Consumer Protection

  • June 06, 2024

    ZoomInfo To Pay Nearly $30M To End Privacy Suit

    ZoomInfo has agreed to come up with close to $30 million to resolve potential class claims that it nonconsensually used people's names and identities to advertise paid access to its full database, allowing monetary recovery for just more than a million class members in four states, class counsel told an Illinois federal judge Thursday.

  • June 06, 2024

    'Brussels Effect' Of EU's AI Act Is Uncertain, Legal Pros Say

    BigLaw attorneys advising international clients on the European Union's AI Act tell Law360 there are significant uncertainties over vague terms in the 458-page statute, how its steep eight-figure fines will be enforced, and whether it will set a new standard globally as part of the "Brussels effect."

  • June 05, 2024

    Texas AG Sets Up New Team To Enforce Data Privacy Laws

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is "doubling down" on efforts to curb companies' misuse of residents' personal information by establishing a new team dedicated to enforcing the state's data protections, including a comprehensive consumer data privacy law that's set to take effect next month. 

  • June 05, 2024

    Amazon Beats BIPA Suit Targeting Thermal Camera Use

    An Illinois federal judge handed Amazon a pretrial win over accusations that it violated workers' biometric privacy rights by using thermal cameras to screen for fevers during the pandemic, saying the company is immune from such claims under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fubo Loses Bid To Toss Consumer's Privacy Suit

    Streaming service Fubo cannot escape a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully shared subscribers' personally identifiable information, or PII, with third-party advertisers, an Illinois federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    PwC Asks Calif. Justices To Revive $2.5M Sanction Against LA

    PwC urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive a $2.5 million sanction against the city of Los Angeles for yearslong discovery misconduct in an underlying utility billing dispute, arguing the trial court's inherent authority to pose such penalties isn't limited to nonmonetary sanctions.

  • June 05, 2024

    Catholic Broadcasters Angry Over FCC 'Gender Ideology' Rule

    The Catholic Radio Association is up in arms over the Federal Communications Commission's new workforce diversity reporting mandates that will require broadcasters to report how many nonbinary people they employ, telling the agency they're being forced to record something that "does not comport to reality."

  • June 05, 2024

    Bank Group Takes Fight Over FDIC Fee Letter To 8th Circ.

    A Minnesota bank industry group is appealing its federal district court loss in litigation over Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guidance proscribing non-sufficient funds fees, or NSF fees, the organization said Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Review Cathay Pacific Ticket Refund Fight

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday refused to reconsider its decision ordering a couple who were left stranded in the Philippines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to arbitrate their breach of contract dispute with Cathay Pacific Airways under their contract with a third-party booking site.

  • June 05, 2024

    Wells Fargo Sued For Allegedly Aiding $300M Ponzi Scheme

    Wells Fargo Bank NA has been hit with a proposed class action in Florida federal court alleging that it aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme that duped more than 1,000 investors, most of whom were elderly and lost substantial life savings due to the scheme.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fla. High Court Told Immunity Doesn't Bar UF COVID-19 Suit

    A University of Florida student on Wednesday urged the state's high court to revive his lawsuit over cancellation of on-campus services during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that sovereign immunity doesn't bar his breach-of-contract claim against the college.

  • June 05, 2024

    Google Legal Dept. Goes From Crisis Mode To Long Term

    As much of the major antitrust litigation against Google winds down, the company is shuffling around its in-house legal departments to add more people and settle from crisis mode into the more sustainable posture of a technology giant where lawsuits have likely become a permanent feature of its existence.

  • June 05, 2024

    Panel To Pick Venue For FCC Net Neutrality Challenges

    The federal courts are poised to randomly pick which circuit court will initially hear more than half a dozen legal challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's recently adopted net neutrality rules.

  • June 05, 2024

    Paddle Co. Misrepresented Pickleball Products, Suit Says

    The makers of the Joola brand, a major name in table tennis, falsely advertised many of their pickleball paddles, including some bearing athlete Ben Johns' name, as approved for tournament play in order to rapidly gain market share in the sport, according to a proposed class action filed in Florida federal court Wednesday seeking at least $5 million.

  • June 05, 2024

    Google Cleared From Suit Over Animal Abuse YouTube Videos

    A California appeals panel has tossed a nonprofit's suit alleging that Google LLC breached its contract by allowing animal abuse videos on YouTube, saying Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act blocks all its claims.

  • June 05, 2024

    Microsoft Blasts Gamers' Bid To Add To Activision Appeal

    Microsoft Corp. says the Ninth Circuit should reject a "bevy of additional, extra-record 'facts'" seeking to hold up the recent layoffs of 1,900 Activision and Xbox employees as proof that the tech giant's acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. was anticompetitive.

