Consumer Protection

  • July 24, 2024

    FTC Chair Wary AI Tools Can Be Used For Corporate Collusion

    Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan weighed in on a host of topics during a discussion Wednesday at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, expressing concerns about the agency's high legal bills for expert witnesses and describing AI price-setting tools as a potential loophole for collusion.

  • July 24, 2024

    Delta Air Targeted In DOT Probe Following Global Tech Outage

    Delta Air Lines is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation over its handling of massive flight cancellations since the global outage Friday that left passengers stranded in airports waiting hours to reach customer service representatives and resulting in thousands of complaints, the agency announced Wednesday.

  • July 24, 2024

    Google, Ill. Parents Reach Deal In Grade School BIPA Dispute

    Google and parents who accused the tech giant of illegally harvesting their grade school daughters' biometric data have reached a settlement in the putative class action and want the suit sent back to state court to finalize the agreement, they have told an Illinois federal judge.

  • July 24, 2024

    Exxon Loses Bid To Ditch Conn. Climate Change Fraud Suit

    Exxon Mobil Corp. cannot escape Connecticut's lawsuit accusing it of deceiving consumers about the negative impact of fossil fuels on the earth's climate, a state judge ruled Tuesday in rejecting the oil and gas giant's contention that it can't be sued in the Nutmeg State.

  • July 24, 2024

    Eggland's Best Accused Of Lying About Hens' 'Pleasant' Digs

    Egg brand Eggland's Best was hit with a lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers by describing living conditions for certain laying hens as "pleasant" when in reality those chickens allegedly "live in typical factory farming conditions."

  • July 24, 2024

    Clinic Drops Case Against Maker Of Body-Sculpting Devices

    BTL Industries Inc., a Massachusetts company that sells body-sculpting equipment, and a Connecticut aesthetic clinic have mutually agreed to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the Bay State company of using misleading profit projections and illegal trade restraints that unfairly penalized equipment buyers and caused hefty investments to wither.

  • July 24, 2024

    Judge Sets Up 2-Tier Counsel Access In DOJ Live Nation Suit

    A New York federal judge on Tuesday set up a two-tiered system for document access in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, limiting sensitive information from other market participants from Live Nation in-house counsel.

  • July 24, 2024

    Meme Stock Investor Opposes Robinhood Settlement For Now

    A meme stock investor on Wednesday urged a Florida federal judge to deny a settlement between Robinhood and other traders who say they sustained losses when the exchange restricted trading of certain stocks during a social media fueled run, since he says he hasn't received any details on the deal.

  • July 24, 2024

    IPhone Users Push For Apple Docs On Korea, EU App Stores

    Plaintiffs in the ongoing App Store antitrust suit are accusing Apple of stonewalling their effort to obtain documents detailing procompetitive changes the company made to the online marketplace in South Korea and Europe, saying the tech giant won't turn over the information because it'd undermine Apple's core defense.

  • July 24, 2024

    Boulder Wants Suncor Back In Colorado Climate Suit

    The city of Boulder, Colorado, and Boulder County have asked a Colorado state judge to certify part of his judgment dismissing Canadian oil and gas company Suncor Energy from the municipalities' climate change lawsuit so they can appeal that decision and bring Suncor back in.

  • July 24, 2024

    GM Drops 6th Circ. Faulty Fuel Pump Appeal

    The Sixth Circuit won't hear an appeal by General Motors, which initially sought to decertify seven state classes of diesel truck drivers who claimed GM sold them faulty fuel pumps, after the automaker voluntarily pulled back its bid as the parties inch closer to a $50 million deal.

  • July 24, 2024

    Senate Dems Demand Scrutiny Of T-Mobile, UScellular Deal

    T-Mobile's plan to buy the wireless operations of yet another mobile network operator — this time, United States Cellular Corp. — several years after it was allowed to merge with Sprint to become the third biggest carrier in the country is a bad idea, a handful of Democratic senators have told the U.S. Department of Justice and FCC.

  • July 24, 2024

    LG Unit Seeks Exit From Georgia Exploding Battery Suit

    Atlanta-based LG Chem America Inc., a subsidiary of Korean company LG Chem Ltd., is asking a Georgia state judge to end its involvement in litigation by a man who claims he was injured when a lithium-ion battery cell exploded in his pocket.

  • July 24, 2024

    Pawnshop Co. Says Military Law Doesn't Back CFPB's Suit 

    National pawnshop company FirstCash says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should drop certain claims in a suit accusing it of subjecting military families to predatory lending, arguing that the bureau has admitted it has no authority to bring certain claims under the law undergirding the allegations.

  • July 24, 2024

    Connecticut Justices Won't Certify 'Slum' Tenant Class

    A Connecticut state court judge was under no obligation to redefine a proposed class of low-income tenants in order to help them meet the certification requirements in a fraud and unfair trade practices lawsuit against their corporate landlord and property manager, the state Supreme Court hs ruled.

  • July 24, 2024

    CFPB Warns Of Anti-Whistleblower Risk In NDAs That 'Muzzle'

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cautioned Wednesday that banks and other financial firms risk violating federal law if they require their employees to sign broad nondisclosure agreements that don't clearly allow them to talk freely with regulators or law enforcement.

