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Consumer Protection
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July 31, 2024
HSBC Says HUD Has Closed Fair Lending Probe
HSBC's U.S. banking arm said it is no longer facing a multicity fair lending investigation from federal housing authorities after an outside complaint that prompted the probe was withdrawn.
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July 31, 2024
Justices Urged To Review Airline Price-Fixing Deal Payout
Two class members in a long-running airline price-fixing suit are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a secondary distribution of over $5 million in settlement money, saying unclaimed funds should have been sent to state treasuries, not class counsel.
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July 31, 2024
Wells Fargo Hit With Suit Over Cash Sweep Program
Wells Fargo was hit with a proposed class action by a customer claiming the bank's cash sweep investment program only allows users to sweep their cash into Wells Fargo-selected accounts, a practice the suit says has drawn regulatory scrutiny because it disproportionately benefits the bank.
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July 31, 2024
Include Satellites In Broadband Updates, SpaceX Tells FCC
SpaceX urged the Federal Communications Commission to include provisions for gateway earth station satellite hubs like its own in proposed regulations to expand broadband access within certain spectrum bands, telling the regulator that doing so would be a "win-win-win" for stakeholders.
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July 31, 2024
737 Max Families Say Boeing Deal 'Morally Reprehensible'
Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes asked a Texas federal court Wednesday to reject Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the "rotten deal" lets the American aerospace giant skirt culpability for the deaths of 346 people.
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July 31, 2024
GOP Senate Bill To Bar FCC's AI Disclosure Rule Blocked
A Republican effort in the U.S. Senate aiming to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from requiring broadcasters to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in political ads lost traction at the committee level Wednesday.
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July 31, 2024
EPA Floats Ban On Many Uses Of Carcinogen 1-BP
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed banning all consumer uses of the carcinogen 1-bromopropane — except in insulation — as well as some industrial and commercial uses.
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July 31, 2024
SEC Settles Reg BI Case Against Calif. Broker-Dealer
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday it has agreed to settle allegations that Western International Securities Inc. sold more than $13 million in high-risk debt securities to those with lower risk profiles, marking the potential end of a first-of-its kind enforcement action claiming violations of Regulation Best Interest.
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July 31, 2024
5th Circ. Pause Spells Doom For DOT Airline Fees Rule
The Fifth Circuit gave the airline industry a temporary reprieve from a new U.S. Department of Transportation rule requiring carriers to more clearly disclose add-on fees upfront, a decision that stands to embolden opponents of the Biden administration's more aggressive consumer-focused policies.
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July 31, 2024
Philip Morris Nicotine Pouches Are Deceptive, Lawsuit Claims
Philip Morris violated advertising and trade practices laws by selling "highly addictive" nicotine products designed and packaged to resemble breath mints and deceptively telegraphed that the tobacco-free pouches were healthier than cigarettes, according to a proposed class action in Connecticut federal court.
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July 31, 2024
Corteva Unit Ordered To Search 110K Boxes For PFAS Docs
A former North Carolina Superior Court judge in charge of ironing out a dispute between the state and a Corteva Inc. subsidiary over allegedly missing documents ordered the company to search through 110,000 boxes for information related to "forever-chemicals," finding it failed to give assurance the boxes were thoroughly searched.
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July 31, 2024
NYC Fraudster Gets Two Years For Crime Borne Of 'Nastiness'
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a New York City woman to two years in prison Wednesday for stealing $290,000 from investors who backed her purported investment club, saying the defendant's criminal conduct, including threats to victims, was uncommonly callous.
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July 31, 2024
Pop-Up Malware Scammer Gets 7 Years For Duping Elderly
A Manhattan federal judge hit an Indian national with a seven-year prison sentence Wednesday after he admitted operating a malware call center that targeted over 6,000 victims with deceptive pop-up warnings and generated more than $6 million in criminal proceeds.
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July 31, 2024
4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In July
Massachusetts state court judges refereed a damages dispute between a real estate titan and a Big Four consultant, ruled in favor of allegedly underpaid healthcare workers and untangled a defamation suit over a labor executive's old social media posts, among other notable rulings during the month of July.
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July 31, 2024
DraftKings Closes NFT Platform Over 'Legal Developments'
DraftKings has announced that it is shuttering its nonfungible token marketplace due to "recent legal developments," with the decision coming weeks after a Massachusetts federal judge permitted a proposed securities class action involving the marketplace to move forward.
