Consumer Protection

  • October 04, 2024

    Albertsons Inks $3.9M Overcharge Deal With Calif. DAs

    Albertsons and its affiliate companies have agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle a civil enforcement action accusing them of bilking shoppers by charging higher prices for grocery items than what was advertised, according to an announcement made by several California district attorneys. 

  • October 04, 2024

    Epic Doubts Apple's Privilege Assertions In Antitrust Fight

    Epic Games told a California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in its antitrust compliance fight with Apple on Friday that it's concerned Apple has wrongly asserted privilege in more than half the documents it has declined to produce, while adding "we don't want to spend months here duking this out."

  • October 04, 2024

    Up First At High Court: Civil Rights, Ghost Guns, Atty Fees

    The U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes Monday to start a brand-new term, with the justices first hearing arguments related to prerequisites for litigating federal rights in state courts, ghost gun regulations, and whether a death row inmate is entitled to a new trial after a state admits that prosecutorial misconduct might have led to his conviction.

  • October 04, 2024

    Judge Says Live Nation Case Runs Deeper Than Merger Pact

    In refusing to transfer the government's monopolization case against Live Nation, a New York federal judge said the settlement allowing the company's 2010 merger with Ticketmaster dealt only with potential problems that existed at the time and has no bearing on the new claims.

  • October 04, 2024

    NY Appeals Court Won't Trim Sex Abuse Coverage Dispute

    A New York state appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling declining to dismiss The Rockefeller University's claims that its insurers acted in bad faith and conducted deceptive trade practices while handling the university's coverage request for underlying allegations of sexual abuse.

  • October 04, 2024

    Northern Ireland Police Service Fined £750K Over Data Breach

    The United Kingdom's data protection watchdog has issued a £750,000 ($988,000) fine to Northern Ireland's police service after it exposed the personal information of all its 9,483 officers and staff as part of a freedom of information request gone wrong.

  • October 04, 2024

    High Court Takes Up E-Cig 'Forum Shopping' Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a Fifth Circuit ruling that allowed out-of-circuit e-cigarette manufacturers to seek judicial review before the New Orleans-based court so long as the petition is joined by a seller located in the circuit.

  • October 04, 2024

    High Court Will Hear TCPA Case Over Online Junk Faxes

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday it will review whether district courts must follow a Federal Communications Commission ruling that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act does not prohibit junk faxes that are received only via electronic inboxes.

  • October 03, 2024

    Biden Admin's Latest Debt Relief Plan Blocked In Missouri

    A Missouri federal judge Thursday blocked the Biden administration's latest student debt relief proposal, finding that the six Republican-led states leading the challenge will likely show the plan is unlawful, just a day after a Georgia federal judge knocked the Peach State out and punted the case to St. Louis.

  • October 03, 2024

    Fifth Third Bank Solar Panel Loan MDL Centralized In Minn.

    A collection of proposed class actions accusing Fifth Third Bank NA of hiding loan costs from customers will be consolidated in Minnesota, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled Thursday, noting that the judge assigned hasn't presided over an MDL yet.

  • October 03, 2024

    Univision Beats Subscribers' Class Status Bid In Privacy Suit

    A Florida federal judge denied Univision NOW subscribers class certification in their suit alleging the Spanish-language network's streaming platform violated their privacy by sharing their identities and video viewing histories with Meta Platforms Inc., saying the subscribers failed to show there were enough class members to warrant a class action.

  • October 03, 2024

    Drivers Rip GM's Bid For Full 6th Circ. Redo In Emissions Row

    A group of drivers on Thursday balked at General Motors' bid to get the full Sixth Circuit to review a divided panel's recent decision partly reviving consolidated litigation alleging the automaker deceptively marketed Chevrolet Silverado and Sierra vehicles as being more environmentally friendly than they actually were.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Key Concerns To Confront In FDIC Brokered Deposit Proposal

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    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.

  • 4 Steps To Address New Sanctions Time Bar Extension

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    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.

  • Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    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.

  • Series

    Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • What To Expect From CFPB And DOT Card Rewards Inquiry

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    Following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's announcement of joint efforts with the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate credit card rewards points, credit card issuers and airlines should keep a close eye on potential regulatory and class action litigation risks stemming from the inquiry, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing

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    Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Remedy May Be Google's Biggest Hurdle Yet In Antitrust Case

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    There are difficulties ahead in the remedies phase of the antitrust case against Google in District of Columbia federal court, including the search engine giant's scale advantage and the fast-moving nature of the tech industry, setting the stage for the most challenging of the proceedings so far, says Jonathan Rubin at MoginRubin.

  • 3 Ways To Limit Risks Of Black-Box AI In Financial Services

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    As regulators increasingly highlight the potential for artificial intelligence to make unfair consumer credit decisions, and require financial institutions to explain how these so-called black-box algorithms arrive at conclusions, companies should consider three key questions to reduce their regulatory risks from these tools, say Jeffrey Naimon and Caroline Stapleton at Orrick.

  • Takeaways From EU's 'Pay Or Consent' Advertising Probe

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    Anne-Gabrielle Haie and Charles Whiddington at Steptoe examine key points from the European Commission's recent investigation into Big Tech's use of "pay or consent" advertising models, as well as the European Data Protection Board’s opinion on how such models can comply with EU competition and data protection laws.

  • When Banks Unknowingly Become HIPAA Biz Associates

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    There appears to be significant confusion regarding the application of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to financial institutions when serving healthcare-related clients, so these institutions should consider undertaking several steps as a starting point in the effort to achieve compliance, say attorneys at Vorys.

  • From Muppet Heads To OJ's Glove: How To Use Props At Trial

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    Demonstrative graphics have become so commonplace in the courtroom that jurors may start to find them boring, but attorneys can keep jurors engaged and improve their recall by effectively using physical props at trial, says Clint Townson at Townson Consulting.

  • Opinion

    The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address

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    A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Opting In To CIPA Risk Mitigation After New Precedent

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    A recent California federal court decision, adopting a new, broad interpretation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, will likely increase the volume of CIPA claims and should prompt businesses to undertake certain preventative measures, including adopting an opt-in approach to using third-party website advertising technologies, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union

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    As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • CFPB's Earned Wage Access Rule Marks Regulatory Shift

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's newly issued interpretive rule on earned wage access products, classifying them as extensions of credit, marks a significant shift in their regulatory landscape and raises some important questions regarding potential fringe cases and legal challenges, say Erin Bryan and Courina Yulisa at Dorsey & Whitney.

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