We are investigating illegal price-fixing agreements between drug manufacturers aimed at keeping cheaper, generic pharmaceuticals off the market. As a result of these anticompetitive agreements, consumers are forced to pay artificially higher prices for important medication.

Nationwide class action among other things seeking recall of tires as well as to recover costs incurred to replace the defective tires.

Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4208, (Contra Costa Cty, California Superior Court), the Court granted final approval to a $61,420,000 partial settlement fund for owner’s of properties on which certain manufactured cement composite roofing products were installed. Gilman and Pastor, LLP was one of four firms that represented the class members. After extensive litigation on all fronts, the case was partially settled during trial against certain defendants for over $61 million dollars.

Charged more than double the monthly payments and imposed a $10 monthly service fee on customers who had accepted Chase’s fixed rate balance transfer offers.

Best Buy and Circuit City have failed to honor their warranties, included by its third party Insurers.

We are investigating claims by consumers that Pella Windows develop condensation inside the window glass, resulting in moisture buildup, which leads to rot of the window frame and molding.

We are investigating claims by consumers that Jeldwen Windows develop condensation inside the window glass, resulting in moisture buildup, which leads to rot of the window frame and molding.

We are investigating claims by consumers that Weathershield Windows develop condensation inside the window glass, resulting in moisture buildup, which leads to rot of the window frame and molding.

The four-wheel, side-by-side All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Rhino manufactured by Yamaha Motor Corporation has become one of the most popular ATV, off-road vehicles, in the U.S. Nearly 60 riders have been killed and hundreds seriously injured in Rhino accidents.

Zimmer Holdings, the nation’s largest producer of orthopedic devices, has recalled the Durom cup, a hip socket, due to a high failure rate. The medical device was first sold in the U.S. in 2006 and has been implanted in 12,000 patients.

We are currently investigating consumer complaints regarding Harley Davidson Screamin' Eagle motorcycle engines, including product defects and warranty claims. Among the complaints are allegations that the Screamin' Eagle or CVO 110 cubic inch engine may have resulted in problems with the function of the motorcycle, as well as lead to additional product failures, including oil leaks from rear cylinder, rear cylinder head gasket failure, burning engine oil, engine stalls, overheating engines.

We are investigating allegations against Comdata, owner of a monopoly credit card system used at truck stops throughout the U.S.
The allegations center on claims that Comdata has harmed competition by using its market dominance to impair the ability of rival card issuers to challenge Comdata's monopoly, resulting in independent truck stops, such as Pilot, Petro, and Travel Centers of America, having to pay millions of dollars in excessive fees. These fees are passed onto truckers and consumers.

We are investigating claims of price-fixing and conspiracy relating to the emerging new futures markets, called carbon exchanges.
These exchanges trade in "carbon credits," not only in advance of proposed Cap and Trade legislation in the U.S., but where such regulations exist in Europe.
Most major power plants and factories anticipate being part of a legally binding scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon trading is the trading of greenhouse gas reduction credits as defined in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol of the Climate Change convention. If too many allowances have been issued, the carbon price will fall and could even hit zero, making the whole scheme collapse.

We are investigating claims involving price-fixing of gasoline in the United States. Allegations have surfaced that CITGO Petroleum Corporation and other major oil refinery corporations in the U.S. conspired with OPEC to fix the price of gasoline in the United States.

We are actively investigating and litigating claims on behalf of investors who suffered significant losses. Many third parties who were negligent and breached their fiduciary duties in failing to perform the necessary due diligence when advising their clients to invest in these funds.
We allege that the issuing firms, including brokers and investment banks, fail to disclose to ordinary investors that ETFs represent short-term speculation, that their trading expenses decrease returns to investors, and that most ETFs provide insufficient diversification.
ETFs can be, and have been, used to manipulate market prices, including having been used for short selling, that many observers claim have contributed to the market collapse of 2008. As a result, many investors have suffered significant losses, including their entire investments

Major brokerage firms, ABN AMBO Bank N.V., AIG, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Bear Stearns, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Countrywide Securities, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, E-Trade, Harris National Bank, Incaptial LLP, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Keegan, Morgan Stanley, RBC Royal Bank, Societe Generale, UBS Fraud, Wachovia, represented and sold principal protected notes (PPN) as safe and secure investment vehicles. We allege that these banks specifically targeted conservative, risk-averse investors who were seeking to preserve their capital and generate income. In fact, these notes subjected investors to significantly more risk than was disclosed.
These brokers and investment banks pushed their sales representatives to dump these products on their own retail. As early as 2005, industry regulators from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) raised concerns about misrepresentations regarding the safety and complexity of principal protected notes and other structured investment products.
Holders of these structured securities and principal protected notes (PPNs) face significant losses, including their entire principal investment.

