Consumer Protection

  • June 25, 2024

    Google Says Epic's Play Store Changes Could Cost $137M

    Google urged a California federal judge Monday to reject Epic Games' proposed Play Store remedies following Epic Games' antitrust jury trial win, arguing that the changes could cost up to $137 million plus ongoing maintenance costs and create new security risks while potentially harming Google's reputation.

  • June 25, 2024

    Temu Is A 'Data-Theft' Biz And Not Marketplace, Ark. AG Says

    App-based online shopping platform Temu is in reality "dangerous malware" that can override phone privacy settings and collect sensitive user information, according to a "first-of-its-kind" state lawsuit by Arkansas alleging deceptive trade practices and privacy violations.

  • June 25, 2024

    2 Federal Judges Stall Biden's Student Loan Debt Relief

    Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri on Monday partially blocked the Biden administration from implementing its latest student debt relief program, with both finding that Congress did not give clear authorization through the Higher Education Act for the loan forgiveness plan, as argued by the federal government.

  • June 25, 2024

    Judge Likely To Block Medical Record Co.'s Anti-Bot CAPTCHAs

    A Maryland federal judge appeared ready to enjoin electronic medical records company PointClickCare from restricting nursing home analytics company Real Time Medical Systems' automated access to its online repositories Tuesday, potentially taking an early crack at defining the 21st Century Cures Act's data sharing provisions.

  • June 25, 2024

    AT&T Says No Windfall From FirstNet Managing 4.9 GHz Band

    AT&T is finally weighing in on the robust debate over whether the FCC should hand over control of the recently revamped 4.9 gigahertz public safety band to an entity with strong ties to the telecom behemoth, denying that it would get a "windfall" if the agency were to go through with it.

  • June 25, 2024

    Bulk Of Colo. Climate Case Against Oil Giants Beats Dismissal

    A Colorado state judge has paved the way for a county's lawsuit against major oil and gas companies that aims to hold them liable for damages caused by climate change, rejecting bids to toss claims for public and private nuisance, conspiracy and unjust enrichment.

  • June 25, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Arranger Liability Claims In Superfund Suit

    The Fourth Circuit revived claims Tuesday against six companies that arranged the disposal of hazardous waste in the 68th Street dump site in Baltimore County, Maryland, ruling that a lower court was wrong to say the companies needed to know that the waste was hazardous to be liable for cleanup costs.

  • June 25, 2024

    Adviser, Firm Owe SEC $425K For Mishandling Crypto Assets

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday approved approximately $425,000 in settlements in a suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against an investment adviser and its owner, alleging they hid investment strategies and lost control of the firm's recordkeeping, preventing them from accessing crypto assets possibly worth $10 million.

  • June 25, 2024

    CFPB Delays Start Of Small-Biz Loan Rule Deadlines Until '25

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday formally pushed back the compliance deadlines for its contested rule that establishes reporting requirements for the small-business lending market, putting nearly 10 more months on the clock for banks and other lenders after a court-ordered stay.

  • June 25, 2024

    USDA Tackles 'Inconsistent' Court Handling Of Packers Suits

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture sought Tuesday to empower itself, and perhaps individual farmers, in lawsuits against allegedly unfair practices in the livestock, meat and poultry industries, by proposing a new rule that would replace the current case-by-case adjudication of what counts as a violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act.

  • June 25, 2024

    Norfolk Southern Torched In NTSB Final Derailment Findings

    Norfolk Southern used "reprehensible" tactics to interfere with the investigation into last year's derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and pushed for an "unnecessary" controlled vent and burn of highly flammable vinyl chloride during the accident's chaotic aftermath, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.

  • June 25, 2024

    Judge Tosses Skiers' Last Bid For COVID Shutdown Damages

    A final attempt by ski pass holders to receive damages after resort giant Vail Corp. shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 ended Tuesday when a Colorado federal judge dismissed the putative class action and its breach-of-contract claim.

  • June 25, 2024

    Ralph Lauren Sued Over Fake Discount Prices On Outlet Items

    Ralph Lauren advertises sham reference prices for merchandise sold at its Polo Factory outlets that purport to provide customers with significant discounts, which misleads them into believing the merchandise was initially sold at much higher prices, according to a proposed class action filed Tuesday in New York federal court.

  • June 25, 2024

    Verizon To Pay $1M For Southeast 911 Outage, FCC Says

    Verizon has agreed to pay just more than $1 million and follow a compliance plan after a December 2022 breakdown of 911 connectivity throughout the Southeast, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.

  • June 25, 2024

    Broker's Lax ACH Monitoring Led To $330K Theft, FINRA Says

    A broker-dealer that was once a unit of Oregon-headquartered Umpqua Bank has agreed to pay $225,000 to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority after self-reporting supervisory oversights that enabled unauthorized parties to siphon over $330,000 out of a customer's account.

  • June 25, 2024

    Amazon Says It Shares 'Cookies,' But Not Prime Viewers' ID

    Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday urged a federal judge to toss a proposed class action filed by Prime movie subscribers, calling the privacy complaint a "smokescreen" attempting to get around the terms of a use agreement that allows advertisers to access cookies that don't identify specific customers.