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July 31, 2024
Fifth Third Seeks Exit From Bounced Check Fee Suit
Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank NA has asked a federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging it charges consumers unlawful fees when they try to deposit a check that bounces, saying the customers agreed to a contract that contains fee clauses for depositing returned items.
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July 31, 2024
Chicago Area's Brookfield Zoo Sued Over Data Breach
The popular Brookfield Zoo has been hit with a putative class action alleging inadequate cybersecurity measures failed to protect against a January data breach the zoo waited six months to make public, putting employees at risk of identity theft without proper notice.
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July 31, 2024
TaxAct Customers' Attys Want $5.8M Fee For $23M Deal
The attorneys for TaxAct Inc. customers who secured a $23 million deal to resolve claims that the company was secretly sharing confidential taxpayer information with Meta and Google asked a federal judge to award them more than $5.8 million in fees for their work.
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July 31, 2024
Ex-AUSA Joins Motley Rice Fraud Team From DiCello Levitt
Plaintiffs' firm Motley Rice LLC said Wednesday that it hired a former New York assistant U.S. attorney to support its efforts to protect whistleblowers who expose misconduct, fraud and deceptive trade practices.
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July 31, 2024
DC Attorney General Sues StubHub Over 'Junk Fees'
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Wednesday sued StubHub, accusing the ticket resale and exchange website of duping consumers with low ticket prices before tacking on "junk fees" at the end of an artificially urgent purchasing process.
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July 31, 2024
Judge Refuses To Rethink Injury Firm Conflict Of Interest DQ
A law firm was properly disqualified from a family's design defect lawsuit against Home Depot USA Inc. and makers of a lawn mower, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled, confirming a prior finding that a conflict of interest arose between the father and daughter when the companies countersued the father.
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July 30, 2024
Delta Hires Boies Schiller To Recoup Outage-Related Damages
Delta Air Lines has retained Boies Schiller Flexner LLP to help it pursue potential damages from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft in the wake of the mid-July global tech outage that left passengers stranded, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Law360 on Tuesday.
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July 30, 2024
Pa. House Majority Leader Fights Robocall Suit At 3rd Circ.
The Democratic majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Third Circuit to undo a ruling that his automated calls informing constituents about government programs violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
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July 30, 2024
Judge Asks Dish If Circuits Truly Split On Data Breach Claims
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday pressed Dish Network Corp. and a group of current and former Dish employees who are suing the company in a putative class action about a ransomware attack last year to address whether there is a split among federal circuits on what allegations are needed to support claims in data breach cases.
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July 30, 2024
Amazon Must Recall Unsafe Third-Party Products, CPSC Says
Amazon bears legal responsibility for recalling the hundreds of thousands of products sold by third-party sellers on its site that are defective or fail to meet safety standards, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in an order issued Monday.
Expert Analysis
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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FTC Noncompete Rule's Impact On Healthcare Nonprofits
Healthcare entities that are nonprofit or tax-exempt and thus outside of the pending Federal Trade Commission noncompete rule's reach should evaluate a number of potential risk factors and impacts, starting by assessing their own status, say Ben Shook and Tania Archer at Moore & Van Allen.
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Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew
When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.
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Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy
The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Devil's In The Details On FDCPA, Article III Standing
The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Barclift v. Keystone Credit Services concerning the alleged harm needed to support a class action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is in line with other circuits' interpretations of Article III of the Constitution, notwithstanding disagreement over the minutiae of a proper Article III analysis, says Nick Agnello at Burr & Forman.
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Leveraging Insurance Amid Microplastics Concerns
A pending microplastics lawsuit — New York v. PepsiCo Inc. — may be a harbinger of what is to come for companies whose products are exposed to the environment, so any company considering how to address microplastics liability should include a careful assessment of the potential for insurance coverage in its due diligence, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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Airlines Must Prepare For State AG Investigations
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.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System
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.
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When The Platform Is A Product, Strict Liability Can Attach
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.
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4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule
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.
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What Lies Behind Diverging US And UK Insolvency Trends
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.
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8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy
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.
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Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear
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.
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Action Steps To Address New Restrictions On Outbound Data
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.