an Diego barbershop, Pappy’s Barber Shop, has paid for business interruption insurance coverage for years from Farmers Insurance but was denied the claim when he filed shortly after closing his business due to COVID-19. ABC 10 News interviewed Attorney Amber Eck on the class-action lawsuit that has since been filed against the insurance company.
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HAE attorney Aaron Olsen is quoted in a recent Bloomberg piece that reports that employees at Burberry’s warehouse facility in New Jersey were deemed essential workers but the facility has since been shut down indefinitely as three workers test positive for the virus. While a Burberry spokesperson announced that safety precautions were taken to protect workers, many reported that they felt unsafe as “social distancing was difficult to practice and that equipment was shared.” Attorney explains that “even at businesses that are truly essential, they need to be creating a safe environment.”
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Employee and consumer rights advocates Alreen Haeggquist and Amber Eck were featured in a cover story of a recent San Diego issue of Super Lawyers Magazine, delving into each attorney’s backstory and how the firm took on – and beat – Trump University and other major defendants.
The extensive piece covers Haeggquist’s roots in Pakistan and Eck’s in Montana, and how both attorneys’ lives would develop to eventually intertwine to form Haeggquist & Eck, LLP – San Diego’s most notable employee and consumer rights law firm, and arguably among the most notable in the country.
That’s because the firm has racked up an impressive string of high-profile cases against major players including the Salk Institute, Fairmont Grand, and President Donald Trump and Trump University, which is explored in detail throughout the Super Lawyers Magazine Piece.
For more information about Haeggquist & Eck, LLP’s victories in consumer rights and employment law cases, check out their cover article in Super Lawyers Magazine or reach out to the firm online!
Last year, HAE partners Alreen Haeggquist and Aaron Olsen secured a $492,000 verdict against Kaiser Permanente on behalf of a former medical assistant the jury found was wrongfully terminated due to her son’s medical condition. The verdict came on the heels of a four-week trial in San Diego Superior Court and marked the first time a novel “associational discrimination” theory was tried in California.
We’re thrilled to announce that TopVerdict.com included the verdict in its list of the top 50 largest labor & employment verdicts in California in 2017! Check out the list for more information.
To schedule your free initial consultation, contact us online or call (619) 342-8000 today!
Case Alleges Williams-Sonoma Inflated and Knowingly Misrepresented Thread Count of Luxury Bedding Collections
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – San Diego employee and consumer rights litigation firm Haeggquist & Eck has joined attorneys from Rose Law Group, P.C. in Phoenix and Baker Law P.C. in Los Angeles in prosecuting a class action lawsuit alleging housewares giant William-Sonoma illegally inflated the thread count of its luxury bedding collections sold across the company’s family of brands.
The case, Rushing v. Williams-Sonoma, which is styled as a class action and currently pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Williams-Sonoma Inc. and several of its marketing and advertising subsidiaries knowingly misrepresented thread counts on the packaging of several of the company’s products, some by as many as 300 threads. The case alleges a litany of misleading and deceptive advertising and other consumer-protection claims, including violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and California laws pertaining to untrue advertising, unfair competition, unlawful and fraudulent business practices, and unjust enrichment.
It involves the following bedding – including bed sheets, pillowcases, shams, and duvets – sold by Williams-Sonoma and its family of brands:
“Nobody would expect that WSI would advertise 600 thread count bedding that does not, in fact, contain 600 threads per square inch as indicated on the label,” the operative Complaint reads. “But that is exactly what WSI is doing.”
The Complaint alleges that WSI relies upon its’ brands established reputations as high-end retailers to pass off interior products to consumers and to deceive them into believing its representations about the thread count of its bedding offerings.
“They market to affluent and aspiring consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for a premium product,” the Complaint states. “But what WSI advertises is not necessarily what it delivers, particularly when it comes to its bedding products.”
Williams-Sonoma is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and operates through trademarks including Williams-Sonoma, Williams-Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Baby, PB Teen, PB Dorm, West Elm, Mark & Graham, and Rejuvenation.
Potential class members who have purchased any of the Williams-Sonoma bedding products advertised as having a thread count of 350 or higher from Williams-Sonoma or any of the stores or brands listed above may contact attorney Amber Eck at (619) 342-8000 to learn more about the claims alleged and their rights to seek compensation for damages they may have suffered.
In addition, consumers who have purchased bedding from Williams-Sonoma advertised as having a thread count of 350 and higher are encouraged to contact Amber Eck to learn more about their potential claims.
Haeggquist & Eck, LLP is a full-service law firm that brings major class actions nationwide on behalf of defrauded consumers, investors and employees.
To schedule your free initial consultation, contact us online or call (619) 342-8000 today!
Sharp Health Plan wrongfully terminated two employees who were eight months pregnant this fall because the women planned to take legally protected pregnancy leave, a new lawsuit filed by Haeggquist & Eck attorneys Alreen Haeggquist and Aaron Olsen alleges.
Plaintiffs Natali Osuna and Veronica Osuna, who had respectively worked for Sharp for 11 years and five years as enrollment specialists within the company’s finance division and had consistent histories of stellar performance reviews, were both pregnant and due to give birth around September 2016. Both planned to take protected leaves of absence through January 2017, which happened to coincide with Sharp’s plans to implement Healthedge, a new integrated software system for processing health insurance claims and applications.
The case alleges that in July, the plaintiffs were notified that they would be laid off because their department was closing. But a mere four hours after they were given the news, Sharp began posting jobs that were essentially identical to theirs, but just using the new system. Sharp planned to conduct training on the new system during plaintiffs’ planned maternity leaves, with full implementation to take place in January 2017. Both women applied for every available position they were qualified for within Sharp system and were turned down for each, according to the complaint.
“Sharp dealt our clients a stunning blow by terminating them – and leaving them without health insurance – when they were eight months pregnant,” Haeggquist & Eck Managing Partner Alreen Haeggquist said. “It wasn’t convenient for Sharp to have our clients out on legally protected leave during the company’s planned implementation of new software, so Sharp just callously cast them aside on the pretext of closing their department. What should have been a beautiful time for these women became incredibly stressful, and we look forward to vindicating their interests in court.”
The case alleges violations of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) Laws, and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Osuna v. Sharp Health Plan is pending in San Diego Superior Court.
EMPLOYEES: If you believe you have been discriminated or retaliated against at work because you are pregnant or took protected medical leave, click here or call (619) 342-8000 to contact the employee rights attorneys at Haeggquist & Eck for a free case evaluation.
619-342-8000