Consumer Protection

  • November 15, 2024

    Cable Biz Group Doubts FCC Legal Authority On Data Caps

    Independent cable providers want the Federal Communications Commission to scrap its potential clamp down on data usage limits in broadband service plans, claiming the agency lacks legal authority to move ahead.

  • November 15, 2024

    SEC's Top Cop Says Election Hasn't Slowed Enforcers Down

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement attorneys continue to work with "urgency" in the waning months of the Biden administration, the acting leader of the enforcement division said Friday at an event where he also spoke about a shuttered task force and the agency's approach to pursuing cases involving cybersecurity breaches.

  • November 15, 2024

    Hot Topic Shoppers' Info Stolen By 'Satanic' Hacker, Suit Says

    Hot Topic and its retail affiliates were hit with a proposed class action Wednesday in California federal court alleging an unknown hacker with the username "Satanic" infiltrated their databases containing personal information belonging to 350 million customers and offered to sell the information on an internet forum last month.

  • November 15, 2024

    FCC Passes New Satellite Spectrum Sharing Rules

    The Federal Communications Commission on Friday released new rules covering the sharing of spectrum by non-geostationary orbit fixed satellites that commissioners say will encourage industry growth but also protect existing systems.

  • November 15, 2024

    Pennsylvania AG Can't Stop Glass Plant From Moving To Ohio

    A Pennsylvania federal judge denied the Keystone State attorney general's bid to stop a private equity firm from shutting down a Pyrex plant it purchased and moving its operations to Ohio, ruling that "there is simply insufficient evidence presented" to show that the move will be anticompetitive.

  • November 15, 2024

    Monsanto Cleared In Philly's 7th Roundup Trial

    A Philadelphia jury on Friday cleared Bayer AG unit Monsanto of liability in a woman's lawsuit alleging she developed cancer by using the weedkiller Roundup, delivering the agrochemical giant its third victory in the city's mass tort.

  • November 15, 2024

    Teva Defends Mifepristone Antitrust Case Against Corcept

    Teva Pharmaceuticals has asked a California federal judge to reject a bid to dismiss its lawsuit against the maker of a brand-name drug used to treat a rare cortisol disorder, contending its complaint plausibly alleges an illegal scheme to suppress generic competition.

  • November 15, 2024

    Attys Get 'Final Warning' In Tepezza Hearing Loss MDL

    A magistrate judge has chastised attorneys on both sides of multidistrict litigation involving claims that a thyroid eye disease treatment manufactured by Horizon Pharmaceuticals Inc. causes hearing loss, calling for an end to their "improper" conduct during depositions.

  • November 15, 2024

    Ga. Law Firm Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

    Atlanta-based personal injury law firm Montlick & Associates PC has been hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court over an August data breach that compromised the private information of clients and employees.

  • November 15, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Visa Says European Commission Investigating 'Acquirer' Fees

    Visa is telling investors that European competition regulators are looking into its merchant fees, disclosing in its annual report this week that the European Commission has been investigating it since August.

  • November 15, 2024

    NC AG Wins Early Halt Of Alleged Helene Price-Gouging

    A North Carolina court granted state attorney general and incoming governor Josh Stein's request for a preliminary injunction against a businessman accused of price-gouging for tree removal services in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and taking jobs he knew his businesses were not qualified to handle.

  • November 14, 2024

    Bitfinex Hacker Gets 5 Years For Laundering Stolen Crypto

    A hacker was sentenced in Washington, D.C., federal court on Thursday to five years in prison for laundering hundreds of thousands of bitcoins now worth more than $10 billion that he stole from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

  • November 14, 2024

    Judge Vows Atty Fee Trims For Handling Of $90M Google Deal

    A California federal judge overseeing Google's $90 million antitrust deal with Play Store developers on Thursday blasted counsel representing smaller developer plaintiffs and the administration company handling the settlement, criticizing the administrator's work as "the worst performance I've seen" and vowing to trim the attorney fees "substantially."

  • November 14, 2024

    Student Loan Servicer Wants CFPB Deal Paused Amid Appeal

    The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to pause its obligation to pay more than $3.2 million as a part of a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that is being challenged in the Third Circuit by a third party.

  • November 14, 2024

    Calif. Privacy Agency Inks 1st Settlements With Data Brokers

    The California Privacy Protection Agency has issued its first monetary penalties in its almost four-year existence, announcing Thursday that a pair of data brokers would pay nearly $70,000 to resolve claims that they failed to comply with the registration requirements of a groundbreaking state data deletion law. 

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

  • Ga. Fintech Bank Charter Could Reshape Payments Industry

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    Georgia’s recent granting of a special banking charter to transaction processor Fiserv, allowing the fintech company to access major card payment networks without a traditional bank as intermediary, could spark a restructuring of the national payments infrastructure and open new possibilities for businesses and consumers, says Jessica Cino at Krevolin & Horst.

  • Opinion

    Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

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    As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

  • Perspectives

    The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan

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    Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.

  • California's AI Safety Bill Veto: The Path Forward

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    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's veto of a bill that sought to impose stringent regulations on advanced artificial intelligence model development has sparked a renewed debate on how best to balance innovation with safety in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, say Bobby Malhotra and Carson Swope at Winston & Strawn.

  • Staying Off The CFPB's Financial Services Offender Registry

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's soon-to-launch registry of financial services companies that have faced public enforcement orders is designed to ratchet up long-term scrutiny of entities that could become repeat offenders, so companies should take their new compliance and filing requirements seriously, say Andrea Mitchell and Chris Napier at Mitchell Sandler.

  • New TCPA Rule Faces Uncertain Future Post-Loper Bright

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    The Federal Communications Commission's new rule aiming to eliminate lead generators' use of unlawful robocalls is now in doubt with the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, and the Eleventh Circuit's Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC is poised to be a test case of the agency's ability to enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act post-Chevron, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • To Report Or Not To Report Others' Export Control Violations

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    A recent Bureau of Industry and Security enforcement policy change grants cooperation credit to those that report violations of the Export Administration Regulations committed by others, but the benefits of doing so must be weighed against significant drawbacks, including the costs of preparing and submitting a report, says Megan Lew at Cravath.

  • Earned Wage Access Laws Form A Prickly Policy Patchwork

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    Conflicting earned wage access laws across the country, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently issued rule, mean providers must adopt a proactive compliance approach and adjust business models where needed, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • What FDIC Expansion Of Change In Bank Control Could Mean

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    A recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposal pertaining to the Change in Bank Control Act has the potential to create uncertainty around investments by mutual fund complexes in banking organizations, which represent a stable source of capital for the banking industry, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • HSR Amendments Intensify Merger Filing Burdens, Data Risk

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    The antitrust agencies' long-awaited changes to premerger notification rules under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act stand to significantly increase the time and cost involved in preparing an initial HSR notification, and will require more proactive attention to data issues, says Andrew Szwez at FTI Technology.

  • Deadline Extension Highlights PFAS Reporting Complexities

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent extension of reporting and recordkeeping timelines for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act offers relief to the regulated community, but the unprecedented volume of data required means that businesses must remain diligent in their data collection efforts, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 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.

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