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Consumer Protection
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November 05, 2024
Peet's Sinks ADA Bias Suit Over Alt Milk Surcharge, For Now
A California federal judge on Tuesday freed Peet's Coffee from a proposed class action accusing it of discriminating against customers with lactose intolerance and milk allergies by levying a surcharge for non-dairy milk alternatives, saying customers who sued failed to show that only disabled customers would incur the extra cost.
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November 05, 2024
FTC Says Dave Mobile Banking App Deceives Customers
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday accused mobile banking app Dave of misleading customers about the actual amount of cash advance they're likely to receive while also charging them undisclosed fees, including "tips" via a guilt-inducing interface, according to a complaint filed in California federal court.
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November 05, 2024
Ford To Face Punitives Bid At Next Ga. Trial Over Truck Roof
Ford Motor Co. must face a punitive damages request at an upcoming jury trial over allegations that a defective pickup truck roof caused a husband and wife to suffocate during a rollover crash, a Georgia federal judge held Tuesday.
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November 05, 2024
Pa. AG Gets Order To Stop Glass Plant Dismantling
The investment-firm parent of kitchenware company Anchor Hocking Holdings can't dismantle a recently shuttered glass plant in Pennsylvania until the state attorney general argues her case that the purchase and closure of the plant may be anticompetitive, according to a court order unsealed Monday.
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November 05, 2024
Public Interest Groups Press For 60-Day Phone 'Unlocking'
Three big consumer advocate groups are throwing their weight behind a Federal Communications Commission proposal to require mobile providers to unlock a customer's device within 60 days of their signing up, saying the move would "most benefit lower-income customers."
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November 05, 2024
Immigrant Bond Cos. Slam 'Knee-Jerk' CFPB In $811M Fight
Immigrant bond companies appealing an order to pay $811 million for allegedly abusive bonding practices have told the Fourth Circuit that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's attempt to uphold that sanction is "aimed at the heartstrings and meant to evince a knee-jerk reaction to conduct that was distasteful" but said there is "nothing that can be done to alter the past."
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November 05, 2024
SEC Beats Stockbroker Challenge To BSA Enforcement
A Utah federal judge on Tuesday tossed Scottsdale Capital Advisors' lawsuit accusing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of wrongfully enforcing the suspicious activity reporting regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act, finding the microcap broker-dealer didn't show that the underlying enforcement action is subject to judicial review.
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November 05, 2024
Allow More High Power Use In Shared Airwaves, Org. Says
The Federal Communications Commission is looking at overhauling the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, and the group that helped develop the standards for it originally says it's time to allow high power use in the midband spectrum.
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November 05, 2024
Eye-Rolling Must Stop, Judge Warns Before False Ad Trial
A California federal judge overseeing a false advertising dispute set to go to trial Wednesday between Guardant Health and Natera cautioned lawyers for the medical diagnostic testing companies on Tuesday to stop their "eye-rolling" when opposing counsel speaks and also urged the rivals to keep trying for a last-minute settlement.
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November 05, 2024
Google Escapes Play Store Gift Card Scam Suit, For Now
A California federal judge on Monday tossed a woman's proposed class action accusing Google of profiting millions of dollars stolen from victims of Google Play gift card scams but rejected the tech giant's contention that the woman was subject to a heightened pleading standard for claims predicated on fraud.
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November 05, 2024
CFPB Gets Good Grade On Info Security, But Gaps Remain
The inspector general for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has given the agency a generally clean bill of health on its information security while flagging several weak points for improvement, including finding that it lacks a specific plan for handling a ransomware attack scenario.
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November 05, 2024
Fubo Defends Block Of Sports Streaming Service At 2nd Circ.
Fubo is defending a New York federal judge's order blocking the launch of a sports-only streaming service from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery at the Second Circuit, telling judges there that competitors wouldn't stand a chance in the sports streaming market without the programming that the three behemoths control.
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November 05, 2024
DC Circ. Wary Of FTC Changes To $5B Meta Privacy Deal
The Federal Trade Commission faced a skeptical D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday in its bid to modify a $5 billion privacy deal with Meta, with judges questioning why any private company would settle with the agency if the deal could later be reopened.
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November 05, 2024
FTC Defends Noncompete Ban In 11th Circ. Appeal
The Federal Trade Commission told the Eleventh Circuit the agency is authorized to make rules like the one banning the use of employee noncompetes and argued that a lower court was wrong to block the commission from enforcing the rule against a retirement community.
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November 05, 2024
Hagens Berman Defends Bid To Ditch AWOL Apple Suit Client
A Washington federal judge expressed skepticism on Tuesday that Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP was within its rights to substitute a proposed class representative in an antitrust case against Amazon and Apple earlier this year when the lead plaintiff stopped communicating with the firm.
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November 05, 2024
Binance Says New SEC Complaint Suffers Same Old Flaws
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance told a Washington, D.C., federal judge the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can't continue to argue that secondary sales of digital assets are securities transactions in its enforcement suit against the trading platform after the regulator acquiesced that the tokens themselves aren't investment contracts.