Gilman and Pastor is investigating the Nuveen Insured Premium Income Municipal Fund and other related instruments. We are investigating claims of breach of fiduciary duty by the issuing entities.

Gilman and Pastor is investigating Amazon.com over its stock price decline in connection with the failed launch of its defective and problem-plagued hand-held computer book, Kindle.
We are investigating claims on behalf of Amazon.com investors who have incurred financial losses as the result of the stock price tumble on reports that Amazon.com’s much-anticipated, much hyped, and recently launched, Kindle product, which among its fanfare was claimed to revolutionize how books and magazines would be sold into the future, flopped.

We are investigating claims against overnight delivery giant FedEx regarding allegations that FedEx is violating its employees’ overtime rights. Among these allegations are that FedEx classifies many of its drivers as independent contractors, misclassify their ground delivery personnel as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements, and otherwise fail to properly classify and pay their employees overtime pursuant to the FLSA.

We are investigating claims against IHOP regarding current and former employee claims that IHOP is violating its employees’ overtime rights. Among these allegations are that IHOP misclassifies its servers, cooks, and supervisory personnel, as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements, as well as the failure to pay for hours worked over 40 hours per work week pursuant to the FLSA.

We are investigating claims against Countrywide regarding current and former employee claims that Countrywide is violating its employees’ overtime rights. Among these allegations are that Countrywide misclassifies its staff and mortgage brokers as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements, as well as the failure to pay for hours worked over 40 hours per work week pursuant to the FLSA.

Our firm is investigating claims by Information Technology (IT) workers throughout the country who claim they have been denied their overtime rights pursuant to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements. Eligible IT workers are often those who work on installing, maintaining, supporting, and repairing computer software and hardware, for external clients or for customers within the company. These FLSA eligible employees often work in the following IT fields: System Administrators, Database Administrators, Web Administrators, Network Engineers, Business Systems Consultants, Helpdesk Support Workers, Deskside Support Workers, Systems Analysts, IT Specialists.
Regardless of job title, IT workers who engage in the following types of work may be eligible for FLSA protections, including overtime pay: perform repetitive tasks, follow established procedures, protocols & guidelines, keep computer systems up and running, operate under supervision & rules, perform such work a majority of time (even if also perform substantial other work).

We are investigating claims by stockbrokers, financial advisors, and broker sales assistants of brokerage firms AG Edwards who claim they have been denied their overtime rights pursuant to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements.
While most brokers work on commission only, and while commissions are an important part of any broker’s income, many prominent Wall Street firms have been demanding that brokers sell managed-money products that do not produce high financial returns, which in turn further reduce the income of hard working brokers.
As such, these employees may be eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA.

We are investigating claims by stockbrokers, financial advisors, and broker sales assistants of brokerage firms Merrill Lynch who claim they have been denied their overtime rights pursuant to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements. While most brokers work on commission only, and while commissions are an important part of any broker’s income, many prominent Wall Street firms have been demanding that brokers sell managed-money products that do not produce high financial returns, which in turn further reduce the income of hard working brokers. As such, these employees may be eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA.

We are investigating claims by stockbrokers, financial advisors, and broker sales assistants of brokerage firms Prudential who claim they have been denied their overtime rights pursuant to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements. While most brokers work on commission only, and while commissions are an important part of any broker’s income, many prominent Wall Street firms have been demanding that brokers sell managed-money products that do not produce high financial returns, which in turn further reduce the income of hard working brokers. As such, these employees may be eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA.

