Consumer Protection

  • November 14, 2024

    Florida AG Says FEMA Failed Trump Supporters After Storms

    The Florida Attorney General's Office announced Thursday it has launched a federal lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency's administrator and a fired agency official over an alleged directive instructing hurricane relief workers to avoid homes displaying signs in support of President-elect Donald Trump.

  • November 14, 2024

    Kraft Mac & Cheese Artificial Ingredients Claims Survive

    An Illinois federal judge said Wednesday that Kraft Heinz Co. can't escape a proposed class action alleging that its Kraft macaroni and cheese products, which are labeled as containing no artificial preservatives, actually do contain those artificial ingredients.

  • November 14, 2024

    CFPB Orders Prison Telecom, Payment Provider To Pay $3M

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Thursday it has instructed one of the largest prison service providers to pay $3 million to settle claims tied to the company's money transfer and telecommunications businesses, including a claim alleging it froze and drained incarcerated individuals' accounts.

  • November 14, 2024

    'The World Has Changed': Google's $700M Deal Gets 2nd Look

    The California federal judge considering Google's $700 million antitrust deal with states and consumers told plaintiffs' counsel Thursday to review the settlement terms to ensure that they comport with Google Play store changes he ordered in Epic Games' separate lawsuit, saying "the world has changed" since they struck the deal.

  • November 14, 2024

    Hasbro's Excess Toy Inventory Tanked Stock, Suit Says

    Toy and entertainment company Hasbro Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging it falsely portrayed high inventory levels as a protective measure against supply chain issues despite knowing its inventory far exceeded actual consumer demand.

  • November 14, 2024

    MDL Counsel Present Deal With FTX Estate To Fla. Court

    Counsel for plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation over the collapse of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX Trading Ltd. told a Florida federal judge Thursday that they have reached a deal with the FTX estate in bankruptcy.

  • November 14, 2024

    Hemp Companies Take NJ Challenge To 3rd Circ.

    A group of companies that manufacture and sell hemp products is urging the Third Circuit to take a second look at an order that blocked part of a New Jersey law that regulates the sale of intoxicating hemp products, despite seemingly scoring a favorable outcome at the trial level.

  • November 14, 2024

    Crypto And Private Fund Groups Push SEC On Dealer Rule

    Crypto industry groups and private fund associations tag-teamed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday during a hearing over two cases relating to the agency's expanded definition of securities dealers, telling a Texas federal court that the new rule marked a dramatic overreach by the regulator.

  • November 14, 2024

    Scooter Victim Can't Show Lime Had Duty Of Care, Panel Says

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a woman's negligence suit against an electric scooter company after she was hit by a scooter driver, finding the company's decision to rent out the scooters does not create a duty to protect the public from people's unsafe use of them.

  • November 14, 2024

    FCC Extends Freeze On Rate Of Return Carrier Cost Rules

    A long-running freeze on a wireline cost allocation regime has been extended by the Federal Communications Commission for another six years, with the agency saying that it's finally time to explore making the fix permanent after nearly a quarter century of temporary freezes.

  • November 14, 2024

    NYC Speeds Away From Taxi Drivers' RICO Claim

    New York City and its transportation officials have escaped a racketeering suit filed by New York cabdrivers that accused them of artificially pumping the value of taxi licenses, a federal judge ruled, saying that drivers failed to show that awarding them money would prevent others from becoming victims of the same allegedly "fraudulent scheme."

  • November 14, 2024

    AT&T Questions FCC's Legal Authority Over 'Unlocking' Rule

    AT&T has told the Federal Communications Commission that its proposal requiring mobile providers to unlock a customer's device within 60 days of signing up won't stand up in court.

  • November 14, 2024

    All Merger Fixes 'Should Be On Table,' FTC's Holyoak Says

    One of the Federal Trade Commission's Republican members on Thursday signaled a significant softening of the Biden era's tough stance against merger remedies meant to fix otherwise problematic mergers is likely once the GOP takes the majority at the agency.

  • November 14, 2024

    Capital One Must Face Savers' Suit Over 'High-Interest' Claims

    A Virginia federal judge has slightly trimmed a consolidated litigation accusing Capital One NA of deceptively advertising its 360 Savings accounts as high-interest savings products and separately denied the bank its bid for a bench trial instead of a jury trial on the remaining claims.

  • November 14, 2024

    FTC's Holyoak Says New Comment Portal Shows Merger Bias

    Federal Trade Commissioner Melissa Holyoak said Thursday the design of a new portal allowing the public to comment on pending deals shows signs of the current leadership's view that all mergers are bad.

  • November 14, 2024

    Red State AGs Sue SEC Over Crypto Policy

    A coalition of 18 Republican attorneys general led by Kentucky sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday for allegedly treading on the states' authority through a "regulatory landgrab" into the cryptocurrency industry.

  • November 14, 2024

    Takeda Rips Cert. Order's 'Whale Of Assumption' At 9th Circ.

    Takeda Pharmaceutical urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to reverse a ruling certifying a class of third-party payors who allege Takeda and Eli Lilly & Co. hid their anti-diabetes drug's bladder-cancer risks, arguing the lower court erroneously made a "whale of an assumption" that 56.7% of prescriptions wouldn't have been written with disclosures.

  • November 14, 2024

    Broadband Groups See Ally In Incoming GOP Leader Thune

    Telecom industry groups view the Senate's next majority leader, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., as keenly interested in the sector's needs, but it's not yet clear what his selection could mean for specific critical issues like building out rural internet service and removing barriers to broadband deployment.

