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Federal Judge Approves $2.8B Settlement For College Athletes To Be Paid Millions

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Last week, a federal judge signed off on what is being referred to as one of the biggest changes in the history of college sports. US Judge Claudia Wilken approved the final proposal that has cleared a path for schools to start paying their athletes millions of dollars.

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Up To 300,000 Australian Facebook Users To Receive Potential Payouts From Cambridge Analytica Settlement

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Hundreds of thousands of Australian Facebook users who had their data harvested as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal could be compensated after Meta agreed to a $50 million settlement with Australia’s privacy regulator, according to reports. 

The settlement announcement was made by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) last week. It’s been a four-year legal battle against Meta, as well as two years since a $725 million legal settlement was made in the US. 

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“[The new settlement represented] the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia,” said Elizabeth Tydd, The Australian information commissioner.

“It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter; gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program; and brings to an end a lengthy court process,” Tydd said.

Back in 2018, the Observer published an article that exposed Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis company, for harvesting millions of Facebook profiles to assist the campaign of Donald Trump and the pro-Brexit campaign in the UK. 

The company collected the data through a personality quiz. They collected information from the users who took the quiz as well as the information about their friends on Facebook. In 2020, the OAIC launched legal action in Australia alleging a breach of privacy of Australian users.  

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Court documents stated that there’s an estimated 53 people in Australia that installed the quiz app through Facebook. The app was called ‘This is Your Digital Life.’ Since the app also collected data from users’ friends, an estimated 311,127 individuals were affected. 

Meta agreed to set up a payment scheme run by a third-party administrator from early next year. Individuals who will be eligible for compensation need to have had a Facebook account between November 2013 and December 2015. They also would’ve had to be present in Australia for more than 30 days throughout that time period and either had the quiz app or were friends with someone who did.

“We settled as it is in the best interest of our community and shareholders that we close this chapter on allegations that relate to past practices no longer relevant to how Meta’s products or systems work today,” the spokesperson for Meta said. 

“We look forward to continuing to build services Australians love and trust with privacy at the forefront.”

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Maui Wildfire Case Against Hawaiian Electric And Others Reach $4 Billion Settlement For Plaintiffs

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On Friday, the governor of Hawaii announced a $4 billion settlement for the plaintiffs involved in multiple lawsuits regarding the Maui wildfires that took place last year. 

“The seven defendants will pay $4.037 billion to provide compensation to all those who have brought claims for compensation arising from the Aug. 8, 2023 windstorms and wildfires on Maui, including the approximately 2,200 affected parties who filed lawsuits,” according to a news release from Hawaii Governor Josh Green’s office.

The defendants in the suit include the state of Hawaii, County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Company, Hawaiian Telcom, and Spectrum/Charter Communications,” according to the release reported on by CNN. 

Green stated in the release: “[The settlement] will help our people heal. My priority as Governor was to expedite the agreement and to avoid protracted and painful lawsuits so as many resources as possible would go to those affected by the wildfires as quickly as possible.”

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“Our objective is to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again,” Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, said in a statement.

Jesse Creed, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told CNN the “settlement came about through extensive negotiations in person and on Zoom. Among the factors weighed were not just the defendants’ liability but also their ability to pay.”

“In this case the challenge has always been that the devastation to the people of Maui is enormous,” he said. 

“And the fight continued against the insurance companies. As a lawyer for the plaintiffs, we don’t think the insurance companies should take a penny as long as the victims are not fully compensated,” he stated. 

Jacob Lowenthal, another plaintiff attorney, in a statement to CNN said:

“We recognize that this settlement is far from making the community of Maui whole. But this will provide critical compensation to Maui sooner than much later without extensive litigation that brings with it no promise or guarantee that more would even be possible. This money is the first step of many to allow our home to heal.”

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JPMorgan Reaches $290 Million Settlement For Jeffrey Epstein Victims 

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JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $290 million in settlement money for a class-action lawsuit from Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse victims. The victims had accused the company of enabling sex trafficking from Epstein when he was a client, according to one of the victims’ attorneys David Boies. 

In a joint statement from JPMorgan and the attorneys for the victims, they stated that they “have informed the court that they have reached an agreement in principle to settle the putative class action lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.” 

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Boies told CNN that “the agreement is subject to court approval. Under terms of the settlement, JPMorgan Chase will not admit liability in the case, but upon the settlement’s approval the bank will put out a statement regretting its association with Epstein.”

“The settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse,” according to the joint statement.

“It’s hard to say how many victims will ultimately benefit from the settlement funds, but more than 100 women are expected to seek compensation. Many women who filed a claim with Epstein’s estate through the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program are likely to be included in the two pending bank settlements,” Boies said.

“Money, which for far too long flowed with impunity between Jeffrey Epstein’s global sex trafficking enterprise and Wall Street’s leading banks, is decisively being used for good. The settlements signal that financial institutions have an important role to play in spotting and shutting down sex trafficking,” said Sigrid McCawley, managing partner at the firm Boies Schiller Flexner. 

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“It has taken a long time, too long, but today is a great day for Jeffrey Epstein survivors, and a great day for justice.”

Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, who is hearing the case, approved a class of eligible victims defined as “all women who were sexually abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein during the time when JP Morgan maintained [accounts] for Epstein and/or Epstein-related entities. That period runs from January 1, 1998, through August 19, 2013, as well as the subsequent period until his death on August 10, 2019.”

