Consumer Protection

  • August 07, 2024

    7th Circ. Keeps 3M PFAS Pollution Suit In State Court

    The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday rejected 3M's bid to send back to federal court a lawsuit brought by the state of Illinois alleging that the company polluted local waters with toxic "forever chemicals," saying a federal government contractor defense would be "wholly irrelevant" to the state's case.

  • August 07, 2024

    Law Firms Fight J&J Bid To Revive Talc Subpoenas

    The Beasley Allen Law Firm, the steering committee of talc plaintiffs suing Johnson & Johnson, and a third-party law firm urged the New Jersey federal court this week to reject a bid from the pharmaceutical company to reinstate subpoenas seeking evidence of alleged third-party litigation funding.

  • August 07, 2024

    NJ AG, Data Biz Say Judicial Privacy Law Is Constitutional

    The New Jersey Office of Attorney General stepped in to defend the judicial privacy measure Daniel's Law this week, arguing alongside a data privacy company in federal court that a group of data brokers accused of violating it are relying on "hypotheticals and edge cases" to claim the law is unconstitutional.

  • August 07, 2024

    Pool Co. Can't Get Atty Fees After Losing False Ads Trial

    A pool parts supplier on the hook for a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment isn't entitled to attorney fees in the case, a North Carolina federal judge has ruled, finding there's "no question" the winning party is its opponent given the eight-figure damages award.

  • August 07, 2024

    Mortgage Banker Says Experian Can't Tie Him To 'Sham' Suits

    A New Jersey-based licensed mortgage banker is urging a California federal judge to let him escape Experian's suit alleging that he helped credit reporting law firms identify clients and created false evidence of a mortgage denial in a nationwide scheme to "extort" the credit reporting agency into settling "sham" lawsuits.

  • August 07, 2024

    CFPB Backs Homeowners In Nationstar Mortgage Fee Suit

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asked a Washington federal court to allow it to file a brief in support of a proposed class action accusing Nationstar Mortgage of illegally charging fees whenever homeowners request payoff statements for their loans.

  • August 07, 2024

    Jury Deadlocks In Third Illinois Zantac Cancer Trial

    An Illinois state judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in a man's lawsuit claiming Boehringer Ingelheim's over-the-counter Zantac caused him to develop prostate cancer, after a jury signaled it could not reach a unanimous verdict.

  • August 07, 2024

    GrubHub Must Face Restaurants' TM Infringement Suit

    Grubhub Inc. must face a proposed class action brought against it in Illinois federal court for allegedly using restaurants' trademarks without permission and listing them on its food delivery app without their consent, even though most of the lead plaintiffs have not registered the marks at issue.

  • August 07, 2024

    5th Circ. Tosses Passengers' Suit Over Southwest TSA Fees

    The Fifth Circuit has sided with Southwest Airlines Co. in a suit alleging it breached passengers' contracts by giving them travel credits instead of refunds for Transportation Security Administration security fees, finding the claims were correctly preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act.

  • August 06, 2024

    Convicted Mango Markets Crypto Trader Wants Acquittal

    The crypto trader who was convicted of fraudulently draining more than $100 million from trading platform Mango Markets told a Manhattan federal judge that he should be fully acquitted on the grounds that federal prosecutors failed to prove at trial that he violated the law. 

  • August 06, 2024

    9th Circ. Remands $12.8M Award In 'Joint Juice' False Ad Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a California federal jury's finding that the maker of Joint Juice misled customers about the drink's health benefits, but it held in a published opinion that $8.3 million in statutory damages had to be recalculated to determine whether the award violated the maker's due process rights.

  • August 06, 2024

    Lensa AI App Creator Shakes Ill. Biometric Privacy Suit

    An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday tossed a proposed class action accusing the developer of a popular "magic avatar" app of unlawfully harvesting biometric data to fuel its service, finding that the plaintiff had failed to show that his information was included in the massive database relied on by the company. 

  • August 06, 2024

    Zelle Fraud Victims Seek Class Cert. In BofA Refunds Suit

    Consumers suing Bank of America NA for allegedly stiffing them on reimbursement for Zelle fraud and scam losses asked a California federal judge to grant class action status to their case, seeking certification for several classes of customers with denied refund claims from the past four years.

  • August 06, 2024

    Microsoft's Dechert Attys Slam Delta On Outage Suit Threat

    Microsoft's attorneys at Dechert LLP fired back Tuesday at Delta Air Lines' recent threat to pursue litigation to recoup hundreds of millions in losses from last month's global CrowdStrike outage, saying the airline repeatedly refused Microsoft's offer for technical assistance.

  • August 06, 2024

    NTSB Door Plug Hearing Spotlights Boeing Production Gaps

    Boeing still hasn't pinpointed who removed and reinstalled the door plug that subsequently blew off a 737 Max 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines in January, as the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday examined what employees described as disjointed protocols and high-pressure production lines.

  • August 06, 2024

    4 Takeaways From Landmark Google Search Ruling

    A landmark ruling in D.C. federal court Monday found that Google illegally maintains its search engine monopoly, and experts say the case could have broad implications for the company as well as the wider internet and shows how existing antitrust laws can apply to modern technology.

  • August 06, 2024

    Anti-Rape Org. Told To Turn Over Docs In Uber Assault MDL

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday directed the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network to produce documents in response to a subpoena seeking information about the anti-sexual violence organization's work with Uber Technologies Inc. as part of multidistrict litigation in California over the sexual assault of Uber passengers.

