Consumer Protection

  • January 01, 2025

    Cannabis And Hemp Lawsuits To Watch In 2025

    A California litigator alleging the unconstitutionality of multiple state and local cannabis licensure programs is pushing his actions through the federal circuit courts, hemp industry stakeholders are alleging that states have overstepped their authority with policies meant to rein in intoxicating products, and a coalition of marijuana companies' challenge to the federal ban on prohibition had its day in federal appellate court.

  • January 01, 2025

    California Cases To Watch In 2025

    Legal experts following Golden State courts in 2025 are tracking high-stakes antitrust and personal injury cases against Big Tech companies along with NFL subscribers' $4.7 billion antitrust appeal, as well as IP litigation against artificial intelligence developers and precedent-setting cases that will likely clarify environmental laws and the repercussions of unpaid arbitrateon fees.

  • January 01, 2025

    Cannabis Advocates Hone Their Policy Goals For 2025

    With Republicans set to control the legislative and executive branches, cannabis advocates predict that federal cannabis reforms in 2025 are still achievable, but note they will likely be more incremental than holistic, with an emphasis on public safety and states' rights.

  • January 01, 2025

    DC Circuit Cases To Watch in 2025

    The D.C. Circuit's 2025 docket is stacked with challenges to alleged misbehavior by federal regulatory agencies, with the behavior including the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's bid to ban wagering on elections and the Federal Trade Commission's efforts to crack down on Meta's privacy practices.

  • January 01, 2025

    Food & Beverage Cases To Watch In 2025

    Food and beverage attorneys have no shortage of interesting issues to follow in 2025, from Albertsons turning on Kroger after their proposed $25 billion merger was blocked, to new state laws covering the life cycle of single-use packaging, and claims over heavy metals and "forever chemicals" contaminating food.

  • January 01, 2025

    Pa. Legislation To Watch: Noncompetes, Funding Solutions

    A new Pennsylvania law restricting noncompete agreements for certain healthcare workers has left some employment law attorneys with questions, while perennial public transit funding issues signal that revenue-generating regulations could appear on next year's legislative agenda.

  • January 01, 2025

    Privacy & Cybersecurity Policy To Watch In 2025

    States are expected to again take the legislative and regulatory lead in the data privacy and cybersecurity arenas in 2025, filling in the gaps that are likely to be left by new Republican leaders at the federal level who are poised to flip the script on a range of hot-button issues, including artificial intelligence.

  • January 01, 2025

    Consumer Protection Issues To Watch In 2025

    The Federal Trade Commission's work to clamp down on surprise fees and make subscriptions easier to cancel faces an uncertain path forward in the wake of a looming leadership change, while the federal government's effort to shrink a sprawling tech liability shield is likely to heat up.

  • January 01, 2025

    Privacy & Cybersecurity Litigation To Watch In 2025

    The crush of litigation accusing a wide range of website operators of unlawfully monitoring visitors' activities will continue to wind its way through the legal system in 2025, while the U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to consider a pair of challenges that could further erode federal agencies' power to interpret laws and may decide the fate of the popular app TikTok. Here, Law360 looks at the privacy litigation and trends that will bear watching this year.

  • January 01, 2025

    Transportation Regulation & Legislation To Watch In 2025

    The Trump administration's expected rollback of rules intended to slash vehicle emissions and accelerate electric vehicle adoption, alongside a spate of new tariffs impacting the supply chain, are just some of the transportation industry's top regulatory priorities to watch in 2025.

  • December 28, 2024

    Trump Seeks High Court's Pause Of TikTok Sale-Or-Ban Law

    President-elect Donald Trump has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to freeze the impending deadline for TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company or face a nationwide ban, suggesting his new administration could negotiate a deal that would end the need for the congressional mandate.

  • December 23, 2024

    NY Judge Won't Halt State's Congestion Pricing Model

    A New York federal judge Monday upheld the Empire State's congestion pricing tolls, finding that the levies fairly reflect each type of vehicle's contribution to traffic congestion and environmental harm, rejecting injunction bids lobbed in four anti-congestion pricing lawsuits.

  • December 23, 2024

    CFPB Sues Rocket Homes Over Alleged Realtor Kickbacks

    Rocket Homes Real Estate has been giving brokers and agents incentives to steer homebuyers toward obtaining loans through Rocket Mortgage, while pressuring agents to withhold information that could save their clients thousands of dollars on a down payment, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday.

  • December 23, 2024

    CFPB Says Walmart, Fintech Misled Drivers On Wage Access

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday sued Walmart and fintech company Branch Messenger for allegedly forcing delivery drivers to use costly deposit accounts to receive their wages and deceiving them about how to access their earnings.

  • December 23, 2024

    Altria Unit Convinces Calif. Court To Ban Retail Elf Bar Sales

    The e-cigarette unit of tobacco giant Altria Group scored a legal victory against the highly popular flavored vape brand Elf Bar after it convinced a California federal judge to block a number of smoke shops from selling the Chinese made products.

  • December 23, 2024

    Google Counters DOJ's Proposed Chrome Sale

    Google has countered the Justice Department's proposed divestiture of the Chrome browser in a brief filed in D.C. federal court arguing the proper fix for its illegal search monopoly would be to allow Android phone makers and browser companies the ability to more readily pick rival engines.