There is also ongoing litigation still pending between JPMorgan and the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein’s home was located. Additionally, the bank is continuing to pursue its case against Jes Staley, a former JPMorgan executive who is cited in the lawsuit as someone who’s largely responsible for the bank’s relationship with Epstein for 15 years. 

“The information and support the US Virgin Islands and its legal team provided to the survivors was enormously valuable, and we recognize the importance of the government’s continued litigation against JPMorgan Chase to prevent future crimes,” Brad Edwards, the victims’ attorney, told CNN.

“The US Virgin Islands will continue to proceed with its enforcement action to ensure full accountability for JPMorgan’s violations of law and prevent the bank from assisting and profiting from human trafficking in the future. The attorney general’s office is committed to protecting women and girls who could otherwise become victims going forward,” a spokesperson for the US Virgin Islands’ attorney general said.

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Kim Potter, Former Minnesota Police Officer, Released From Prison After Serving 16 Months For Killing Daunte Wright 

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Former Minnesota police officer Kimberly Potter has been released from prison after serving 16 months of a two-year sentence for fatally shooting Daunte Wright. Potter shot Wright after mistaking her gun for a taser during a traffic stop in Brooklyn. 

Kimberly Potter, a former Minnesota police officer, has been released from prison after serving 16 months of a two-year sentence for the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, an unarmed Black man, during a traffic stop in which Potter mistook her gun for a taser. Potter was released from the Minnesota Correctional Facility at 4 a.m. this Monday, according to CNN, citing that the early morning release was due to safety concerns. The department was also worried about the potential for violent protests outside the facility. 

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Potter was convicted of two counts of manslaughter after the 2021 incident in which Wright, who was unarmed, was initially pulled over for having expired tags and hanging an air freshener in his car before he was fatally shot. 

The corrections department also stated that Potter will be on supervised release for the remainder of her sentence; the supervised release will expire in December. Katie Wright, Daunte’s mother, told CNN that she was “dreading” Potter’s release, and has been struggling to find peace and health after the death of her son. She stated the stress of the trial and conviction led to her suffering a stroke. 

“Some say I should forgive to be at peace but how can I? I am so angry. She is going to be able to watch her kids have kids and be able to touch them. I am always scared I am going to forget my son’s voice. It gave us some sense of peace knowing she would not be able to hold her sons. She has two. I can’t hold my son.”

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Potter is allegedly planning on leaving Minnesota to live in Wisconsin. Katie Wright said that the fact that Potter will not be able to serve as a police officer again has given her some sense of peace during this time of grief. 

“She will never be able to hurt anybody as a police officer again. That is the only sense of peace we get as a family,” Katie Wright said. 

The city of Brooklyn Center agreed to pay a $3.25 settlement to the Wright family in June 2022. The family has yet to see the payment due to unrelated legal disputes, however, they are likely to receive the payment within the next 90 days. 

The settlement also stated that Brooklyn Center Police officers must undergo implicit bias training, which hasn’t happened yet, but is allegedly “in the works.” 

The Brooklyn Center City Council also approved “The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Resolution. The city will create an unarmed department to handle all incidents where a city resident is primarily experiencing a medical, mental health, disability-related, or other behavioral or social need.”

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Boeing Set To Pay $2.5 Billion In Settlements Over 737 Max Fraud

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Boeing will pay more than $2.5 billion to settle criminal charges that the company repeatedly lied about the 737 Max’s engineering problems which eventually led to two catastrophic crashes that killed hundreds of individuals; both crashes had no survivors. 

The company admitted to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and beyond the settlements the company will face no further charges from the US Department of Justice. Acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division recently released a statement regarding the charges. 

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“Boeing’s employees chose a path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up the deception.” 

Boeing is the nation’s second-largest defense contractor, and is now set to pay the Department of Justice a criminal penalty of $246.6 million. “The families and legal beneficiaries of the 346 passenger victims who died in the Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia in October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Ethiopia five months later will be paid from a fund of $500 million,” according to Burns. 

If split evenly that would equate to around $1.4 million for each family. A majority of the settlement will be given to airline companies that had purchased the faulty 737 Max aircraft and were forced to ground all of the planes following the two crashes. According to the Department of Justice all of the airlines impacted will receive $1.77 billion in compensations for their financial losses. 

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“The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers.” 

Both crashes were caused by changes in the airplane’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System which forced the nose of 737 Max to tilt towards the ground, leaving the pilots completely powerless in preventing a fatal crash landing. 

Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer, David Calhoun, recently sent out a note to his employees throughout the nation, explaining that he “firmly believes that entering into this resolution is the right thing to do for Boeing, and is a step that appropriately acknowledges how the company fell short of its values and expectations.” 

“This resolution is a serious reminder to all of us of how critical our obligation of transparency to regulators is, and the consequences that our company can face if any one of us falls short of those expectations,” Calhoun continued. Internal Boeing documents revealed that engineers of the 737 Max aircraft notified the company of the Augmentation System’s “egregious problems” as early as 2016, so many are upset with the settlement announcement, claiming the company should be much more severely punished for such a careless mistake that claimed so many innocent lives.