  • July 24, 2024

    Last Holdouts Avoid Trial With Deal Over Chicken Price-Fixing

    Chicken buyer plaintiffs say they've reached a settlement with Mountaire Farms and Koch Foods in their suit against the country's biggest broiler chicken producers for allegedly conspiring to raise prices, telling an Illinois federal judge to call off the trial that had been scheduled for September.

  • July 24, 2024

    Legal Tech Co.'s $1.3M Data Privacy Deal Gets OK'd

    A Kansas federal judge granted preliminary approval to a proposed $1.3 million settlement between a data and professional services company catering to law firms and a class of thousands of its customers and employees, who said their personal information was stolen in a March 2023 data breach that exposed 200 gigabytes of sensitive information.

  • July 24, 2024

    Teachers Say Loan Servicer's 'Abuses' Thwarted Forgiveness

    The Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri has been hit with a suit from a powerful teachers' union alleging it "deliberately ignores" its responsibilities to millions of borrowers, forcing them to forgo the savings or forgiveness to which they are entitled.

  • July 24, 2024

    Insurers Get Hyundai, Kia Engine Claim Suits Remanded

    A California federal court has remanded to state court four suits by insurers claiming that Hyundai and Kia are on the hook for 829 engine failure and engine fire claims totaling over $7.7 million in damages, saying the automakers' snap removals violated the forum defendant rule.

  • July 24, 2024

    EPA Moving Toward New Regulations For 5 Chemicals

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday kicked off the process to fast-track new health risk evaluations for five chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a substance that raised alarm after the Norfolk Southern train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, last year.

  • July 24, 2024

    5th Circ. Strikes Down FCC's Universal Service Fund

    The full Fifth Circuit struck down the Federal Communications Commission's system for subsidizing telecommunications service for rural and low-income users as unconstitutional Wednesday, reversing a panel decision and triggering a circuit split with three other appeals courts that upheld the fee regime.

  • July 24, 2024

    Hemp Cos. Get Stay Of DEA Subpoenas Seeking Records

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday stayed enforcement of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration subpoenas seeking financial and other records from a group of hemp and vape sellers, who had argued earlier this week that the subpoenas were overbroad and unlinked to any federal investigation.

  • July 23, 2024

    Knives Out For Another Pro-Agency Landmark After Chevron

    Only weeks after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives took a hatchet to the judicial deference shown to federal agencies, right-leaning lawyers are imploring the justices to rock the administrative law realm again by gutting a New Deal-era precedent at the heart of the modern regulatory system.

  • July 23, 2024

    Kroger And Colo. Talks To Avoid Merger Hearing Stall Out

    Negotiations between Kroger Co. and Colorado enforcers to avoid an injunction hearing in the state's challenge to a $24 billion merger with Albertsons appeared to have stalled, prompting the grocers Tuesday to pitch a state judge on other options to avoid the fast-approaching proceeding.

Expert Analysis

  • New TSCA Risk Rule Gives EPA Broad Discretion On Science

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final amendments to its framework for evaluating the risks of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act give it vast discretion over consideration of scientific information, without objective criteria to guide that discretion, say John McGahren and Debra Carfora at Morgan Lewis.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

    Author Photo

    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine

    Author Photo

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.

  • Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data

    Author Photo

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

  • 4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • Lessons In High-Profile Jury Selection Amid NY Trump Trial

    Author Photo

    Richard Gabriel and Michelle Rey LaRocca at Decision Analysis consider how media exposure can affect a prospective juror in a high-profile case, the misunderstood nature of bias, and recommendations for jury selection in these unique situations as the Trump hush money trial continues in New York.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

    Author Photo

    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • The Effects Of New 10-Year Limitation On Key Sanctions Laws

    Author Photo

    Recently enacted emergency appropriations legislation, doubling the statute of limitations for civil and criminal economic sanctions violations, has significant implications for internal records retention, corporate transaction due diligence and government investigations, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • What 11th Circ. FCRA Ruling Means For Credit Furnishers

    Author Photo

    Credit furnishers should revisit their internal investigation and verification procedures after the Eleventh Circuit declined last month in Holden v. Holiday to impose a bright-line rule that only purely factual or transcription errors are actionable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, say Diana Eng and Michael Esposito at Blank Rome.

  • Supply Chain Considerations For Companies Deploying AI

    Author Photo

    Many businesses will risk failure by embracing artificial intelligence without fully understanding the risks, and the value of a five-step AI supply chain analysis cannot be overstated, say Brooke Berg and Nathan Staffel at Nardello & Co.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

    Author Photo

    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

    Author Photo

    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Compliance Considerations For New Data Protection Law

    Author Photo

    Sam Castic at Hintze Law discusses how to determine if your organization is covered by the newly enacted Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, the scope of the law's restrictions, and how to go about compliance as its June 23 effective date approaches.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule Risks A Wave Of State AG Actions

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule language banning noncompetes may contribute to a waterfall enforcement effect in which state attorneys general deploy their broad authority to treat noncompetes as separate and independent violations, say Ryan Strasser and Carson Cox at Troutman Pepper.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Consumer Protection archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!