Cases of Note

Your Rights in the Workplace: Minimum Wage and Overtime Rules The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Overtime pays at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek.  What is the minimum wage? The current federal standard for covered nonexempt workers being entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Additionally, most states have their own minimum wage laws that require a higher rate of pay. For example, the minimum wage in Illinois is $13.00 per hour in 2023. Employers must pay whichever minimum wage rate is higher. To find out the minimum wages in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, go to the DOL website . and select your state from the list. You can also contact your state labor department for inf

Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors America will compensate owners' theft-related vehicle losses. Case Summary Kia and Hyundai thefts skyrocketed because a viral TikTok video in the summer of 2022 showed people how to steal the cars with just a USB cable and screwdriver. And while the manufacturers made a software update available to owners, there was not a mandatory recall of any make and model related to this issue. Also, the update was only effective when the vehicle alarm is armed. The law firm Hagens Berman brought a national class-action lawsuit on behalf of the owners of affected vehicles in August 2022, and reached a proposed settlement in May of 2023 that covered roughly 8 million vehicles and is valued at more than $200 million.  Since May 2023, the companies worked with law enforcement agencies to provide more than 26,000 steering wheel locks to 77 law enforcement agencies in 12 states. The class action was enjoined by Governmental Entities and Insurers and sought relief for t

Update In an Antitrust Deal with States Google will pay $700 million and allow app makers to collect payments directly from consumers in a settlement it hopes will help resolve other legal challenges. Google deal is the result of an antitrust suit brought by state attorneys general, in the company’s latest move to navigate increased regulatory scrutiny of its power. The suit, brought in July 2021, alleged Google’s app store of abusing its market power and forcing aggressive terms on software developers. The tech giant is facing several antitrust challenges in the United States, including a trial in which the federal government claims Google has abused its dominance in online search. In its announcement on Dec. 18, Google said it would now allow apps to charge consumers directly rather than having to charge through Google. The company will pay $630 million to create a settlement fund for consumers, as well as pay $70 million into a fund to be used by the states. To highlight the choice

  Cassie Ventura, Sean 'Diddy' Combs attends Los Angeles Premiere of CANT STOP WONT STOP: A BAD BOY STORY on June 21, 2017, Beverly Hills, CA. — Photo by info@photographybyeugene.com Case Summary R&B singer, Cassie Ventura, better known by the stage name Cassie, had filed her blockbuster lawsuit in federal court against the hip-hop mogul Sean Combs only a day before Combs, a rapper and producer, paid her to drop the suit. In her complaint, Ventura described a pattern of coercive control, abuse, drugging and sexual violence perpetrated against her by Combs throughout their more than 11-year relationship, which began in 2007, when Cassie was 21 and had signed to the 37-year-old Combs’ Bad Boy Records, and ended in 2019. The suit alleged Combs brought the singer into his "ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle" soon after she met him and signed to his label in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. Ventura said Combs, now 54, began a pattern of abuse as so

Case Summary October 24, 2023 --The Federal Trade Commission or  FTC and the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a $1.1 million settlement with a group of Wisconsin auto dealers for allegedly charging customers illegal junk fees and unlawfully discriminating against American Indian customers. The complaint was pursued under the FTC Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Wisconsin Deceptive Trade Practices Act , and the Wisconsin Consumer Act alleging that the defendants deceived customers into paying junk fees by charging for additional "add-on" services and products without customers' consent. The complaint further alleges that the defendants misled customers into thinking the add-on services were mandatory. The defendants also engaged in unlawful discrimination by charging American Indian customers higher fees and financing costs. American Indian customers were charged junk fees at a higher rate than non-Latino White customers. On average Am

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs bills into laws. California Assembly Bill 48 or Nursing Facility Resident Informed Consent Protection Act of 2023 was recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. Among the changes made by this law is the resident shall have the right to be free from 'psychotherapeutic' drugs used for the purpose of resident discipline or convenience. It also provides for informed consent for a class of drugs called psychotropics and soft restraints. What does this mean for the 97,749 California nursing home residents it is meant to protect? What are psychotherapeutic medications? Psychotherapeutic means relating to psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is an approach for treating mental health issues by talking with a mental health provider. Psychotropic drug, is what must have been meant in the overall language of the law. A psychotropic drug is a chemical substance that changes the function of the nervous system and results in alterations of perception, m

President Joe Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act , or H.R. 4445 into law on March 3, 2022 at a White House ceremony. The law amends the Federal Arbitration Act and allows employees subject to pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements to pursue their claims in court related to sexual assault or sexual harassment.  As the #MeToo movement brought to light, in the worst cases, arbitration and nondisclosure agreements can shield serial harassers from accountability and allow them to habitually abuse employees. Court decisions and orders make the identity of violators of the law and their conduct public, which can serve to influence behavior and deter sexual harassment and assault from occurring in the first place. Some of America’s most prominent employers have already voluntarily discontinued mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment claims, and several states have passed laws directed at restricting mandatory arbitration of harassm