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              C L A S S  A C T I O N  R E P O R T E R
  
              Thursday, April 1, 1999, Vol. 1, No. 40

                            Headlines

ARCHER DANIELS: Jury May Hear Tape Recordings in Civil Cases
CHEVY CHASE: Lawyers Seek Refunds for Excess Credit Card Fees
CHS ELECTRONICS: Klari Neuwelt Files Complaint in Florida
COMPAQ COMPUTER: Milberg Weiss Files Complaint in Texas
COMPLETE MANAGEMENT: Bernstein Liebhard Files Suit in New York

COYOTE NETWORK: Statement Regarding Class Action Settlement
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: France Seeks Dismissal of US Lawsuits
INFORMATION ANALYSIS: Abbey Gardy Files Complaint in Virginia
MONEY STORE: Saperstein Goldstein Files Complaint in California
SEARS ROEBUCK: Settlement Includes $7.50 Coupons for 11 Million

STAFFMARK, INC.: Weiss & Yourman Files Complaint in Arkansas
TOBACCO LITIGATION: $81 Mil. Verdict for Dedicated Marlboro Man
TOTAL RENAL: Pomerantz Haudek Sues for Louisiana Teachers

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ARCHER DANIELS: Jury May Hear Tape Recordings in Civil Cases
------------------------------------------------------------
The Associated Press reported that a federal judge in Peoria,
Illinois, has ruled that some of the tape recordings barred in
the criminal price-fixing case against executives of Archer
Daniels Midland Co. can be released to attorneys for possible use
in the civil case.

According to the account, U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm ruled
last week that tapes made secretly by former ADM vice president
Mark Whitacre can be subpoenaed by plaintiffs in the case, but he
excluded recorded telephone calls. The tapes, made over two and a
half years, contain conversations of executives discussing
business practices. Lawyers for several food companies and soft
drink bottlers that buy high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener,
want the tapes introduced as evidence to show a pattern of price
fixing, explained AP.

Customers of ADM and its competitors in the corn syrup market
allege they were harmed by price fixing and have filed more than
two dozen class-action lawsuits being heard by Mihm, according to
the report. The companies are seeking damages from grain
processors including ADM and A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co.,
Cargill Inc. and American Maize Products Co.

The AP also noted that in 1995, ADM agreed to pay a $100 million
fine after pleading guilty to price-fixing involving lysine and
citric acid. And in a criminal trial last year, Michael Andreas,
the son of ADM Chairman Emeritus Dwayne Andreas, was convicted of
conspiracy price fixing along with Terrance Wilson, former head
of ADM's corn division. The report said that they have yet to be
sentenced.

AP said Whitacre is serving a nine-year sentence for swindling
ADM out of $9 million and stashing the money in foreign accounts.
A trial date has not been set for the civil cases.


CHEVY CHASE: Lawyers Seek Refunds for Excess Credit Card Fees
-------------------------------------------------------------
In a story copyrighted by Phillips Publishing, Inc., Card News
reported on the national class action lawsuit filed in Circuit
Court for Baltimore City entitled Wells v. Chevy Chase Bank, FSB
(Civil No. C-99- 000202). According to the story, Washington-
based Trial Lawyers for Public Justice  are suing against Chevy
Chase Bank and Wilmington, Del.-based issuer First USA, which
purchased Chevy Chase's card portfolio on September 30, 1998. The
suit alleges the thrift breached its contract with cardholders by
raising interest rates above a promised cap.

Card News says that the plaintiffs attorneys are seeking refunds
for what could be "hundreds of thousands" of cardholders who were
charged an APR of more than 24 percent, the cap under Maryland
law, and for those charged excess fees -- a sum that could total
in the millions of dollars. The suit says the thrift originally
promised cardholders their interest rates would never exceed 24
percent, the maximum under Maryland law. In addition, the thrift
reportedly guaranteed cardholders that it would comply with
Maryland consumer credit laws, which require banks to provide
specific written notice of any proposed amendments to cardholder
agreements and give cardholders the chance to opt out of them and
pay off balances according to the old terms.

Problems began when Chevy Chase moved its headquarters to McLean,
Va., a state which has no interest rate cap, according to Card
News. The suit alleges the thrift, immediately and without
notice, tried to amend the agreement to make Virginia law apply,
eliminating its promise not to charge more than a 24 percent APR.
Chevy Chase was said to have also increased other charges and
added new late-payment and over-the-limit fees even for
cardholders who had amassed balances before the thrift moved to
Virginia.

