Class Actions Consumer Rights

Consumer & Class Action Litigation

Our firm has decades of experience representing wronged consumers, retirees, employees, and borrowers in state and federal court under statutes and laws that govern consumer protection, predatory lending, ERISA, truth in lending, fair debt collection, and many other state and federal laws. Wallace and Graham has extensive experience in prosecuting complex class actions, including litigating mass torts and consumer class actions. Our firm is proud of the work we do to help and protect consumers and those who have been harmed and defrauded by individuals and corporations.

If you have a consumer or class cause of action that you would like our firm to investigate, please do not hesitate to give us a call at 800.849.5291 or email us.

RECENT & NOTABLE CASES

Camp Lejeune Litigation Since August 2022, our firm has been appointed by the Court on the Plaintiff Leadership Group to represent the interests of 408,000 veterans and civilians in the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination litigation. On a daily basis, our firm devotes significant resources to zealously advocating on behalf of these veterans and civilians. To read more about this litigation, visit our Camp Lejeune practice area tab.

HCA/Mission Health and Vidant Health Class Actions Our firm has filed two class actions against large hospitals, HCA/Mission Health and Vidant Health, alleging the chains are operating an unregulated monopoly in Western and Eastern North Carolina, resulting in inflated healthcare costs for citizens. Our Complaints provide a deep dive into hospital and insurance markets and the effects of consolidation on health care costs.

Colonial Pipeline Mass Action In 2021, our firm filed a mass action lawsuit on behalf of gas station and convenience store owners located across the east and southeast, alleging that Colonial Pipeline’s shutdown due to a ransomware attack on May 7, 2021, was entirely avoidable. Due to the six-day shutdown, owners of gas stations ran out of gasoline and suffered a loss of revenue.

Corvias Group Military Housing Litigation In 2020, our firm, along with co-counsel, filed a 94-page amended complaint against military housing giant, Corvias Group, on behalf of members of the United States Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Our complaint alleged that Corvias knowingly leased substandard homes and conspired to conceal harmful environmental and structural defects.

Inetianbor v. Western Sky Financial In 2018, our partner Mona Lisa Wallace and firm attorney John Hughes won the American Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for their outstanding work in this case. Western Sky had defrauded tens of thousands of borrowers in Florida by charging excessive interest rates and evading justice. Our firm helped client Abe Inetianbor have his day in court, winning payment of fines and restitution to Florida agencies and loan forgiveness valued at approximately in excess of $14,000,000 for class members and voiding thousands of loans.

In re: Outer Banks Power Outage Litigation Our law firm, Wallace & Graham, along with co-counsel, served as lead counsel for a class of more than 1,400 businesses and 4,100 residents affected by a nine-day power outage. The settlement agreement earmarked $8.1 million for businesses, with the rest reserved for residents, renters, and vacationers. Total settlement amount: $10.35 million.

Anthony v. Koch Industries.

This was a class action claims arising under ERISA in regard to a retiree benefit plan, before the Middle District of North Carolina Federal Court. The retiree benefit plan affected numerous retired NC industrial workers. The outcome was a class settlement approved by order filed Sept. 7, 2007.

George v. Duke Energy Retirement Cash Balance Plan.

This was a class action arising under Duke Energy’s ERISA pension plan. The case affected the rights of numerous Duke Energy employees and retirees and involved complex plan interpretation and actuarial issues. The outcome was a significant class action settlement of $30 million.

Merkner v. AK Steel

Mona Lisa Wallace was lead co-counsel in this ERISA class action against AK Steel Corporation in Ohio Federal Court where we successfully obtained a $178.6 million settlement on behalf of a class of over 3,000 retirees of AK Steel’s Butler Works Plant in Pennsylvania. At the case’s final approval hearing, the Judge stated: “[T]he class has been enormously well represented by the attorneys in this case. I started with the observation that this was a historic moment. I genuinely believe that… The plaintiffs and the members of the class have been enormously well represented by counsel…. I reach the conclusion based on acknowledging the extraordinary benefit achieved for the class, the high level of value of these plaintiffs’ counsels’ services. The lawyers here are excellent, highly regarded, and their service has brought great value to the class.” (Judge Timothy S. Black, Southern District of Ohio,
Western Division).