We are investigating claims by stockbrokers, financial advisors, and broker sales assistants of brokerage firms Wachovia who claim they have been denied their overtime rights pursuant to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements. While most brokers work on commission only, and while commissions are an important part of any broker’s income, many prominent Wall Street firms have been demanding that brokers sell managed-money products that do not produce high financial returns, which in turn further reduce the income of hard working brokers. As such, these employees may be eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA.

We are investigating claims by stockbrokers, financial advisors, and broker sales assistants of brokerage firms Smith Barney who claim they have been denied their overtime rights pursuant to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements. While most brokers work on commission only, and while commissions are an important part of any broker’s income, many prominent Wall Street firms have been demanding that brokers sell managed-money products that do not produce high financial returns, which in turn further reduce the income of hard working brokers. As such, these employees may be eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA.

We are investigating claims against The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which operates A&P, The Food Emporium, and Waldbaums, regarding current and former employee claims that the A&P chains violate their employees’ overtime rights. Among these allegations are that the chains fail to pay employees overtime wages and delete hours actually worked from time records in violation of the fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Our firm is investigating complaints by current and former employees of Costco regarding Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations. Among the claims we are investigating are that Costco has (1) intentionally and improperly designated department managers as "exempt" managers for its warehouses in order to avoid payment of overtime wages and other benefits; (2) locking hourly employees inside each warehouse every night for approximately 15 minutes after they have finished work and are off the clock, during which time the stores' managers perform closing activities, such as removing jewelry from display cases and emptying cash registers; (3) denial of overtime pay for workers who worked more than 40 hours per work week.

Gilman and Pastor is representing business and entities who have been audited by the Internal Revenue Service for pension and retirement funds. The firm has put together a top team of professionals to defend such litigation and audits.
Life Insurance Companies and their Agents have been selling abusive life insurance and annuity products. Many pension plans have been promoted as legitimate retirement plans which contain various life insurance products and annuities. Unfortunately the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has now attacked many of these pension and retirement plans and is conducting audits to demand payment for taxes, penalties and interest and attempting to disqualify many plans.
If you are an accountant, business owner, corporate officer, dentist, doctor, professional athlete, professional or corporation of high net worth, you were unscrupulously targeted by life insurance companies and their agents to purchase a 412i defined benefit pension plan. You were chosen to purchase a 412i plan because you have the net worth to pay for it.
Our investigation has disclosed that many life insurance companies, promoters, attorneys, and accountants promoted and sold these plans, including but not limited to the following:

• American General Life Insurance Company
• Guardian Life Insurance Company
• Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company
• Indianapolis Life Insurance Company
• Pacific Life Insurance Company
• Pension Services, LLC
• Many Other Life Insurance Companies and Agents

The individuals and groups above devised a scheme to sell abusive tax shelters under the auspices of Section 412(i) of the tax code. A 412(i) is a defined benefit pension plan. It provides specific retirement benefits to participants once they reach retirement and must contain assets sufficient to pay those benefits. A 412(i) plan differs from other defined benefit pension plans in that it must be funded exclusively by the purchase of individual life insurance products.

To create a 412(i) plan, there must be a trust to hold the assets. The employer funds the plan by making cash contributions to the trust, and the Code allows the employer to take a tax deduction in the amount of the contributions, i.e. the entire amount.
The trust uses the contributed funds to purchase some combination of life insurance products (insurance or annuities) for the plan. As the plan participants retire, the trust will usually sell the policies for their present cash value and purchase annuities with the proceeds. The revenue stream from the annuities pays the specified retirement benefit to plan participants.
These defendants (with the aid and knowledge of the insurance companies) used the traditional structure and sold life insurance policies with excessively high premiums. The trust then uses the large cash contributions to pay high insurance premiums and the employer takes a deduction for the sum of those large contributions. As you might expect, these policies were designed with excessively high fees or “loads” which provided exorbitant commissions to the insurance companies and the agents who sold the products.
The policies that were sold were termed Springing Cash Value Policies. They had little or no cash value for the first 5-7 years, after which they had significant cash value. Under this scheme, after 5-7 years, and just before the cash value sprung, the participant typically purchases the policy from the trust for the policy’s surrender value. In theory, you have a tax free transaction.
The IRS does not recognize the tax benefit of such a plan and has repeatedly issued announcements indicating that such plans are contrary to federal tax laws and regulations.
Have you received a letter from the IRS either (1) informing you of an upcoming audit of your plan or (2) demanding payment for substantial tax "penalties and interest"? The "tax free" benefit pension plan you purchased might be a scam, a fraud. Please allow us to speak with you and review your documentation to help you to determine your best course of action. Your communications will be treated with the strictest attorney-client confidence.
If you were a victim of such a sale of a 412i or 419 plan, we encourage you to contact us immediately for legal assistance. You may also receive a free initial consultation by telephone at 877-428-7374. If you desire a free initial phone consultation please leave a specific time or time period within which to contact you.
Since you have already expanded a substantial amount of money in your pension plan and believed it was a legitimate retirement plan, you are obviously shocked to now learn that major life insurance companies and their agents may have sold you improper retirement plans simply to generate enormous commissions on life insurance and annuities.

Kingston Fossil Plant (Kingston Steam Plant) Eastern Tennessee. In December of 2008, more than one billion gallons of coal fly ash spilled from a burst dike in Eastern, Tennessee and covered over 500 acres with sludge.

Gilman and Pastor’s personal injury attorneys have represented many individuals in personal injury and insurance related claims, including but not limited to automobile, truck and motorcycle crashes, premises liability, property damages, property and casualty losses and professional malpractice cases.

Manufactured and sold by Medtronic, Inc., the Infuse Bone Graft has been approved only for use in lower spine-repair surgery to promote bone growth. Infuse has been linked to dozens of cases of fatalities or life-threatening complications when used off-label in surgeries on the upper spine and neck.

Women taking the oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz have experienced blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, strokes, gall bladder damage, and in some cases have died.

On June 17, 2009, the FDA warned consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular homeopathic cold remedy, because it can damage or destroy the sense of smell. The FDA had received 130 reports of people losing their sense of smell after using one of the Zicam nasal products, which include Zicam Cold Remedy and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs.

Zimmer Holdings, the nation’s largest producer of orthopedic devices, has recalled its Durom cup, a hip socket, due to a high failure rate. The medical device was first sold in the U.S. in 2006 and has been implanted in 12,000 patients.

Magtastik and Magnetix Pre-School Magnetic Toys are animal, vehicle, or building toys embedded with magnets that allow the parts to connect to large, colored metal balls. The embedded magnets can detach over time. When more than one magnet is swallowed or aspirated by a young child, the powerful magnets attract to one another, causing intestinal perforations and blockages, which can be fatal.

Medtronic has recalled its Sprint Fidelis defibrillator heart lead in 2007. Today the defective product injured heart patients, from seniors to children, who received defective heart leads.

Multiple vehicles, including certain Ford and Chrysler cars and SUVs, have faulty automatic transmission shift selectors which can cause them to unexpectedly move backwards.

Millions of Ford trucks and SUVs were equipped with faulty cruise control switches which have caused hundreds of fires. We represent vehicle owners who were injured or incurred substantial property losses as a result of a vehicle fire. We also represent owners of vehicles produced by other manufacturers who suffered catastrophic burns in accidents due to defective fuel tanks.

The four-wheel, side-by-side Rhino manufactured by Yamaha Motor Corporation has become one of the most popular recreational off-road vehicles in the U.S. Nearly 60 riders have been killed and hundreds seriously injured in Rhino accidents. Plaintiffs charge that the Rhino contains multiple design flaws rendering it unstable and prone to rolling over, even when driven on flat ground at low speeds. Plaintiffs further allege that the Rhino is equipped with defective doors, inadequate seat belts, and a dangerous roll cage.

We are handling cases in which serious remediation of commercial and residential buildings has been necessary due to the presence of mold in various building systems, including insulation and ventilation. Some of this toxic mold syndrome is attributable to inadequately tested building structures or defectively manufactured building products Including windows. The claims involve remediation as well as damages to compensate the owners of buildings for resulting damages.

Gilman and Pastor is investigating cases in which pension or retirement plans violate federal pension law (known as ERISA) by the manner in which they calculate plan benefits.

The firm represents businesses in and insureds who were the victims of concerted actions by certain national Insurance Brokerage Defendants and Insurers who improperly charged inflated insurance premiums for lines of property, casualty, liability, personal lines including homeowners insurance, employee benefits and excess and surplus lines of insurance, in breach of their fiduciary duties.

