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Royal Dutch/Shell Group agreed to pay about $90 million to settle a lawsuit brought by its U.S. employees after the company overstated its oil and gas reserves by 41 percent. The accord brings to about $240 million costs related to the overstatement, which led to lawsuits, criminal investigations and the ouster of Chief Executive Philip Watts. Insurance will cover $25 million of the settlement, Shell said in a statement July 12, 2005.

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Middle District Court of Florida against Win-Dar Construction Company Inc. for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Class members seek unpaid overtime compensation, damages, attorney's fees and costs of the litigation.

The federal Fair Standards Labor Act and similar state labor laws require that most hourly employees be paid overtime wages if they work more than 40 hours in a normal workweek. Two related class actions have been filed against home improvement center operator Lowe's Companies, Inc., and certain of the company's subsidiaries on behalf of current and former employees who allege that the companies did not properly calculate their overtime pay, in violation of state and federal labor laws. Qualified employees should join the action as soon as possible to prevent forfeiture of benefits because of the operation of federal statutory deadlines.

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District Court of Florida against Sushi Takara, Inc. The case involves violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. No additional information about the substance of the allegations is available at this time. Classactionamerica.com will monitor this case and provide additional details as soon as they become available.

Nurses and other hospital employees in the Ohio cities of Cincinnati, Lima, Lorain, Springfield, and Toledo filed a lawsuit against Catholic Healthcare Partners, claiming Ohio's largest hospital system violates federal and state wage-and-hour laws.

A collective action has been filed in Louisiana against the Plaquemines Parish School Board. The action is brought on behalf of all former and current employees who have worked in excess of 40 hours a week, but who have not been paid overtime by Plaquemines Parish. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and is seeking back pay, statutory and liquidated damages. As a collective action, all potential claimants are required to "opt-in" to the action in order to be considered eligible claimants. The employees have requested that the court issue notice to all potential claimants.