Home Depot lawsuit - SETTLEMENT CHECK STATUS

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10,000 employees' personal information data on stolen laptop

Home Depot announced recently that a personal laptop computer than stored over 10,000 employees' personal information and data was stolen from a Home Depot manager's car as is sat unattended. The stolen laptop computer, which was supposed to be password protected, didn't contain any personal customer information, said a spokesman for Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement store. The spokesman would not say whether the information had been encrypted or if it contained the pictures from Women Of Home Depot Sexual Discrimination Lawsuit. The Home Depot manager reported that the laptop computer was stolen from his expensive car while it was parked outside his personal residence.

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The stolen Home Depot laptop contains the names, home mail addresses and personal Social Security numbers of Home Depot employees. "We have no reason to believe that the data contained on the laptop was the target of theft, or that any private and personal information was distributed or used improperly." The data is enough for hackers to create false identities and credit reports. Home Depot has over 351,000 employees. The management sent notification to the 10,000 affected home depot employees of the identity theft in a company letter and said they were arranging free credit reports and credit monitoring services. The Home Depot manager violated company policy by leaving a laptop with personal information in his car.

EEOC Suit Alleged Retaliation and Harassment Based on Race, Sex, and National Origin
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the simultaneous filing and resolution of a class-wide discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Atlanta-based Home Depot, U.S.A., Inc., on behalf of employees in the company's Colorado stores (Civil Action No. 04 D 1776; U.S. District of Colorado).

If the settlement is approved by a U.S. District Judge in Colorado, Home Depot will pay $5.5 million to current and former employees, as well as significant injunctive relief. The EEOC lawsuit alleges that in Home Depot's Colorado stores, there was a hostile work environment based on gender, race, and national origin, and that the company retaliated against employees who complained about discrimination. "We commend Home Depot for working cooperatively with us to resolve this case," said Joseph H. Mitchell, Regional Attorney in the EEOC's Denver District Office. "Without the willingness of Home Depot to mediate and bring prompt closure, this case could have taken years to litigate. Instead, the parties were able to work collaboratively to bring this matter to an amicable resolution that satisfied the interests of all the parties concerned." The proposed Consent Decree, a voluntary agreement between EEOC and Home Depot, provides for $3 million to resolve charges of discrimination filed by 38 individuals, and an additional $2.5 million in a class settlement fund to provide relief for other individuals who were harmed by the alleged unlawful conduct. Upon approval of the Decree, claim forms will be sent to former and current employees who were employed at the company's stores in Colorado between January 1, 2000, and the date of the approved Decree.

Those complainants deemed eligible may receive monetary awards as determined by EEOC and approved by the Court. EEOC anticipates that the class settlement fund will be ready to accept claims by November 1, 2004. Interested parties may contact the Denver District Office of the EEOC at (303) 866-1358.In addition to the monetary relief, the Consent Decree calls for Home Depot to do the following:

EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the federal statutes which prohibit employment discrimination, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, or religion; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits job discrimination based on the existence or perception of a disability; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits discrimination against persons age 40 and over; and the Equal Pay Act (EPA), which prohibits wage discrimination based on sex. The EEOC's Denver District Office, located at 303 East 17th Avenue, Suite 510, in Denver, enforces the anti-discrimination laws in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Further information about the Commission is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov .

One of Buckhead's hottest pieces of real estate has sparked a court battle between an Atlanta developer and The Home Depot Inc.The dispute involves the site of Home Depot's existing store at Georgia 400 and Sidney Marcus Boulevard. The home improvement retailer plans to close that location and open a new one in 2006 a short distance away at the Lindbergh Plaza development, freeing up the existing store site for sale and redevelopment.In a lawsuit filed April 25 in Fulton Superior Court, Easlan Capital of Atlanta Inc. says Home Depot (NYSE: HD) in February signed a letter of intent to sell the 13-acre site and 168,000-square-foot building to Easlan for $27.5 million. The sale was set to close April 28.But on April 22, the lawsuit states, Ken Baye, Home Depot's senior director of real estate, announced that the deal was off."At the present time, the company is evaluating all offers for the property of its Sidney Marcus store," said Home Depot spokesman Jerry Shields on .April 27. At that time, the company had not been served with the lawsuit.Easlan's lawsuit asks the court to force Home Depot to sell the property.

Kent Levenson, president of Easlan, had no comment on the site or the suit. Jay Jacob, who has brokered several deals for the company, did not return calls by press time, nor did attorney Ron Quigley of Davis Matthews & Quigley P.C.Home Depot's Sidney Marcus site is a hot commodity, according to local real estate developers and brokers, given its proximity to Lindbergh Plaza and the fact that several big-box retailers are looking for space in the area.

"I think everybody in the world is trying to buy it," said John Sexton, president of Noro-Broadview Holding Co., which is developing Lindbergh Plaza with The Sembler Co. He said his company has its hands full with Lindbergh - a $110 million project that also will feature a Target, a Best Buy and 235 apartment units - and is not interested in the property.

