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On December 17th, 2016 GSA and Beranbaum Menken LLP filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of New York and its Department of Correction for illegally strip and/or body cavity searching visitors to City jails.  Randomly strip searching visitors to City jails is illegal and a violation of the DOC’s directives.  The lawsuit alleges that the City is systematically performing strip searches without individualized reasonable suspicion that the visitor is concealing contraband.
On October 30, 2019, Plaintiffs’ Preliminary Approval of the Class Action Settlement was approved by the Court. If you visited (or attempted to visit) an inmate who was housed at a New York City Department of Corrections facility between November 23rd, 2012 and October 30th, 2019, and were subject to an invasive search by a DOC employee please contact our firm. A Class Notice will be sent out on December 5th, 2019 to people who we suspect could have been victim to an invasive search. The last day to submit a claim for this case is April 27th, 2020. Please return to this website in the next couple of weeks to access the settlement’s notice and the claims website.
The case is Grottano et al. v. City of New York, et al., 15 Civ. 9224, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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We are currently investigating claims of individuals who have unknowingly been charged for a membership fee by the intimate clothing brand Savage x Fenty. The company often charges customers for a “VIP Membership” without their knowledge. When shopping, the membership is automatically added into customers’ carts in order to activate discounts. If a customer does not remove the offer from their cart, they will not be charged immediately, but instead they will be charged a monthly fee of $49.95 until they call to cancel the membership.

If you have unknowingly participated in Savage x Fenty’s membership service, please fill out the form to the right.

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The action Perez v. Express Scripts, et al, Case No.: 2:19-cv-7752, has been brought in the District of New Jersey on behalf of employees of Express Scripts who were misclassified as “managers” and denied overtime pay.  If you have held the position of manager at Express Scripts, have worked more than 40 hours per week and were not paid overtime wages, and would like more information about this action, please fill out the form to the right.

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We currently represent, and are investigating additional claims on behalf of, individuals who as children were victims of sexual abuse and harassment.  The Child Victims Act, which went into effect on August 14, 2019, allows persons who suffered sexual assault as a minor to file a civil action against their abusers and the institutions that enabled the abuse until the age of 55.  (Previously, survivors of sexual assault only had until the age of 23 to file a civil lawsuit against.)  In addition, the Child Victims Act will be open for a one year, one-time-only period to allow all victims, regardless of age, to commence a civil action no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.  If you or a loved one was the victim of sexual assault as a minor and would like to consult with an attorney at our firm experienced in representing victims of sexual abuse and harassment, please fill out the form to the right.  All information submitted will be held in strict confidence.

For more on the Child Victims Act, see https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A02683&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y

 

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This class action is brought on behalf of the consumers who use the DoorDash app and who have paid tips on the DoorDash app, reasonably believing that the tip would be received as a wage enhancement for good service by the delivery worker.  Had consumers known that the tip amount on the DoorDash app was paid instead, in whole or in part, to DoorDash and subsidized its cost of doing business, no reasonable person would have agreed to pay a tip a multi-billion dollar tech company.

The filed complaint can be found here: Complaint filed July 29 2019

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New York, NY – On February 21st, Judge Victor Marrero approved Plaintiff’s motion requesting class certification in their case against NYU. The case represents previous students of NYU’s Tisch Asia program who were unsatisfied with the quality of their education. When they signed up to participate in the school’s graduate program, they were told that the Singapore program was up to par with the program in New York. They soon learned that Tisch Asia’s classrooms, instructors, and equipment fell well below the standards that NYU had promised. Furthermore, NYU concealed the financial fragility of the program from the students.

Judge Victor Marrero’s order (linked here) granted class certification for the Plaintiffs, setting the parameters of the class as “all student who attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Asia,” and appointing Giskan Solotaroff & Anderson LLP and Schwartz, Ponterio & Leveonson, PLLC as counsel.

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Class Action Suit Charges That Reverse Mortgage Lender and Servicer Cause

Homeowners to Accrue Thousands of Dollars of Debt

Central Islip, N.Y.  – Live Well Financial, Inc., and Compu-Link Corporation (“Celink”) put older Americans at risk of foreclosure through mortgage servicing practices that violate homeowners’ reverse mortgage contracts and other laws, according to a class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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GSA is representing families of teenagers who have become addicted to nicotine through use of JUUL vaping devices.

JUULing is the act of using a JUUL vaping device, an item that is rechargeable and has a similar appearance to that of a USB drive, which is filled with a JUUL pod, a nicotine solution. The widespread use of vaping among teens has been covered by a variety of news outlets such as the New York Times and Mashable. As the complaint discusses, JUUL has geared much of its advertising towards teens using bright colors and attractive models, which selling a product that is reported to have a higher dose of nicotine than tradition cigarettes. Furthermore, the product draws in young users by coming in flavors such as Mango and Creme Brulee.

Image result for juul ads

 Since its release, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a steady increase in the numbers of high school students JUULing.  GSA’s investigation has revealed that there are countless high school and even middle school students who cannot stop JUULIng and have become addicted to nicotine and put themselves at risk adverse changes to their brain chemistry. GSA believes JUUL is responsible for this phenomenon. On July 24, Massachusetts’ Attorney General, Maura Healey, announced that the state would begin an investigation on the company due to determine its practices of targeting minors and enticing them to use their device. In the press conference she stated, “they’re engaged in an effort to get kids addicted, to get kids hooked, so that they’ll have customers for the rest of their lives.”

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Today, GSA filed a Complaint against JUUL Labs and PAX Labs regarding the negligent sale and marketing of the JUUL e-cigarette on behalf of D.P. and his mother, L.P.. D.P. is a high school freshman who is skilled at carpentry, a talented jazz musician, and an active member of his school’s track team. When D.P. entered his specialized high school, he was introduced to JUULing, the use of JUUL e-cigarettes, by his peers. Within a few weeks, D.P. became addicted to nicotine and JUULing. Through their youth-geared marketing tactics and growing popularity, JUUL has caught the attention of students throughout the country without adequately detailing the dangers of the device and the fact that JUULing has stronger narcotic effects than smoking a cigarette due to JUUL’s concentrated nicotine formulation. At just 15-years-old, D.P. now suffers the adverse affects of a nicotine addiction due to the irresponsible behavior of JUUL.

 

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Great article in the New York Times this morning from Gretchen Morgenson regarding Wells Fargo forcing unwanted auto insurance on borrowers. Giskan Solotaroff & Anderson is currently investigating this issue. If you are one of the “more than 800,000 people who took out car loans from Wells Fargo [and] were charged for auto insurance they did not need,” please contact us immediately!