Lowther v. AK Steel.

This was a second ERISA class action case against AK Steel Corporation in which the law firm obtained a $15.8 million settlement on behalf of a class of over 250 retirees of AK Steel’s Zanesville Works Plant in Ohio.

Kucan v. Advance America

Brought in New Hanover County Superior Court, this was a class action against NC’s then-largest payday lender which led to an award-winning settlement. In Kucan, the facts reflected that the annual percentage rates for the loans often exceeded 450%, although North Carolina law caps interest for such loans at 36%. Six years after our firm and co-counsel first filed the lawsuit, Advance America agreed to pay $18.75 million to more than 140,000 North Carolina consumers in what was then called the largest settlement against payday lenders in the United States.

Hager v. Check into Cash

Similar to the Kucan matter, this was an NC payday lending class action, which resulted in a Court-approved $12 million settlement.

McQuillan v. Check n Go

Similar to the Kucan matter, this was an NC payday lending class action, which resulted in a Court-approved $14 million settlement.

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PREVIOUS CLASS ACTION CASES

Additional previous class action cases in which our law firm was lead counsel or actively involved as co-counsel include the following:

Anthony v. Koch Industries, No. 1:05CV00806 (M.D.N.C.) (class action claims arising under ERISA in regard to a retiree benefit plan)
George v. Duke Energy Retirement Cash Balance Plan, No. 8:06-CV-373 (D.S.C.) (class action claims arising under ERISA in regard to a pension plan)
Merkner v. AK Steel, No. 1:09-CV-423-TSB (S.D. Ohio) (class action arising under ERISA in regard to employee welfare benefits)
Lowther v. AK Steel, No. 1:11 cv 877 (S.D. Ohio) (class action arising under ERISA in regard to employee welfare benefits)
Curtis v. Alcoa Inc., No. 3:06-CV-448 (E.D. Tenn.) (mass and class action claims arising under ERISA in regard to retirement medical benefits)
Mills v. Hendrick Automotive, No. 04 CVS 2301 (Union County Superior Court) (class action against car dealer chain)
Clark v. Alan Vester Auto Group, No. 06 CVS 141 (Vance County Superior Court) (class action against car dealer chain)
Owens and Price v. Automobile Protection Corp. and Sonic Automotive (unfair and deceptive finance and sales practices involving car dealer chain)
Brown v. Lowe's Companies, Inc., 5:13-cv-00079-RLV-DSC (W.D.N.C.) (class action under Fair Credit Reporting Act)
In re Harris Teeter Merger Litigation, No. 13 CVS 12579 (NC Business Court) (shareholder claim regarding a corporate merger/acquisition)

Knox v. First Southern Cash Advance, No. 05-CVS-0445 (New Hanover County Superior Court) (action against payday lender)
Torrence v. Nationwide Budget Finance, 05-CVS-0447 (New Hanover County Superior Court) (same)
Murdock v. Rebate Cash Advance, No. 06-CVS-1865 (Iredell County Superior Court) (class action/arbitration against payday lender)
Inetianbor v. CashCall, 0:2013cv60066 (S.D. Fla.) (class action against lender)
Johnson v. Duke Energy Retirement Cash Balance Plan, et al., No. 1:13-cv-00156-WO-JEP (M.D.N.C.) (ERISA putative class action)
Lewis v. Allegheny Ludlum, 11-1619 (N.D. Ohio) (putative class action for retiree medical benefits)
Adams v. Alcoa Inc., 7:07-cv-01291 (N.D.N.Y) (putative class/mass action for unpaid overtime wages)
Powell-Perry v. BB&T, 11th Cir. No.10-12374-AA (S.D. Florida and appeal to 11th Cir.) (putative class action for bank overdraft fees)
Rowan County et al. v. Federal National Mortgage Association et al., Fourth Circuit case number 13-2255 (putative class action for alleged real estate transfer taxes)
In re Pokertek Merger Litigation, 14-CVS-10579 (NC Business Court) (court-approved class settlement of shareholder claim regarding corporate merger/acquisition)