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6 MAR

Snuggie $8 MIllion Settlement

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Allstar Marketing Group (“Allstar”), the company behind “As Seen on TV” products such as the Snuggie, Perfect Bacon Bowl, and Magic Mesh, has recently agreed to an $8 million dollar settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over their alleged illegal use of deceptive marketing and sales practices.  The Federal Trade Commission’s investigation and subsequent settlement negotiations come in response to hundreds of consumer filed complaints pertaining to the company’s practices.

Customers who were drawn in by Allstar’s buy-one-get-one-free deals, or various ...

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24 FEB

Wage Increase For Tipped Workers in New York

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Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has announced today that the New York State sub-minimum wage rate for all tipped workers will be raised to $7.50 an hour at the end of 2015.  This is a substantial and well warranted increase from the current tipped wage rate of $5.00, and will bring the tipped wage rate much closer to the regular minimum wage rate, which will itself increase from $8.75 to $9.00 at the end of 2015.

The unprompted raise should provide a ...

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12 FEB

F&S Files Walgreens Consumer Class Action

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On February 11, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the owners of Walgreen Co. and Duane Reade Inc. (collectively, “Defendants”) on behalf of all consumers nationwide who have purchased the following “Finest Nutrition” brand supplements: Gingko Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Ginseng, and Echinacea.

The lawsuit alleges that Defendants, owners of the largest drug retailing chain in the United States, misbranded the aforementioned supplements ...

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10 FEB

Great Second Circuit Ruling re Class Actions

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A recent summary order issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case of Jacob v. Duane Reade, Inc. affirmed the District Court’s holding that the lawsuit, pertaining to a class of misclassified Assistant Store Managers, meets the requirements for class certification, at least in regards to questions of liability.  The Plaintiff class consists of Assistant Store Managers at New York Duane Reade locations who believe that they have been misclassified by their employer ...

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6 FEB

Herbal Supplement Investigation

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The New York State Attorney General’s Office has recently sent out Cease and Desist Notifications to GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart, alleging their herbal supplements fail to contain the advertised ingredients.

Fitapelli & Schaffer is interested in filing a class action against these large companies for their false and misleading labeling.  Below is a list of affected products:

GNC
Gingko Biloba, St. Johns Wort, Ginseng, Echinacea, and Saw Palmetto
Target
Gingko Biloba, St. John’s Wort, and Valerian Root
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6 FEB

Anthem Insurance Data Breach

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Anthem Inc., the country’s second-largest health insurer, operating under numerous brands such as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, has recently fell victim to a devastating and large scale “sophisticated external cyberattack.”  The real victims, however, are the 80 million Anthem customers who may have had crucial private information, such as names, Social Security numbers, street addresses, birthdays, addresses, email and employment information, and employment data, accessed and retrieved by ...

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5 FEB

Former State Assemblyman Vito Lopez Settles Sexual Harassment Case

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A sexual harassment claim filed on behalf of two female former Assembly employees, Victoria Burhans and Chloe Rivera, against their employer, former New York State Assemblyman Vito Lopez, has recently resulted in a tentative settlement agreement (pending approval by state officials) which will see both the state and Lopez himself paying out significant damages.  Specifically, the settlement awards Plaintiffs a total of $580,000 in damages, with $545,000 of that being paid by the state and $45,000 being paid by Lopez.  ...

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4 FEB

Plaintiffs Win Nationwide Conditional Certification in TGI Fridays Case

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On January 20, 2015, in the case of Flood v. Carlson Restaurants Inc., Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Plaintiffs’ motion for a nationwide conditional collective action certification, court-authorized notice, and expedited discovery.  Plaintiffs originally commenced this action on April 17, 2014, on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated current and former tipped workers – including servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, barbacks, and hosts – employed at T.G.I. Friday’s ...

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14 JAN

Avis Loses Motion to Decertify FLSA Collective

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Recently, a Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court Eastern District of New York denied Defendants’ motion for class decertification in the case of Ravenell v. Avis Budget Car Rental, LLC. Plaintiffs, shift managers employed by “Avis Rent a Car”, filed a collective action lawsuit to challenge their classification as exempt under the FLSA administrative and executive exemption, and to recover overtime compensation. While the class was previously conditionally certified as a collective action, Defendants sought to seek decertification ...

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6 JAN

NY Labor Law Changes in 2015

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As of December 29, 2014, a new bill has been signed into law amending various aspects of the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). This includes various changes to the Wage Theft Prevention Act (“WTPA”), and how the NYLL interacts with limited liability companies, contractors, and successor employers. One of the major components of the new bill is the repeal of the WTPA’s annual wage notice requirement. Outside of the hospitality industry, which must still issue new pay notices to their ...

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