  • November 14, 2024

    NY Gov. Brings Back Manhattan Congestion Pricing Plan

    The resurrection of New York City's plan to charge all vehicles a fee for entering Manhattan's busiest corridor demonstrates a mad dash in the final months of the Biden administration to expedite infrastructure projects perceived as political lightning rods before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

  • November 14, 2024

    Wash. Justices Grill Lowe's Attorney In Fallen Fencing Case

    Washington State Supreme Court justices pushed back Thursday against a stance taken by Lowe's that a shopper injured by a fallen roll of wire fencing had presented inadequate evidence showing the accident could've been anticipated, with one justice remarking that the big box store seemed to "gloss over" key details in the case.

  • November 14, 2024

    EPA Expands List of Solvent Risks, Targets Tire Chem Rules

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said a chemical commonly used in solvents presents health risks to humans in more ways than had previously been stated, and said it's researching whether to regulate a chemical used in tire production that has been shown to kill salmon.

  • November 14, 2024

    DOJ Deputy Says Biden Stance Led To Fewer Harmful Mergers

    The deputy head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division offered a full-throated defense Thursday of the Biden administration's aggressive competition enforcement record, arguing, with a Republican takeover imminent, that "more demanding standards" for transaction remedies prompted real change by merging companies seeking to avoid a merger challenge.

  • November 14, 2024

    47 AGs Support FCC's Robocall Database Reforms

    A bipartisan coalition of 47 attorneys general encouraged the Federal Communications Commission to implement new rules aimed at improving the effectiveness of the Robocall Mitigation Database, or RMD, writing in a comment letter that the database is "currently one of the most important sources of information available for anti-robocall enforcement actions."

  • November 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Upend Certification In Nissan Sunroof Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to undo class certification in a suit alleging Nissan North America Inc. sold vehicles with defective sunroofs prone to shattering, saying the trial court correctly found that there were common questions of law and fact among vehicle owners in the case.

  • November 14, 2024

    Gaetz's Slim Legal Resume Raises Concerns Over AG Role

    Having never served as a prosecutor and with minimal experience practicing law, Matt Gaetz would have the thinnest legal resume of any attorney general in recent history and would face a steep learning curve, including daunting leadership challenges, if he were to take up the reins of the U.S. Department of Justice, experts say.

Expert Analysis

  • 6th Circ. Preemption Ruling Adds Uncertainty For Car Cos.

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    Automakers and their suppliers need uniformity under the law to create sufficient scale and viable markets — but the Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Fenner v. General Motors creates more uncertainty around the question of when state law consumer claims related to violations of federal vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards are preempted, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • How Biden Admin Has Used Antitrust Tools, And What's Next

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    The last four years have been marked by an aggressive whole-of-government approach to antitrust enforcement using a broad range of tools, and may result in lasting change regardless of the upcoming presidential election result, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Cos. Face Increasing Risk From Environmental Citizen Suits

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    Environmental citizen suits stepping in to fill the regulatory vacuum concerning consumer goods waste may soon become more common, and the evolving procedural landscape and changes to environmental law may contribute to companies' increased exposure, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • How BIS' Rule Seeks To Encourage More Voluntary Disclosure

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    Updated incentives, penalties and enforcement resources in the Bureau of Industry and Security's recently published final rule revising the Export Administration Regulations should help companies decide how to implement export control compliance programs and whether to disclose possible violations, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • Navigating Complex Regulatory Terrain Amid State AG Races

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    This year's 10 attorney general elections could usher in a wave of new enforcement priorities and regulatory uncertainty, but companies can stay ahead of the shifts by building strong relationships with AG offices, participating in industry coalitions and more, say Ketan Bhirud and Dustin McDaniel at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Challenge To Ill. Card Fee Law Explores Compliance Hurdles

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    A recent federal lawsuit challenging an Illinois law that will soon forbid electronic payment networks from charging fees for processing the tax and tip portions of card transactions, fleshes out the glaring compliance challenges and exposure risks financial institutions must be ready to face next summer, says Martin Kiernan at Amundsen Davis.

  • Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

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    Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

  • Harris Unlikely To Shelve Biden Admin's Food Antitrust Stance

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    A look at Vice President Kamala Harris' past record, including her actions as California attorney general, shows why practitioners should prepare for continued aggressive antitrust enforcement, particularly in the food and grocery industries, if Harris wins the presidential election, says Steve Vieux at Bartko.

  • Opinion

    This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

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    In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Series

    Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

  • Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to alter Regulation X mortgage servicing procedures to broadly construe requests for assistance, and stay foreclosure proceedings during loss mitigation review, will, if finalized, require mortgage servicers to make notable procedural changes to comply, says Louis Manetti at Locke Lord.

  • A Look At 5 States' New Data Privacy Laws

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    With new data privacy laws in Utah, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Montana recently in effect or coming into force this year, state-level enforcement of data privacy creates significant challenges and risks for how businesses interact with employees and consumers, and for companies that provide and use technologies in multiple jurisdictions, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Antitrust In Retail: Why FTC Is Studying 'Surveillance Pricing'

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    The Federal Trade Commission's decision to study targeted "surveillance pricing" should provide greater clarity into the nature of the data aggregation industry, but also raises several issues, including whether these practices are in fact illegal under any established interpretations of U.S. antitrust law, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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