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Consumer Protection
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October 03, 2024
14 States Challenge FCC Over Prison Phone Rate Caps
Fourteen states from Alabama to Virginia have sued the Federal Communications Commission in the Eighth Circuit over regulations it enacted this summer capping prison phone rates.
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October 03, 2024
Calif. AG Sues AHMC Healthcare To Resume ER Services
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued AHMC Healthcare in state court for allegedly suspending critical lifesaving services at its San Mateo County facilities for purported cosmetic repairs from storm damage and other renovations, which has inundated other hospitals in the community and forced patients to travel further for care.
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October 03, 2024
ISPs Insist FCC Overstepped With Net Neutrality Rules
Internet service providers told the Sixth Circuit it should reject the Federal Communications Commission's recently passed net neutrality rules because the FCC has failed to show that Congress gave it the authority to regulate broadband as a telecom service.
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October 03, 2024
Wash. AG Wants Albertsons Sanctioned In Opioid Suit
Washington state's attorney general has accused Albertsons of using a state-court-ordered stay to shield itself from discovery in a consumer protection suit that accuses Rite Aid and grocery store pharmacies of exacerbating the opioid epidemic, seeking the appointment of a "discovery referee" in a new sanctions motion.
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October 03, 2024
Citibank Blunders May Warrant Breakup, Warren Tells OCC
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Thursday to impose growth restrictions on Citibank for becoming "too big to manage" and committing various blunders over the years, saying breaking up the fourth-largest bank in the U.S. may be appropriate if conditions don't improve.
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October 03, 2024
'Let's Go Brandon' Coin Trustee Knocks Buyers' Class Claims
The trustee of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency LGBcoin sought to block class action certification from buyers who claim he sold them unregistered securities by leading them to believe the token would take off through a purported partnership with NASCAR.
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October 03, 2024
Parties Ask For Stay In Title IX Transgender Protection Case
The U.S. Department of Education and Texas have asked a Texas federal judge to stay a case involving a challenge to the agency's new policy enforcing protections for transgender students in Lone Star State schools while the issue gets worked out at the Fifth Circuit in a Thursday motion.
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October 03, 2024
12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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October 03, 2024
Feds Want A Word In Meta, Nvidia High Court Cases
The federal government is asking to participate in oral arguments in two private investor suits currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that both Meta Platforms Inc. and Nvidia Corp. are wrong about the requirements that shareholders need to meet in order to move forward with lawsuits claiming they were misled about business risks.
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October 03, 2024
Texas Takes Aim At Insulin Manufacturers For Price-Gouging
Texas sued several major insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers in Texas state court on Thursday, accusing the companies of running quid pro quo deals to bump insulin prices by as much as 1,000% and violating Texas laws around deceptive trade practices.
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October 03, 2024
Texas Says TikTok Violates Online Parental Controls Law
The state of Texas sued TikTok and its affiliates in state court, alleging Thursday that the social media site violates the state's Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act by distributing and selling children's personal data without parents' consent.
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October 03, 2024
Georgia Resident Adds To Lawsuits Targeting Bio-Lab Fire
A resident of Conyers, Georgia, is adding to the litigation against Bio-Lab Inc. and its corporate parent, KIK Custom Products Inc., with a proposed class action filed after a fire at the company's facility in the city on Sunday led to evacuation and shelter-in-place orders.
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October 03, 2024
Flint Water Judge Wishes Public Knew Case Complexity
A Michigan federal judge on Thursday gave the final approval to a $25 million settlement to end claims from a class of Flint adults and businesses accusing a firm of failing to properly alert officials about the dangers of the city's water, noting that the case took years to resolve because it involved complicated legal issues.
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October 03, 2024
NJ Contractors Accused Of $10M Fraud In Lead Removal Work
A New Jersey construction company billed the city of Newark $10.2 million for replacing 1,500 lead water service lines but never did the work, instead concocting false evidence to show new copper pipes had been installed, federal authorities said Thursday in announcing the arrests of the chief executive and a foreperson.
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October 03, 2024
OCC Backs Bid To Block 'Unworkable' Ill. Swipe Fee Law
The banking industry's bid to block a new Illinois law that bans swipe fees on tax and tip payments received a big boost from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which has slammed the law for being an "ill-conceived" threat to the "efficient and effective" banking system.
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October 03, 2024
Illinois Golf Course Co. Hit With Additional Data Breach Suits
An Illinois-based golf course and hospitality management business faces mounting legal troubles over a data breach earlier this year, with two additional federal lawsuits filed this week.
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October 03, 2024
Conn. Justices OK Bar Input On Banking Probe Into Lawyers
The Connecticut Supreme Court will allow the National Creditors Bar Association and the Connecticut Creditors Bar Association to weigh in on a case that questions whether the state banking commissioner violated the constitution's separation of powers doctrine by launching a probe into a law firm and its associated debt negotiation group.
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October 03, 2024
Hecla Avoids Investor Suit Over $462M Gold Mine Buy
A gold mining operation secured the permanent dismissal of an investor suit alleging that $462 million in new mines the company bought in Nevada that were supposed to be lucrative turned out to be duds, with a New York federal judge finding the investors failed to plead any actionable false or misleading statements.