Gilman and Pastor, LLP has been appointed by the Trial Court in the consolidated Massachusetts Indirect Purchaser Actions. The firm was also appointed by the District Court to the Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in In re Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Antitrust Litigation, No. M 02-1486 (N.D. Cal.) and is currently litigating the case on behalf of indirect purchasers nationwide.

Phenolic Foam Roof Insulation (PFRI), which was widely used in commercial and institutional buildings from 1980 through 1992, releases an acidic leachate which causes severe corrosion to metal roof decks. In December of 2000 the U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, after more than five years of major construction defect litigation granted final approval to two settlements with the manufacturers of PFRI.
The estimated value of the total settlement compensation is over $350 million.
If you own a commercial or industrial building with a standing seam metal roof or a copper roof, which you believe contains defective phenolic foam roof insulation installed between 1980 and 1992, please contact us immediately to perfect your entitlement to significant damages 877-428-7374.

Most employees are not aware that their employers may not have contributed sufficient assets to pay promised benefits to future retirees or that the assets in their retirement plans may have substantially decreased in value creating a phenomenon known as under funding. This under funding could result in the inability of your pension plan to pay the retirement benefits due you.

Gilman and Pastor, LLP is investigating unlawful variable annuities sales practices such as churning, excessive fees, false disclosures, market-timing trading, and unsuitable investment transfers.
Variable annuities are insurance contracts providing purchasers with future payments that fluctuate according to the performance of mutual funds and other managed funds into which a customer's money is invested. Variable annuities are sold by insurance companies and brokerage companies for commissions. According to the New York Times and other publications, various state and federal regulators are investigating the trading practices of the variable annuity industry.
On May 27, 2003, the NASD issued an Investor Alert with regard to the sales of variable annuities. It said, in part: "The marketing efforts used by some variable annuity sellers deserve scrutiny - especially when seniors are the targeted investors.
Sales pitches for these products might attempt to scare or confuse investors. One scare tactic used with seniors is to claim that a variable annuity will protect them from lawsuits or seizures of their assets. Many such claims are not based on facts, but nevertheless help land a sale."

We represent both persons and institutions who purchased investment funds with Bernard L. Madoff Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BMIS”), as well related entities which were marketed as providing steady double-digit returns even in the most turbulent of markets.
In the litigation, we allege that these entities sacrificed their clients’ investments as part of a massive Ponzi scheme, including multiple acts of fraud, issuing false and misleading investment materials and statements and concealing information about the allocation of the Feeder Funds’ assets.
We are also actively investigating and litigating claims against many third parties who were negligent and breached their fiduciary duties in failing to perform the necessary due diligence when advising their clients to invest in these funds.
For more information Click Here.

We are prosecuting investor claims against ProShares Ultra Funds and UltraShort ProShares Funds, which have subjected investors to substantially more risk than was disclosed and resulted in enormous losses by investors.
ProShares touted its UltraShort ETFs including those listed above, as simple-to-execute investments which go up when markets go down. Although ProShares touts its securities and cloaks them with certainty due to allegedly reliable mathematical formulas, their math does not add up.
Holding the funds for more than one day or trading session will most certainly lead to enormous losses. ProShares has now conceded that mathematical compounding actually prevents these funds from achieving their stated investment objectives over a period of time greater than one day.
For more information Click Here.

