Category Archives: Class Action

School Sued After 25 Years of Sex Abuse Accusations

A bit over 25 years ago, children at the elite Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn were allegedly sexually abused by the football coach, Philip Foglietta. Back in August, 10 alumni and 2 summer camp students sued the school. While the group could not file under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, Judge Frederic Block allowed two individuals to move forward with the RICO claim, as they had donated money to the school. 11 of the plaintiffs were also allowed to pursue the case for negligence and Title IX sexual abuse claims.

Though Foglietta died in 1998, the case claims that the abuse lasted over a 20 year period, from 1966 to 1986. While accusations were made, threats were made to conceal, refutations made by the former headmaster William Williams, and none of the accusations before 1991 (the year Foglietta retired) were ever found.

While Poly Prep did ask for dismissal of the case, it continues on past three-year statute of limitations. The school believes that the case “will ultimately be dismissed following a hearing,” but has also pursued settlements with the plaintiffs.

Sewer Service Lawsuit Turned Class Action

Earlier in September, Judge Denny Chin agreed to a class action case of thousands of plaintiffs who had been sued for unpaid debts and had default judgments entered against them. The issue began when debt purchaser Leucadia National Corp. and NY law firm, Mel S. Harris and Associates, that specializes in debt collection, used tactics to keep the plaintiffs from finding out about legal action until default judgment was issued.

One of the tactics “sewer service” made sure that notices were either improperly delivered or never served at all. By Judge Chin’s standards, the two companies violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act NY state’s general business law, and the Racketeer influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. While Leucadia remained silent, , Harris Associates denied the claims and said it had not broken any laws and that plaintiffs had not proven the existence of an alleged conspiracy to defraud defendants.

Class Action Suit against DuPont

A class action lawsuit has been brought against DuPont Chemical Company with regard to their new weed killer.  It claims that the weed killer, Imprelis, is killing trees, shrubs and ornamental planets.  While it is extremely good at killing dandelions, ground ivy, weeds, etc. it is also good at killing trees, especially those with short root systems.

The suit seeks damages for all the property that was injured, an injunction barring DuPont from selling the product and punitive damages.  The prosecution argues that DuPont was either negligent in testing Imprelis or reckless in bringing it to market.  The prosecution attorneys are urging those who have dying trees in areas where Imprelis is used, to take photos and to not credit the dying trees to drought or bad weather.  They expect this class-action to unfold over the next couple of years.

Class Action Lawsuit against Ford

Recently, a New Jersey man, Galo Coba, filed a lawsuit seeking class action status against Ford Motor Company.  Coba and his company, Cob Landscaping and Construction Inc., filed suit in New Jersey.  He alleges that Ford knowingly sold F-series and E-series trucks with bad fuel tank linings.  The F-series pickup is the bestselling truck in the U.S.  This lawsuit wants to represent anyone who purchased any of the models of these trucks made between 1999 and 2008.

Allegedly, the defective vehicles’ fuel tank lining may degrade and flake off inside the fuel tank.  This would clog the fuel system which results in sudden losses of engine power.  This would then cause trucks to become hard to control and potentially stall, both of which significantly increase the risk of an automobile accident.

Not only does the lawsuit assert this malfunction but also that Ford knew about the problems and failed to alert consumers or issue a recall. This would be clear negligence on the part of Ford.  In 2007, Ford dealers were advised of the potential defect in a secret technical service bulletin.  However, Ford and its dealers never offered to make free repairs for the fuel tanks.  The lawsuit accuses Ford of breach of warranty, fraud and more.  The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages.  If the suit can be certified as a class action, it could include up to hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs.