Consumer Protection

  • August 14, 2024

    4th Circ. Says T-Mobile Must Face 'Simply Prepaid' TM Fight

    The Fourth Circuit revived a Virginia-based telecommunications company's infringement suit against T-Mobile, ruling that Simply Wireless had done enough to show it was planning to revamp its "Simply Prepaid" branding and hadn't abandoned the trademark when T-Mobile began using it.

  • August 14, 2024

    Mobile Carriers Worry Anti-Robotext Rules Could Go Too Far

    Content-neutral text-blocking standards are not the way to go, a key wireless trade group has told the Federal Communications Commission, saying that stripping away the current industry standards in favor of nondiscriminatory ones would "open the floodgates to messages that consumers do not want."

  • August 14, 2024

    Suit Claims Giant Uses Banned, Toxic Oil In Orange Soda

    A proposed class of soda drinkers is suing The Giant Co. LLC in Pennsylvania federal court, alleging that it makes and sells orange soda made with a kind of vegetable oil that federal regulators banned for its negative effects on the thyroid gland.

  • August 14, 2024

    Insurer Off Hook For Jury Award In Construction Dispute

    A commercial insurer does not have to indemnify a contractor found liable for multiple structural and other problems in a home he built, a Massachusetts intermediate appellate court concluded Wednesday in a case of first impression involving what is considered "property damage" in a construction dispute.

  • August 14, 2024

    $24M Hidden Fee Deal With AIG Opposed By Class Member

    A member of a class of travel insurance buyers who accused AIG insurers of stacking hidden fees on top of insurance travel premiums urged a California federal court to reject a nearly $24 million proposed settlement, saying it inappropriately combines distinct California and Washington claims.

  • August 14, 2024

    Ex-Binance GC Joins Crypto Co. Bitget As Legal Chief

    Seychelles-based crypto exchange Bitget on Wednesday announced it has hired a new chief legal officer who, among other roles, served as general counsel at Binance prior to its high-profile settlement with U.S. authorities last year.

  • August 14, 2024

    SEC Says Ga. Firm's Ponzi Scheme Fueled 'Lavish' Lifestyle

    An Atlanta-area firm that promised investors lucrative returns on real estate deals was in reality running a "classic Ponzi scheme" by funneling portions of the $300 million it received into buying a yacht and a luxury condo for its founder, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

  • August 13, 2024

    Anesthesia Co. Says FTC Lacks Authority To Bring 'Rollup' Suit

    U.S. Anesthesia Partners has told the Fifth Circuit the Federal Trade Commission lacks authority to bring its case directly in federal court without also filing an administrative case accusing the group of monopolizing the Texas anesthesiology market.

  • August 13, 2024

    TMX Affiliate Sues Pa. Regulator To Block Potential $52M Fine

    A Texas and Georgia-based affiliate of consumer lending company TMX Finance has sued the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, challenging an order from the department that the company says seeks over $52 million in civil penalties over claims tied to loan agreements that allegedly carry interest rates as high as 720%.

  • August 13, 2024

    Jury Awards $51M To Family In Carbon Monoxide Leak

    A Texas jury awarded a woman and her two children $51 million after they suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning in their apartment in 2015, finding in a Tuesday verdict that their apartment complex was responsible for the leak that allegedly left the children with serious brain injuries.

  • August 13, 2024

    Chamber Defends Texas Home For CFPB Late-Fee Rule Suit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade associations battling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late-fee rule told a Texas federal judge on Monday that the agency's latest bid to send the case to Washington, D.C., risks creating new rule challenge obstacles for local-level business groups and should be rejected.

  • August 13, 2024

    CFPB Says Predatory Lenders Targeting Muslim Homebuyers

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday it found that an often predatory form of home financing, known as contracts for deed, has become increasingly prevalent in Muslim communities.

  • August 13, 2024

    Campbell Soup Co. Defends V8 Splash Labeling As Accurate

    Campbell Soup Co. has urged a New Jersey federal judge to toss a putative class action alleging it duped consumers into thinking its V8 Splash beverages are naturally flavored and healthy, saying the drinks' labels never claimed the drinks were free of artificial flavors.

  • August 13, 2024

    Texas AG Targets General Motors Over Unlawful Data Sales

    Texas' attorney general has escalated his probe into data privacy practices at connected car manufacturers, hitting General Motors with a lawsuit in state court Tuesday accusing the automaker of unlawfully gathering and selling drivers' private data — which would then be resold to insurance companies — without permission.

  • August 13, 2024

    Google Says Search Ruling Irrelevant To Common Carrier Suit

    A recent ruling from a D.C. federal judge that declared Google a monopolist in the general search market has nothing to do with the Ohio attorney general's bid to designate the search engine as a common carrier, Google told an Ohio state court judge.

  • August 13, 2024

    FINRA Flags Potential Pitfalls As Members Wade Into Crypto

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Tuesday raised potential problem areas it has noticed related to members' dealings in crypto assets as part of a broader update on how the firms it oversees are wading into digital assets.

  • August 13, 2024

    Miss. Stations Could Lose FCC Licenses For Unpaid Fees

    The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday warned the licensee of two radio stations in Mississippi that they could lose their licenses if thousands of dollars in regulatory fees stretching back more than a decade remain unpaid.