The Card News story says Chevy Chase Bank would not comment on
the case, save for a statement issued by Leslie Nicholson, Chevy
Chase Bank's executive vice president and general counsel. The
statement reportedly says the thrift believes it was within its
rights in its treatment of cardholders: "... Chevy Chase Bank
believes that [cardholders'] complaints will be dismissed because
the bank complied with applicable federal and state laws in
making the changes in early 1996 that are now being challenged."

"This legal matter will be concluded in the bank's favor,"
Nicholson was reported to say.


CHS ELECTRONICS: Klari Neuwelt Files Complaint in Florida
---------------------------------------------------------
On March 25, 1999, the Law Office of Klari Neuwelt filed a class
action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of Florida on behalf of purchasers of common
stock of CHS Electronics Inc. (NYSE: HS) from June 19, 1998
through March 19, 1999.

The complaint charges CHS and certain of its officers and
directors with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as SEC Rule 10b-5. The
complaint alleges that CHS issued materially false and misleading
financial statements for the last three quarters of its 1998
fiscal year. The financial statements are alleged to be false and
misleading because they improperly credited vendor rebates, in
violation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, thereby
materially overstating CHS' profits. The complaint alleges that
the market price of CHS common stock was artificially inflated
until March 22, 1999, when CHS announced that it would restate
and revise its financial results substantially downward. Upon
that announcement, the market price of CHS stock plunged.


COMPAQ COMPUTER: Milberg Weiss Files Complaint in Texas
-------------------------------------------------------
The law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach filed a
class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of Texas on behalf of all purchasers of the
common stock of Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) between January
27, 1999, and February 25, 1999.

The complaint alleges that defendants issued a series of false
statements and failed to disclose material facts concerning the
Company's operating results and its future prospects.


COMPLETE MANAGEMENT: Bernstein Liebhard Files Suit in New York
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz, LLP has filed a securities class
action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of the common stock and
convertible debentures of Complete Management, Inc. (OTC Bulletin
Board: CPMI) between May 1, 1996 and August 13, 1998, in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New
York.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the federal securities laws and
names as defendants the company, certain of its officers and
directors, its accountants, and underwriters. The complaint
charges the defendants with violations of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5.

The complaint alleges that the defendants improperly recognized
revenue on uncollectible receivables from its largest customer,
Greater Metropolitan Medical Services ("GMMS") in violation of
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. On August 13, 1998, CMI
announced that it would be writing off approximately $28.9
million in management fees due from GMMS and would be terminating
its relationship with GMMS. Plaintiffs claim that as a result of
these misrepresentations and omissions, the price of CMI's common
stock was artificially inflated.


COYOTE NETWORK: Statement Regarding Class Action Settlement
-----------------------------------------------------------
Coyote Network Systems (Nasdaq: CYOE), a Westlake Village, CA,
provider of telecom equipment, international long distance
services, and network management and customer support services,
has issued a statement to clarify its settlement of class action
litigation.

According to the company, the cash portion of the proposed
settlement would be fully funded by insurance carriers and not
from company funds. Additionally, the proposed settlement with
respect to the issuance of warrants at $9, $10, and $11 per share
was fully reserved for in the company's prior fiscal year, ended
March 31, 1998.

No further charges are anticipated by the company. The settlement
proposal reportedly fairly reflects the agreement by the parties
and was previously disclosed and accounted for during Coyote
Network Systems prior fiscal year.


HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: France Seeks Dismissal of US Lawsuits
----------------------------------------------------------
The Associated Press reported that France has asked a U.S.
federal court to drop two class action lawsuits filed by
Americans against French banks, saying they are hampering efforts
to achieve full restitution of wartime assets.

The AP says the French Foreign Ministry confirmed it had filed a
legal brief charging that the U.S. litigation was "misguided and
wrong" and "interferes with current efforts of the French
government to achieve a complete, thorough and complete
resolution of all unresolved issues caused by the Holocaust in
France." The French Banking Association was said to have released
excerpts from the legal brief.

According to the AP, a group of Holocaust survivors living in the
United States sued French banks last year seeking to recover
their families' assets. The banks named in the class action suit
are: Credit Lyonnais, Banque Paribas; the French subsidiary of
Barclay's Bank; Societe Generale; Banque National de Paris;
Credit Commerical de France; Credit Agricole; Banque Francaise du
Commerce Exterieur, and Banque Worms Capital Corp. In December,
Barclay's Bank created a fund for the repayment of assets that
were held in its French subsidiary during World War II and not
recovered by the rightful owners after the war.

