| IMVU Music Products
| After IMVU, a leading virtual reality website, collected millions of dollars selling full-length audio products to users, it made it impossible to play more than 20 seconds of any song. |
| Working "off the clock" and without breaks at House of Prime Rib
| Until at least 2003, the House of Prime Rib in San Francisco required employees to work off the clock and without breaks. The suit seeks unpaid wages and penalties for servers, bussers and carvers. |
| Hansen's Mislabeled Blue Sky Soda
| Although Hansen's beverage operations are in Orange County, California, the company falsely advertised that its Blue Sky Natural Beverages are based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. |
| Merchant Services and Northern Leasing: Credit Card Processing and Lease Fraud
| Defendants enroll merchants in credit card processing services, promising that the merchants will save hundreds of dollars a month on processing charges. However, no such savings materialize. In fact, processing rates increase dramatically. When merchants try to cancel the service, the defendants claim that the merchants are bound by non-cancellable leases for card processing equipment and must pay $5000 or more for equipment worth only a few hundred dollars. |
| KFC Free Chicken Coupon Not Honored
| In spring 2009, KFC announced on Oprah that it would give a free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal to anyone who downloaded and printed a coupon and took it to a KFC restaurant. But when too many people tried to use the coupons, KFC failed to honor them. |
| Ticketmaster: Unauthorized Enrollment In Paid "Entertainment Rewards" Program
| Beginning in September 2004, Ticketmaster transferred customers' credit card numbers to "Entertainment Rewards," which charged the customers more than $60 million for an online coupon service that the customers never used. |
| AT&T International Roaming Charges for Unanswered Calls
| AT&T charges international roaming fees for unanswered calls that are routed to voicemail. In many instances, AT&T charges such fees twice for each call. |
| Leaky Andersen Windows
| Andersen sells premium "argon-filled" insulated windows. This lawsuit alleges that the argon leaks out of the windows, making them no better than lower-priced models. Windows installed at high altitudes must be equipped with "breather tubes" which causes all argon to escape instantly. In windows at lower altitudes, the sealant leaks the argon over time. |
| Acer's Stripped-Down Operating System; No Recovery Disks
| This lawsuit alleged that Acer computers include a stripped-down version of the Windows operating system, making it impossible for customers to access features necessary to troubleshoot, repair and restore their systems. In 2011, a settlement was reached. See the settlement website for more information. |
| Missing Flash Memory Capacity
| We alleged that flash memory manufacturers overstated the capacity of flash memory devices. We obtained a court-approved settlement that provided all customers with refunds of 5% of the purchase price. It also required the manufacturers to change their packaging. |
| Missing Hard Drive Capacity: Seagate / Western Digital
| The suit claimed that these companies overstated the capacity of their drives by approximately 7%. We obtained court-approved settlements providing refunds, free software and changes to advertising. |
| Mutual Fund Broker Kickbacks: Wells Fargo
| We brought suit against Wells Fargo alleging that it secretly gave brokers kickbacks for pushing clients into specified mutual funds. The lawsuit resulted in a settlement fund of $1.15 million, which was distributed to investors under a court-ordered allocation plan. |
| Netflix
| Netflix promised its customers "unlimited DVD rentals" for a monthly flat fee, with "one day delivery." But in fact, the more quickly a customer watched and returned his movies, the more slowly Netflix sent the next one. The suit alleged that Netflix's goal was to limit monthly usage and keep its costs down. |
| Online Travel Reservations: Taxes and Fees
| Online travel companies charged customers "taxes and fees" on hotel reservations. But they sent the government only some of the taxes, and they pocketed the difference. |
| BankOne / Paypal Cash Advance Fees
| We represented customers of BankOne who were charged cash advance fees for online transactions through PayPal. The court approved a class action settlement under which BankOne promised to make its cardmember agreement clearer about when fees would be charged, and to refund fees paid to anyone who complained. |
| Alamo and Priceline: Car Rental Bait-and-Switch
| We sued Priceline and Alamo for failing to supply rental cars that were reserved and paid for through Priceline. As a result of the suit, Priceline identified affected customers and offered them refunds. Confidential settlements were reached with both defendants. |
| AT&T Deleted Voicemails
| AT&T wireless customers who paid an extra $1.99 per month for "Enhanced Voicemail" were accustomed to getting a warning when a voicemail was about to be deleted. But AT&T eliminated "Deletion Notification" without notice, causing tens of thousands of customers to lose their saved voicemails. A confidential settlement was reached. |
| Expiring Southwest Airlines Gift Certificates
| We sued Southwest Airlines for selling gift certificates in California that expired one year after purchase. California law provides that gift certificates cannot expire. While the suit was pending, Southwest changed its practices. Now, its gift certificates state "No fees. Never expires." |
| "Non"-Alcoholic Kombucha Beverages?
| Millenium Products and Honest Tea claimed that their Kombucha drinks were less than 0.5% alcohol. They told merchants to market them alongside juices, ice teas, and other non-alcoholic drinks. They said they could be consumed by children, people at work, athletes, and many others who cannot drink alcohol. In fact, the beverages were alcoholic. For more information, see the Millenium settlement website or the Honest Tea settlement website. |
