In a letter to Secretary of State Clinton, eight U.S. textile and apparel trade associations warned that the continuing crisis in Honduras is causing permanent damage to what once was the most economically vibrant textile and apparel trade platform in the CAFTA region. The letter is a follow-up to a September 25th letter to the Secretary which noted job losses in the U.S. and Honduras and urged the U.S. government to support a quick resolution of the crisis. (Press release, dated 10/28/09, available at http://www.ncto.org/newsroom/pr20091028.pdf.)
Facebook’s Beacon settlement may not have an easy glide through the Northern District of California federal court, despite having received preliminary approval from Judge Richard Seeborg in the San Jose division (WID Oct 27 p5). His colleague Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in the San Francisco division rejected a settlement over a data breach at TD Ameritrade -- negotiated by the same class lawyers as in the Facebook case -- after having given it preliminary approval. Both settlements give the Kamber Edelson law firm a big payout -- $1.8 million in the TD Ameritrade case, $3.17 million in the Facebook case -- deny payments to affected customers, provide company money for future research, and give a broad release from claims. Walker said “the purported benefits to the class remain the problematic element of the settlement.” TD Ameritrade, whose account information was allegedly exposed to spammers, would provide a one-year free subscription or renewal to Internet security software to affected customers. The company would hire an independent expert to conduct penetration testing and have another company perform an analysis of whether the breach resulted in identity theft for any customers. Walker agreed with the Texas attorney general’s office, which objected to the terms, that “any reputable company” should have been taking those measures anyway. “It is not clear that such tests benefit the class,” he said: “Confidence” in TD Ameritrade’s information security “does not provide any real value to the class.” The free security software may be duplicative for some class members, and for those using e-mail services that automatically block spam, the new anti-spam software would be useless, Walker said. Kamber Edelson may also lose its exclusive right to represent the TD Ameritrade class. Walker agreed to consider a substitute class counsel, Gretchen Nelson of the Kreindler and Kreindler firm, who was recommended by one of the class members. Kamber Edelson lawyers, Nelson and TD Ameritrade will discuss the matter at a case management conference Dec. 10.
Oral argument on CE makers’ preliminary injunction motion to stop New York City’s e-waste program from taking effect will be Dec. 18 at 12:30 p.m., U.S. District Judge William Pawley, Manhattan, said in an Oct. 24 scheduling order released Monday. Manufacturers allege the program is unconstitutional, but the city and its co-defendant, the Natural Resources Defense Council, contended in their Oct. 9 opposition that it’s not. Manufacturers have until Nov. 20 to file a reply. Pawley originally scheduled oral argument for Oct. 23, but postponed it when the city asked for more time to file its opposition. The city’s Sanitation Department, which runs the program, still had the Oct. 23 date posted at its Web site Wednesday.
The International Trade Administration has issued the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review of corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea for the period of January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007.
The following decisions in antidumping and countervailing duty cases were decided in the period July through September 2009 at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. (See future issues of ITT for BP summaries of the Court of International Trade decisions for this third quarter.)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking as it considers whether the risks of injury and death associated with Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROVs) are unreasonable and necessitate a rulemaking.
On October 14th, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, swore in Richard Lidinsky, Jr. as the Federal Maritime Commission's 18th Chairman. President Obama had designated then-Commissioner Lidinsky as Chairman on September 11th. (News release, dated 10/23/09, available at http://www.fmc.gov/speeches/newsrelease.asp?SPEECH_ID=289)
Facebook’s $9.5 million class-action settlement over its Beacon advertising program (WID Sept 22 p6) received preliminary approval from U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Jose, Calif. The program posted information about users’ activities on affiliated sites including that of Blockbuster’s. Blockbuster is accused along with Facebook of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act in the case, Lane v. Facebook, and by itself in a lawsuit in Marshall, Texas (WID April 21/08 p5). Seeborg rejected a motion to intervene by plaintiffs in the Marshall case. The judge told the parties in Lane that his final approval in part will hinge on showing that the terms are reasonable “specifically in light of the claims” under the video-privacy law, “and the apparent availability of statutory penalties thereunder in some circumstances.” Seeborg certified the class as including anyone whose behavior on a Facebook-connected site triggered Beacon from Nov. 6, 2007, until Friday. He scheduled a fairness hearing on the settlement for Feb. 26. Those who want to opt out of the class must do so by Feb. 1. Class lawyers have until Feb. 10 to submit their request for one- third of the $9.5 million as compensation, and it will be considered separately from the rest of the settlement, Seeborg said. Responding to the request of the Marshall plaintiffs in Harris v. Blockbuster to intervene in the Lane case, Seeborg said they had known of the San Jose suit since September 2008 and of a proposed settlement since May 2009 but waited months to file to intervene. Though the Harris plaintiffs contend they didn’t know Facebook was “attempting to indemnify Blockbuster for its violation of the VPPA” until they saw the proposed settlement, Seeborg said in a footnote they lacked evidence showing an “illicit agreement” between Facebook and Blockbuster. “An entirely innocent explanation for the fact that the release extends to all defendants [including Blockbuster] is that it would do Facebook little good to settle this dispute with plaintiffs while remaining at risk of being brought back into the litigation when plaintiffs then pursued claims against the remaining defendants,” he said. The Marshall plaintiffs can raise objections in Lane before the Feb. 1 deadline. As to their request to transfer the case to Marshall -- where the Blockbuster suit was filed four months before Lane -- Seeborg said their “first-filed” rights were operative “when they learned of the very existence of this lawsuit,” not a year later. “It would have been wholly unfounded to assume that a settlement agreement [in San Jose] would somehow carve out the subject matter of Harris,” Seeborg said. But he hinted he won’t rubber stamp the settlement just because he preliminarily approved it, creating “a perception of ‘momentum,'” in the Marshall plaintiffs’ words. Seeborg said he will review “all timely-filed objections, and not be influenced by previously granted preliminary approval.”
The International Trade Administration has issued a notice that it is postponing the preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation of wire decking from China.
The International Trade Administration has made a preliminary affirmative antidumping determination that polyethylene retail carrier bags (PRCBs) from Taiwan are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.