The AP wrote that France resents outside lobbying concerning
Holocaust restitution and believes that the state-appointed panel
of experts currently studying the systematic looting of Jewish
property during the war will help recover frozen assets and funds
still in national financial institutions.

The banking association reportedly issued a statement that said
France's way of confronting its past and addressing the
accountability of its own state institutions "is a matter of
fundamental political and historical importance to the French
people." The banking association has announced measures to make
sure that bank accounts seized from Jews during World War II
would be returned to their heirs or used to create a Holocaust
education center. The measures were said to have marked the first
major initiative from the banks, which have long been accused of
benefiting from the unclaimed accounts.

However, AP noted that this relief may not come soon enough for
many aging and financially troubled Jews who were orphaned during
the war. Most received no postwar compensation and are now
demanding a pension, according to the story.
The report said the banking association claimed that about $55.5
million in assets was confiscated and frozen by French banks
obeying the anti-Jewish laws passed by the collaborationist Vichy
regime. It said most of those assets were returned after the war
and it is not known how much the banks hold today.

In its Memorandum of Law submitted as Amicus Curiae (a "friend of
the court"), the French government' charged that:

     -- The U.S. lawsuits "directly affect France's sovereign
interests by seeking damages for activities that occurred during
World War II in which participated the de facto authorities which
exercised their power on the national territory and which styled
themselves 'the government of the French state,' and by
addressing issues of fundamental policy concern to the French
government today."      

    -- The Republic of France "has a paramount interest in
formulating and implementing its own policies towards the victims
of that period. How it chooses to confront its past, and to
address the accountability of its own state institutions, is a
matter of fundamental political, and indeed historical,
importance to the French people."

     -- The U.S. lawsuits will "inevitably interfere with, and
hamper, the very thorough, complex, and far-reaching efforts that
the French government, working together with other French
institutions, is making to address this history."      

     -- The U.S. lawsuits are "illusory" and "incapable of
providing comprehensive relief" because they "involve only a
small number of the banks that did business in France during the
Occupation and are still in business today" and "plaintiffs and
their lawyers will not have access to French governmental files
and other documents available only in France and through French
governmental processes."

The brief says, "There is no reason to believe that a class
action proceeding in New York will be better able than the
Republic of France itself to locate, identify, and provide
benefits to victims of the Holocaust in France on a
comprehensive, worldwide basis." Accordingly, the brief
concludes, "the Republic of France strongly believes that the
plaintiffs' efforts ... to address the Holocaust in France
through American class action litigation are misguided and
wrong."
For a copy of the French Government's amicus brief or more
information, contact: Michael Freitag or Jason Lynch, French
Bankers Association Kekst and Company 212-521-4800.


INFORMATION ANALYSIS: Abbey Gardy Files Complaint in Virginia
-------------------------------------------------------------
The law firm of Abbey, Gardy & Squitieri, LLP has filed a
complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, on behalf of all purchasers of Information
Analysis, Inc. (Nasdaq: IAIC) common stock between February 26,
1998 and September 28, 1998.

The complaint charges that IAI and certain officers and directors
violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934 by issuing a series of materially false and misleading
financial statements and failing to reveal that the company's
touted strategic expansion was insufficient to keep up with a
growing backlog of Year 2000 projects. It was not until later
that the company announced that it had insufficient resources to
complete current projects and to recognize revenue from
backlogged orders.


MONEY STORE: Saperstein Goldstein Files Complaint in California
---------------------------------------------------------------
The law firm of Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller filed a
class action lawsuit against The Money Store and First Union
Corp. on behalf of five current and former loan officers and
assistant branch managers. The complaint, filed in Superior Court
in Sacramento, states that The Money Store and First Union have
violated California state law since at least March 30, 1995, by
failing to pay required overtime wages to hundreds of finance
employees in its Sacramento offices and retail stores in
California.

The Money Store, a pioneer in the business of home equity loans,
employs approximately 4,500 employees in Sacramento and in an
estimated 200 offices throughout the United States and the United
Kingdom. In 1997, The Money Store reported total revenues of $830
million. First Union Corp., a North Carolina banking and
financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, bought The
Money Store in June 1998 for $2.1 billion. In December 1997,
First Union settled an age discrimination class action for $58.5
million.

According to plaintiffs, Money Store loan officers and assistant
branch managers typically worked ten or more hours a day from
Monday through Friday and often Saturdays as well. "We worked 50
to 60 hours per week, but received a salary based on only 40
hours," said plaintiff Eric Davis of Rancho Cordova, Calif.

