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Consumer Protection
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December 03, 2024
Mattel's 'Wicked' Doll Boxes Linked To Porn Site, Mom Says
Mattel was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday in California federal court by a mother who alleged she bought the toy giant's line of "Wicked" dolls based on the film for her young daughter, only to find out afterward the packaging featured a hyperlink leading to a pornographic website.
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December 03, 2024
Microsoft Asks FTC Watchdog To Look Into Leaked Probe
A Microsoft deputy general counsel on Tuesday asked the Federal Trade Commission's inspector general to look into whether commission management improperly told a news outlet that the FTC had opened a broad antitrust investigation of the tech giant.
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December 03, 2024
Google Wants Ad Tech Claims In Texas Heard By Judge, Not Jury
Google is pushing to have the Texas-led antitrust case targeting its digital ad technology tried to a judge instead of a jury, saying state enforcers are not entitled to have a jury decide whether the company violated the law or what penalties should be imposed if it did.
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December 03, 2024
Gov't Floats Sharing Plan For Lower 37 GHz Airwaves
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it was recommending shared use of the lower 37 gigahertz spectrum band among government and private-sector users.
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December 03, 2024
Data Caps Harm Consumers, Rural Electric Co-Ops Tell FCC
As the Federal Communications Commission considers the impact of data caps some broadband providers impose on internet service plans, rural electric cooperatives have told the commission that caps are bad for consumers and that their own business model for broadband does not involve such usage limits.
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December 03, 2024
Former FirstEnergy CEO Rips SEC's 'Belated' Suit Against Him
Former FirstEnergy Corp. chief executive officer Charles Jones slammed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement action against him over his alleged part in the company's widely publicized bribery scandal relating to its nuclear program, calling the suit "belated" and arguing the agency failed to back up its claims.
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December 03, 2024
Fla.'s 'Mother Teresa' Gets 20 Years For Ponzi Scheme
A Florida federal judge on Tuesday accused the U.S. attorney's office of "abdicating its responsibility" by agreeing to a maximum of 20 years in prison for Johanna Garcia, the former MJ Capital CEO known as "Mother Teresa" who pled guilty to running a $190 million Ponzi scheme.
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December 03, 2024
Judge Trims Fraud Claims From Mead Johnson Formula Suit
An Illinois federal judge on Monday partially granted a bid by Mead Johnson to toss a class action alleging at least seven types of infant formula it sold contained undisclosed heavy metals, throwing out some warranty and fraud claims and claims related to products the lead plaintiff didn't purchase, but allowing the rest of the complaint to move forward.
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December 03, 2024
Timeshare Co. Argues Jury Never Should've Seen Fraud Suit
A company selling timeshares in Atlantic City, New Jersey, told a state appeals court Tuesday that a consumer fraud suit never should have reached a jury, arguing that an evidence rule bars the claims.
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December 03, 2024
Ill. Panel Relieves Liberty Mutual Units Of BIPA Coverage
An Illinois state appeals court held that two Liberty Mutual units didn't owe coverage to a policyholder for an underlying class action alleging violations of the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, reversing a lower court's decision surrounding the interpretation of a recording and distribution exclusion.
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December 03, 2024
Tech Giants Seek Firm's Communications With Elusive Client
Apple and Amazon want Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP to turn over texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a putative class action against the tech giants, to determine whether the plaintiff consented to the case continuing in his absence.
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December 03, 2024
Celsius Founder Cops To Fraud That Sunk $25B Crypto Lender
Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky told a Manhattan federal judge Tuesday that he lied when he told the public that the fallen $25 billion crypto lender's tokens were a safe investment, pleading guilty to fraud charges ahead of a January criminal trial.
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December 03, 2024
Data Brokers Get OK For Appeal Of NJ Privacy Law
A federal judge signed off Monday on data brokers' request to be allowed to appeal his ruling that New Jersey's judicial privacy and security measure known as Daniel's Law is constitutional.
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December 03, 2024
FCC Aims To Protect Weather Sensors With 24 GHz Rules
The Federal Communications Commission has passed new rules for radiofrequency emissions limits in the 24 gigahertz spectrum band to align with an international ruling from 2019 aimed at protecting vulnerable meteorological sensors that are assigned to a nearby band of frequencies.
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December 03, 2024
Trump Pledges To Block $14.9B US Steel-Nippon Deal
President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated his opposition to the proposed $14.9 billion acquisition of Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, pledging on Truth Social to block the deal and virtually extinguishing any remaining glimmers of hope that it can get done.
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December 03, 2024
CFPB Pitches Plan For Tighter Regulation Of Data Brokers
In a late push before the Biden administration's end, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved Tuesday to clamp down on the so-called data broker industry with a new draft rule that pivots off existing credit reporting protections for consumers.
