Articles by Jonathan Stempel

US Sues Airbnb After Host Rejected Rental to Mother With Children

The U.S. government sued Airbnb on Friday, alleging housing discrimination after a host refused to rent an apartment to a mother with three school-age children. In a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court, the Department of Justice said the …

Berkshire Shareholder Seeks Committee to Oversee AI at Buffett’s Company

A Berkshire Hathaway shareholder wants a committee of independent directors to oversee risks associated with artificial intelligence at the dozens of companies in Warren Buffett’s conglomerate. Tulipshare, an activist investor group based in London, said on Tuesday it submitted a …

Asian American Venture Capitalist Accuses PayPal of Racial Bias in Minority Program

PayPal has been sued by an Asian American businesswoman who accused the digital payments company of racial bias for restricting part of a $535 million investment program to Black and Hispanic applicants, costing her millions of dollars. Thursday’s complaint by …

Bernard Madoff’s Victims Collect $4.3B as US Government Fund Completes Payouts

A U.S. government fund to compensate people swindled by Bernard Madoff announced its tenth and final distribution on Monday, saying it will have paid out $4.3 billion to 40,930 of the late Ponzi schemer’s victims. Richard Breeden, the former U.S. …

Judge Allows Lawsuit Claiming Poland Spring Water Is Not From a Spring

A federal judge in Connecticut refused to dismiss a long-running lawsuit accusing the former Nestle Waters North America of defrauding consumers by labeling its Poland Spring bottled water as “spring water.” While rejecting some claims in the proposed class action, …

LL Bean Agrees to Injunction to End Skechers Shoe Patents Lawsuit

LL Bean, the clothing and outdoor gear company, agreed to stop selling a line of casual shoes to settle a lawsuit in which Skechers USA accused it of copying a design for its own shoes, which have sold in the …

Mattel Sued Over ‘Wicked’ Dolls With Porn Website Link

Mattel was sued on Tuesday by a South Carolina mother for mistakenly putting a link to a pornographic website on packaging for dolls tied to the blockbuster movie “Wicked.” In a proposed class action filed in federal court in Los …

Nissan Persuades Appeals Court to Decertify Brake Defect Class Actions

Nissan persuaded a federal appeals court on Friday to decertify 10 class actions accusing the Japanese automaker of selling cars and SUVs with defective automatic emergency braking systems that caused vehicles to stop suddenly for no reason. The 6th U.S. …

US Charges Five in ‘Scattered Spider’ Hacking Scheme

U.S. prosecutors unveiled criminal charges on Wednesday against five alleged members of Scattered Spider, a loose-knit community of hackers suspected of breaking into dozens of U.S. companies to steal confidential information and cryptocurrency. Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney in Los …

Judge Reduces UPS Driver’s $237.6M Bias Verdict to $39.6M

A federal judge reduced a $237.6 million jury award against United Parcel Service to $39.6 million in the case of a Black former driver who accused the package delivery company of workplace bias and wrongful firing. In a decision made …