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First BanCorp Ordered To Pay $74.25 Mln To Settle
Class Action News |
2007/08/06 16:28
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| First BanCorp Holding Co. announced that the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico has issued preliminary order on August 1, 2007, asking the company to pay $74.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by shareholders. First BanCorp said that $61 million settlement amount has to be deposited in a settlement fund within fifteen calendar days of the issuance of the preliminary order. The remaining settlement amount of $13.25 million will be paid before December 31, 2007, the company added. The company noted that this class action lawsuit settlement will have no impact on earnings and capital in 2007, as it has accrued $74.25 million in 2005 for the potential settlement of the class action lawsuit. |
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Homeless woman in class-action suit against Fresno dies
Class Action News |
2007/08/05 16:31
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| A homeless woman suing the city of Fresno over the destruction of homeless people's belongings during raids on thier camps has died just days after the lawsuit gained class-action status. Pamela Kincaid, 51, died Wednesday after friends said she fell four floors from a hospital stairwell. The Fresno County Coroner's Office has called for an autopsy on Kincaid, who was also assaulted a few weeks before her death, said Dr. David Hadden, the county coroner. Kincaid was hospitalized after that attack with bruises on her head and abrasions on her body and face, according to police. Kincaid was among a group of homeless people who sued the city last year for seizing and destroying their property during the raids. A federal judge granted the lawsuit class-action status Monday, which allows other homeless people who claim their personal property was taken and destroyed by the city to join the case. In November, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger ordered the city to stop taking homeless people's property while the lawsuit made its way through court. |
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ATRS, NY Firm Settle Class-Action Against PharmaNet
Class Action News |
2007/08/03 14:03
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| Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, a New York law firm, announced Thursday that they have settled, for a total of $28.5 million, the securities class-action lawsuit against PharmaNet Development Group Inc. The class action, pending in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, is led by court-appointed lead plaintiff Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and is captioned In re SFBC International, Inc. Sec. Litigation, 06-cv-00165 (SRC). PharmaNet was formerly known as SFBC International Inc. Under the settlement agreement, the class will be paid $28.5 million, of which $24.5 million will be in cash and $4 million may be either in cash or in stock, at the election of the company. The settlement requires contributions from a number of different defendants, and specifically requires certain of the company's former directors, officers and employees to make a personal contribution towards the settlement of the class' claims. "We are pleased to have reached a settlement of this securities class action on terms that provide a significant benefit to the class, while permitting the company and its new management to focus on the future. We believe that the personal contribution portion of this settlement sends a clear message that shareholders will insist that the directors, officers and employees of publicly traded companies live up to their responsibilities to act as vigilant guardians for the interests of the shareholders they represent," said Paul Doane, director of ATRS. |
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Novartis Unit Faces U.S. Lawsuit
Class Action News |
2007/08/02 13:40
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| A unit of Swiss drug company Novartis AG will have to defend itself against sex-discrimination claims brought by a group of women sales employees in a $100 million class-action lawsuit, a U.S. judge has ruled. Judge Gerard E. Lynch granted class-action status to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. by 19 current and former employees in sales-related positions. In his order, the judge also granted a request to dismiss claims against Novartis Corp., the pharmaceutical unit's U.S. parent. The lawsuit, which originally was filed in 2004, had alleged the Novartis unit was discriminatory in its pay, promotions, evaluations and treatment of women who take pregnancy leave. A Novartis spokesman declined to comment, saying the company had just received the judge's order and was reviewing it. |
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Sun-Times Media Group Settling Class Action Suits
Class Action News |
2007/08/01 13:17
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Sun-Times Media Group Inc. (STMG) said late Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement to settle the securities class-action lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada that accused the publishing company formerly known as Hollinger International of making misleading disclosures and omissions about "non-competition" payments, and paying excessive management fees. The settlement will be funded entirely by $30 million in proceeds from STMG's insurance policies, the company said.
The lawsuits, which were consolidated in U.S. District Court in Chicago, were filed against the company, several former directors and officers, some affiliated companies, and STMG's auditor KPMG LLP.
The lawsuits accused the defendants of violating securities laws in the U.S. and Canada. Former Hollinger International Chairman Conrad Black was convicted last month on U.S. federal fraud charges he improperly pocketed phony non-compete fees in the sale of three groups of community newspapers. A jury found him not guilty of fraudulently taking non-compete fees in several other sales. Black faces sentencing in November.
"The settlement includes no admission of liability by the company or any of the settling defendants and the company continues to deny any such liability or damages," STMG said in a statement.
Under terms of the proposed agreement, which needs the approval of courts in the U.S. and Canada, STMG insurers will deposit $24.5 million in insurance proceeds into an escrow account to fund defense costs the company incurred in the securities class action, and other litigation.
The carriers will then be released from any other claims for the July 1, 2002 to July 1, 2003 policy period.
STMG and the other parties "will then seek a judicial determination" on how to allocate the $24.5 million among insured parties, it said.
STMG said it has been in negotiations with Toronto-based Hollinger Inc. -- the holding company convicted former newspaper baron Conrad Black used to control his once-worldwide collection of newspaper -- to determine how the proceeds should be allocated among themselves.
If negotiations fail, they have agreed to go to binding arbitration, STMG said.
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Aquila settles class-action suit for $10.5M
Class Action News |
2007/07/26 18:34
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| Aquila Inc. has agreed to settle for $10.5 million a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company should have recommended dumping its stock from employees' retirement funds during Aquila's risky boom years. "It's just more efficient for the shareholders for us to settle than to go through a protracted legal case," Aquila spokesman Al Butkus said Wednesday. Aquila admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Butkus said. The company will record the $10.5 million charge in its second or third quarter, he said. The proposed settlement was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The suit was filed in late September 2004 in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City. A former employee sued the Kansas City-based company (NYSE: ILA) and its board of directors for promoting the company's stock as a "conservative" investment for participants in the company's retirement plan. The class included more than 7,000 current and former employees who put Aquila stock into the company's retirement plan from 1999 to May 5, 2004. A hearing on the settlement' s final approval has been scheduled on Nov. 13 before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple.
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