Aug 8, 2017 | Securities Class Action Archive
Depomed – Potential Securities Fraud Claims on Behalf of Depomed Investors
Kehoe Law Firm P.C. securities attorneys are investigating potential securities class action claims on behalf of purchasers of Depomed, Inc. (“Depomed” or “Company”) (NASDAQ GS: DEPO) common stock or other securities and who may be suffered losses after the announcement of investigations by the United States Department of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland.
DOJ and Maryland Attorney General Issue Subpoenas
On August 7, 2017, after the close of trading, Depomed held an investor conference call during which Arthur Joseph Higgins, Depomed’s CEO and President, revealed that Depomed received a subpoena from the United States Department of Justice on July 28, 2017, “regarding our commercialization practices for our NUCYNTA products and Lazanda.”
During this investor call, August J. Moretti, the Company’s CFO and Senior Vice President, added:
“Recently, Depomed and other pharmaceutical companies received subpoenas relating to opioid sales and marketing practices from the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland and, as you heard from Arthur, the United States Department of Justice. We are currently cooperating with the state of Maryland and the DOJ in their respective investigations. In addition, Depomed and other pharmaceutical companies earlier received a request for information from Senator McCaskill, the ranking minority member of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, relating to the company’s promotion of opioid products.”
Depomed Stock Price Drops
On August 8, 2017, following these announcements, Depomed common stock traded as low as $6.15 per share, intraday, a drop of over 30% from the $9.23 per share closing price on August 7, 2017.
Have You Purchased or Acquired Depomed Shares?
If you purchased or acquired Depomed common stock or other securities and would like to speak privately with a securities attorney to learn more about the investigation and your potential legal rights, please fill out the form to the right or contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, false claims, deception or data breaches. Together, the partners of the Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. have spent more than 30 years prosecuting precedent-setting securities and financial fraud cases in federal and state courts on behalf of institutional and individual clients.
Aug 8, 2017 | Securities Class Action Archive
GlobalSCAPE, Inc. Potential Securities Fraud Claims for GlobalSCAPE, Inc. Investors
Kehoe Law Firm P.C. securities attorneys are investigating potential securities class action claims on behalf of purchasers of GlobalSCAPE, Inc. (“GlobalSCAPE” or “Company”) (NYSE:GSB) common stock or other Company securities and who may be affected by the anticipated financial restatement.
Audit Committee Finds “Improper Arrangements” with Customers
On August 7, 2017, after the close of trading, GlobalSCAPE announced that the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors has been conducting an investigation into “certain transactions in the fourth quarter of 2016” that involved “improper arrangements with customers that circumvented the Company’s internal controls. . . .”
GlobalSCAPE revealed that the investigation found improper arrangements with customers that circumvented internal controls resulting in overstating accounts receivable as of December 31, 2016, and license revenue for the three months and year ended December 31, 2016, by approximately $403,000 and $396,000, respectively.
GlobalSCAPE to Restate 2016 Year End Financial Results and 1Q 2017
GlobalSCAPE also announced that it intends to issue a restatement of its previously issued financial statements by filing an amended Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and an amended Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. Following this news, GlobalSCAPE common stock traded as low as $3.6301 on August 8, 2017, a drop of more than 20% from the $4.70 closing price on August 7, 2017. Kehoe Law Firm’s investigation concerns whether GlobalSCAPE and certain of its officers violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Have You Purchased or Acquired GlobalSCAPE Shares?
If you purchased or acquired GlobalSCAPE common stock or other securities and would like to speak privately with a securities attorney to learn more about the investigation and your potential legal rights, please fill out the form to the right or contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, false claims, deception or data breaches. Together, the partners of the Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. have spent more than 30 years prosecuting precedent-setting securities and financial fraud cases in federal and state courts on behalf of institutional and individual clients.
Aug 8, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Disney Mobile Apps & Software Companies – Alleged Unauthorized Collection of Personal Information of Children
Philly.com reported (“These Disney apps are spying on your kids, lawsuit claims”) about the class action lawsuit recently filed in California against The Walt Disney Company and software companies for allegedly embedding trackers in mobile apps which secretly collect the personal information of children under the age of 13 and share that data illegally with advertisers without parental consent.