  • June 05, 2024

    Synchrony Charges Were Unlawful 'Veteran Penalty,' Suit Says

    Synchrony Bank was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of promoting a misleading 0% interest rate for veterans and failing to disclose that the bank applies retroactive high interest rates on service members' outstanding balances when they leave duty.

  • June 05, 2024

    Attys Get Third Of $1.4M Webster Bank Breach Deal

    A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday granted final approval to a $1.4 million settlement, including $476,000 in fees for class counsel, in a suit from a class of account holders that sought to hold Webster Bank and its fraud detection services provider liable for a ransomware attack.

  • June 05, 2024

    FCC Looking Into Reports Of AT&T Wireless Service Outage

    The Federal Communications Commission said it is trying to find out what happened when AT&T wireless customers lost service in several states Tuesday due to what the company described as an interoperability problem.

  • June 05, 2024

    CFPB Opens Door To Open Banking 'Standard Setters'

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made more progress Wednesday in its efforts to lay the groundwork for open banking in the U.S., adopting a mechanism that will allow "open" and "balanced" organizations to begin setting official, industry-wide technical standards for financial data sharing.

  • June 05, 2024

    Meta Can't Dodge Trial In Monopoly Suit, FTC Says

    The Federal Trade Commission said "voluminous evidence" cuts against Meta's bid to avoid trial over claims the social media giant illegally entrenched its monopoly in the market for personal social networking by acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram.

  • June 05, 2024

    Epic Accuses Apple Of Stalling Antitrust Doc Production

    Epic Games accused Apple Inc. at a hearing Wednesday of dragging its feet on producing internal documents that a California federal judge recently ordered the tech giant to hand over to help decide if Apple complied with her ban on App Store anti-steering rules.

  • June 05, 2024

    $6M KeyBank Breach Settlement 'Very Good,' Ga. Judge Told

    The leading class counsel in a lawsuit over alleged data breaches that occurred at several regional banks and a technology contractor urged a Georgia federal judge Wednesday to reject a last-ditch bid by one segment of the proposed class to block a "very good" $6 million settlement on the table.

  • June 05, 2024

    US Bancorp Can't Get Immediate Appeal In 401(k) Fee Suit

    U.S. Bancorp can't yet appeal an order letting a proposed class action over its 401(k) plan's recordkeeping fees proceed, a Minnesota federal judge ruled, saying the company failed to demonstrate that doing so would expedite the case.

  • June 05, 2024

    FTC Can't Pause Novant's $320M Bid To Buy NC Hospitals

    The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday lost its bid to block Novant Health from buying two local hospitals in North Carolina for $320 million while it conducts an in-house review, with a federal judge reasoning that competition would actually fare better if the merger advanced.

Expert Analysis

  • Legal Issues When Training AI On Previously Collected Data

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    Following the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance about the use of customer data to train artificial intelligence models, companies should carefully think through their terms of service and privacy policies and be cautious when changing them to permit new uses of previously collected data, says James Gatto at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Protested CFPB Supervisory Order Reveals Process, Priorities

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s order announcing its first use of special oversight power to place installment lender World Acceptance Corp. under supervision despite resistance from the company provides valuable insight into which products and practices may draw bureau scrutiny, and illuminates important nuances of the risk assessment procedures, say Josh Kotin and Michelle Rogers at Cooley.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • 3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'

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    Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • The Epic Antitrust Cases And Challenges Of Injunctive Relief

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    The Epic cases against Apple and Google offer a window into the courts' considerable challenges in Big Tech litigation and establishing injunctive relief that enhances competition and benefits consumers, say Kelly Lear Nordby and Jon Tomlin at Ankura Consulting.

  • Banks Should Continue To Prep For CFPB Data Rule Rollout

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    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supervised banks should not expect industry pressure to delay the rollout of proposed Section 1033 open banking rules, which regulate how consumer financial information flows between financial institutions, and prepare their required data access portals and compliance procedures now, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • How Calif. Video Recording Ruling May Affect Insured Exams

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    A recent California appellate decision, Myasnyankin v. Nationwide, allowing policyholders to video record all parties to an insurance examination under oath, has changed the rules of the road for EUOs and potentially opened Pandora's box for future disputes, say John Edson and Preston Bennett at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Things Trial Attorneys Can Learn From Good Teachers

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    Jennifer Cuculich at IMS Legal Strategies recounts lessons she learned during her time as a math teacher that can help trial attorneys connect with jurors, from the importance of framing core issues to the incorporation of different learning styles.

  • Fintech 'Prenups': Planning For A Card Program Breakup

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    After a year of economic downturns, some banks and their fintech partners are realizing they may have rushed to the altar without a good prenup, but planning ahead can curb both foreseeable and unexpected issues in the event of a termination of a bank-fintech card-issuing agreement, say Andrew Grant at Ketsal and Richard Malish at Community Federal Savings Bank.

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