Ruling in on tips, a U.S. appeals court determined that restaurants must pay bartenders and waitstaff minimum wage when they’re doing work that’s not related to their primary positions. Exemptions to what would have been considered gratuity-based compensation include cleaning toilets and washing dishes. The decision, brought by an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S.
Earlier this week, Cedar Grove Composting, a composting company, “agreed to pay more than $785,000 to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it was responsible for bad smells.” Additionally, the company agreed to spend $1.45 million to help “reduce the potential for malodorous emissions.” The settlement agreement is currently awaiting final approval from a judge. But what happened? Why was the lawsuit filed in the first place?
Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay close to $6.2 billion as part of the nation’s largest-ever antitrust settlement. The agreement, writes CNNMoney, concludes a 13-year old lawsuit brought against Visa, MasterCard and several commercial merchants. Plaintiffs, comprised largely of local retailers and chains, claimed the companies were foisting unfair ‘card swipe’ fees on businesses.
A Chicago City Council committee recently approved a $16 million payment for the family of a woman who was accidentally shot dead by police. The New York Times reports that city corporation counsel Edward Siskel told members of the financial board that a payment to Bettie Jones’ family was the most sensible outcome. Taking the
On August 7, U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. granted final approval of a settlement in a class action lawsuit filed against Shasta County and the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department over systemic ADA discrimination [against prisoners] in the Shasta County Jail in Redding, California.
A federal judge ruled that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s decision to rescind protections for students defrauded by for-profit colleges should be reversed. But, reports the New York Times, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss put the ruling on hold for 30 days, to give the Education Department time to respond. Moss’s decision could drastically alter
Vizio Moves to Settle Class Action Regarding Unauthorized Data Tracking
A lawsuit stemming from a 2012 incident settled earlier this week for $575,000. It was filed on behalf of a woman, Brie Ana Williams, and claimed she was raped at a Los Vaqueros Trail Ride event at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Williams filed her lawsuit against rodeo after she said “someone raped her during an event associated with the trail riders in Dayton in 2012.” Though a settlement was finally agreed to, the complaints against the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo were dismissed.
Earlier this week a judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an Ohio State student who was killed by Brian Golsby in February 2017. The student was Reagan Tokes. She was kidnapped, raped, and then fatally shot by Golsby, a convicted sex offender. Since the incident, Golsby has been convicted and will serve life in prison for the murder. Prior to the incident, he had been released from prison for three months and “was wearing a GPS ankle monitor while under the watch of the state’s Adult Parole Authority.”
Earlier this week, a lawsuit against President Trump was dismissed. The suit was filed by three protesters who accused the president of ‘inciting to riot’ after “they were roughed up at a March 2016 campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky during Trump’s White House run.” The decision to dismiss the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said they “did not state a valid claim under Kentucky law against Trump or his campaign, and Trump’s speech was protected by the First Amendment because he did not specifically advocate violence.” The suit was dismissed on a 3-0 vote.