  • August 13, 2024

    New Realtor Complaint Challenges NAR's Membership Rule

    The National Association of Realtors is facing a new proposed class action, this time from Michigan real estate brokers and agents challenging state and local requirements that they be members of local and national Realtor organizations to use the association's multiple listing services.

  • August 13, 2024

    Kroger Blasts FTC's 'Head-To-Head' Competition Claims

    Kroger and Albertsons have assailed the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to their merger, telling an Oregon federal judge that there's no need to preliminarily block the deal because the agency is pushing a "never before applied" theory that reducing head-to-head competition is illegal, which the grocery stores said is undone by the law and the companies' planned divestiture of 579 stores.

  • August 13, 2024

    DOJ Gets Crash Course In AI As Attys Brace For Crackdown

    The U.S. Department of Justice is working to keep pace with the swift rise of the tools known as artificial intelligence, investigating potential fraud as its Criminal Division learns the nuances of the technology — an unsettling dynamic for some defense lawyers.

  • August 13, 2024

    3rd Circ. Nixes Debt Collection Suit, Leaves Award In Question

    The Third Circuit ruled Tuesday that a plaintiff fighting an arbitration loss in a proposed debt-collection class action never had standing to sue, but the appellate panel left it for an arbiter or state court to decide whether to erase the actual award in favor of the debt collector.

  • August 13, 2024

    Capital One Blames Customers For 'Refer A Friend' Texts

    Capital One urged a Washington federal judge on Monday to throw out a proposed class action accusing it of violating a state law banning ads in unsolicited texts, contending its customers are ultimately responsible for hitting send on "refer a friend" messages providing others credit card sign-up links.

  • August 13, 2024

    HP Inks Deal To End Claims Printer Update Locked Out Rivals

    HP Inc. and a certified class of consumers told a California magistrate judge Monday that they have reached a settlement in principle to resolve a class action alleging the printer maker illegally forced customers to purchase overpriced HP-branded ink and toner supply cartridges by making alternative products incompatible with their printers.

  • August 13, 2024

    Congress Didn't Want Utility-Style Internet Regs, 6th Circ. Told

    Internet service providers urged the Sixth Circuit to deep-six the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service and impose net neutrality rules, saying Congress never intended that change even under the broadest reading of federal law.

  • August 13, 2024

    Telecoms Fret Over FCC's Pole Attachment Deadlines

    Negotiating big pole attachment orders can take longer than the Federal Communications Commission might sometimes like, a telecom industry trade group says, warning the agency that a regulation requiring the first of 3,000 such attachments to be ready in 45 days isn't realistic.

Expert Analysis

  • What TikTok's Race Against The Clock Teaches Chinese Firms

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    The Biden administration's recent divestiture deadline on TikTok parent ByteDance provides useful information for other China-based companies looking to do business in the U.S., including the need to keep products for each market separate and implement firewalls at the design stage, says Richard Lomuscio at Stinson.

  • Updated Federal Rules Can Improve Product Liability MDLs

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    The recent amendment of a federal evidence rule regarding expert testimony and the proposal of a civil rule on managing early discovery in multidistrict legislation hold great promise for promoting the uniform and efficient processes that high-stakes product liability cases particularly need, say Alan Klein and William Heaston at Duane Morris.

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • Unlocking Blockchain Opportunities Amid Legal Uncertainty

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    Dozens of laws and legal precedents will come into the fore as Web3, metaverse and non-fungible tokens gain momentum, so organizations need to design their programs with a broader view of potential exposures — and opportunities, say Teresa Goody Guillén and Robert Musiala at BakerHostetler and Steve McNew at FTI Consulting.

  • 4 Ways Businesses Can Address Threat Of Mass Arbitration

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    Attorneys at DLA Piper examine the rise of mass arbitration in light of JAMS' new procedures and guidelines, and provide four steps e-commerce businesses can take when revising their dispute resolution provisions to maximize the chances those revisions will be held enforceable.

  • The Uncertain Scope Of The First Financial Fair Access Laws

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    With Florida and Tennessee soon to roll out laws banning financial institutions from making decisions based on customer traits like political affiliation, national financial services providers should consider how broadly worded “fair access” laws from these and other conservative-leaning states may place new obligations on their business operations, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ

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    Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.

  • Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture

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    In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.

  • Debate Over CFPB Definition Of Credit Is Just Beginning

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently worked to expand the meaning of credit, so anyone operating on the edges of the credit markets, or even those who assumed they were safely outside the scope of this regulatory perimeter, should pay close attention as legal challenges to broad interpretations of the definition unfold, says John Coleman at Orrick.

  • Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond

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    Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.

  • How Federal And State Microfiber Pollution Policy Is Evolving

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    Growing efforts to address synthetic microfiber pollution may create compliance and litigation issues for businesses in the textile and apparel industries, so companies should track developing federal and state legislation and regulation in this space, and should consider associated greenwashing risks, says Arie Feltman-Frank at Jenner & Block.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • 10 Tips To Build Trust With Your Witness During Trial Prep

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    Preparing a witness for deposition or trial requires more than just legal skills — lawyers must also work to cultivate trust with the witness, using strategies ranging from wearing a hat when conducting mock cross-examination to offering them a ride to court before they testify, say Faye Paul Teller and Sara McDermott at Munger Tolles.

  • A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps

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    The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • 5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits

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    Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

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