Philly.com reported that
[t]he class-action suit targets Disney and three other software companies – Upsight, Unity and Kochava – alleging that the mobile apps they built together violate the law by gathering insights about app users across the Internet, including those under the age of 13, in ways that facilitate “commercial exploitation.”
. . .
The lawsuit alleges that Disney allowed the software companies to embed trackers in apps such as “Disney Princess Palace Pets” and “Where’s My Water? 2.” Once installed, tracking software can then “exfiltrate that information off the smart device for advertising and other commercial purposes,” according to the suit.
Disney should not be using those software development companies, said Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “These are heavy-duty technologies, industrial-strength data and analytic companies whose role is to track and monetize individuals,” Chester said. “These should not be in little children’s apps.”
Further, Philly.com’s story reported that
[t]his is not the first time Disney has faced litigation over alleged COPPA violations. In 2011, the FTC penalized a company subsidiary, Playdom, $3 million after Playdom was found to have registered about 1.2 million users, most of them children, for online games. The FTC’s lawsuit said Disney collected children’s email addresses and ages, and allowed them to volunteer information such as their full names, instant messenger handles and physical locations as part of their online profiles.
Disney’s Mobile Apps
Philly.com reported the list of affected mobile apps stated in the complaint includes:
AvengersNet; Beauty and the Beast; Perfect Match; Cars Lightning League; Club Penguin Island; Color by Disney; Disney Color and Play; Disney Crossy Road; Disney Dream Treats
Disney Emoji Blitz; Disney Gif; Disney Jigsaw Puzzle!; Disney LOL; Disney Princess: Story Theater; Disney Store Become; Disney Story Central; Disney’s Magic Timer by Oral-B; Disney Princess: Charmed Adventures; Dodo Pop; Disney Build It Frozen; DuckTales: Remastered
Frozen Free Fall; Frozen Free Fall: Icy Shot; Good Dinosaur Storybook Deluxe; Inside Out Thought Bubbles; Maleficent Free Fall; Miles from Tomorrowland: Missions; Moana Island Life; Olaf’s Adventures; Palace Pets in Whisker Haven
Sofia the First Color and Play; Sofia the First Secret Library; Star Wars: Puzzle DroidsTM; Star WarsTM: Commander; Temple Run: Oz; Temple Run: Brave; The Lion Guard; Toy Story: Story Theater; Where’s My Water?; Where’s My Mickey?; Where’s My Water? 2; Where’s My Water? Lite/Where’s My Water? Free; Zootopia Crime Files: Hidden Object
Do You Suspect Child Privacy Violations Associated With Disney Mobile Apps?
If your child uses any of the relevant Internet-based Disney mobile apps, and you suspect your child’s personal information may have been improperly or illegally acquired or used, please complete the form to the right or contact either John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 7, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Disney Mobile Games – Apps Software & Collection of Children’s Personal Information Without Required Parental Consent
A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., Disney Electronic Content, Inc., Upsight, Inc., Unity Technologies SF, and Kochava, Inc. for allegedly violating privacy protection laws by exporting children’s personal information from mobile games aimed at children to advertising networks without the parental consent required by federal and state law.
Gizmodo reported (“Lawsuit Claims Disney Spied on Kids Playing Mobile Games and Sold Info To Advertisers”) that
The Walt Disney Company is facing a lawsuit alleging it violated federal law aimed at protecting children’s online privacy. The company allegedly allowed ad tech companies to embed software in its apps, enabling the collection of children’s personal information.
The class-action suit claims that children playing Disney’s mobile games have been personally identified by Disney and that their data was scooped up for the purpose of future “commercial exploitation.” The complaint . . . was filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Ad tech companies Upsight, Unity, and Kochava were also accused in the complaint as being responsible for embedding software in Disney’s games—including “Disney Princess Palace Pets”—aimed at tracking, collecting, and exporting children’s personal information. That data, the lawsuit alleges, is being sold to third-party party companies for the purpose of tracking individual children’s behavior “across multiple apps and devices.”