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December 02, 2024
Google Can't Yet Appeal Ruling Preserving Kids Tracking Suit
A California federal judge on Monday declined to let Google immediately appeal his earlier ruling leaving intact allegations the search giant surreptitiously tracks children's web activity, finding Google hasn't shown that the issues underlying that ruling warrant an appeal at this stage in the litigation.
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December 02, 2024
Trial Begins In Trader Joe's Vendor's Fight With Poultry Supplier
Employees of a poultry producer cracked vulgar jokes about the quality of the meat while packaging raw chicken tainted with bone fragments, a Washington-state grocery store vendor told a federal jury on Monday, blaming the meatpacker for the demise of the Chili Lime Chicken Burgers previously made exclusively for Trader Joe's.
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December 02, 2024
Judge Isn't Seeing 'Good Faith' Compliance In Probiotic Feud
A Maryland federal judge said Monday that a drug company is, yet again, failing to make "good faith substantial compliance" with the terms of an injunction that followed a $15 million jury verdict in a dispute over a proprietary probiotic formula.
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December 02, 2024
Monsanto PCB Jury Is Told Cancer Link Isn't Solid
A longtime Monsanto PCB expert told a Washington state court jury Monday that there is no solid evidence that the once-ubiquitous chemicals cause cancer in humans, saying "a cancer death here, a cancer death there" isn't conclusive.
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December 02, 2024
Metropolitan Commercial Bank Aided Voyager Fraud, Suit Says
Voyager Digital's former bank, Metropolitan Commercial Bank, has been hit with a 53-count complaint in New York federal court alleging it was complicit in bad behavior by the now-defunct crypto lender and should be on the hook for repaying platform users.
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December 02, 2024
SEC Crypto Cases To Face Review Under Trump
President-elect Donald Trump's promises of a friendlier approach to the digital asset industry means a review is coming for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto suits, but experts agreed that this doesn't mean enforcement actions in the space will grind to a halt.
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December 02, 2024
Newsom Wants $25M For Expected Legal Fights With Trump
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that he wants up to $25 million for litigation and legal fights he foresees with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, kicking off the first day of a special session the state Legislature held at the governor's request after Trump's win.
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December 02, 2024
Bipartisan Bill Calls For AI Studies From Financial Regulators
Leaders of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee want to codify their commitment to regulating and cultivating the use of artificial intelligence in the financial services industry with legislation introduced Monday that directs financial and housing regulators to produce reports on the use of AI in their respective sectors.
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December 02, 2024
DOJ, AGs Back Block Of ESPN Sport Streaming JV At 2nd Circ.
The Justice Department and a group of Democratic state attorneys general are backing a lower court injunction against a sports-only streaming service from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, telling the Second Circuit the sports giants can't claim they have a right to refuse dealing with rivals after joining forces.
Expert Analysis
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A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President
For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.
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Opinion
Big Oil Climate Ruling Sets Dangerous Liability Precedent
The recent Maryland court dismissal of Baltimore's case seeking to hold BP responsible for climate damage mischaracterized the city's injuries as divorced from the conduct that caused them, and could allow companies that conceal the dangers of their products to escape liability, says Randall Abate at George Washington University Law School.
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DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.
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What To Know About CFPB Stance On Confidentiality Terms
A recent circular from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a growing effort across government agencies to address overbroad confidentiality agreements, and gives employers insight into the bureau's perspective on the issue as it relates to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, say Holly Williamson and Elizabeth King at Hunton.
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Opinion
3rd. Circ. Got It Right On Cancer Warning Claims Preemption
The Third Circuit's recent, eminently sensible ruling in a failure-to-warn case against Roundup manufacturer Monsanto, holding that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts state law claims, provides a road map that other courts should adopt, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions
Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.
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5 Ways To Confront Courtroom Technology Challenges
Recent cybersecurity incidents highlight the vulnerabilities of our reliance on digital infrastructure, meaning attorneys must be prepared to navigate technological obstacles inside the courtroom, including those related to data security, presentation hardware, video playback and more, says Adam Bloomberg at IMS Legal Strategies.
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The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Employer Arbitration Lessons From Calif. Consumer Ruling
Although a California state appeals court’s recent arbitration ruling in Mahram v. Kroger involved a consumer transaction, the finding that the arbitration agreement at issue did not apply to a third-party beneficiary could influence how employment arbitration agreements are interpreted, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor Law.
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Unpacking Jurisdiction Issues In 3rd Circ. Arbitration Ruling
The Third Circuit's recent ruling in George v. Rushmore Service Center could be interpreted to establish three principles regarding district courts' jurisdiction to enter arbitration-related orders under the Federal Arbitration Act, two of which may lead to confusion, says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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'Pig Butchering': The Scam That Exploits Crypto Confusion
Certain red flags can tip off banks to possible "pig-butchering," and with the scam's increasing popularity, financial institutions need to take action to monitor entry points into the crypto space, detect suspicious activity and provide a necessary backstop to protect customers, say Brandon Essig and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.