Financial Recovery Strategies keeps up to date on the latest in class action developments. Here is a recap of some of the latest key developments.
Idaho announces $119 million opioid crisis settlement
Idaho officials on Friday announced a $119 million settlement with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors over their role in the opioid addiction crisis. Republican Gov. Brad Little and Republican Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said it’s the second-largest consumer settlement in state history, trailing only the 1998 national tobacco settlement of $712 million. (Read full article)
$230M Settlement Reached in 2015 California Oil Spill
The owner of an oil pipeline that spewed thousands of barrels of crude oil onto Southern California beaches in 2015 has agreed to pay $230 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by fishermen and property owners, court documents show. Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline agreed to pay $184 million to fishermen and fish processors and $46 million to coastal property owners in the settlement reached Friday, according to court documents. (Read full article)
Apple Might Owe You Money After Class Action Lawsuit. Here’s How to Check
Apple is required to pay a total of $14.8 million to certain customers as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit. This means that if you paid for an iCloud Plus subscription between some specific dates in 2015 and 2016, Apple might owe you money. The lawsuit alleged that Apple stored iCloud subscribers’ data on third-party servers without informing them. The free version of Apple iCloud comes with 5GB of storage, but additional space requires a paid iCloud Plus subscription. Plaintiffs in Williams v. Apple alleged that Apple made no mention of outside servers in its marketing materials or terms and conditions. (Read full article)
Snapchat Broke Illinois Law by Violating Biometric Privacy of Users, Suit Alleges
A class-action lawsuit has been brought against Snapchat’s parent company, accusing the social network of violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by illegally collecting users’ biometric information without their consent, according to court documents. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by two Snapchat users, identified as Adrian Coss and Maribel Ocampo. The suit claims the social media platform, which allows users to communicate through short videos and images called “snaps,” collects, stores and shares users’ unique facial features and voices without first providing required disclosures about how the information will be used and for how long, according to Classaction.org. (Read full article)
Opioid crisis: West Virginia in tentative $161.5m settlement with drug makers
Attorneys for the state of West Virginia and two remaining pharmaceutical manufacturers have reached a tentative $161.5m settlement just as closing arguments were set to begin in a seven-week trial over the opioid epidemic, the state attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, said on Wednesday. Morrisey announced the development in court in the state’s lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie’s Allergan and their family of companies. (Read full article)