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act – Allegedly Violated
Gizmodo also reported that
. . . Disney and its ad partners are accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a Federal Trade Commission regulation placing restrictions and requirements on websites and online services directed at children under 13 years of age.
The [class action] complaint notes that Disney has been accused of violating COPPA in the past, including in 2011 when subsidiary Playdom Inc. paid a penalty for allegedly collecting and disclosing the personal information of hundreds of thousands of children without parental consent.
The ad tech Disney is said to have embedded in its gaming apps—known as “software development kits” or SDK—is described as having secretly collected the personal information of children using Disney’s apps for tracking their online behavior to “facilitate behavioral advertising or marketing analysis.” These “robust online profiles” include details such as a child’s geographical location, browsing history, and app usage, the suit alleges.
QR Code Press reported (“Disney mobile game lawsuit filed over data collection from children”) that “[t]he [class action] lawsuit states that Disney violated the FTC’s regulations because the company allegedly used advertising technology that allegedly exposed kids’ private information to other parties. The company’s mobile game apps collect personally identifying information about the children who play the games.”
Additionally, QR Code Press reported that the class action lawsuit “. . . was focused on the mobile game app called Disney Princess Palace Pets.” However, according to QR Code Press, “. . . since the original focus, a number of other popular titles have also been included in the accusation. Among the titles also includes Disney Crossy Road, Club Penguin Island and Where’s the Water. The mobile games all allegedly use the same type of mobile ad tracking practices revealing kids’ data to third parties.”
Do You Suspect Child Privacy Violations Associated With Mobile Games & Apps?
If your child uses an Internet-based mobile game, such as Disney Princess Palace Pets, Disney Crossy Road, Club Penguin Island or Where’s the Water, and you suspect your child’s personal information may have been improperly or illegally acquired or used, please complete the form to the right or contact either John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 6, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Wells Fargo Customers Allegedly Forced To Pay For Unnecessary Auto Insurance
On July 31, 2017, Bloomberg reported that customers of Wells Fargo & Co.
. . . accused the bank in a lawsuit of forcing them to pay for unnecessary auto insurance that drove some of them so far into a financial spiral that their vehicles were repossessed.
The complaint comes after a year of handwringing and internal changes brought on by an earlier snafu at Wells Fargo. Bank workers opened up possibly 2.1 million checking and credit-card accounts without customers’ permission over about half a decade, and the bank paid $185 million to regulators to settle.
Now, the bank is accused of bilking millions of dollars from “unsuspecting customers who were forced to pay for auto insurance they did not need or want,’’ pushing almost 250,000 of them into delinquency and resulting in almost 25,000 vehicle repossessions, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Sunday in San Francisco federal court.
Further, Bloomberg reported that
[w]hen customers took out Wells Fargo loans to purchase vehicles, the bank and the insurance company either didn’t check whether clients already had coverage or ignored the information, according to the complaint. Collateral protection insurance policies were created for customers, and Wells Fargo then would add premium charges to customers’ auto loan bills, often without notifying them, according to the lawsuit.
Wells Fargo last week said it may have pushed thousands of car buyers into loan defaults and repossessions by charging them for the unwanted insurance. The bank said an internal review of its auto lending found more than 500,000 clients may have unwittingly paid for protection against vehicle loss or damage while making monthly loan payments, even though many drivers already had their own policies. The firm said it may pay as much as $80 million to affected clients — with extra money for as many as 20,000 who lost cars, “as an expression of our regret.”
Additionally, according to the Bloomberg story:
Wells Fargo last week said it would start sending letters and refund checks next month to customers with policies placed from 2012 to 2017 that it determines were harmed, and expects the process will be complete by the end of the year. The lender also promised to work with credit bureaus to amend customers’ credit records.
Did You Have A Wells Fargo Auto Loan and/or Auto Insurance Policy (2012-2017)?
If so, your rights under federal law may have been violated. If you would like to speak privately with an attorney to contribute to or learn more about the investigation, please complete the form to the right or contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
