Business Bytes

There are a few famous class action lawsuits that have been immortalised in history and film. The following summarises a couple of them.

A class action lawsuit refers to a situation where a group of people bring a claim to court, or a class of defendants is being sued. It is usually a situation when consumer organizations bring claims on behalf of consumers against large corporations.

There are three requirements for a case to become a class action lawsuit, the claim must be legal, the group of plaintiffs must all have the same complaint, and there must be so many of them that individual claims would be too time-consuming and expensive. In a class action lawsuit, the main plaintiff represents the others, and all monetary awards are distributed amongst all of the plaintiffs.
 
There have been many famous class action lawsuits in history, some of which have received national media attention and have even been made into films. Here are a few of the most noteworthy:

Erin Brockovich and Pacific Gas and Electric

Brockovich claimed that the Pacific Gas and Electric Company was responsible for contaminating the water supply of the city of Hinkley, California with dangerous chemicals such as hexavalent chromium. The chemicals caused various forms of cancer and infertility amongst residents of the town. The suit was successful, and it was the largest ever settlement paid in this type of lawsuit in U.S. history. The company paid out $295 million to 1,100 people. The high-profile lawsuit was made into a film starring Julia Roberts as the determined Erin Brockovich.

Lois Jenson and Eveleth Mines

The 2005 film “North Country” starring Charlize Theron was based on a real lawsuit against a mining company. In 1974, the American government had forced steel companies to hand over 20% of the jobs in the industry to women and minorities. This caused widespread resentment, abuse, sexual harassment, and more towards the women working in the mines. Her lawsuit was successful.

Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement

In 1998, each of the states in the USA was represented by that state’s Attorney General in a lawsuit against the top six tobacco companies in the country, including big names such as Phillip Morris Incorporated and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The settlement resulted in an agreement by the tobacco companies not to directly advertise to people under the age of 18, not to use cartoons in any tobacco advertisements, and not to sponsor any events where participants were under the age of 18. The tobacco companies also had to pay $206 billion over 25 years for the recovery of smoking related healthcare costs covered by the states under their Medicare programs. Some of the money also went to reducing smoking by minors. 

All of these famous class action lawsuits show that determined citizens can successfully claim compensation and achieve justice against the wrongs done by large corporations.

Continued discounting on the High Street failed to  stop month on month retail sales dropping by 0.4% in November reports the BBC:

Excluding spending on fuel, retail sales fell 0.7% on the month, according the Office for National Statistics.

The data revealed that consumers had cut back spending on computers, mobile phones, watches and jewellery, but that clothes sales had recovered.

The British Retail Consortium said the figures were "miserable".

The fall in November follows a surprise rise in sales in October, which analysts said was due to the start of deep discounting by retailers.

The ONS on Thursday also revised up its figures for the three months to the end of November. This meant sales rose 0.7% over the quarter, the strongest three-month gain since August 2010.

Retailers are under pressure as consumers rein in spending and businesses are looking to the Christmas sales period for a boost.

Stephen Robertson, director-general of the British Retail Consortium, said the data showed that November was "a very trying month".

"Non-food is having a thoroughly miserable and difficult time," he told the BBC.

Online competition is threatening Hight Street retailers, according to a government-commissioned report by Mary Portas, who also described some own centres as 'dead'.

House prices in England & Wales defied the current economic gloom by remaining stable in November according to the latest England & Wales Price Index from LSL Property Services/Acadametrics reports Myintroducer:

David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services comments:

“Static house prices don’t mean property values are standing still. For buyers looking to get onto the market, 0% price growth means that in real terms property is becoming more affordable. With inflation running at 5%, the real cost of property is getting smaller and smaller, which is good news for buyers and mortgage borrowers alike.
 
“The resilience of property prices indicates that mortgage lenders and property buyers have not so far been spooked by the gloomy news emerging from the Eurozone. Although prices have declined by 0.7% since November 2010, the rate of annual price decreases slowed everywhere except the North West and the East Midlands, with London - buoyed by foreign investors seeking a safe haven in the capital’s bricks and mortar - showing an acceleration in price rises to 3.1% last month.

"Low mortgage rates, along with the stamp duty holiday on properties below £250,000 and the modest boost provided by the government’s FirstBuy scheme, have all contributed to prevent larger falls in 2011.
 
“According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, mortgage lending increased 9.8% in the year to October and has risen for the last three consecutive months for the first time since the summer of 2007, which has contributed to the 4.5% rise in transactions seen last month. However, we’re yet to see any significant decrease in the size of the deposits lenders require. Among buyers who have substantial deposits, demand remains strong and the rise in mortgage volumes suggests many people in this position are taking the opportunity to secure good properties while mortgage finance and property prices make purchasing a more and more affordable option.”

This is good news for first time buyers as the real price of property is falling, and house owners are also benefiting from low mortgage rates. Whilst the ongoing economic forecast is glum, the housing market has performed better than expected.

Low interet rates are not good news for savers however as the real value of savings accounts are decreasing as inflation continues to erode their worth, leading people to consider other investment options.