"These workers were misclassified as 'exempt' from the overtime
laws although they clearly fall outside the legal definition of
exempt executive or administrative employees," said David Borgen,
the plaintiffs' attorney with Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak &
Baller. "This seems to be a pattern in the financial services
industry," said Borgen, noting the multimillion-dollar
settlements in similar cases against Wells Fargo Bank.

The plaintiffs will ask the court to certify a class of all Money
Store/First Union loan officers and assistant branch managers
employed in California. It is estimated that the class may
include as many as a thousand employees. Money Store/First Union
employees in other states are not currently included in this
lawsuit.

The plaintiffs' complaint does not state a specific value for the
class claims. Borgen states, however, that "Wells Fargo recently
agreed to settle similar claims for $6.1 million and Pacific Bell
settled a similar overtime class action in 1996 for $28 million."
Plaintiffs also seek an injunction to compel The Money Store to
start paying overtime compensation and a declaratory judgment to
void an unconscionable mandatory arbitration program.


SEARS ROEBUCK: Settlement Includes $7.50 Coupons for 11 Million
---------------------------------------------------------------
In a story copyrighted by Phillips Publishing, Inc., Card News
reported on the recent $36 million settlement of a class-
action suit by Ill.-based Sears, Roebuck and Co.

According to the report, Sears and its subsidiary, Sears National
Bank, N.A., settled Henry v. Sears (Civil No. C-98-4110) by
paying out approximately $36 million in cash to about 3 million
customers. Sears allegedly increased the APRs on these customers
pre-existing balances as a result of a 1997 change in credit
terms. The settlement is expected to resolve two related
lawsuits, Kistler v. Sears and Theiss v. Sears.

Card News describes the Henry action as being brought on behalf
of a nationwide group of Sears credit customers who had
outstanding balances when their accounts were transferred to
Sears National Bank from 1994 through 1996, and as of the
effective dates of an April 1997 notice of change in credit
terms. Previously, there had been no change in the APR assessed
on the outstanding balances before they were transferred to
Sears' bank. The change in terms dictated that any remaining
balances carrying a lower APR than Sears National Bank's were now
subject to a 21 percent rate. Card News reported that the
cardholders' claimed that earlier notices mailed to them included
a commitment not to increase the rate on the pre-transfer
balances.

The report says that Sears settled the suit because winning in
court would do nothing to win back the goodwill of cardholders.
"We believe the rate change was proper," Card News quotes Jan
Drummond, a Sears spokeswoman, as saying, "but in retrospect,
some customers may have misunderstood the initial communication
and misinterpreted it as a commitment to not raise rates on
existing balances."

Card News reported that the $36 million settlement breaks down to
11 million people receiving a $7.50 coupon good at Sears stores,
which Drummoned confirmed to be a goodwill gesture. According to
the story, the legal action also prompted the issuer to re-
examine communications materials sent out to cardholders,
including cardholder agreements. In the future, Sears will try to
make communications as un-ambiguous as possible. Sears will
reportedly go through its cardholder agreements trying to
pinpoint statements it makes that could somehow be understood by
a cardholder "as 180-degrees off its original meaning," says
Drummond. "The other point is, even if have a modest settlement
per class member, when you talk about the kinds of numbers [of
cardholders serviced by] national issuers, we're talking about a
lot at stake here," she was quoted as saying.


STAFFMARK, INC.: Weiss & Yourman Files Complaint in Arkansas
------------------------------------------------------------
The law firm of Weiss & Yourman has filed a class action lawsuit
against StaffMark, Inc. (Nasdaq: STAF) in the United States
District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, on behalf of
investors who purchased StaffMark shares in the period July 6,
1997 through March 2, 1999.

The complaint charges StaffMark and certain its officers and
directors with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It alleges that StaffMark
misrepresented: (a) its ability to integrate the acquisitions
that the Company had made during the Class Period; (b) the
adequacy of its infrastructure; (c) its ability to meet analysts'
earnings expectations; (d) the adequacy of its controls; and (e)
its ability to continue to make further acquisitions of other
companies.
On March 2, 1999, StaffMark reported it would miss analysts'
earnings expectations by a significant margin for the first
quarter and year 1999, and admitted, among other things, that it
would have to slow down its acquisition program for the rest of
1999.

StaffMark common stock had recently traded as high as over $42.00
per share. In the days following the March 2, 1999 announcement,
the price of StaffMark common stock plunged to $8.50 per share,
losing approximately 80% of its value from its recent high.


