A Florida woman who purchased her golden retriever, aptly named Sunny, from a local Petland store is suing the mega pet store for allegedly misleading her.

Sunny’s owner purchased the pup for $3,500 and entered into a financing contract with Lending USA, a company that partners with Petland to offer loans to new pet owners. According to the lawsuit, Sunny’s owner would end up paying $26,655 for the dog over the period of the loan contract.

On top of the loan, Sunny’s owner also claims that, despite being assured Sunny was healthy and AKC-registered, Sunny was a sick puppy, diagnosed with hip dysplasia, a condition that would require surgeries and treatments adding up to $21,000. The legal complaint also alleges the puppy was not, as claimed, from one of the “top 5% breeders in the nation” but rather was from one of the puppy mills listed in the Humane Society’s 2019 Horrible Hundred.

In the lawsuit, Sunny’s owner sued Petland for misleading her, selling her a sick dog, and failing to abide by state laws that would require the store to pay for the puppy’s treatment. Sunny’s owner is seeking $60,734 in damages from Petland. 

According to news reports, multiple lawsuits throughout the country have been filed against Petland related to its sale of sick puppies acquired through puppy mills and the exorbitant costs incurred by the new owners for loans and veterinary costs. 

—Source: bloghumanesociety.org

A class action lawsuit has been filed against United Airlines relating to a February 2021 flight that had to be aborted shortly after takeoff due to major engine failure.

United Airlines flight 328 left Denver en route to Honolulu with 231 passengers and 10 crew members aboard. Approximately 20 minutes after take off, the right engine caught fire and debris fell from the sky onto Denver neighborhoods. The pilots were able to safely land back in Denver, and, fortunately, there were no injuries. Passengers were placed on a different plane, which, as it turns out, suffered a very similar incident a few years prior.

Now a class action lawsuit has been filed against United seeking to recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit states, “Plaintiff, as well as, upon information and belief, most (if not all) passengers, reasonably feared for their life as a result of the shambled state of their airplane, starting at over 2 miles in altitude, and lasting approximately 18 minutes. Plaintiff, as well as, upon information and belief, most (if not all) passengers, suffered physical symptoms as a result of this intense experience, including: nausea, tachycardia, shaking, symptoms of shock, and following the flight, insomnia.”

The claim alleges United was negligent in not properly inspecting fan blades. According to news reports, "[t]he question is what kind of a dollar amount you can put to the emotional distress that passengers experienced.”

—Source: onemileatatime.com

Despite the melting of the ice and snow in Texas, a big chill still exists for a Houston area woman who has filed a class action lawsuit against her electric service provider after her rate jumped from roughly $225 per month to over $9000 for six days in February.

Lisa Khoury is suing Griddy, the provider she has contracted with to pay a flat $10 per month plus the wholesale rate for electricity. Khoury said she had to place a stop-payment order on her bank account after repeated failed attempts to get answers from Griddy to the daily withdrawals from February 13 to February 19 that shot up to $9,340.

“At this point we don’t know how many people might be affected, but there are likely thousands of customers who’ve received these outrageous bills,” says Derek Potts of the Potts Law Firm in Houston, who represents Ms. Khoury. “A class action will be the most efficient and effective way for Griddy’s customers to come together and fight this predatory pricing.”

The lawsuit seeks more than $1 billion from Griddy for allegedly violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Griddy responded in a statement that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) directed ERCOT to set wholesale pricing at $9/kWh, roughly 300 times higher than normal wholesale rates. Although the measure was supposed to be temporary, according to news reports it was left in place even after millions got their power back.

A PUCT investigation is underway into “indexed” electricity plans like Griddy’s.

—Source: kron4.com

Rice University in Houston, Texas, is being sued by a student who claims the university should not have charged full tuition rates when most classes have been delivered online. The lawsuit seeks class action status.

"Plaintiff and the members of the class have all paid for tuition for a first-rate education and on-campus, in-person educational experiences, with all the appurtenant benefits offered by a first-rate university. Instead, students like plaintiff were provided a materially different and insufficient alternative, which constitutes a breach of the contracts entered into by plaintiff with the university," the suit said.

Despite the fact that Rice has offered a mix of in-person and online classes since this fall, it is reported that many facilities - libraries, labs and study rooms - were closed. The university boasts that it offers students "an unconventional culture,” the suit said.

A Rice spokesman declined to comment on the litigation.

—Source: Insidehighered.com