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Consumer Protection
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October 21, 2024
PAC Exec To Admit Pilfering From $28M Charitable Donor Haul
A political action committee founder from Wisconsin accused of pilfering most of $28 million he raised through four PACs that were supposed to support veterans and firefighters is set to plead guilty to fraud charges, according to a Monday filing.
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October 21, 2024
Consultants' Bank Data Breach Claim Too Late, Insurer Says
An insurer owes no coverage to consultants defending against a data breach lawsuit involving a California bank because the consultants failed to notify the insurer of the claim in time, the company told a Washington federal court.
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October 21, 2024
5th Circ. Says Doc's Roundup Cancer Suit Filed Too Late
The Fifth Circuit won't upend summary judgments in favor of Monsanto Co. in a suit by the family of a doctor who they say died because of his exposure to the weedkiller Roundup, finding that the suit was filed well outside the time limit.
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October 21, 2024
Fla. Dept.'s Ex-GC Says Gov.'s Office Directed TV Ad Letters
The former general counsel for the Florida Department of Health said Monday that he was directed by Gov. Ron DeSantis' office to send out letters threatening television stations with criminal prosecution if they did not pull a campaign ad promoting an abortion rights ballot initiative.
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October 21, 2024
Catalent CEO Defends Novo Deal, Will Stay On After Buyout
Catalent CEO Alessandro Maselli told the medical company's customers Monday that Catalent will continue to support them following its planned $16.5 billion sale to Novo Holdings, seeking to assure clientele after Sen. Elizabeth Warren and advocacy groups pressured the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize and potentially block the deal.
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October 21, 2024
High Court Won't Revisit New-Deal Removal Ruling Yet
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a case challenging presidential removal protections for commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, passing up the opportunity to revisit a New Deal-era precedent at the center of the modern regulatory system.
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October 18, 2024
Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms
The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.
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October 18, 2024
Fintech Group Challenges CFPB's Buy Now, Pay Later Policy
The Financial Technology Association on Friday asked a D.C. federal court to strike down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's first-ever rule directed at the fintech-dominated market for buy now, pay later loans, claiming that it violates procedural requirements and "misunderstands" relevant law.
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October 18, 2024
Meta Can't Ax Mass. AG Suit Over Hooking Kids On Instagram
A Massachusetts judge has refused to release Meta Platforms Inc. from the state attorney general's suit alleging the social media giant deployed design features aimed at addicting kids to Instagram, finding Meta wasn't immune from claims based on its own business conduct.
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October 18, 2024
Walmart Scores Quick Appeal In FTC's Money Transfer Suit
An Illinois federal judge refused Friday to reconsider a prior decision trimming the Federal Trade Commission's suit alleging Walmart facilitated fraud through its money transfer services, while allowing Walmart to seek interlocutory review regarding the FTC's litigating authority.
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October 18, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Doubts AI 'Robot Judges' Can Replace Jurists
Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher expressed skepticism Friday that artificially intelligent "robot judges" should replace jurists, saying during a conference on complex litigation ethics that judges understand how to creatively apply the law to best serve justice, and "I don't trust the AI system to break the law when it should."
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October 18, 2024
Consumer Capital One-Discover Suit Paused For Gov't Review
A Virginia federal judge hit pause Friday on a private cardholder proposed class action challenging Capital One's planned $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services, agreeing with the companies that it's best to let still-pending review by banking regulators play out first.
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October 18, 2024
FTC Appeals Noncompete Ban Loss To 5th Circ.
The Federal Trade Commission gave notice Friday that it would seek Fifth Circuit intervention against a Texas federal judge's decision to block its ban on employment noncompete agreements.
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October 18, 2024
Judge Slams 'Lazy Lawyering' In Amazon Biometric Data Suit
The judge overseeing a proposed biometric privacy class action against Amazon Web Services Inc. in Delaware federal court chastised the plaintiffs' counsel for identically repleading a previously dismissed claim, calling the move "lazy lawyering" and warning of potential ramifications for "lying to the court."
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October 18, 2024
Timeshare Co. Preyed On Fla. Servicemember, High Court Told
A Florida U.S. Army soldier and his wife petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review their case against Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited Inc., disputing that his contract isn't legal under the Military Lending Act because the company used predatory tactics to sell him a timeshare.
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October 18, 2024
False Ad Suit Trimmed Over 'Non-Drowsy' Albertsons Meds
An Illinois federal judge on Thursday refused to strike class claims that Albertsons markets and sells cough medicine labeled as "non-drowsy" that does in fact cause drowsiness, but threw out breach of warranty claims because the lead plaintiff failed to give the company adequate notice before filing suit.
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October 18, 2024
Cos. Say Brokerage Startup's NAR Listing Rules Suit Is Stale
HomeServices of America Inc. and HSF Affiliates LLC told a Utah federal court on Friday to toss a residential brokerage startup's antitrust suit that accused them, multiple brokerages and the National Association of Realtors of conspiring to block the startup from NAR's multiple listing services.