TOBACCO LITIGATION: $81 Mil. Verdict for Dedicated Marlboro Man
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Associated Press reported on the biggest liability verdict
ever against the tobacco industry: on Tuesday a jury ordered
Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died
of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades. The
victory by the wife and children of Jesse Williams was the second
major hit against Philip Morris this year. A San Francisco jury
awarded $51.5 million last month to a Marlboro smoker who has
inoperable lung cancer, according to the report.

AP says that the Oregon jury, which found Williams and the
company to be equally negligent, awarded $1.6 million in
compensatory damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages.

Although no smoking liability verdict against the tobacco
industry has survived on appeal, the report explained that Wall
Street analysts had been watching the Portland case closely to
see if huge damage awards against Big Tobacco were now a trend.
"It will make the stocks go down," said Gary Black, an industry
analyst with the New York brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein &
Co. The report continued, "This will persuade the industry to
start thinking the tide may be turning."

The Williams family, who sought $101 million, alleged the company
knew its cigarettes could cause cancer. The AP described the
testimony as portraying Williams, a former janitor with the
Portland school system, as a three-pack-a-day Marlboro smoker who
believed the manufacturer wouldn't sell a harmful product and who
was heavily addicted to nicotine. Williams died in 1997 just five
months after he was diagnosed with small- cell carcinoma of the
lungs. He was 67 and left behind a wife, Mayola, and six adult
children.

"My late husband Jesse Williams had a dying wish," said Mrs.
Williams in the AP story. "He wanted to make cigarette companies
stop lying about the health problems of smokers."

Philip Morris attorney Walter Cofer said he will appeal and noted
the tobacco industry has a 40-year history of prevailing in such
cases. "If you look at this verdict, it was not supported by the
evidence," Cofer said according to AP. "It was a product of
passion and prejudice."

The 12-member Circuit Court jury, which included three smokers
and four former smokers, reportedly spent a little more than two
days reviewing a month of technical and often conflicting
testimony from experts in such areas as cancer diagnosis,
radiology and the chemistry of tobacco smoke.

Besides the San Francisco case, AP reports that U.S. juries have
awarded damages in smoking liability cases only three times:
twice in Florida and once in New Jersey. All three verdicts were
overturned on appeal. "As little as three years ago most people
thought the tobacco industry was invulnerable. This case shows we
have a crack in the dam," John Banzhof was quoted as saying. Mr.
Banzhof is the executive director of Action on Smoking and
Health, a leading tobacco opponent.

In closing arguments in the Portland case, attorneys for the
Williams family were said to have cited internal Philip Morris
documents to bolster their claim that the company long knew about
the cancer-causing potential of cigarettes and hid that
information from its customers. The story noted that Cofer said
Williams was well aware that smoking could harm his health and
had been warned of that by doctors and family members.

AP reported that Philip Morris ended the day Tuesday as the
biggest loser on the Dow industrial average, down 3 7/16 to 37,
and it helped push other tobacco stocks down. The tobacco
industry reached a $206 billion legal settlement with states in
November, but cigarette makers still face individual and class-
action claims.


TOTAL RENAL: Pomerantz Haudek Sues for Louisiana Teachers
---------------------------------------------------------
Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP, has sued Total Renal
Care Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TRL), for securities fraud on behalf
of the State of Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System and
all investors who acquired the company's securities during the
period February 17, 1998 through February 17, 1999.

The complaint alleges that Total Renal Care and certain of its
officers and directors violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing materially false and
misleading statements concerning the company's operating
performance in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles ("GAAP"). The complaint specifically alleges that
Total Renal Care understated expenses by amortizing goodwill
associated with its acquisition of Renal Treatment Centers, Inc.
over an improperly long period of time, and failed to write down
millions in uncollectible Renal Treatment accounts receivables
pending as of December 31, 1997.

The filing of the complaint followed Total Renal Care's
announcement that it would take a charge of $12.3 million, of
which fully $11.5 million represented the writedown of Renal
Treatment's uncollectible accounts receivables. Moreover, the
company stated that it was the target of an investigation by the
Securities and Exchange Commission centering on its accounting
practices, including its amortization of goodwill.

The market reacted to the news and in exceptionally heavy
trading, the price of Total Renal Care common stock plunged by
58%, falling from $21.00 a share on February 16, 1999 to $8.75 a
share on February 18, 1999.


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S U B S C R I P T I O N  I N F O R M A T I O N
Class Action Reporter is a daily newsletter, co-published by
Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Princeton, NJ, and Beard
Group, Inc., Washington, DC. Peter A. Chapman, Editor.

Copyright 1999. All rights reserved. ISSN XXXX-XXXX.

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