Overcharging

Ralphs Grocery Co. admitted in court Tuesday that it cheated customers at San Fernando Valley supermarkets by overcharging them for items that were marked as being on sale. In a plea bargain with prosecutors entered in Van Nuys Municipal Court, the supermarket chain agreed to conduct price-accuracy training program for employees and to pay $3,500 in fines.

LAS VEGAS - A Nevada state audit of practices by Clark County cab drivers has given new meaning to the term “being taken for a ride” - to the tune of nearly $15 million. Under scrutiny was a practice known here as “long hauling,” in which drivers take an extended route by freeway to the Strip from McCarran International Airport, when local streets could cut both the time and the cost. The practice added an average of $10 to each fare. A report by the legislative auditor, released Monday, found that in 2012 cabbies running up the meter by taking the scenic route to and from the airport cost nearly 1.5 million fares an estimated $14.8 million . Auditors warned the Nevada Taxicab Authority to crack down on the practice, which accounted for 614, or 22.5%, of the 2,730 airport trips that auditors reviewed.

It is good to see Rep. John Dingell investigating universities such as Stanford University for overcharging the federal government for wasteful items not related to research. As an American taxpayer I am alarmed to see some of the leading universities squeezing their government contracts for every last nickel. It appears to me the officers and trustees of these universities should be held responsible for taking advantage of the system, particularly when the federal government has immense budget problem of its own. Corporations and individuals making donations to these universities overcharging the government should cancel their commitments or reconsider their gift giving.

The word "gouging" rolls off the tongue with equal ease when discussing pro wrestling and Olympic ticket prices. IBM is not the only famous three-letter, massive corporation that seeks huge profits. Right there is the IOC. That stands for the International Olympic Committee, which awarded its every-four-year revenue bonanza to a five-letter corporation, LOCOG, which stands for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. The big ruckus around here Monday morning was over all the empty seats people are seeing as they watch events on TV. For veteran Olympic observers, this is about as new as the hammer throw.

Advocate Health Care Network, Fairview Health Systems and Baptist Health Systems Inc. are among the nonprofit, tax-exempt hospitals in eight states being sued for allegedly overcharging uninsured patients. The suits seek damages on behalf of all uninsured people who were allegedly charged more than insured patients for nonprofit hospital medical care, according to 13 federal suits filed in eight states. The American Hospital Assn.

Connecticut's attorney general announced a lawsuit against Best Buy Co., accusing it of denying deals on www.BestBuy.com. Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a look-alike internal website. The lawsuit seeks refunds for consumers, civil penalties, court costs, a ban on the practice and other remedies. Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy denied Blumenthal's allegations.

A Van Nuys man who runs a San Fernando Valley moving company was sentenced to 20 days of community service and fined after being convicted of overcharging homeowners fleeing their homes in the wake of the Northridge earthquake. Thomas J. Smith, a 42-year-old Van Nuys man, pleaded no contest Monday in Los Angeles Municipal Court to five counts of making false statements and five counts of violating moving regulation laws, according to the Los Angeles city attorney's office.

The leader of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California strongly denied allegations contained in a whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed last week that the group overcharged the state and federal government by at least $180 million for birth-control pills. In a statement released Tuesday, Kathy Kneer, the group's president and chief executive, called the allegations contained in the federal lawsuit "completely false." P. Victor Gonzalez alleges that he was fired in March 2004 as vice president of finance and administration of the Los Angeles affiliate after raising concerns about the "illegal accounting, billing and donations practices of Planned Parenthood."

Supermarket giant Ralphs and its parent company were charged Tuesday with overcharging customers, false advertising and false labeling after an undercover operation by Los Angeles county officials. The multicount criminal case, filed by the Los Angeles city attorney's criminal branch, said Ralphs overcharged on prepackaged and weighed products such as fried chicken, bulk coffee, salads and fish. The chain was fined for similar violations in 2008 and 2009. Ralphs and parent company Kroger Co. could face fines and penalties of up to $256,000 each.

