Closed Case
Consumer
Settled in 1991 for $9 million

During the 1980s, the United States government awarded a contract to the Meredith Relocation Corporation, an affiliate of the companies that publish magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens, to provide specified relocation services to high-level government employees whose jobs forced them to move. The plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and other government employees availing themselves of Meredith's services, alleged that the company failed miserably in providing the agreed-upon services.

Sprenger + Lang filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Iowa alleging RICO and antitrust violations as well as common law claims for breach of contract and fraud. The Court rejected Meredith's motion to dismiss, accepting that government employees had standing to assert RICO claims. Shortly thereafter, Paul Sprenger and Jane Lang met with Meredith's chairman of the board of directors and negotiated a settlement, including a payment by the company of nine million dollars to the plaintiffs and class members.