Class Action Suit

Aurora Electronics Inc. said Friday that it has been sued in a federal class-action lawsuit over its supply of computer components to a subsidiary. The lawsuit charges that Aurora, a computer parts recycling company based in Irvine, violated securities laws allegedly by failing to disclose its dealings adequately. The company refused to elaborate.

Question: I have not heard anything in many months about the class-action suit against Chrysler regarding the cars that were driven by company executives and then sold as new. My last notice from the company came about a year ago. I thought the company was going to pay us $500 each. Could you please advise me? --M.G.

Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, the largest U.S. securities law firm, won't be able to pursue a lawsuit in state court on behalf of New York City pension funds against J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and other WorldCom Inc. investment banks, a federal judge ruled Monday. The funds may be forced to become part of a shareholder class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in New York against officers and banks employed by ailing WorldCom, the second-biggest U.S. long-distance company, lawyers said.

Former Carnation Co. shareholders filed a class-action suit Friday against Ivan Boesky and Martin Siegel, claiming they depressed the company's stock price and traded on inside information before it was acquired. Charles Taplin, a Carnation shareholder, filed suit in U.S. District Court on behalf of himself and all other Carnation stockholders who sold their stock on the open market between July 3, 1984, and Sept. 4, 1984. During that period, Siegel was a vice-president of Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Responding to a complaint from bowlers who say they were cheated out of $25,000 in prize money, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office confirmed Friday that it is conducting a preliminary investigation of the Brunswick Corp. and a league it sponsored at Brunswick Granada Lanes earlier this year. A group representing 88 bowlers, many of whom reside in the Valley, are considering a class-action suit against Brunswick.

A federal judge on Friday granted class certification to tens of millions of smokers in a lawsuit against cigarette makers, creating what may be the largest class action ever certified in U.S. legal history. A national consortium of plaintiff lawyers won the key ruling when U.S. District Judge Okla Jones II in New Orleans cleared them to proceed on behalf of smokers in the United States and its territories who allegedly became addicted to nicotine.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs may paint a rosy picture of improving healthcare for veterans, but the agency has systematically denied benefits to sick veterans and delayed claims so long that many of them commit suicide, a lawyer for two advocacy groups argued in federal court Monday. "The court faces an agency that is in denial and a healthcare system and an adjudication system that are broken down and in crisis," said Gordon P.

Residents suing Lockheed Martin Corp. for property damages allegedly caused by years of pollution will file a second class-action suit seeking to make the aerospace giant fund a medical monitoring program and pay for any illnesses stemming from environmental contamination. The second suit on behalf of thousands of neighbors of Lockheed's former aircraft production complex will be filed sometime this week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said attorney Patrick J.

The Supreme Court has agreed ? ominously ? to consider derailing a sex-discrimination lawsuit against the giant retailer Wal-Mart. If the justices rule that the class-action suit can't go forward, Wal-Mart employees may not be the only ones to be denied a meaningful day in court. The allegations against Wal-Mart, which haven't yet been put to a trial, are that women are paid less than men for comparable jobs and that women receive fewer promotions. But those issues aren't before the Supreme Court.