http://www.law360.com/ Latest articles for organization: Berger & Montague Copyright 2009 Portfolio Media, Inc. en-US http://www.law360.com/images/headings/logo.gif http://www.law360.com/ http://www.law360.com/articles/135566 JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the first defendant to reach a settlement in a class action accusing it and other credit card companies of conspiring to force cardholders into arbitration to settle disputes, according to representatives for the plaintiff. http://www.law360.com/articles/135566 http://www.law360.com/articles/134423 A federal judge has rejected a bid for class certification by Allstate New Jersey Insurance Co. policyholders alleging the insurer engaged in improper estimating processes and underpaid claims between Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2004. http://www.law360.com/articles/134423 http://www.law360.com/articles/134364 Asserting that the plaintiffs have failed to allege monopolistic practices despite ample discovery time, banks and credit unions in First Data Corp.’s Star electronic payment network have asked a judge to snuff out a long-standing proposed class action accusing the companies of fixing ATM service charges. http://www.law360.com/articles/134364 http://www.law360.com/articles/133034 A federal judge has granted conditional certification for two of nearly a dozen suits brought by Tyson Foods Inc. workers accusing the factory of failing to pay them for time spent donning and doffing compulsory safety gear. http://www.law360.com/articles/133034 http://www.law360.com/articles/132320 Ceridian Corp. has asked a judge to sanction a group of truck stop owners that filed a putative class action against it over an alleged anti-competitive scheme in which Ceridian unit Comdata Corp. supposedly charged independent outfits like the plaintiffs inflated fees to process Trucker Fleet Card transactions. http://www.law360.com/articles/132320 http://www.law360.com/articles/129960 A $336 million settlement a class of consumers reached with credit card companies and banks accused of breaching federal and state antitrust laws by colluding to fix foreign currency fees has been granted approval by a federal judge, three years after the defendants put the money away in escrow to repay the plaintiffs. http://www.law360.com/articles/129960 http://www.law360.com/articles/129485 A federal appeals court has denied The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.'s motion to appeal the certification of a class of plaintiffs alleging that the company violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by unfairly charging fees for structured settlement annuities. http://www.law360.com/articles/129485 http://www.law360.com/articles/129021 The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly begun an investigation into whether Toys R Us strong-armed suppliers into stifling discounts by rivals, prompted by evidence in two pending civil antitrust cases against the toy retailer. http://www.law360.com/articles/129021 http://www.law360.com/articles/128938 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has overturned a lower court's dismissal of an antitrust case alleging that Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc. conspired to keep generic drugs off the shelves by fraudulently acquiring a patent for diabetes drug DDAVP. http://www.law360.com/articles/128938 http://www.law360.com/articles/128974 A putative class of consumers has hit First Data Corp. and the banks in its ATM network with an amended antitrust complaint alleging a conspiracy to fix interchange fees, this time saying consumers can't escape the "supracompetitive" fees by taking their business elsewhere. http://www.law360.com/articles/128974 http://www.law360.com/articles/126251 A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's ruling that a group of south Sudanese plaintiffs, including a major church group, could not prove Canadian oil company Talisman Energy Inc. aided and abetted the Sudanese government in war crimes and human rights abuses. http://www.law360.com/articles/126251 http://www.law360.com/articles/124772 Plaintiffs are seeking to obtain class status in a multidistrict litigation accusing Pfizer Inc. and its Warner-Lambert Co. subsidiary of using patent litigation to postpone generic competition for epilepsy treatment Neurontin. http://www.law360.com/articles/124772 http://www.law360.com/articles/124713 The judge overseeing multidistrict Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation against bankrupt Nortel Networks Inc. has cleared up a dispute by confirming that the MDL was stayed with respect to the individual as well as the corporate defendants, but denied Nortel's request to rescind a report and recommendation that said a class should be certified. http://www.law360.com/articles/124713 http://www.law360.com/articles/124552 A federal judge has granted final approval of a $15.1 million settlement to resolve multidistrict antitrust litigation accusing Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, Evonik Degussa Corp., Lucite International Inc. and Arkema Inc. of involvement in a conspiracy to fix and inflate the prices of methyl methacrylate and polymethyl methacrylate. http://www.law360.com/articles/124552 http://www.law360.com/articles/124455 A federal appeals court has reinstated an arbitration order tossed by the transferee judge in pharmacy benefit managers antitrust multidistrict litigation, saying MDL judges cannot overturn a transfer court's orders, with few exceptions. http://www.law360.com/articles/124455 http://www.law360.com/articles/121946 Accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP has been dismissed from a suit brought by a group of life insurance trusts against Tremont Capital Management Inc. over losses stemming from Bernard L. Madoff's estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme. http://www.law360.com/articles/121946 http://www.law360.com/articles/120924 A federal judge has dismissed a putative antitrust class action over fees charged by financial institutions in First Data Corp.’s ATM network, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to identify a proper relevant market but giving them room to amend their claims. http://www.law360.com/articles/120924 http://www.law360.com/articles/120370 A magistrate judge involved in multidistrict litigation against Nortel Networks Corp. has recommended certifying a class that claims the defendants breached their fiduciary duty by representing its stock as a prudent investment, though its value was artificially inflated. http://www.law360.com/articles/120370 http://www.law360.com/articles/120059 Abrika Pharmaceuticals Inc. has asked the court in charge of antitrust litigation against Biovail Corp. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC over the antidepressant Wellbutrin XL to let it intervene in the case to fight the direct purchaser plaintiffs' bid for documents from patent litigation Biovail brought against Abrika in Florida. http://www.law360.com/articles/120059 http://www.law360.com/articles/119780 Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys Inc. and Abbott Laboratories have traded motions for partial summary judgment in a whistleblower suit filed by Ven-A-Care accusing Abbott of reporting inflated prices for generic drugs containing the antibiotic erythromycin to Medicaid. http://www.law360.com/articles/119780