Our attorneys have extensive experience litigating insurance claims on behalf of homeowners and business owners against their insurance companies. We have represented in the past, and currently represent businesses and individuals in a wide array of insurance cases, including: 1. Hurricane Property Damage We have handled claims involving the improper calculation of deductibles, determining coverage, and cases where the insurance company simply refuses to pay the right amount. 2. Sinkhole Damage There are generally two kinds of sinkhole claims: (1) the insurance company denies that there is sinkhole activity; and (2) the insurance company acknowledges that sinkhole motion exists, but then fails or refuses to adequately or timely pay to repair the damage. 3. Life Insurance While life insurance carriers actively advertise for, and promote, their life insurance coverage, and then willingly accept premium dollars for many years – decades or more – they too often fail to pay on the claim in the consumer’s time of need. Claims denial is common. 4. Long Term Disability (LTD) Insurance Consumers pay their LTD premiums, and then, suddenly, when they need that become disabled and need that coverage the most, the LTD carrier refuses to honor and pay the claim. 5. Health Insurance Health insurance companies, in their efforts to maximize profits and to cut costs, often delay or deny treatment for valid health insurance claims. These insurance companies simply deem innovative, progressive treatment as “experimental” and excluded under the policy. They also engage in “rescission," which is their concerted effort to retroactively cancel the policyholder’s coverage by claiming the insured lied on the on an insurance application form. 6. Denial of Warranty Claims When a consumer buys a home, a car, appliance, or other costly product, he or she also purchases additional insurance protection – called a warranty – to protect the consumer against costs of repair or replacement if the purchase turns out to be defective or fails. Many builders, car dealers, and electronics chains, sell these warranties at an additional cost over and above the product’s purchase price. Unfortunately, many warranty companies fail to honor their warranty obligations to repair or replace the defective product. There are several variations of this warranty denial: (1) claiming the product or defect is not covered; or (2) claiming no coverage exists because the item is “out of warranty” or outside the warranty period. 7. Vehicle Property Damage Vehicle crashes, accidents, theft, fire, or adverse weather conditions can result in substantial vehicle property damage. Auto insurance companies often fail or refuse to cover the full extent of the property damage. For profit’s sake, insurance companies try to pay consumers the very least amount of money possible for vehicle property damage. Insurance companies are required, however, in virtually every State, to honor the terms of their policies. If they fail to honor their policies terms, in many case insurance companies can be sued for bad faith. More often than not, auto insurance companies attempt to repair the damaged vehicle instead of declaring the vehicle a “total loss,” or “totaling” the vehicle. Not only does this improper tactic greatly diminish the vehicle’s value, but may also place the consumer at risk of operating a defective and unsafe vehicle. 8. Fire Insurance Fire insurance protects against fire damage to homes and businesses. When a substantial claim is made under a fire insurance policy, insurance companies often seek to deny coverage on several grounds: (1) arson; (2) electrical fire; (3) appliance and product malfunctions. Insurance companies also often refuse to pay the correct for repair, replacement, relocation, or rebuilding. 9. Water Damage Water damage to the home is caused by many sources: broken washer lines/hoses, broken refrigerator water lines, broken ice machine hoses, or leaking roofs. Insurance companies may be held liable for failing to pay a water damage claim, or when they fail to pay the correct amount. 10. Flood Damage Claims Water damage in the form of flooding often ruins a home. After the water has been removed, there is often mud residue and toxic mold which take hold of the structure itself, rendering the home uninhabitable. Major appliances and electronics, including washer, dryer, refrigerator, furnace, water heater, televisions, computers, and other related products and irreparably damaged and require replacement. Carpeting and drywall have to be replaced. The damage to the structure itself – called structural damage – may be insurmountable to repair, meaning relocation or rebuilding are the last available options. Most homeowner, condo owner, and business insurances cover water damage, but exclude “flood” damage. Because of this standard exclusion, insurance companies often attempt to delay or deny claims for water damage by simply categorizing the damage as flood damage. There are strict legal definitions that apply to these situations, and quite often the insurance company’s claim denial based on claiming the damage is flood-related can be defeated in court. 11. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Disability Claims Consumers whose disability insurance is issued through their employer often fall under the federal employee benefit law known as ERISA. Consumers who have become disabled need their private disability insurance to cover their new and increasing financial needs. This is why the consumer purchased the private disability insurance in the first place: peace of mind. Unfortunately, insurance companies often fail to provide compassion or an adequate legal basis for denying valid disability claims by their insureds for coverage under long-term and short-term disability policies. Special rules for ERISA claims apply, so our attorneys knowledgeable in ERISA law can help. 12. Hail Damage Hail damage to homes and business is often covered in homeowner and business insurance policies. Often, the insurance company claims the roof damage or other proiperty damage caused by hail was pre-existing, or was not the result of hail damage. Where these claims have been wrongfully denied, then the insurance company is often liable to the policyholder for the claim as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. 13. Toxic Mold Attorneys Toxic mold claims originate when a home is subject to water damage or intrusion from the elements, faulty workmanship, burst pipes, roof leaks, or other sources of water entering the home. Water intrusion in the home often results in the growth of toxic mold, which takes thrive in moist environments. When water damage leads to mold, then the homeownwer’s insurance policy is often required to pay for resulting repairs, clean-up, and replacement of affected structures. 14. Home Owner Insurance (HOI) Homeowners’ insurance (HOI) protects the home itself as well as the contents, or personal property inside the home. Most consumers have paid their HOI premiums for years, even decades, without filing a single claim. When a home and/or its contents are damaged or destroyed in a hurricane, tropical storm, thunderstorm, lighting strike, fallen tree, or even an errant vehicle, then a HOI generally covers the claim, including repair, replacement, and rebuilding. Insurance companies are increasingly refusing to pay valid claims, delay paying the claim, or underpaying the claim. Because an insurance policy is a contract between a homeowner and an insurance company, the insurance company must abide by the terms of its contract. Where the insurer wrongfull delays or denies paying a valid claim, it can be held liable not only for breach of contract, but also for bad faith. In addition, the firm has considerable experience in construction structural equipment accidents, medical malpractice, and premises liability.