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November 05, 2024
Amazon Bashes Wash. Supreme Court's Price-Gouging Ruling
Amazon urged a Washington federal judge Monday to toss an updated proposed consumer class action alleging price gouging during the pandemic, saying the claims remain overly broad and the Washington Supreme Court's interpretation of the state's consumer protection law is unconstitutionally vague.
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November 05, 2024
Edge Providers Say Data Centers Key To Network Growth
Data centers will be buzzing with ever more activity in the coming years, and edge providers like Netflix and Amazon want to make sure that U.S. agencies keep up with the network traffic flow, according to a new filing from their national trade group.
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November 05, 2024
Target Inks Individual Deals Over 'Non-Drowsy' Flu Medicine
Target Corp. has reached individual settlements with three consumers who launched a proposed class action alleging its over-the-counter cold and flu medicine is misleadingly labeled as "non-drowsy" despite containing an ingredient known to cause sleepiness, according to a Minnesota federal judge's order.
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November 05, 2024
Conagra Settles False Ad Suit Over 'Sustainable' Fish
Conagra and a proposed class of consumers have settled a suit accusing the food giant of deceptively labeling its seafood products as sustainable despite using ocean-harming methods to source them, according to a minute order entered Tuesday.
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November 05, 2024
Some Hertz Del. Insurance Claims Tossed In False Arrest Saga
A Delaware state judge has branded as "unreasonable" and based on "contractual gymnastics" Hertz Corp. arguments for aggregating separate settlements to limit its retained liability payout duty before insurance picks up the balance of customer wrongful arrest suit settlements.
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November 05, 2024
Meta Owed No Coverage For Social Media MDL, Hartford Says
Two Hartford units told a Delaware state court they should have no duty to defend Meta Platforms Inc., parent of Facebook and Instagram, against numerous lawsuits accusing the social media giant of deliberately designing its platforms to be addictive to adolescents and concealing its harmful effects on them.
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November 05, 2024
GOP Sens. Say NTIA 'Distorting' US Broadband Access
Senate Republicans are accusing Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris of "manipulating census data" to conceal the number of people using satellite internet, in their latest attack on the Biden administration and Harris, who they have dubbed the "broadband czar."
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November 05, 2024
Dems Push Insurance Regulators To Tackle Hurricane Fraud
Three Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, including ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, sent letters to insurance regulators in the states hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton urging them to do more to prevent fraud and dishonesty from insurers looking to avoid covering damages.
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November 05, 2024
4 Golf Course Data Breach Suits Consolidated In Illinois
Four separate proposed class actions alleging an Illinois-based golf course operator failed to protect customers' information following a data breach have been consolidated and will be heard in front of the same federal judge.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
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.
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Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers
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.
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A Look At 5 States' New Data Privacy Laws
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.
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Antitrust In Retail: Why FTC Is Studying 'Surveillance Pricing'
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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Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping
As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In the third quarter of the year, California continued to be at the forefront of banking regulation as it enacted legislation on unfair banking practices and junk fees, and the state Department of Financial Protection and Innovation notably initiated enforcement actions focused on crypto-assets and student loan debt relief, say Stuart Richter and Eric Hail at Katten.
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Opinion
FTC's Report Criticizing Drug Middlemen Is Flawed
The Federal Trade Commission's July report, which claims that pharmacy benefit managers are inflating drug costs, does not offer a credible analysis of PBMs, and its methodology lacks rigor, says Jay Ezrielev at Elevecon.
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2 High Court Securities Cases Could Clarify Pleading Rules
In granting certiorari in a pair of securities fraud cases against Facebook and Nvidia, respectively, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its intention to align interpretations of the heightened pleading standard under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act amid its uneven application among the circuit courts, say attorneys at V&E.
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What 2 Key Rulings Mean For Solicitation Under TCPA
Two recent rulings from federal district courts in New York and California — each of which came to a different conclusion — bring to light courts' continued focus on and analysis of when an alleged communication constitutes a solicitation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, say Felix Shipkevich and Jessica Livingston at Shipkevich.
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Series
NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In a relatively light few months for banking legal updates in New York, the state Department of Financial Services previewed its views on banking sector artificial intelligence use via insurer guidance, and an anti-money laundering enforcement action underscored the importance of international monitoring processes, say Eric McLaughlin and Dana Bayersdorfer at Davis Polk.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Navigating The Complexities Of Cyber Incident Reporting
When it comes to cybersecurity incident response plans, the uptick in the number and targets of legal and regulatory actions emphasizes the necessity for businesses to document the facts underlying the assumptions, complexities and obstacles of their decisions during the incident response, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Aviation Watch: Boeing Plea Agreement May Not Serve Public
The proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing — the latest outgrowth of the company's 737 Max travails — is opposed by crash victims' families, faces an uncertain fate in court, and may ultimately serve no beneficial purpose, even if approved, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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Using Primacy And Recency Effects In Opening Statements
By understanding and strategically employing the primacy and recency effects in opening statements, attorneys can significantly enhance their persuasive impact, ensuring that their narrative is both compelling and memorable from the outset, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.