Going to Court
By Michael Hiltzik, LOS ANGELES TIMES
January 23, 2020
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-01-23/chevron-and-exxon-con…
Litigation is nobody’s idea of fun (except, perhaps, lawyers), and that’s certainly true for anyone dragged into a lawsuit without being either a plaintiff or defendant.
Los Angeles, CA -- Farmers Insurance systematically overcharged its most loyal, longtime California customers from 2008 to 2018, according to evidence uncovered as part of an investigation ordered by the California Insurance Commissioner. Now, with a public hearing scheduled for June and facing millions of dollars in civil damages and penalties, Farmers and its affiliate, Mid-Century Insurance, are urging a Los Angeles Superior Court to stop the agency’s investigation.
Los Angeles, CA – Transamerica Life Insurance Company has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of policyholders across the United States alleging that Transamerica improperly increased the monthly charges that the company withdrew from the accounts of policyholders who own certain “universal life” insurance policies.
UPDATE: If you are a victim of a recent LA DWP blackout we want to hear your story. Please email us at: [email protected]
Los Angeles, CA -- A Los Angeles taxpayer filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the Department of Water and Power (“DWP”) alleging that the City and DWP converted nearly $242 million in ratepayer funds into an illegal tax, according to Consumer Watchdog.
Consumer Watchdog Calls on Insurance Commissioner to Assure Medical Privacy for HIV Patients at Hearing Regarding the Proposed Merger of Aetna Inc. into CVS Health Corporation
Los Angeles, CA -- This morning, health insurance Goliath Aetna sued the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog and Whatley Kallas LLP, a consumer law firm, who’ve sued Aetna for its improper and negligent disclosure of the HIV positive status of thousands of its members. The disclosure was made as a result of Aetna’s use of a window pane envelope that was sent to communicate a member-wide business practice change Aetna agreed to make in order to resolve an earlier lawsuit brought by the consumer advocates.
Los Angeles, CA -- Consumers who were enrolled in an individual or family Health Net Preferred Provider Organization (“PPO”) health plan in 2014, and received out-of-network care from a doctor, may be entitled to a payment under a proposed class action settlement. Claim forms must be submitted to the Claims Administrator by June 25, 2018.
CVS, one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical benefit managers, disclosed the HIV status of 6,000 patients enrolled in the Ohio HIV Drug Assistance Program (“OhDAP”), which provides assistance to low-income patients, according to a new class action lawsuit.
Download the complaint here.
Santa Monica, CA -- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a settlement negotiated by Hyundai and Kia with dozens of plaintiffs law firms over claims that Hyundai and Kia vehicles did not get the miles per gallon promised by the companies. The problems with the vehicles were first revealed by Consumer Watchdog in 2012 and later confirmed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Vehicles owned or leased by an estimated 900,000 consumers nationwide were affected.
SANTA MONICA, CA -- Under a recent settlement of two lawsuits, members of health plans issued by Aetna, Inc. and its subsidiary, Coventry Health Care, Inc., are no longer required to obtain their HIV/AIDS medications by mail-order and may obtain those medications at retail pharmacies. The class action lawsuits alleged that Aetna and Coventry’s requirement that members obtain HIV and AIDS medications by mail threatened their health and privacy.
