers who purchased puppies at their stores.  According to the lawsuit Petland led their customers into believing the puppies purchased came from the finest breeders in the country.  According to the Humane Society many of the puppies sold by the store were bred in puppy mills in filthy conditions with inadequate care or socialization.

The plaintiffs are seeking changes in how the puppies are bread, to stop what they call unfair and deceptive sales practices, and financial damages to help cover the veterinary costs associated with the purchased puppies.

An executive of Petland stated these were false accusations, and the store in fact only offers “healthy, happy and well-socialized pets” for sale to their customers.

Dilantin is a brand name of the generic drug phenytoin sodium that is manufactured by Pfizer.  It is used to lessen the runaway brain activity seen in epileptic patients when suffering a seizure by reducing the electrical conductance among brain cells. 

Phenytoin sodium was the first modern antiepileptic drug developed and has been in use since 1938.  Dilantin was proved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1982.  Like most drugs, there are common side effects such as constipation, dizziness, headache, nausea, and vomiting.  However recently, there has been concern that the use of Dilantin can result in Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and the more severe version of it, Toxic Epidermal Necrosis Syndrome (TENS).  This is due to an increase in reports of patients who have taken Dilantin being diagnoses with SJS.

SJS is a skin disease that is typically the result of an allergic reaction to an over the counter medication.  The cell death that SJS causes results in the epidermis separating from the dermis and it can be fatal in about 15% of the sufferers.  SJS symptoms begin with a fever, sore throat, and headaches like a cold or flu, but soon, the patient begins suffering from skin lesions and blisters.  Because patient’s skin becomes so blistery, they are often treated in burn units.  If the lesions adhere to the lungs, SJS can cause death.

The FDA issued an alert in November 2008 about the potential risk of SJS for Asian patients using phenytoin therapy that have tested positive for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B*1502 allele.  The Stevens Johnson Foundation is concerned that the FDA is not monitoring the potential for adverse drug reactions closely enough because less than one percent of the deaths due to drug reactions are reported.  The doctors may not be reporting it to the FDA because it is not required, but also because they misdiagnosis the SJS and don’t realize it could be drug related.

Others are concerned that Dilantin use can result in liver damage, irregular heartbeats, decreased blood pressure, and birth defects.  A study done at the University of Florida in Gainesville shows that Dilantin use by the mother during pregnancy may result in a lower IQ in the infant.

Many that have taken Dilantin and suffered from SJS or any other adverse side effects have filed suit against Pfizer.  The family of Agnes Davis filed suit against ten different companies that are involved in the making, labeling, testing, marketing, and distribution of phenytoin sodium.  The lawsuit, which was filed in August 2008, claims that Davis had a severe reaction to phenytoin and it resulted in her death.

Fosamax is a bisphosphonate drug used to maintain and improve the amount of minerals and calcium in the bones. Fosamax is actually the Merck & Co. brand name of the generic drug alendronate. It was designed to help patients with osteoporosis, which reduces bone density. It can also be used to treat osteitis deformans, also known as Paget’s disease. Researchers believe that the drug can start having a positive effect within the first three months of use. It was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1995.

While Fosamax can reverse the reduction in bone density in patients with bone disease, some think it can also have a severe side effect. It is believed that users of Fosamax can develop osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), which is often referred to as “dead jaw.” This involves the very painful death of jawbone tissue. The symptoms of ONJ include pain in the jaw, a feeling of numbness, loosening of teeth, soft tissue infections, and the possible exposure of bone within the mouth.

Studies have shown that there is a link between taking Fosamax and ONJ. It is believed that women taking Fosamax for more than five years are at a higher risk. Some physicians were concerned about the use of Fosamax when the FDA approved it in 2005. This concern was due to the fact that the clinical trials that Merck performed on Fosamax were only for three to five years, which might not have shown true long term effects. When problems started arising, the FDA requested that the labels be changed to warn patients of potential ONJ risk in 2005. Merck & Co. added the warning, perhaps to not only warn patients, but also avoid potential lawsuits.

The May/June 2008 issue of Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma reported fractures occurring in thighbones for no apparent reason and found that 19 of the 20 patients who suffered these fractures had been taking Fosamax for about seven years. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reported the cases of nine women taking Fosamax who suffered spontaneous fractures in 2005. Many of the fractures took up to two years to completely heal. In 2006, the Journal of American Medical Association reported the FLEX trial, which showed that women who take Fosamax longer than five years are at the same risk for fractures as those who stopped taking the drug at five years.

A 60 year old woman from Florida filed suit against Merck & Co. After using Fosamax for six years to treat her osteoporosis, she developed a severe case of ONJ, which rotted her mouth and bared the bone in her jaw. It is believed that a total of 655 lawsuits accusing Merck & Co. of not warning patients of the potential hazards of Fosamax have been filed as of June 30, 2008.