Comarco Inc., a provider of wireless communications and engineering systems, said it disputes a claim by a customer it declined to name that says it was overcharged by $5.5 million. In a statement released Friday afternoon, Comarco Chief Executive Don M. Bailey said the dispute is over indirect charges passed along to the client over a seven-year period.

Wells Fargo & Co.'s settlement of allegations that it overcharged minorities for home loans and wrongly steered them into subprime mortgages requires the bank to pay $125 million in damages, including about $10 million to African Americans and Latinos in the Los Angeles area. The settlement, announced Thursday by theU.S. Justice Department, also requires the San Francisco company, by far the nation's largest home lender, to provide $50 million in down-payment assistance to residents of areas where the alleged discrimination had a significant effect.

There's little more irritating for a home buyer than to be told during escrow that he needs more cash — sometimes a lot more cash — than he thought to close the deal. The good faith estimate of closing costs that lenders are required by law to give borrowers within three days of their mortgage application is supposed to put a stop to that sort of thing. But a survey taken this year shows the rules don't always work as they should. Lawmakers already recognize that, which is why regulators were directed under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to revamp the good faith estimate, as well as the HUD-1 settlement sheet that borrowers receive at closing.

New legislation in Sacramento aims to protect car buyers from being overcharged at used-car lots by requiring the dealerships to post the fair market value on each vehicle they sell. The goal, Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) said, is to help inform consumers who otherwise have no idea what a fair price for a vehicle is before agreeing to buy it. Although the bill applies to all lots selling used cars, he said AB 1534 is aimed specifically at Buy Here Pay Here dealers, which sell to people with low income and bad credit.

Authorities are looking into whether the Los Angeles Police Department misappropriated millions of dollars it was paid for providing law enforcement services at Los Angeles International Airport. Federal Aviation Administration officials say they have begun reviewing a recent complaint alleging that the LAPD overcharged the airport and used the money to bolster city coffers and pay for police expenses unrelated to security at LAX, which has been described as a top potential target for terrorists.

The Los Angeles school board agreed Tuesday to renew a deal with the district's dental insurance provider over the objections of a board member who had persuaded his colleagues to defeat an earlier version. Two weeks ago, Richard Vladovic complained that MetLife had tried to overcharge him for a mouth guard and then provided poor customer service, even though he acknowledged MetLife representatives eventually apologized. Vladovic won the support of three other board members to reject a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract renewal with the company, which provides insurance to nearly 100,000 current and former L.A. Unified School District employees.

CVS Pharmacy has agreed to pay more than $2 million in fines and other costs to settle a consumer protection lawsuit alleging that the drugstore chain overcharged customers for sale items and engaged in misleading advertising. The civil complaint, filed Aug. 11 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleged that CVS failed to provide an immediate discount for certain advertised items. An investigation also determined that since 2006, the company routinely charged consumers more for items than the advertised sale price.

Some troubled homeowners got the promise of a little relief Wednesday in the form of separate settlements with Countrywide Home Loans and Wells Fargo & Co. Nearly $108 million in refund checks are being mailed to homeowners allegedly overcharged by Countrywide Home Loans as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. In an unrelated action against Wells Fargo, the Federal Reserve Board issued a cease-and-desist order and assessed an $85-million civil penalty over allegations that Wells Fargo Financial Inc. employees improperly pushed borrowers into more expensive subprime loans and exaggerated income information on mortgage applications from January 2004 to June 2008.

A bill to let state regulators block unreasonable health insurance premium hikes is running into a potential roadblock in the Senate Health Committee. At a hearing last week, Chairman Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), an optometrist, said he was concerned that the bill would make it harder for the poorest Californians to obtain medical care. That's the California Medical Assn.'s critique, and it mischaracterizes how rate regulation would work. According to Hernandez, the bill — AB 52 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles)