Consumer Protection

  • June 14, 2024

    FAA Probes Fake Titanium Docs From Boeing Supplier

    The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it's investigating whether certain Boeing Co. jets were manufactured with titanium components that may have been sold to the plane maker with falsified authenticity documents.

  • June 14, 2024

    Industry Groups End 2nd Circ. Case Over NY Broadband Law

    Six trade groups said Friday they will end a Second Circuit challenge to a New York law that requires internet service providers to offer low-cost broadband service plans.

  • June 14, 2024

    T-Mobile Sues NJ Town Over Plan For School Cell Tower

    T-Mobile has been paying on a lease for a proposed cell tower site for nearly 14 years, but it cannot build the tower because the New Jersey town the land sits in won't approve the necessary applications, the mobile behemoth says in a new lawsuit.

  • June 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Balks At Gas Buyers' Price-Fix Fight Over Trump Pact

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Friday of efforts to revive a proposed antitrust class action alleging that Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others fixed gasoline prices following the Trump administration's 2020 oil production deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia, with each judge doubting that federal courts have jurisdiction over the dispute.

  • June 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Recharge Energizer Battery False Ad Suit

    Energizer defeated a proposed class action accusing it of fraudulently touting its AA Max batteries are "up to 50% longer lasting," after the Ninth Circuit said Friday reasonable consumers wouldn't be misled by the statement since it doesn't promise they'll always last 50% longer than competing products in all applications.

  • June 14, 2024

    Novant Urges 4th Circ. To Reject FTC's 'Emergency' Bid

    Novant Health told the Fourth Circuit there is no need to block its planned North Carolina hospital purchase while the Federal Trade Commission pushes a merger challenge, saying the deal will increase competition by preventing the hospitals from closing.

  • June 14, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ex-Players Claim NIL, Loss For Trans Swimmer

    In this week's Off The Bench, the 1983 men's college basketball champions want a piece of the loot the NCAA made off of their names, swimmer Lia Thomas loses in her bid to overturn an international trans athlete ban, and the House gets a bill through committee that would keep college athletes from becoming employees.

  • June 14, 2024

    Study Bulk ISP Billing, But Don't Pass Rules Yet, FCC Urged

    A cable industry group is trying to dissuade the Federal Communications Commission from crafting new rules to clamp down on bulk billing practices for broadband services in apartment buildings.

  • June 14, 2024

    Political Speech Groups Challenge NJ Judicial Privacy Case

    Two voting-integrity groups moved Friday to dismiss federal claims brought against them under New Jersey's Daniel's Law on the grounds that their business of publishing voter registration information is political speech protected by the First Amendment and federal voting rights laws.

  • June 14, 2024

    Dunkin' Franchise Must Face Customer's Race Bias Suit

    An intermediate appellate court in Massachusetts on Friday revived part of a lawsuit brought by a Black customer of a Dunkin' franchise who says an employee deliberately ignored his order for 15 minutes, then threw his food at him and called him a racist epithet.

  • June 14, 2024

    Whole Foods Uses Tiny Label Font To Hide Costs, Suit Says

    Whole Foods has been accused of hiding deposit fees and other costs with a barely perceptible font size on its labels, according to a proposed class action removed to Brooklyn federal court Friday.

  • June 14, 2024

    DOJ's Google Ad Tech Suit Bound For Sept. Trial

    A Virginia federal judge said Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit accusing Google of monopolizing technology used to place ads on third-party websites will go to trial, finding too many factual disputes to let the search giant nix the case.

  • June 13, 2024

    Apple Fights To Ax 'Speculative' IPhone App Antitrust Suit

    Apple urged a California federal judge Thursday to toss a proposed antitrust class action alleging the company illegally prevents iPhones from running web-based apps that don't need to be downloaded, arguing consumers don't have standing to bring the "speculative" litigation since they're not directly injured by Apple's agreements with developers.

  • June 13, 2024

    CFPB's Chopra Sees 'Pressing Need' For Data Protections

    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra zeroed in on data usage and privacy during a Thursday hearing with House lawmakers, calling for sharper limits on what financial firms can do with customer data while also seeking to assuage concerns about his agency's plans for data sharing and data broker rules.

  • June 13, 2024

    Vt. Gov. Blocks 'Outlier' Data Privacy Bill With Lawsuit Trigger

    Vermont's governor on Thursday vetoed a legislative proposal that would have given consumers not only new data privacy rights but also the rare opportunity to sue large businesses for certain violations, expressing concerns with the significant "risks" created by the "outlier" measure and urging the Legislature to instead embrace the model adopted by Connecticut and more than a dozen other states.