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October 03, 2024
Sens. Question If Payouts Taint Execs' Push For US Steel Deal
Two U.S. senators wrote to U.S. Steel's president and CEO on Wednesday seeking guarantees that a $72 million "golden parachute" deal wasn't driving the executive's willingness to support a $14.1 billion merger with Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel.
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October 03, 2024
Sham Law Firm Employee Gets 5 Years For Foreclosure Fraud
A Virginia man was sentenced to five years in prison and hit with a $159,000 fine for what a D.C. federal judge called Thursday the "horrendous" crime of using a Manassas law firm to defraud homeowners facing foreclosure.
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October 03, 2024
Loan Servicer Settles With Mass. AG Over 'Zombie' Mortgages
A mortgage servicing company has agreed to walk away from approximately $10 million worth of "zombie" mortgages in Massachusetts and pay $300,000 to resolve allegations that it violated multiple consumer protection laws, the state's attorney general said Thursday.
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October 02, 2024
Calif. AI Election Law Blocked As 'Blunt Tool' Stifling Speech
A California federal judge Wednesday blocked a recently enacted state law cracking down on election-related deepfakes, acknowledging the risks posed by artificial intelligence, but agreeing with a conservative content creator that the law is an overly broad "blunt tool that hinders humorous expression and unconstitutionally stifles" the free exchange of ideas.
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October 02, 2024
Colony Ridge Seeks Quick Appeal In 'Reverse Redlining' Suit
A Texas real estate developer that recently lost a bid to exit a lending discrimination suit brought by the U.S. government and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved to begin a Fifth Circuit appeal, arguing the "novelty" of the case's reverse redlining theory warrants immediate appellate review.
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October 02, 2024
Credit Repair Co. Owes $50M In CFPB, Mass. AG Case
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Massachusetts' attorney general scored a $50 million win in their suit against a credit repair service and its owner after a Bay State federal judge determined that they violated federal and state consumer protection laws by falsely promising credit score improvements and illegally charging advance fees.
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October 02, 2024
Convicted Judge Owes Feds Retirement Funds, 7th Circ. Says
A former Illinois judge convicted of running a $1.4 million mortgage fraud scheme must cough up assets from her retirement accounts to cover her restitution obligations, the Seventh Circuit ruled Wednesday, agreeing with a Chicago district court that the government can access her retirement savings to satisfy that debt.
Expert Analysis
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Regulators Are Revamping Use Of Bank Service Company Act
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Though the Bank Service Company Act was written six decades ago, banks and service providers should be alert to the evolving ways financial regulators are using the law as a tool for scrutinizing bank-fintech partnerships and third-party service providers that could put consumers at risk, say James Bergin and Paul Lim at Arnold & Porter.
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Series
After Chevron: What To Expect In Consumer Protection At FTC
Although the Federal Trade Commission's bread-and-butter consumer protection law enforcement actions are unlikely to be affected, the Loper Bright decision may curb the FTC's bolder interpretations of the statutes it enforces, says Mary Engle at BBB National Programs.
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Managing Credit Card Rewards Programs Amid Scrutiny
Renewed New York and federal interest in consumer protection issues associated with credit card rewards programs presages future regulatory enforcement and attention from plaintiffs attorneys, so issuers should focus on certain categories of consumer complaints and some compliance ambiguities, say Rich Zukowsky and Ella Beres at Davis Wright.
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RealPage Suit Shows Growing Algorithm, AI Pricing Scrutiny
The U.S. Department of Justice's suit against RealPage for helping fix rental rates, filed last week, demonstrates how the use of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools to assist with pricing decisions is drawing increasing scrutiny and action across government agencies, and specifically at the Federal Trade Commission and the DOJ, say Andre Geverola and Leah Harrell at Arnold & Porter.
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Comparing 5 Administrators' Mass Arbitration Procedures
Attorneys at DLA Piper compare the rules for mass arbitrations at five different arbitration providers — Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, American Arbitration Association, National Arbitration and Mediation, FedArb and New Era ADR — including their triggers, claim screening procedures, how and when they assess fees, and more.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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CrowdStrike Incident Highlights Third-Party Risk For Banks
The global business disruptions caused by CrowdStrike's faulty software update last month serves as a reminder that banks should assess operational and compliance risks associated with third-party service providers and create resiliency plans extending down to fourth- and fifth-level providers, says Craig Landrum at Jones Walker.
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Considering Noncompete Strategies After Blocked FTC Ban
A Texas district court's recent decision in Ryan v. Federal Trade Commission to set aside the new FTC rule banning noncompetes does away with some immediate compliance obligations, but employers should still review strategies, attend to changes to state laws and monitor ongoing challenges, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Key Concerns To Confront In FDIC Brokered Deposit Proposal
Banks and fintech companies should note several fundamental issues with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent proposal to widen how it classifies brokered deposits, an attempt to limit prudential risk that could expose the industry and underbanked consumers who rely on bank-fintech apps to widespread unintended consequences, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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4 Steps To Address New Sanctions Time Bar Extension
Recent guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control clarifies details of the newly extended statute of limitations for civil and criminal enforcement of U.S. sanctions law, so compliance teams should implement key updates, including to lookback periods and recordkeeping policies, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss the muted nature of the property and casualty insurance class action space in the second quarter of the year, with no large waves made in labor depreciation and total-loss vehicle class actions, but a new offensive theory emerging for insurance companies.
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Series
Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.