  • December 23, 2024

    Thompson Coburn Data Breach Plaintiffs Aim To Consolidate

    Plaintiffs seeking restitution from Thompson Coburn LLP over a data breach filled a motion Friday to consolidate the group's eight proposed class actions, as well as appoint three attorneys to interim class counsel over the potential master case.

  • December 23, 2024

    Attys Get A Third Of $1.3M Settlement With Legal Data Co.

    A Kansas federal judge has awarded counsel one-third of a $1.3 million settlement in a class action against data and professional services company UnitedLex Corp. that allegedly exposed 200 gigabytes of sensitive information during a March 2023 data breach.

  • December 23, 2024

    House Report Says Gaetz Paid For Sex, Accepted Gifts

    Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz regularly paid women for sex, including with one 17-year-old girl, used illicit drugs and accepted a trip to the Bahamas in excess of permissible gift amounts, according to a report released Monday morning by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.

  • December 20, 2024

    Banks, Not Credit Cos., Can Duck New Ill. Fee Law For Now

    An Illinois federal judge ruled Friday that credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard must comply with Illinois' landmark law restricting certain credit card fees; however, she also held that national banks and federal savings associations aren't subject to the law, at least for now.

  • December 20, 2024

    SEC's Dealer Rule Loss Is A Lesson To Regulators, Atty Says

    A Sullivan & Cromwell LLP attorney who successfully litigated a crypto industry challenge to vacate a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule expanding the definition of dealer said the Texas federal judge's decision is another block in the recent chain of court decisions warning federal agencies to refrain from stretching old statutory terms to reach new contexts that aren't clearly within their authority.

  • December 20, 2024

    RealPage Can't Transfer Enforcers' Rent-Fix Case Out Of NC

    RealPage cannot get the government's antitrust case against it moved either to the Tennessee court overseeing similar civil litigation or to Texas, where the rental software maker is headquartered, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Friday.

  • December 20, 2024

    Cable Org. Warns Members About FCC Robocall Enforcement

    Voice service providers need to make sure their Robocall Mitigation Database filings meet existing requirements, because if they aren't, the Federal Communications Commission is ready to start delisting companies and blocking them from providing voice service.

  • December 20, 2024

    Binance Investors Seek To Update Suit After Federal Charges

    A proposed class of Binance investors has asked a Florida federal judge to allow them to file a new complaint that drops some defendants and hones in on the crypto exchange and its former CEO in the wake of their historic settlement with U.S. authorities over alleged compliance failures.

  • December 20, 2024

    TikTok Divestment Deadline Must Be Extended, Senators Say

    TikTok is set to be removed from app stores in the United States in less than a month, but two senators have urged President Joe Biden to kick the can down the road with an extension that would prevent "serious hardship" to both creators and users.

Expert Analysis

  • Notable Q3 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Total loss valuation cases and labor depreciation cases dominated the past quarter of insurance class actions, with courts continuing to reject challenges to condition adjustments in the former, and a pro-insured trend persisting in the latter, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance

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    Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent interpretive rule regarding buy now, pay later transactions, and its FAQ guidance, place providers in murky waters with the unenviable position of attempting to place a square, closed-end product in a round, regulatory framework meant for open-end products, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • Justices Must Weigh Reach Of Civil RICO In Cannabis Case

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    Oral arguments in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn suggest that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court may agree that a truck driver's losing his job after unknowingly ingesting THC and failing a drug test does not merit a racketeering claim — but the court may not buy the other side's theory of the case either, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Putting NYDFS AI Cybersecurity Guidance Into Practice

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    New guidance from the New York Department of Financial Services explains how financial institutions should assess and mitigate cybersecurity risks associated with artificial intelligence, focusing on four main threats and highlighting how varying environments require specific mitigation measures, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    In Visa Case, DOJ Continues To Misapply The Sherman Act

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    The recent U.S. Department of Justice debit market monopolization case against Visa fuels concerns that a misguided Biden administration DOJ is inappropriately expanding its interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act beyond the demonstrable economic effects that business conduct has on consumers, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks

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    A recent request for information by federal banking regulators suggests that watchdogs are zeroing in on the bank-fintech partnerships they have long perceived as risky to consumers, but analyzing the publication can help companies anticipate regulators’ chief concerns and take steps to avoid becoming enforcement targets, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance

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    With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently releasing a new bank supervision plan for fiscal year 2025, all banks, not only those primarily supervised by the OCC, should consider how compliance with its guidelines creates opportunities and challenges, says Andrew Karp at Cadwalader.

  • Comparing Antitrust Outlooks Amid Google Remedy Review

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    As the U.S. Justice Department mulls potential structural remedies after winning its recent case against Google, increased global scrutiny of Big Tech leaves ex post and ex ante antitrust approaches ripe for evaluation, say Nishant Chadha at the Indian School of Business and Manisha Goel at Pomona College.

  • Website Accessibility Ruling Leaves Circuit Split Unresolved

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    A New York federal court's recent decision in Mejia v. High Brew Coffee, holding that stand-alone websites are not "public accommodations" subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act, further complicates a long-running circuit split on this question — even as courts are burdened with thousands of similar lawsuits, say attorneys at Mandelbaum Barrett.

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