Articles by Jonathan Stempel

Amazon Steers Consumers to Higher-Priced Items, Lawsuit Claims

Amazon.com was sued in a proposed U.S. class action accusing the online retailer of violating a consumer protection law by steering hundreds of millions of shoppers to higher-priced items in order to earn extra fees. According to a complaint filed …

Appeals Court Overturns $366M FedEx Race Bias Verdict

A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a $366.2 million verdict against FedEx in a case brought by a Black sales manager who said the package delivery company fired her in retaliation for accusing her supervisor of race discrimination. …

Boeing Is Sued by Shareholders Following MAX 9 Blowout

Boeing has been sued by shareholders who said the company prioritized profit over safety and misled them about its commitment to making safe aircraft, prior to the Jan. 5 mid-air cabin panel blowout on an Alaskan Airlines 737 MAX 9. …

J&J Agrees to Resolve Talc Investigations in 42 States

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said it had reached a tentative settlement to resolve probes by U.S. states into whether it misled consumers about the safety of its talc products, which thousands of lawsuits claim can cause cancer. The deal …

Sam Bankman-Fried Will Not Face a Second Trial

U.S. prosecutors said they do not plan to conduct a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange. In a letter filed on Friday night in federal court …

Google Settles $5 Billion Consumer Privacy Lawsuit

Alphabet’s Google has agreed to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked the internet use of millions of people who thought they were doing their browsing privately. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, put a scheduled Feb. …

Alibaba Must Face Lawsuit Over Counterfeit Squishmallows

A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Alibaba’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit over the alleged sale by various merchants of counterfeit versions of the popular children’s toy Squishmallows on its online platforms. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan said …

Texas Attorney General Sues Pfizer Over COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy

Pfizer has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who on Thursday accused the drugmaker of misrepresenting the efficacy of its widely-used COVID-19 vaccine. In a complaint filed in a Lubbock County state court, Paxton said it was misleading …

Jewish Groups Sue UC Berkeley Over ‘Unchecked’ Antisemitism

The University of California, Berkeley was sued on Tuesday by Jewish groups who said it has become a hotbed of “unchecked” antisemitism, including at its elite law school. According to a complaint by the nonprofit Louis D. Brandeis Center, UC …

Citigroup Managing Director Sues Over Sexual Harassment

Citigroup was sued on Monday by a managing director who said a former top equities banker subjected her to sexual harassment and abuse including death threats. Ardith Lindsey said the New York-based bank, her employer since 2007, downplayed her complaints …