"It's very desirable," said Ruth Coan, a partner with The Shopping Center Group LLC, a major retail brokerage. "The beauty of that site is that at this point, it's flexible. Home Depot could be torn down and the space could be redone."At a purchase price of more than $2 million per acre under the terms given in the suit, Coan said, a pure retail project for the site is unlikely, since the developers would have trouble recovering their costs from tenants at current lease rates.More likely, she and Sexton said, it will become another mixed-use development similar to Lindbergh Plaza, which has about twice the acreage.City of Atlanta planner Enrique Bascunana said the site is zoned for mixed use, and at least 20 percent of any redevelopment must be residential under current zoning.He said a developer could build up to 500,000 square feet of commercial space - an office tower, for example - before requirements for additional residential space kick in.Adding to the property's attraction is the fact that more than 50,000 vehicles drive the stretch of Piedmont Road fronting Lindbergh Plaza daily, while nearly 30,000 traverse Sidney Marcus, according to Sembler. Sembler also says the average household income within a three-mile radius is just under $100,000.In its lawsuit, Easlan says Home Depot prepared and gave Easlan a draft of a formal sale agreement on March 22 and by April 1 they had reached substantial agreement on the terms of the deal, except for three provisions "insisted upon" by Home Depot.The developer claims Home Depot wanted to restrict the goods that could be sold from the site beyond the customary prohibition on home improvement products that bans competitors such as Lowe's Cos. (NYSE: LOW) from taking up residence. The suit contends Home Depot also proposed a repurchase option that would have been significantly in its favor.Meanwhile, Easlan says, it had received preliminary approval from Regions Bank for acquisition financing, and hired Terramark Surveyors, Qore Environmental and USA Inspections to perform due diligence.Home Depot then "actively interfered with and prevented" the due diligence inspections, Easlan's lawsuit states.Easlan, which has its offices at Tower Place 200, recently has been active in the Buckhead market.In February 2004, Levenson - together with Pope & Land Enterprises Inc. and local real estate investor George Berkow - became the latest owners of a 12.5-acre tract wrapping around the Grand Hyatt Atlanta hotel at the corner of Piedmont and Peachtree roads.Six months later, they flipped the property to Cousins Properties Inc. (NYSE: CUZ). Cousins is planning a 31-story, 500,000-square-foot office tower.Easlan also bought the 80,000-square-foot Miami Heights Market Center on Piedmont, formerly the home of another Home Depot store, and about 8 acres for a redevelopment that will house Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead LLC.Moving the dealership there frees up land on West Paces Ferry Road behind One Buckhead Plaza for another venture by Levenson, Berkow and investor John Meshad: a 28-story St. Regis hotel, the luxury brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT), which also will feature 60 condominium units.

Home Depot was sued by a shopper who claims he got stuck to a restroom toilet seat because a prankster had smeared it with glue. Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding. “They left me there, going through all that stress,” Dougherty told The (Boulder) Daily Camera. “They just let me rot.”

The lawsuit, filed Friday, said Dougherty was recovering from heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack when he got stuck at the Louisville store on the day before Halloween 2003. A store employee who heard him calling for help informed the head clerk by radio, but the head clerk “believed it to be a hoax,” the lawsuit said.Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said she could not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit said store officials called for an ambulance after about 15 minutes. Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, and as they wheeled the “frightened and humiliated” Dougherty out of the store, he passed out.

Colman Herman, a 59-year-old Dorchester, MA resident, who filed a lawsuit against Home Depot on behalf of the state's item-pricing regulation, has hit the jackpot. Or at least his lawyer has. The Home Depot agreed to pay an estimated $3.8 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the retailer's failure to stamp prices on store items harmed consumers. The item-pricing regulation was created by the attorney general approximately 32 years ago under the state's Consumer Protection Act.

This law, in an era of bar code scanners and automated checkout, requires retailers to post prices on most individual items in their stores, although exceptions are granted in a number of cases. Home Depot, for example, is not required to stamp prices on thousands of small items such as individual screws or nails; the regulation applies to larger items, from lawn mowers to light bulbs. A separate item-pricing law applies to food stores. The Atlanta-based hardware store chain estimated it would have to spend $20 million over the next three years complying with the state's item-pricing regulation at its 31 Home Depot and two Expo Design Centers in Massachusetts, according to the settlement agreement, which received preliminary approval in Suffolk Superior Court. A Home Depot spokesman says that the typical store carries 45,000 different products and more than 5 million units in all, and that the typical store changes the price on about 120 products each day.

Herman, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, will not receive any money under the settlement. Nor will any other individual consumer, apparently because the damages per person are so small and the cost of tracking down affected individuals is so great.Instead, up to half of the $3.8 million will go to cover the expenses of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, and the remainder will go to a group of consumer groups and charities. Ironically, a portion of the settlement money will go to the office of Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, whose refusal three years ago to enforce the item pricing regulation prompted Herman's efforts. Reilly's inaction on item pricing initially prompted Herman's item-pricing crusade. Three years ago Herman, a freelance writer with a pharmacy degree and no legal background, asked Home Depot's Quincy store to comply with the regulation. When the store ignored him, he asked the attorney general to make the store comply.

When Reilly ignored him, Herman went to small-claims court and filed a lawsuit against Home Depot's Quincy store. He won a $25 judgment, but the store still refused to stamp prices on most of its items. Herman returned to court and eventually ended up before Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven, who was familiar with the item-pricing regulation from his previous job as head of the consumer protection division at the attorney general's office. Coven ordered Home Depot's Quincy store to comply with the regulation and last year fined the store $13,625 when its efforts weren't up to par. Home Depot spokesman John Simley called the settlement ''the best possible outcome under the circumstances.'' He declined to say whether Home Depot believes item pricing should be scrapped. ''The bottom line is it's the law and whether it's good or bad it is the law, and we are bound to comply with it,'' he said. ''This could have an impact right on down to the corner hardware store,'' said Jon Hurst, president of the Retail Association of Massachusetts.

Hurst said several other retailers have already been targeted for class action lawsuits and warned that millions of dollars in settlement costs and the millions more spent stamping prices on store items would eventually get passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices. Why does Herman fight against big companies for virtually no reward? "It's fun," he says. Meanwhile, after earning his lawyers $1.9 million and nothing for himself, Herman is gearing up for a price tag sequel: he has filed an action against Wal-Mart.

Home Depot Lawsuit- You May Be Eligible For a Settlement Check

HOME DEPOT SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT

10,000 employees' personal information data on stolen laptop