We are prosecuting investor complaints against brokerage firms, financial institutions and entities misled their clients into purchasing these purported fully principal protected notes, through assurances that their principal investment would be fully protected. Certain financial institutions including ABN AMBO Bank N.V., AIG, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Bear Stearns, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Countrywide Securities, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, E-Trade, Harris National Bank, Incaptial LLP, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Keegan, Morgan Stanley, RBC Royal Bank, Societe Generale, UBS Fraud, Wachovia, and others.
We allege that these banks specifically targeted conservative, risk-averse investors who were seeking to preserve their capital and generate income. In fact, these notes subjected investors to significantly more risk than was disclosed. Holders of these structured securities and principal protected notes (PPNs) face significant losses, including their entire principal investment.
For more information Click Here.

Gilman and Pastor LLP is representing home owners and building owners who have defective Chinese drywall. Chinese Drywall destroys the homes and buildings in which it was installed, including corrosion of copper wiring, ductwork, cooling coils, air conditioning units, and metal pipes.
Complete remediation and reconstruction is required for the impacted homes. We are also actively investigating claims that Chinese Drywall has resulted in serious personal injuries, including brain injury and birth defects.
For more information Click Here.

Are you receiving the pension benefits to which you are entitled? If you are a participant in a pension plan and have suffered a loss in your corporate retirement fund account, you may be able to recover your losses. Our firm’s pension lawyers can provide important pension advice and services concerning your retirement fund. Your retirement benefits could be at risk without your knowledge. Most employees are not aware that their employers may not have contributed sufficient assets to pay promised benefits to future retirees or that the assets in their retirement plans may have substantially decreased in value creating a phenomenon known as under funding. This under funding could result in the inability of your pension plan to pay the retirement benefits due you. What’s more, many employees are under the erroneous impression that their retirement benefits are fully guaranteed and backed by the federal government.

Countrywide Security Breach Litigation (W.D. Ky.) Sale of Countrywide of its consumers’ confidential private data.

Defective Consumer & Homeowner Products State and Federal laws provide consumers with remedies for products which do not perform as warranted or advertised. Gilman and Pastor’s cases involve a wide range of products, from faulty building and home products to defective cars, tires, and electronic products.

Gilman Law Offices is currently investigating consumer complaints about composite decks and manufacturers' failure to honor their composite deck warranties. Composite wood decking is often made of fiberglass, or waste wood and recycled plastic products, which the manufacturers claim that their products are virtually, care free, "low maintenance," and durable, including resistant to cracks, mold, mildew, spotting, and rot.
We are investigating consumer complaints that contrary to these representations, composite decks are defective in several respects, including stains, discoloration, mold, mildew, spotting, and peeling, as well as manufacturers’ failure or refusal to honor their warranties regarding these decking products.

We are investigating Honda motorcycle frame defects which may result in serious injuries or death. Consumer complaints and our investigation have revealed that certain Honda motorcycle models have defective frame welds. These frame welds lack sufficient strength, which can lead to the frame welds breaking, and result in lower cross member separation and rear suspension collapse.

