Facebook Inc. may have to pay a real price for claims it invaded users’ privacy: billions of dollars. A federal judge ruled Monday that millions of the social network’s users can proceed as a group with claims that its photo-scanning technology violated an Illinois law by gathering and storing biometric data without their consent. Damages could be steep — a fact that wasn’t lost on the judge, who was unsympathetic to Facebook’s arguments for limiting its legal exposure. The case dates back to 2015, long before Facebook became mired in controversy over revelations that millions of its users’ private information […]

NEW YORK: A $117 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and a supplier in favor of a man who said his asbestos-related cancer was caused by long-term use of J&J’s Baby Powder could open a new front for thousands of cases claiming the widely-used product caused cancer, legal experts and plaintiffs lawyers said. J&J has been battling some 6,000 cases claiming its baby powder and Shower to Shower products cause ovarian cancer. The $117 million verdict by a New Jersey jury last week, however, involved a different form of cancer that is clearly linked to asbestos. Plaintiffs lawyers claim that […]

AN ex-wife who complained her £10million divorce settlement was not enough has lost out on her £175k yearly payments after a failed bid to claim more money. Kim Waggott was handed £9.76million after splitting from her super-rich husband, allowing her to purchase a £2million home near Chester and a Balearic holiday home. Champion News Service Ltd Kim Waggott, 49, has lost out after a bid to get a more generous annual allowance from her multimillionaire ex She was also awarded £175,000 in annual maintenance payments for the rest of her life following the split with her cheating husband William in 2012. […]

The Advertising Standards Association (ASA) has ruled against an advertisement run by Herbex for its Attack the Fat product. Annie Cebulski and Eryn Scannell report for GroundUp News. The association will instruct its members not to run the advertisement. This comes after medical doctor and consumer activist Dr Harris Steinman laid a complaint against Herbex for its lack of evidence of efficacy. Herbex chose not to participate in the ASA investigation. On 29 March, the ASA found Herbex to be in violation of its standards code for using testimonials claiming efficacy which were not justified. Herbex responded to the ASA ruling in […]

It’s all about protecting the kids. nd3000/Shutterstock Denmark, one of the world’s happiest countries, has the highest divorce rate in western Europe. Currently, couples there can complete an online form, pay a $60 fee, and get a divorce in less than a week. New rules set to go into effect next year would require couples with kids to go through a three-week “reflection period” and get free counseling before a divorce is made final. Denmark is consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world. It also has the highest divorce rate in western Europe: Nearly half of […]

You have to search hard to find reports of a family court in England engaging with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). This is partly because very few cases are actually officially reported and possibly because of the system itself. Almost weekly, I speak with people who have received a shrug or a raised eyebrow from both the courts and/or their lawyers at the suggestion that a husband/wife is a narcissist. Lawyers are the gatekeepers when it comes to taking cases to court and if the subject of NPD makes them anxious or dismissive, a client will be hard pressed to spend […]

In a 49-page opinion issued last week, Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted class certification to a group of women alleging that Goldman Sachs systemically and pervasively discriminated against female professional employees in violation of Title VII and the New York City Human Rights Law. Plaintiffs claim they were discriminated against in pay, promotions, and performance reviews, and that Goldman Sachs: (1) employs facially neutral policies that disparately impact women; (2) knows of the policies’ disparate impact on women; and (3) maintains a “boy’s club” culture that discriminates against […]

Fourteen shareholders from the Conway Golf Club, Inc., have filed a motion in Horry County court asking to intervene in litigation concerning the club and its likely upcoming sale, but an attorney for the club believes the intervention will hurt rather than help the shareholders. Myrtle Beach attorney Douglas M. Zayicek said if the sale goes through on the current contract it will generate a substantial amount of money for the shareholders. However, the shareholders’ intervention could tie up the sale long enough that the club is forced to declare bankruptcy or the bank holding its mortgage will be forced […]

When faced with an employment discrimination, harassment or retaliation claim, often the immediate response is, “We are going to defend ourselves and prove we are right,” followed by, “So what will it cost us if we lose?” This article describes the damages available to a prevailing party under the primary federal employment statutes. To begin, the common denominator is attorney’s fees.  In civil litigation, the norm is that each litigant pays for its own attorney’s fees.  Under all federal anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-retaliation laws, prevailing employees are entitled to their attorney’s fees. This is known as a fee-shifting law – […]