Current News | Caddell & Chapman, P.C.

JANUARY 2010

Michael Caddell, Leonard Bennett, and Christopher Colt North have directed $5 million in cy pres funds to non-profit organizations, including the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), which received an award of $343,000. The Fair Credit Reporting Act case against LexisNexis settled for close to $21 million, which is one of the largest involving FCRA violations. The class of 270,000 members claimed LexisNexis, over a course of three years, subjected them to illegal background checks and then created too many hurdles for workers who asked for reviews.
Michael A. Caddell and Cynthia B. Chapman, as well as Leonard A. Bennett of Newport News, VA were responsible for the Public Justice Foundation receiving a cy pres distribution of $880,000 in Williams v. Lexis Nexis. The class of 270,000 members claimed LexisNexis, over a course of three years, subjected them to illegal background checks and then created too many hurdles for workers who asked for reviews.
Caddell & Chapman recently achieved confirmation of a bankruptcy plan in which its clients were the largest secured creditors, the culmination of litigation that began in federal court in McAllen, Texas. Caddell & Chapman obtained $9 million in consent judgments after the commencement of trial in federal district court in McAllen in a suit alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. The next step was to get a bankruptcy plan confirmed in the Mississippi bankruptcy court to collect the $9 million secured claim. Caddell & Chapman filed its own bankruptcy plan on behalf of its clients , and in early February, the bankruptcy court confirmed the bankruptcy plan proposed by Caddell & Chapman and revised through negotiations with the debtor and other significant creditors, providing for payment of the $9 million in full , plus interest at 8.75% , post November 1, 2009.

NOVEMBER 2009

Caddell & Chapman represents a putative class of State Farm insureds suing over State Farm's failure to reimburse them for certain costs associated with repairing leaking polybutylene pipe in their homes. Caddell & Chapman prevailed against State Farms' attempt to have the case dismissed at the pleading stage in September 2008, and on November 10, 2009, obtained a Report and Recommendation from the Magistrate Judge recommending the District Judge deny State Farm's attempt to have the case dismissed on summary judgment.

OCTOBER 2009

Since July 2008, Caddell & Chapman has resolved 133 commercial and homeowner claims with 18 insurance companies arising from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi; only five claims remain pending.

SEPTEMBER 2009

In September 2009, the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma was successful in defeating the mining defendants and BNSF's motions for summary judgment. Defendants filed motions for summary asserting that the Tribe lacked standing to pursue any claim on behalf of its members. The Tribe asserted that it has parens patriae standing to assert claims to protect its quasi-sovereign interest in the health and well-being of Tribal members without interfering with the rights of its members to pursue their own claims. The Federal District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma denied defendants' motions for summary judgment on all but one issue. See Quapaw Tribe v. Blue Tee Corp., No. 03-0846, 2009 WL 2901191, at *1 (N.D. Okla. Sept. 2, 2009). The Court held that the Tribe could proceed with its claims for NRD to the extent the Tribe asserts a quasi-sovereign interest in recovering damages to natural resources within the Tribe's authority. This case is set for trial on July 19, 2010.
The White and Hernandez cases (collectively "White cases") concern a nationwide class action filed against the three largest credit reporting agencies in the nation regarding inaccuracies in credit reporting for people who had Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges. On September 28, 2009, Notice was sent to 15.2 million consumers across the country in the White cases. The hearing regarding final approval of this monetary relief settlement is set for January 11, 2010.

AUGUST 2009

Caddell & Chapman recently resolved part of a major construction defect case involving an $85 million, 30-story condominium tower on South Padre Island in Texas. The tower, having suffered extreme differential settlement during its construction, will be imploded in December 2009. Representing the owner, Caddell & Chapman successfully addressed multi-party claims and obtained a confidential settlement on a significant portion of the case, following which there was a release of the bank liens on the property. Litigation continues against the engineering firms that performed the soil and structural engineering for the tower.
Caddell & Chapman served as Co-Settlement Class Counsel in multidistrict litigation against Trans Union in the Northern District of Illinois. The litigation focused on Trans Union's use of its vast database of financial information, which includes the confidential financial information of most adults in the United States, to create and sell "target marketing" lists to advertisers. Caddell & Chapman, representing what is believed to be the largest class ever certified in the United States, reached a settlement with Trans Union valued at more than $100 million (including $75 million in cash). The settlement obtained final approval on September 17, 2008. In August 2009, all appeals of the order approving the settlement were dismissed and the settlement became final. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, credit monitoring relief is now being distributed to class members and a cash payment to class members is scheduled to take place after September 2010.
On August 24, 2009, Judge Lee Rosenthal in the Southern District of Texas appointed Michael Caddell as Co-Lead Counsel for a class of banks, credit unions and other financial institutions in a multidistrict litigation case against Heartland Payment Systems. Heartland processes payment card transactions for about 250,000 merchants and handles an average of more than 100 million transactions per month and more than $80 billion in transactions a year. Heartland provides merchants with the ability to accept debit and credit cards as payments by connecting the merchants' card terminals with the card issuer to verify the transaction, and then moving the funds from the issuing bank to the merchant's bank account. In late January 2009, Heartland admitted that it had a massive security breach resulting in the compromise of up to 100 million credit card numbers resulting from a break into Heartland's systems, perhaps as early as May 2008. Software that was used to steal card data was implanted into Heartland's systems. As a result of this breach, confidential information regarding Plaintiffs' customers, and the credit card accounts Plaintiffs established for its customers was compromised.
The White and Hernandez cases (collectively "White cases") concern a nationwide class action filed against the three largest credit reporting agencies in the nation regarding inaccuracies in credit reporting for people who had Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges. On August 19, 2009, the Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge on interlocutory appeal to the court's preliminary approval of the settlement in the White cases.