  • June 25, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says Smith & Wesson Can't Sidestep NJ Subpoena

    The gunmaker Smith & Wesson must comply with a subpoena from New Jersey to produce advertising materials requested in a consumer fraud case brought by the state, a divided Third Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.

  • June 25, 2024

    No Need To Ship Net Neutrality Appeals To DC, 6th Circ. Told

    The Sixth Circuit should stand up to the "concerted effort" to push administrative law matters out of other appellate courts and into the D.C. Circuit by refusing to transfer a bundled set of challenges to the FCC's new net neutrality rules, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said.

  • June 25, 2024

    FCC Says Anti-Redlining Rule 'Dutifully' Carries Out Law

    The Federal Communications Commission has urged the Eighth Circuit to toss multiple industry challenges to its rules against discrimination in broadband deployment, saying its use of a wide-reaching standard for prohibited bias fits the law's requirements.

  • June 25, 2024

    FTC Suit Merely 'Publicity Stunt,' Seattle Bill Pay Biz Says

    A Seattle-based online bill pay platform has accused the Federal Trade Commission of filing a baseless consumer protection suit against it, telling a Washington federal court the company has already gone above and beyond its legal obligations to satisfy regulators' concerns about misleading ads and hidden fees.

  • June 25, 2024

    $3M Broker Commission Deal Stayed To Await NAR Settlement

    A Massachusetts federal court will not consider a $3 million settlement reached between home sellers and a multiple listing service over broker commission rules until after a decision on a much larger settlement in the separate sprawling case against the National Association of Realtors.

  • June 25, 2024

    FTC Looks To Ax MGM Suit Over Cybersecurity Probe

    The Federal Trade Commission rebuffed claims from MGM Resorts International that the agency improperly declined to recuse chair Lina Khan from investigating the hospitality giant's data security practices, urging a D.C. federal judge to toss MGM's lawsuit that seeks to stop the probe.

  • June 25, 2024

    Oil Co. Accused Of Duping Consumers With Biodiesel Product

    A Massachusetts home heating oil dealer falsely told consumers they were purchasing an environmentally friendly biodiesel product, a proposed class action filed in state court on Monday alleges.

  • June 25, 2024

    Exxon Bid For Avangrid Docs In Greenwash Case Faces Doubt

    A Massachusetts judge on Tuesday questioned the relevance of potentially millions of wind energy company Avangrid's documents being sought by ExxonMobil in its defense of a greenwashing case brought by the state.

  • June 25, 2024

    American Airlines Can't Move Frequent Flyers' Suit To Texas

    American Airlines lost its bid to transfer to Texas a proposed class action alleging it improperly terminated frequent flyer accounts and erased accrued airline miles, as a California federal judge ruled Monday the airline hadn't shown convenience and justice required moving it from the Golden State.

Expert Analysis

  • Airlines Must Prepare For State AG Investigations

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    A recent agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation and 18 states and territories will allow attorneys general to investigate consumer complaints against commercial passenger airlines — so carriers must be ready for heightened scrutiny and possibly inconsistent enforcement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • When The Platform Is A Product, Strict Liability Can Attach

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    A New York state court's recent ruling in Patterson v. Meta, holding that social media platforms can be considered products, appears to be the first of its kind — but if it is upheld and adopted by other courts, the liability implications for internet companies could be incredibly far-reaching, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • 4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule

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    If the Federal Trade Commission adopts its comprehensive proposed rule to ban unfair or deceptive fees across the U.S. economy, many businesses — including those in the lodging, event ticketing, dining and transportation sectors — will need to reexamine the way they market and price their products and services, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • What Lies Behind Diverging US And UK Insolvency Trends

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    Contrasting U.K. and U.S. insolvency trends highlight the importance of policy interventions in shaping consumer financial outcomes and economic recovery, and while the U.K.'s approach seems to have mitigated issues, the U.S. faces challenges exacerbated by economic conditions and policy transitions, says Thomas Curran at Thomas H. Curran Associates.

  • 8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy

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    The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.

  • Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear

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    The U.S. Supreme Court, by recently rejecting certiorari in Visa v. National ATM, turned down the opportunity to clarify how to analyze disputed evidence bearing on the certification of antitrust class actions, leaving the applicable standards unclear instead of resolving this split of authority, says Jonathan Berman at Jones Day.

  • Action Steps To Address New Restrictions On Outbound Data

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    Companies should immediately assess all their data-based operations so they can consider strategies to effectively mitigate new compliance risks brought on by recently implemented transaction restrictions, including a Justice Department proposal and landmark data legislation, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • The Legal Issues Raised In Minn. Rate Exportation Opt-Out Bill

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    A recent Minnesota House bill would amend state law by opting out of the federal interest rate preemption and introduce several legal gray areas if passed, including issues regarding loan location, rates on credit card loans and values of state charters, says Karen Grandstrand at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes

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    Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.

  • What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules

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    The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller. 

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