Our firm has recently settled three significant FLSA cases on a class wide (collective action) basis, providing employees of those companies with back wages that they were wrongfully denied as a result of labor abuses. While each company's labor violations differed slightly, each involved a common theme we continue to see in these labor abuse cases. That common theme is where employers intentionally misclassify employees as managers and independent contractors in order to escape paying overtime pay.

A recent report in the Memphis Business Journal predicts Regions Financial Corp. will hold onto its Morgan Keegan investment arm, despite a number of lawsuits filed in the past year as a result of alleged investment fraud, and more pending. Lawsuits content that risky funds brokered by Regions Morgan Keegan tied to the subprime lending market were represented to investors as low-risk. As a result, the suits allege, individuals and organizations invested in the funds suffered significant financial losses, almost overnight, when the mortgage market collapsed.

Last week, we told you about a lawsuit filed by Minnesota's attorney general against the nation's largest arbitration company. The suit, filed July 14, 2009, in Hennepin County District Court by Attorney General Lori Swanson against the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) of Minnesota, alleged "consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false advertising." On July 19, Swanson announced that the NAF had agreed it would no longer arbitrate any cases between consumers and businesses.

On July 14, 2009, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit against the National Arbitration Forum of Minnesota, the nation's largest arbitration company for consumer credit disputes, alleging "consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false advertising." The lawsuit was filed in Hennepin County District Court.

Although she will never benefit from the new legislation expected to be signed into law tomorrow by President Barack Obama, Lilly Ledbetter of Jacksonville, Ala., is proud of the difference she's making in the lives of other hard working folks. The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which is the first significant legislation passed by the new Congress, will change the law regarding eligibility in filing for wage discrimination.

Beasley Allen is currently reviewing Tremont Investment claims on behalf of institutional investors. These cases involve alleged securities fraud and include as defendants Tremont Group Holdings, Inc.; Tremont Partners, Inc.; Rye Investment Management, Oppenheimer Acquisition Corporation, Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.; Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, and KPMG, L.L.P.

Beasley Allen, along with Dagney Johnson-Walker, a Birmingham lawyer filed suit in November on behalf of the City of Birmingham against various sub-prime lenders including Wells Fargo, Regions Bank and Countrywide. The suit contends that the companies have violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by participating in predatory lending practices. The lawsuit also alleges the lenders violated other state laws and have profited by their wrongdoing.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $35.6 million judgment against Family Dollar Stores Inc. originally handed down by a Tuscaloosa, Ala., federal jury in 2006. The jury said the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by wrongly classifying employees as store managers in order to deny them overtime pay.

So how much do you think your life is worth? $100M? $20M? $420? According to a the IVEY MEMO, the value of your life is $200,000. Evidently, GM saved over $250M by letting a few hundred people burn to death in their cars.

Beasley Allen is processing securities arbitration claims on behalf of numerous individuals who invested in Morgan Keegan Funds, against Morgan Keegan and Regions Financial Corp. We encourage investors who suffered substantial losses in the MK Funds to consider whether they too should attempt to recover their losses through the filing of an individual securities arbitration claim.