Gilman and Pastor was appointed as Lead Counsel in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to represent purchasers of DRAM and products containing DRAM, and serves on the National Executive Committee. Manufacturers of Dynamic Access Random Memory (DRAM), including Samsung, Hynix, and others, engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to inflate prices of the memory products which are used in computer monitors, notebooks, televisions, mobile phones, and various electronics. Manufacturers, sellers, and consumers of DRAM-containing products all paid higher prices as a result of this price-fixing conspiracy.

The world’s largest manufacturers of liquid crystal display (LCD) products, LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa, engaged in collusive behavior to inflate the process of these products. The three companies worked in concert to set prices on thin-film transistor LCDs, which are used in computer monitors, notebooks, televisions, mobile phones, and various electronics. Manufacturers, sellers, and consumers of LCD products all paid higher prices as a result of this price-fixing conspiracy.

Gilman and Pastor, LLP are representing investors against State Street for breaches of fiduciary duties established by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), as well as other ERISA violations, when they carelessly engaged in "securities lending" for their own benefit and in a manner that involved imprudent and unreasonable risk of loss to the 401(k) and pension plans that invested in the Collective Trusts. The 401(k) and pension plans suffered large financial losses as a result of these risky securities lending practices.

We are prosecuting a securities class action on behalf of investors of AIG and several investment banking firms that acted as sales agents for the Structured Note offerings.
AIG offered and sold Structured Notes to the public through various investment banking firms and broker-dealers, including AIG Financial Securities Corp., ABN AMRO Incorporated, Banca IMI S.p.A., Banc of America Securities LLC, Barclays Capital, Inc., Bear Stearns & Co., Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., BNY Capital Markets, Inc., Calyon Securities (USA) Inc., Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Daiwa Securities America, Inc., Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe Limited, Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., Greenwich Capital Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Lehman Brothers Inc., McDonald Investments Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International plc, Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Nomura Securities International, Inc., RBC Capital Markets Corporation, Santander Investment Securities Inc., Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., SG Americas Securities, LLC, TD Securities (USA), LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC.
We allege that the documentation accompanying the Notes were false and misleading in failing to disclose AIG’s looming financial meltdown at the time of the offering, and that when this information became public, the market value of the Notes declined substantially. As a result, many investors lost their entire investments.

Gilman and Pastor, LLP represented a proposed class of present and retired pilots of Delta Air Lines, Inc., challenging Delta’s methodology of calculating pension insurance benefits for participants in certain Delta retirement plans.

Gilman and Pastor LLP is representing employees concerning employment practices in which employees have been denied certain entitlements and benefits, including health insurance coverage, retirement benefits, and overtime pay, as a result being misclassified by their employers as independent contractors or in FLSA-exempt positions, against many companies throughout the United States.

We are litigating a collective action against CVS Pharmacy and its parent corporation Caremark alleging that the companies have systematically and intentionally misclassified assistant managers as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the express purpose of avoiding paying these employees overtime.
We allege that assistant managers are ordinary employees with little or no supervisory responsibilities, and do not qualify for the FLSA-exempt status CVS and Caremark have used to avoid paying overtime pay at the rate of time-and-a0half for hours worked over 40 hours per work week. Virtually all “assistant managers” at CVS are required to work a minimum of 45 hours per work week without any overtime pay.

Gilman and Pastor represents residential and commercial property owners against the oil companies, BP Amoco, Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, Shell and Sunoco, for groundwater contamination of their properties from Petroleum leaking from underground storage tanks owned or leased from the above referenced oil companies. Our clients suffered significant diminution of value due to petroleum contamination.

Gilman and Pastor is representing individuals who were injured resulting from the Infuse Bone Graph manufactured by Medtronic, Inc., which was approved for use in lower spine repair surgery to promote bone growth.
Medtronic’s Infuse has been linked to many fatalities or life-threatening complications when used in surgeries on the upper spine and neck.

Gilman and Pastor represents individuals who have sustained personal injuries or wrongful death caused by the negligence of others, including compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages and past and future medical expenses.
Our representation of clients includes injuries and deaths resulting from negligent conduct, design and marketing defects.