http://www.law360.com/ Latest articles for organization: Maynard, Cooper & Gale Copyright 2009 Portfolio Media, Inc. en-US http://www.law360.com/images/headings/logo.gif http://www.law360.com/ http://www.law360.com/articles/135184 Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. has asked a judge to dismiss a complaint in the multidistrict litigation over auction rate securities, arguing that Community Trust Bank Inc.'s allegation that Merrill Lynch surreptitiously manipulated the ARS market doesn't hold water. http://www.law360.com/articles/135184 http://www.law360.com/articles/134053 A suit launched by 26 Alabama residents who claim Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. misled them into believing funds invested in mortgage-backed securities and shaky financial institutions were safe investments is headed back to state court, a federal judge has ruled. http://www.law360.com/articles/134053 http://www.law360.com/articles/132651 In a suit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal jury has found that Tyson Foods Inc. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay production line workers for time spent donning and doffing compulsory safety gear. http://www.law360.com/articles/132651 http://www.law360.com/articles/124799 A group of defendants, including Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., Credit Suisse Securities LLC and H&R Block Financial Advisors, has asked a judge to dismiss it from a consolidated proposed securities class action alleging bankrupt Colonial BancGroup Inc. misled investors about its subprime lending practices. http://www.law360.com/articles/124799 http://www.law360.com/articles/109242 A federal judge in Texas has cited the “first-to-file” rule in transferring eight consolidated cases to Florida, where West Coast Life Insurance Co. will duke it out with Wells Fargo & Co. over an alleged stranger-owned life insurance scheme. http://www.law360.com/articles/109242 http://www.law360.com/articles/107459 A group of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. workers has lost its bid to rally a potential nationwide class of employees in a case accusing the retail giant of breaching the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay overtime wages to asset protection coordinators. http://www.law360.com/articles/107459 http://www.law360.com/articles/96796 An investment company targeted by West Coast Life Insurance Co. in a lawsuit over an alleged illegal stranger-owned life insurance scheme fired back, saying the claims against it should be dismissed because West Coast Life filed a “shotgun complaint” and failed to make specific allegations against individual defendants. http://www.law360.com/articles/96796 http://www.law360.com/articles/94867 AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. will be able to pursue allegations that trustees for a group of life insurance policies were involved in an illegal scam to persuade elderly people in Florida to sign up for policies with large face values for the benefit of outside investors. http://www.law360.com/articles/94867 http://www.law360.com/articles/94080 A federal judge has granted partial summary judgment to two of the life insurance companies embroiled in a nationwide putative class action, ruling that California plaintiffs, unlike plan sponsors from other states, can’t blame the insurers for selling retirement benefit plans that allegedly created illegal tax shelters. http://www.law360.com/articles/94080 http://www.law360.com/articles/91562 West Coast Life Insurance Co. on Thursday added civil conspiracy and several violations of Florida law to a complaint alleging that an investment company, several insurance brokers and individual policyholders engaged in an illegal stranger-owned life insurance scheme. http://www.law360.com/articles/91562 http://www.law360.com/articles/86992 Finding that individual issues with breach of contract claims overwhelm commonalities, a judge has denied class status and dismissed a case filed by a real estate investor against Protective Life Insurance Co. that alleged the insurer failed to pay back unearned premiums for credit insurance, which is designed to cover loans if a policyholder dies or becomes disabled. http://www.law360.com/articles/86992 http://www.law360.com/articles/62010 Regions Bank and an affiliate investment adviser have removed to federal court a pension system's suit that claims they fraudulently promoted a risky open-end fund as safe and allowed the fund to be devastated by last summer's subprime mortgage collapse. http://www.law360.com/articles/62010 http://www.law360.com/articles/60774 The U.S. Supreme Court refused Friday to hear an appeal of a nearly four-year-old pollution case that awarded several Georgia state residents more than $20.7 million against a manufacturer of carbon black. http://www.law360.com/articles/60774 http://www.law360.com/articles/36041 A district court judge has rejected the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's second attempt to force Gulf States Steel Inc. to cover the costs of cleaning up its polluted facility, after the first case was interrupted when the company fell into bankruptcy. http://www.law360.com/articles/36041 http://www.law360.com/articles/34504 A collective action lawsuit against an iron foundry owned by McWane Inc. picked up steam on Monday, as plaintiffs filed an amended complaint incorporating hundreds of new plaintiffs alleging that the company had failed to pay them for work they performed at the beginning and end of the day and during their lunch breaks. http://www.law360.com/articles/34504 http://www.law360.com/articles/25989 A judge in Manhattan has thrown out a putative class action against American International Group Inc. and First SunAmerica Life Insurance Co. that accused the insurance companies of defrauding purchasers of bonus annuity contracts out of millions of dollars. http://www.law360.com/articles/25989 http://www.law360.com/articles/23721 Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. was cleared of all charges Thursday relating to an alleged scheme that defrauded investors out of around $70 million. http://www.law360.com/articles/23721 http://www.law360.com/articles/13187 Tyson Foods Inc. agreed Tuesday to pay a total of $871,000 to 13 African-American employees to settle a race discrimination lawsuit. http://www.law360.com/articles/13187