Los Angeles Class Actions Law Blog

People who work primarily for tips are often financially mistreated by their employers. Class actions in California and throughout the country are filed on behalf of waiters, bartenders and other restaurant workers who work for tips but all too often end up with earnings in violation of federal laws. Wage and hour claims, along with other class action employment lawsuits, are a significant source of class action litigation.

Chain restaurants are sometimes implicated in taking advantage of their tipped workers. Under federal law, an employer is supposed to make up the difference between tipped earnings and minimum wage so that the employee can be assured of at least minimum wage. A class action lawsuit was recently filed in another state claiming that a restaurant chain called Dinosaur Bar-B-Que had run roughshod over its tipped employees by not paying them the amount needed to get them up to minimum wage, and for a long list of other alleged economic abuses.

Are consumers better off using arbitration to resolve contractual disputes or do they do better by using consumer class actions? In Sec. 1028(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Congress directed the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) to study and report on the use of arbitration provisions that are mandated by consumer financial products. The CFPB issued its report recently, in which it concluded that consumer class actions in California and all other states have delivered vastly greater settlement sums to a vastly larger number of consumers.

However, critics of the CFPB report are trying to claim little of the money got through to consumers themselves. They also say that the resolution of small claims outside of litigation is a widespread process that was underestimated in the study.  An analysis of one series of claims involving debit card holders and overdraft penalties appears to disprove the critics' claims. There is scant evidence that any amounts were paid to consumers through arbitration or otherwise, but it is certain that 29 million consumer account holders received $1 billion through class actions regarding debit card claimants that were consolidated in 2009.  

Pet owners rely on leading companies like Nestle Purina PetCare Company to put safe and nutritious pet foods on the market. However, when a dog owner comes to believe that one of his dogs died and two others became deathly ill from consuming a Purina dog food called Beneful, the situation may turn contentious. In fact, that owner has filed consumer litigation against Purina in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that the product contains toxins dangerous to dogs.

One of those alleged toxins is propylene glycol, described as a toxin that is used in automobile antifreeze. The complaint also states that the kibble mixture contains mycotoxins, a fungus-based toxin that occurs in grains. The complaint alleges that more than 3,000 complaints were made online regarding dogs becoming ill or dying after consuming the product.

Three class action lawsuits based on consumer fraud have been filed in separate federal district courts located in California. The three cases have a similar thread running through them, in that all three defendants are makers and sellers of so-called health beverages that are either billed as all-natural or as misleading in some other aspect of its advertising. In all three of the cases, deceptive business practices or false advertising is alleged, and monetary damages along with injunctive relief are requested.

One case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleges that the maker of a product called Muscle Milk does not contain milk. The allegations also complain that the maker, Cytosport, falsely advertises Muscle Milk as being a healthy and nutritious product, when in fact the products are filled with fats. The complaint alleges that the labels on Muscle Milk products falsely lead consumers to believe that they are lean products that contain significant muscle-building ingredients.