Settlement

If you lived in California between 1999 and 2006 and purchased an electronic device with an LCD panel -- such as a computer monitor, laptop or all-in-one PC -- you may be eligible as a claimant on a $500-million price-fixing settlement between hardware makers and California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris' office. The California Department of Justice on Friday said that consumers should check lcdclass.com , call (855) 115-1886 or write to LCD Class, P.O.Box 8025, Faribault, MN 55021, to obtain a copy of the settlement and register to receive a claim form.

Investors seemed to approve Standard Chartered's decision to pay $340 million to New York banking regulators as they boosted the British bank's stock. Standard Chartered's shares rose more than 4% in London trading Wednesday, a day after the bank's settlement with New York's Department of Financial Services over contentions it concealed prohibited transactions with Iranian clients. U.S. sanctions prohibit transactions with Iran. The British bank stood to potentially lose its New York banking license, a fate averted by the settlement involving what New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the state's largest-ever banking fine, according to the New York Daily News.

The Federal Trade Commission announced it has approved a settlement with Facebook, resolving allegations that the social network deceived its users regarding the privacy of their information. The settlement comes following an FTC complaint that said Facebook was in violation of the FTC Act because despite the company telling its users they can keep their information private on its social network, it would repeatedly allow that information to be shared and made public. The settlement approval announced Friday will require Facebook to take several measures to ensure it does a better job communicating with its users and keeping their information private.

Five states including California won more time to decide whether they will object to a proposed class-action settlement between Honda and owners of its Civic hybrid who claim they were misled about the car's fuel economy. San Diego County Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor ruled Tuesday to give the five state attorneys general until Feb. 29 to object to the settlement, which pays class-action attorneys $8.5 million and gives Civic owners $100 to $200 and rebate coupons for another Honda purchase.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is appealing a judge's rejection of the regulator's $285-million civil securities fraud settlement with Citigroup Inc., according to court papers filed Thursday. The pact was rejected by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff last month as "pocket change" for Citigroup. In that ruling, the judge criticized the SEC's policy of settling lawsuits without having defendants admit or deny wrongdoing. The SEC said in a statement that it believes Rakoff erred "by announcing a new and unprecedented standard that inadvertently harms investors by depriving them of substantial, certain and immediate benefits.

Facebook has reportedly agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit concerning its Sponsored Stories advertisements. The settlement brings an end to the suit that alleged Facebook's Sponsored Stories benefited from its users' "likes" without giving them compensation or a chance to opt out. News that a settlement had been reached came in late May, but no details were given on how much Facebook would have to pay. The report that the...

Visa, Mastercard and major U.S. banks agreed to pay more than $6 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by retailers who accused them of price fixing. Retailers had alleged in a lawsuit that the two largest payment networks conspired with banks to fix fees they charge retailers for processing customer credit-card transactions. The dispute began in 2005, when merchants accused the companies of violating antitrust laws  by fixing the swipe fees, which average about 2% of the purchase price.

WASHINGTON -- Britain's Standard Chartered bank has agreed to a $327-million settlement with U.S. officials, who have been investigating the bank for possible violations of economic sanctions against Iran and other countries. The settlement, announced Monday, includes $132 million paid to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control and $100 million paid to the Federal Reserve. Treasury officials said the settlement resolves probes into apparent violations by the bank's London and Dubai offices from 2001 to 2007 of U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, Burma, Libya and Sudan, as well as a case involving sanctions related to foreign narcotics kingpins.

NEW YORK — A federal judge has approved a U.S. government settlement with three major publishers accused of conspiring with Apple to fix the prices of electronic books. The ruling released Thursday requires the publishers, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, to abandon a pricing system that they conceived in 2010 when Apple Inc. released the iPad and began selling digital books in its iTunes store. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote approved the deal nearly five months after the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging Apple worked with the largest digital book publishers to rig a system designed to counteract Amazon.com's pricing practices.

Striking a populist note, California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris appeared at a downtown Los Angeles news conference and praised the Golden State's share of a multi-state settlement as a “California commitment” that represents a “tremendous victory.” Harris said that the state's piece of the multibillion-dollar settlement was right for the most severely affected parts of the state. She also rejected claims that the controversial deal was a handout to people who did not live up their commitments.