HSBC’s efforts to resolve claims by investors in an Irish fund that lost millions in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme failed again last week, when a federal judge rejected a proposed settlement worth as much $62.5 million on the grounds that he’d already dismissed the investors’ claims on jurisdictional grounds.
On Tuesday, a day after HSBC announced it had entered into a partial settlement with investors in Thema International Fund, a Manhattan federal district court judge dismissed all the claims against the bank and other defendants, largely on the grounds that the cases should be filed in Ireland and Luxembourg.
The wireless industry is trying to block San Francisco’s novel cellphone “right to know” law on the grounds that requiring cellphone retailers to post information on potential health hazards forces speech. The suit is part of a wave of litigation playing out in federal courts around the country in which corporations are using the compelled-speech doctrine to fight back as cities turn to health and safety disclosure laws, rather than piecemeal enforcement actions.
In a significant victory for parents of children with autism, a federal judge has certified a class action suit against Cigna for refusing to cover two types of behavioral treatments on the grounds that they are “investigative or experimental.”
A federal judge has blocked a New York City law requiring pregnancy services centers to disclose whether or not they make referrals for or perform abortions or provide birth control on the grounds that the law infringes on free speech rights.