Master that

MasterCard is facing a lawsuit for 14 billion pounds ($19 billion) from up to 46 million people throughout Britain for charging excessive fees between 1992 and 2008. The case was brought up by Walter Merricks, former chief financial services ombudsman and advised that MasterCard charged unlawfully high fees to stores when shoppers utilized their debit or credit cards, these fees were then passed on to the consumers. “MasterCard has behaved disgracefully in this. They have not had the reasonableness to accept that what this was doing was damaging UK consumers.”

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Treatment in question

An $8 million settlement will be divided in September or October of this year for the 43 patients-turned-victims who are suing Michigan oncologist Farid Fata for fraud and money laundering charges.

July 20, 2016 Farid Fata faced a sizable amount of lawsuits in Oakland County Michigan, where attorneys for the 43 patients entered a settlement deal approved by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Hala Jarbou.

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Pharm company feud

Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals will pay $67 million as part of a federal court settlement over misleading claims about the drug Tarceva which was approved to treat non-small-cell lung cancer and advanced stage pancreatic cancer.

Between January 2006 and December 2011, both companies led doctors to believe that Tarceva would work in a broad patient population when it was intended to be used on a narrower patient population that included patients who had never smoked and people who carried a particular mutation in a protein that is involved in the spread and growth of cancer cells.

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Which card to use?

Hip Hop star, Russell Simmons founded RushCard in 2003 to offer an alternative to high-fee prepaid cards to consumers. Last fall there were thousands of customers who were unable to use their money on the cards due to technical issues when RushCard converted its systems to a different processor. The problems caused an uproar on social media since they were not able to get any answers from the company. This prompted lawmakers and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to jump in.

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Driving towards a settlement

Uber, the tap a button, get a ride app that has changed the transportation industry across borders, cultures and languages alike, will pay up to $100 million to the 385,000 drivers in California and Massachusetts over whether they are considered independent contractors or employees. Uber has agreed to pay the plaintiffs $84 million, with a second payment of $16 million if it fact goes public. Judge Edward Chen, is presiding over the case in the Northern California Superior Court, he must still approve the settlement in order for it to take effect.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, is representing the drivers in the suits and stated “No court has decided here whether Uber drivers are employees or independent contractors and that debate will not end here.” The case “stands as a stern warning to companies who play fast and loose with classifying their workforce as independent contractors, who do not receive the benefits of the wage laws and other employee protections.”

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