JULY 2009

Caddell & Chapman represented Park Memorial Condominium Association in litigation against Lexington Insurance company for breach of contract in failing to indemnify Park Memorial for covered damages at the condominiums in accordance with the conditions of the policy. Park Memorial submitted an insurance claim to Lexington related to partial collapse at the Park Memorial Condominiums. The physical and structural damage was so severe that the City of Houston ordered the residents to vacate the property because the buildings created a hazard to human life or property. Lexington denied the claim and refused to make payment. Park Memorial's damages were estimated at $26.5 million. After intense pre-trial preparations, the case was settled for a confidential amount three days before trial.
On July 2, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas gave final approval of a class action settlement arising out of a lawsuit that Caddell & Chapman brought against Ford Motor Co. on behalf of thousands of ambulance owners across the United States. The case involved allegations of defective 6.0-liter diesel engines in Ford ambulance chassis. Caddell & Chapman attorneys Michael Caddell, Cynthia Chapman and Cory Fein, and their co-counsel, negotiated a settlement package which included cash and other benefits estimated at over $30 million.

MAY 2009

The White and Hernandez cases (collectively "White cases") concern a nationwide class action filed against the three largest credit reporting agencies in the nation regarding inaccuracies in credit reporting for people who had Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges. On May 7, 2009, the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, granted preliminary approval of the monetary relief settlement in the White cases, which included a $45 million common fund with no reversion to the Defendants.

MARCH 2009

Texas Monthly magazine "Super Lawyers" selected Michael Caddell as one of the top attorneys in business litigation.
Caddell & Chapman represents Lone Star National Bank, and is in discussions to represent additional financial institutions, in litigation against Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. The litigation involves the breach of Heartland's computer system, which resulted in the defrauding of credit card holders whose financial information was stolen. This security breach required financial institutions to incur significant costs, including reimbursing fraudulent charges and reissuing new credit cards. Efforts are underway to consolidate the litigation against Heartland into a multidistrict proceeding in Houston, the location of Caddell & Chapman's office.

FEBRUARY 2009

Co-lead counsel in litigation pending against Ford in the Eastern District of Texas federal court involving defective diesel engines used by Ford in ambulances. On February 20, 2009, the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division, preliminarily approved the settlement of a class action that Caddell & Chapman brought against Ford Motor Co. on behalf of thousands of ambulance owners across the United States. The case involved allegations of defective engines in Ford ambulance chassis with 6.0-liter diesel engines. Caddell & Chapman attorneys Michael Caddell, Cynthia Chapman, and Cory Fein, and their co-counsel, negotiated a settlement package which included cash and other benefits estimated at over $30 million.
The White and Hernandez cases (collectively "White cases") concern a nationwide class action filed against the three largest credit reporting agencies in the nation regarding inaccuracies in credit reporting for people who had Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges. On January 26, 2009, the parties appeared for a hearing on Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification of a 23(b)(3) damages class. Before the scheduled hearing, the Court issued a tentative ruling denying Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification. Despite this tentative order, in February 2009, Plaintiffs negotiated a preliminary settlement regarding monetary relief which included a $45 million common fund with no reversion to the Defendants.
In February 2009, the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma was successful in defeating a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by Defendant Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway ("BNSF"). The Federal District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma denied BNSF's motion and held that the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma can pursue natural resource damages ("NRD") claims under State common law at a listed CERCLA site, even when the EPA has yet to select a remedy for the cite. See Quapaw Tribe v. Blue Tee Corp., No. 03-0846, 2009 WL 455260, at *1 (N.D. Okla. Feb. 23, 2009). In particular, the Court rejected BNSF's argument that the Tribe's state law NRD claims were preempted by CERLCA, and the Court allowed the Tribe's state law claims to move forward.