  • June 13, 2024

    FTC's Ferguson Says He's A Law Enforcer, Not A Policymaker

    Recently minted Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Thursday that he views his new role as a law enforcer and not a policymaker and said the biggest issue for antitrust law right now is dealing with Big Tech.

  • June 13, 2024

    Thomas Targets Group Standing In Mifepristone Ruling

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas joined his colleagues Thursday to unanimously uphold broad access to the abortion medication mifepristone for now, but he wrote separately to challenge a standing rule that often serves as the key to the courthouse doors for litigants of all varieties.

  • June 13, 2024

    KeyBank Borrowers' $6M Data Breach Deal Gets Initial OK

    A Georgia federal judge on Thursday granted preliminary approval to a $6 million settlement deal resolving a class suit over data breaches at KeyBank and other regional lenders and a technology contractor despite objections from a subclass of borrowers — who had previously settled their claims — saying the deal was inequitable.

  • June 13, 2024

    Equipment Maker Looks To Chill Ice Creamery's Use Of Its IP

    A company that holds a patent for making ice cream using cryogenics has accused a Florida franchisor of falsely claiming to operate under a patent, saying in Washington federal court that the dessert purveyor has even been charging franchisees an "intellectual property fee."

  • June 13, 2024

    Costco Hides Lower In-Store Prices, Online Shopper Says

    Costco was hit with a proposed class action in Washington federal court Wednesday alleging the warehouse retailer falsely promises online shoppers it'll notify them when an item sold online is more expensive than the same item available for in-store purchase, but regularly fails to do so.

  • June 13, 2024

    Clearview AI Makes 'Unique' BIPA Deal Tied To Future Value

    Plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation targeting Clearview AI's allegedly unlawful practice of "scraping" internet photos to collect biometric facial data told an Illinois federal judge on Wednesday they have struck a "unique" deal giving the class a stake in the company's future growth.

  • June 13, 2024

    NYC Sued Over Policy Targeting Unlicensed Pot Stores

    More than two dozen New York City retailers have launched a proposed federal class action against the city alleging that enforcement of a new policy targeting stores for selling cannabis without a license has resulted in the unconstitutional closing of hundreds of businesses.

  • June 13, 2024

    Judge Asks If Amazon Is Doomed To Stay In Wiretapping Suit

    A Washington federal judge questioned Thursday if Amazon Web Services Inc.'s terms of use with Capital One for call center technology "doom" the cloud-computing giant's attempt to avoid a proposed class action accusing it of violating California's wiretapping law.

  • June 13, 2024

    FCC Wants To Revamp Citizens Broadband Radio Service

    The head of the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday asked fellow members to back an overhaul of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, a spectrum-sharing arrangement developed during Barack Obama's presidency.

  • June 13, 2024

    Apple Wants Discovery Hearing Closed In IPhone Class Action

    Apple is asking a California federal judge to close the courtroom during an upcoming discovery hearing in the ongoing antitrust class action it's facing from consumers, arguing that the proceeding is likely to reveal consumer data and billing information that should be kept out of public view.

Expert Analysis

  • 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. 

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?

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    Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.

  • PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

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    A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Microplastics At The Crossroads Of Regulation And Litigation

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    Though there are currently not many federal regulations specifically addressing microplastics as pollutants, regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits asserting consumer protection claims are both on the rise, and manufacturers should take proactive steps to implement preventive measures accordingly, say Aliza Karetnick and Franco Corrado at Morgan Lewis.

  • New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape

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    While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.

  • Opinion

    CFPB Could, And Should, Revise Open Banking Rulemaking

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    In light of continued global developments in open banking, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should evaluate whether it actually should use its proposed rule on Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act to amplify personal financial data rights in the U.S., says Brian Fritzsche at the Consumer Bankers Association.

  • FDIC Bank Disclosure Rules Raise Important Questions

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rules mandating disclosures for nonbanks offering deposit products leave traditional financial institutions in a no-man's land between fintech-oriented requirements and the reality of personal service demanded by customers, say Paul Clark and Casey Jennings at Seward & Kissel.

  • Setting Goals For Kicking Corruption Off FIFA World Cup Field

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    The unprecedented tri-country nature of the 2026 men's World Cup will add to the complexity of an already complicated event, but best practices can help businesses stay on the right side of anti-corruption rules during this historic competition, say Sandra Moser and ​​​​​​​Emily Ahdieh at Morgan Lewis.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

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