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Consumer Protection
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August 15, 2024
Investing Website Isn't An Investment Adviser, Court Says
A New York federal judge ruled Thursday that an exclusion to the Investment Advisers Act applies to the investing analysis website Seeking Alpha, dismissing a proposed class action from subscribers who accused the site of serving as an unregistered investment adviser and unlawfully collecting subscription fees.
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August 15, 2024
Medical Records Co. Appealing Blocked Anti-Bot CAPTCHAs
Electronic medical records company PointClickCare will appeal last month's ruling from a Maryland federal judge enjoining it from using unsolvable CAPTCHA prompts to block a nursing home analytics firm's access to records, the company said Wednesday.
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August 15, 2024
Judge Rejects GE's Bid To Pull Plug On Contamination Suit
A Louisiana federal judge on Wednesday refused to let General Electric escape a lawsuit alleging it is liable for widespread environmental contamination caused by a now-closed pressure valve manufacturing facility that GE used to own.
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August 15, 2024
Audacy Sale To Soros Won't Be Rubber-Stamped, Cruz Says
The Federal Communications Commission will hold a full commission vote on whether to transfer the licenses tied to Soros Fund Management's acquisition of an ownership interest in radio station owner Audacy Inc. after it emerges from bankruptcy, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
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August 15, 2024
Yearbook Site Has 'Tortured View' Of Suit Waiver, Judge Says
A Washington federal judge criticized the company behind Classmates.com on Thursday for arguing someone could've waived their right to sue the company for using their photo without ever visiting the website, calling it a "tortured view" of the Terms of Services language.
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August 15, 2024
Realtors Urge 9th Circ. Not To Revive Zillow Antitrust Case
The National Association of Realtors has urged the Ninth Circuit to reject a defunct brokerage platform's appeal in a case over design changes Zillow made to comply with an association rule, saying the rule is optional and that Zillow acted on its own.
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August 15, 2024
Monsanto Gets 3rd Circ. Win In Roundup Failure-To-Warn Case
The Third Circuit ruled Thursday that a Pennsylvania state law failure-to-warn claim in a suit alleging the weed killer Roundup caused a Keystone State man's cancer is preempted by federal law, creating a circuit split on central issues in multidistrict litigation over the Monsanto product.
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August 15, 2024
Pharmacy Can't Dodge Novo Nordisk's Diabetes Drug Suit
A Tennessee federal judge on Thursday declined to throw out a suit by Novo Nordisk Inc. alleging that DCA Pharmacy is selling drugs with the same active ingredient as its Ozempic diabetes medicine without U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization.
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August 15, 2024
FTC Renews Bid To Toss Meta's Constitutionality Case
The Federal Trade Commission has told a D.C. federal court that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not support Meta's case raising constitutional challenges to a data privacy order, arguing the case should be tossed.
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August 15, 2024
Alaska, Hawaiian Airlines Extend DOJ Review Deadline, Again
Alaska Air Group Inc. and Hawaiian Airlines disclosed a third extension in as many weeks Thursday for the U.S. Department of Justice to review their proposed $1.9 billion merger before it can close, moves that suggest at least that the DOJ has raised serious concerns about the transaction.
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August 15, 2024
Price-Fixing Claims Against Par Pharma Tossed After Ch. 11
A Connecticut federal judge on Thursday tossed Par Pharmaceutical Cos. Inc. from two price-fixing lawsuits after the defendant and its parent, Endo International PLC, recently filed the Chapter 11 reorganization plans that they said shielded them from the cases.
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August 15, 2024
Fla.'s The Villages Exempted From FTC Noncompete Ban
A Florida retirement community's real estate broker will be exempt when the Federal Trade Commission's noncompete ban goes into effect next month, under a limited injunction imposed by a federal judge who recognized the agency's rulemaking powers but said they go too far here.
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August 15, 2024
Court Tosses Challenge To Wyoming's New Hemp Law
A Wyoming federal judge tossed a lawsuit Thursday brought by nearly a dozen hemp product retailers challenging the state's new hemp policy, saying most of the state defendants were entitled to immunity and that the retailers had not stated a claim for which relief could be granted.
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August 15, 2024
Connecticut Watchdog Calls For Action On Utility 'Rate Shock'
A Connecticut consumer rights watchdog agency has asked the state's utility regulator to reverse rate hikes that it recently approved for major energy companies or to take other actions to prevent future "rate shock" for state residents.
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August 15, 2024
Gemini Suit Raises Novel Question On Crypto Law, Court Told
A suit from a consumer advocacy organization claimed Gemini Trust Co.'s user agreement unfairly put the onus on consumers to protect themselves from scams, but the Winklevoss-led crypto exchange said the litigation raises a larger question of whether the federal statute at the heart of the claims applies to cryptocurrencies.
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August 15, 2024
Kerrygold, Customers Agree To End 'Pure' False Ad Suit
A consumer who sued Irish butter brand Kerrygold has agreed to end her proposed class action over claims that it falsely advertised its product as "pure" even though it might contain "forever chemicals" by way of its packaging.
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August 15, 2024
Fake Prescription Caper Yields $10.2M Fine For Bankrupt Co.
A Manhattan federal judge hit a defunct unit of bankrupt biotechnology concern DMK Pharmaceuticals Corp. with a $10.2 million fine Thursday, after the subsidiary admitted to criminally faking horse-drug prescriptions in a scheme that generated $4.2 million.