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October 18, 2024
FTC Won't Disqualify ALJ in H&R Block False Ad Fight
The Federal Trade Commission denied a request by H&R Block to stop an administrative law judge from overseeing a proceeding that accuses the tax preparation company of deceptive advertising, saying Friday that ALJs don't have unconstitutional job protections as the company claimed.
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October 18, 2024
Credit Suisse, PwC Fight Bondholders' Separate Merger Suits
Credit Suisse and PwC have urged a New York federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging that they concealed the impact of quarterly losses and the bank's inability to retain client funds leading up to its takeover by UBS AG, saying the plaintiff launched the suit to circumvent its rejected bid to be lead plaintiff in a similar suit.
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October 18, 2024
Vorys Slams 'Copycat' Firms Trying To Lead Antitrust Suit
Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP is opposing a bid from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Bucher Law PLLC to take the lead in a proposed consumer class action against gaming giant Valve Corp., saying the firms just "piggybacked" off Vorys' work in an identical suit.
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October 18, 2024
Grocery Co. Sued Over 'Naturally Flavored' Cereal Bars Label
North Carolina-based supermarket chain Harris Teeter was hit with a proposed class action alleging its fruit-flavored cereal bars aren't "naturally flavored" like the packaging claims, but instead contain a flavoring that is derived from a petroleum substrate.
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October 18, 2024
Ohio High Court Restores Developer's FHA Penalty Suit
The Ohio Supreme Court has revived a developer's attempt to recoup some of a Fair Housing Act penalty from franchisees who built inaccessible multifamily housing, finding Friday the lower courts jumped the gun when they found the developer's claims were preempted by the FHA.
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October 18, 2024
Enforcers Fight RealPage Transfer Bid In Rent-Fixing Case
Enforcers urged a North Carolina federal court not to transfer the government's antitrust case against RealPage to the Tennessee court overseeing similar private cases, saying Congress has made it clear that public antitrust actions should not be roped into multidistrict litigation.
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October 18, 2024
Fake 'Hollywood Reporter' Scams Job Seekers, Mass. AG Says
Scammers posing as the publishers of entertainment industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter created an impostor website to lure job seekers into a cryptocurrency fraud scheme, the Massachusetts attorney general alleged in a complaint Friday.
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October 18, 2024
Crypto Coder Asks 2nd Circ. To Delay Expert Witness Reveal
The founder of cryptocurrency service provider Tornado Cash urged the Second Circuit on Friday to pause a district court judge's order for him to disclose who he might call as an expert witness at an upcoming money laundering and sanctions trial.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
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Series
After Chevron: Impact On CFPB May Be Limited
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is likely to have a limited impact on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's regulatory activities, and for those who value due process, consistency and predictability in consumer financial services regulation, this may be a good thing, says John Coleman at Orrick.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Synapse Bankruptcy Has Ripple Effects For Fintech Industry
Synapse Financial Technologies’ recent bankruptcy filing marks a significant moment in the fintech industry's evolution, highlighting that stringent compliance and risk management in fintech partnerships are essential to mitigate risk and protect consumers, say Joann Needleman and Ryan Blumberg at Clark Hill.
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Opinion
Discount Window Reform Needed To Curb Modern Bank Runs
We learned during the spring 2023 failures that bank runs can happen extraordinarily fast in light of modern technology, especially when banks have a greater concentration of large deposits, demonstrating that the antiquated but effective discount window needs to be overhauled before the next crisis, says Cris Cicala at Stinson.
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Mitigating Risks Amid 10-Year Sanctions Enforcement Window
In response to recent legislation, which doubles the statute of limitations for actions related to certain U.S. sanctions and provides regulators greater opportunity to investigate possible violations, companies should take specific steps to account for the increased civil and criminal enforcement risk, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Making Good On Bold Promises
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in the second quarter cleared the way for the bureau to resume a number of high-priority initiatives, and it appears poised to charge ahead in working toward its aggressive preelection agenda, say Andrew Arculin and Paula Vigo Marqués at Blank Rome.
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Series
After Chevron: Creating New Hurdles For ESG Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, limiting court deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, could have significant impacts on the future of ESG regulation, creating new hurdles for agency rulemaking around these emerging issues, and calling into question current administrative actions, says Leah Malone at Simpson Thacher.
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California Adds A Novel Twist To State Suits Against Big Oil
California’s suit against Exxon Mobil Corp., one of several state suits that seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate-related harms, is unique both in the magnitude of the alleged claims and its use of a consumer protection statute to seek disgorgement of industry profits, says Julia Stein at UCLA School of Law.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition
To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.
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Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal
Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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CFPB's New Registration Rule Will Intensify Nonbank Scrutiny
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently finalized nonbank registration rule aimed at cracking down on repeat offenders poses significant compliance challenges and enforcement risks for nonbank financial firms, and may be particularly onerous for smaller firms, say Ketan Bhirud and Emily Yu at Cozen O'Connor.