  • August 06, 2024

    Henrietta Lacks' Family Sues Novartis, Viatris Over HeLa Cells

    The family of the late Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were harvested without her knowledge to create the first immortalized human cell line, sued Novartis and Viatris in Maryland federal court Monday, alleging the pharmaceutical giants have "reaped massive profits" using Lacks' stolen cells to create new drugs.

  • August 06, 2024

    CPSC Makes Moves On Powers Of Recall Over Amazon

    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's recent decision that Amazon is legally responsible for recalling hundreds of thousands of unsafe products sold on its site is a big step forward for the agency in its authority over online platforms that sell third-party products, although the opinion is still limited to the sorts of products at issue, attorneys say.

  • August 06, 2024

    Fox TV Knocks Media Group's Petition Against Philly License

    Fox TV pressed the Federal Communications Commission to reject an advocacy group's bid for a hearing on its Philadelphia station's license over claims it knowingly aired election falsehoods, arguing the petition still lacks merit despite a year of pressure on the agency.

  • August 06, 2024

    Fifth Third Bank Faces MDL Bid Over Allegedly Hidden Costs

    A group of consumers is urging the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize in New Jersey five proposed class actions alleging Fifth Third Bank NA's solar panel financing business hid loan costs from consumers.

  • August 06, 2024

    Cable Biz Likely To Oppose Cybersecurity Reporting Rules

    Cable providers bristled at federal agencies' plans to impose new requirements aimed at beefing up network security, arguing that rules for reporting cyberattacks within certain time frames and sharing detailed security plans would be overly burdensome.

  • August 06, 2024

    Conn. AG Says Utility Misconstrued Power Plant Cleanup Deal

    The Connecticut Attorney General's Office has told a state court that The United Illuminating Co., now part of Avangrid Inc., raised inapplicable defenses to an environmental cleanup lawsuit by misconstruing an earlier consent decree as a "contract" the government could breach as the utility remediated an abandoned New Haven power plant.

  • August 06, 2024

    Pennsylvania Hospital Gets Data Breach Suit Whittled

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has shaved two counts off of a data breach lawsuit against Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., rejecting the hospital operator's argument that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit but agreeing that not all of them stated valid claims.

  • August 06, 2024

    EPA Emergency Bans Pesticide Chem Over Risks To Unborn

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it's imposing an emergency ban on all pesticide products that contain a chemical used since the 1950s that it says puts fetuses at risk of thyroid problems and a cascade of other health issues.

Expert Analysis

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

    Author Photo

    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

    Author Photo

    The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

    Author Photo

    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • What Passage Of House Crypto Bill Could Mean For Industry

    Author Photo

    While the prospects of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which recently passed the House in a bipartisan fashion, becoming law remain murky, the manner of its passage may give crypto markets a real cause for hope, say Neel Maitra and Dale Beggs at Dechert.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

    Author Photo

    The second quarter of 2024 saw less enforcement activity in the realm of New York financial services, but brought substantial regulatory and legislative developments, including state regulators' guidance on cybersecurity compliance and customer service processes for virtual currency entities, say James Vivenzio and Andrew Lucas at Perkins Coie.

  • 4 Important Events In Bank Regulation: A Midyear Review

    Author Photo

    The first six months of 2024 have been fairly stable for the banking industry, though U.S. Supreme Court decisions and proposals from regulators have significantly affected the regulatory standards applicable to insured depository institutions, says Christina Grigorian at Katten.

  • FTC Focus: Competition And The Right To Repair

    Author Photo

    If the Federal Trade Commission includes commercial and industrial products as part of copyright exemptions that allow consumers to modify or repair products, then businesses and affected rights holders will need to consider copyrights' impact on infringement issues, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Advisers Can Avoid Gaps In SEC Marketing Rule Compliance

    Author Photo

    A recent risk alert from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the enforcement history of the marketing rule indicate that advisers have encountered persistent difficulties in achieving compliance — but there are steps advisers can take to mitigate risks of violations, say Scott Moss and Jimmy Kang at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Air Ambulance Ruling Severely Undermines No Surprises Act

    Author Photo

    A Texas federal court's recent decision in Guardian Flight v. Health Care Service — that the No Surprises Act lacks a judicial remedy when a health insurer refuses to pay the amount established through an independent review — likely throws a huge monkey wrench into the elaborate protections the NSA was enacted to provide, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

    Author Photo

    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • In Biz Account Breaches, Look Beyond The Payment Platform

    Author Photo

    A business's legal path to recovering funds after bad actors access a payment platform account and engage in unauthorized transactions can lead into murky legal territory where liability is unclear, and pursuing the payment platform itself will be an uphill, if not insurmountable, struggle, say Edward Marshall and Morgan Harrison at Arnall Golden.

  • 4 Steps To Repair Defense Credibility In Opening Statements

    Author Photo

    Given the continued rise of record-breaking verdicts, defense counsel need to consider fresh approaches to counteract the factors coloring juror attitudes — starting with a formula for rebuilding credibility at the very beginning of opening statements, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Arbitration Implications Of High Court Coinbase Ruling

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Coinbase v. Suski ruling not only reaffirmed the long-standing principle that arbitration is a matter of contract, but also established new and more general principles concerning the courts' jurisdiction to decide challenges to delegation clauses and the severability rule, say Tamar Meshel at the University of Alberta.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Consumer Protection archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!