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August 15, 2024
Hemp Industry Rallies Against Calif. Bill
Hemp companies are coming out against a California bill that would impose new THC limits on consumables sold outside of licensed dispensaries, with some industry leaders calling it an "existential threat" to the entire state market.
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August 15, 2024
Samsung Knew About Range Knobs Fire Risk, Suit Says
Samsung Electronics was hit with a proposed consumer class action Wednesday in New York federal court in the wake of the company's announced recall program over a potential fire risk related to more than a million electric ranges with front-mounted knobs that can be turned on accidentally.
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August 15, 2024
Prof Rips DOJ, VW's 9th Circ. Bid To Shield Jones Day Docs
A Loyola Marymount University professor has urged the Ninth Circuit to shut down the U.S. Department of Justice and Volkswagen AG's relentless "obfuscation" in a long-running dispute over access to confidential Volkswagen documents that were part of a Jones Day investigation into the automaker's 2015 emissions-cheating scandal.
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August 15, 2024
Banking Groups Sue To Thwart New Ill. Swipe Fee Restrictions
The nation's largest bank trade association and other industry groups sued Thursday to block Illinois from implementing a new state law that prohibits financial intermediaries from charging so-called swipe fees on the sales tax and tip portions of payment card transactions, arguing it conflicts with federal law and risks broader "chaos."
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August 15, 2024
Delta Facing Second Customer Suit Over IT Outage Response
A Florida resident hit Delta Air Lines with a second proposed class action claiming the company failed to properly refund and reimburse passengers when their flights were canceled or significantly delayed in the wake of the global CrowdStrike computer outage.
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August 15, 2024
DraftKings Looks To Wipe Out Suit Over Voided NBA Bets
DraftKings fired back at an aggrieved bettor suing the online sportsbook over voided NBA bets that allegedly cost him a $150,000 payday, telling an Indiana federal judge that its rules plainly allow for the cancelation of wagers offered with obviously incorrect odds.
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August 14, 2024
T-Mobile Hit With $60M Fine Over National Security Risks
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. fined T-Mobile US Inc. $60 million for alleged national security failures, including failing to prevent the unauthorized access of "certain sensitive data" and to promptly report such incidents, according to news reports Wednesday and the agency's website.
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August 14, 2024
LinkedIn Can't Shake Privacy Suit Over DMV Data Collection
A California federal judge has refused to ax a proposed class action accusing LinkedIn Corp. of unlawfully obtaining users' personal disability information from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles website, rejecting the company's arguments that it was merely acting as a "recording service" for the DMV and that the dispute couldn't proceed without the agency being added as a defendant.
Expert Analysis
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Calif. Web Tracking Cases Show Courts' Indecision Over CIPA
Several hundred cases filed to date, and two recent conflicting rulings, underscore California courts' uncertainty over whether the use of web analytics tools to track users' website interactions can give rise to a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, says Patricia Brum at Snell & Wilmer.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Takeaways From SEC's New Data Breach Amendments
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent amendment of its consumer privacy rules to require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place to uncover data breaches and report them to customers evidences that protecting client records and information remains an SEC priority, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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What Junk Fee Law Means For Biz In California And Beyond
Come July 1, companies doing business in California must ensure that the price of any good or service as offered, displayed or advertised is inclusive of all mandatory fees and other charges in compliance with S.B. 478, which may have a far-reaching impact across the country due to wide applicability, say Alexandria Ruiz and Amy Lally at Sidley Austin.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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A Look At M&A Conditions After FTC's Exxon-Pioneer Nod
The Federal Trade Commission's recent consent decree imposing several conditions on Exxon Mobil's acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources helps illustrate key points about the current merger enforcement environment, including the probability of further investigations in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, say Ryan Quillian and John Kendrick at Covington.
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'Food As Health' Serves Up Fresh Legal Considerations
The growth of food as medicine presents a significant opportunity for healthcare organizations and nontraditional healthcare players to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, though these innovative programs also bring compliance considerations that must be carefully navigated, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Aviation Watch: Mostly Smooth Landing For New FAA Law
The recently signed Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act enhances air safety in several key ways, including strengthened passenger rights and cockpit voice recorder requirements, but an expansion of slot exemptions at Reagan National Airport is a notable misstep, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling
As Federal Trade Commission litigation against U.S. Anesthesia Partners proceeds following a Texas federal court's recent decision to dismiss a private equity sponsor from the suit, the case attempts to incorporate and advance some of the commission's theories of competitive harm from the final 2023 Merger Guidelines, say attorneys at Mintz.
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FTC Hearing On Fake Review Rule Stressed Compliance Costs
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to finalize its proposed rule to prohibit marketers from using deceptive practices in their product reviews after an informal hearing covered arguments over whether costs of implementing the rule, such as review moderation and software maintenance, would be minimal, says Jeffrey Edelstein at Manatt.
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FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.
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3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up
Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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12 Keys To Successful Post-Trial Juror Interviews
Post-trial interviews offer attorneys an avenue to gain valuable insights into juror decision making and get feedback that can inform future litigation strategies, but certain best practices must be followed to get the most out of this research tool, say Alexa Hiley and Brianna Smith at IMS Legal.
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How Employers, Attorneys Can Respond To Noncompete Ban
As the Federal Trade Commission's recently issued noncompete ban faces ongoing legal challenges, now is a good time for employers to consider whether they want to take a wait-and-see approach before halting use of noncompetes and for practitioners to gain insight into other tools available to protect their clients' business interests, says Jennifer Platzkere Snyder at Dilworth Paxson.