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Consumer Protection
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November 22, 2024
Sirius XM Cancellation Policies Flout Federal Law, Judge Says
A New York state judge held that Sirius XM Radio Inc.'s account cancellation policies, while not fraudulent, violate federal law by forcing consumers to call customer service and listen to drawn-out discount pitches before they're able to unsubscribe.
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November 22, 2024
Target Can't Shake Shoppers' Biometric Privacy Suit
An Illinois federal judge has refused to toss a putative class action accusing Target Corp. of deploying surveillance systems that unlawfully gathered shoppers' biometric data, finding that news reports and other sources cited by the plaintiffs were enough to create a "plausible inference" that the retailer engaged in the alleged conduct.
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November 22, 2024
Texas Justices Say Court Bungled Ruling In Abortion Case
The Texas Supreme Court said Friday a lower appellate court tried to "prematurely drag the judiciary into highly contentious and politicized debates" around abortion without analyzing a key standing issue, jeopardizing Planned Parenthood's and other abortion rights groups' bid to invalidate the controversial Texas Heartbeat Act.
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November 22, 2024
Europe's Antitrust Enforcer Puts Apple E-Book Probe To Bed
The European Union's antitrust enforcer is dropping its probe into whether Apple's requirement that e-books and audiobooks be bought through in-app purchases in its App Store broke the bloc's competition rules.
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November 22, 2024
Cruz Decries 'Unlawful' Activities In $42.5B Broadband Fund
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, issued a scathing statement Friday warning the U.S. Commerce Department to discontinue what he contends are "unlawful" activities in administering the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.
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November 22, 2024
Judge Trims Suit Over Tesla Collision Alert Defect
Tesla Inc. has beaten some of a lawsuit brought by a driver who claims its vehicles' collision monitoring system erroneously detects objects in its path, causing the cars to suddenly brake, after an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday that the driver needed to do more to show significant financial injury.
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November 22, 2024
CFTC Advisers: Current Rules Work For Tokenized Collateral
A U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission advisory group on Friday brought the commodities regulator a step closer to clarifying the use of certain tokenized assets as collateral, voting to tell the commission that existing rules can apply to the use of blockchain-based, noncash collateral.
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November 22, 2024
Service Fees Not 'Incidental' To Debt Collection, 11th Circ. Told
Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to reverse two Florida lower court judgments finding it violated debt collection practices with a fee to process phone or internet payments, saying it's not an illegal "incidental" charge because the borrower is paying for an optional service.
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November 22, 2024
Procter & Gamble Unit's Hair Oil Causes Hair Loss, Suit Says
The Procter & Gamble Co. and its unit Mielle Organics LLC are deceptively marketing their brand of hair oil as being safe to use, even though it has caused hair loss in some users, a putative class action filed Thursday in Illinois federal court alleged.
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November 22, 2024
Delta-8 Product Actually Illicit Delta-9, Class Action Claims
The manufacturer of Cake Brand vapes has been hit with a proposed class action accusing it of "masquerading" its products as "lawful delta-8" when in reality they contain delta-9, a derivative marijuana which remains a Schedule I drug, according to the suit filed in California federal court.
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November 22, 2024
Chemical Co.'s PFAS Coverage Suit In SC Gets Tossed
A South Carolina federal court tossed BASF Corp.'s suit seeking coverage for thousands of underlying allegations that the chemical manufacturer's firefighting foam caused pollution and injury, finding Friday that a parallel suit in New Jersey state court favors abstention.
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November 22, 2024
Dish To Pay $100K For Failing To Deploy 911 Location Tech
Dish has agreed to pay $100,000 after the Federal Communications Commission said it failed to comply with vertical location rules to help 911 dispatchers find emergency callers.
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November 22, 2024
DOJ Antitrust Head Tracks 'More Aggressive' Criminal Cases
The outgoing head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division used a speech celebrating the anniversary of a major initiative combating bid-rigging and other efforts by government contractors to bilk taxpayer-funded projects to also note that criminal antitrust enforcement more broadly has changed considerably in recent years.
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November 22, 2024
UK Enforcers Concerned Over Apple Mobile Browser Policies
British competition enforcers said Friday that Apple's policies are holding back innovation in the mobile browser space and called for an investigation of the roles played by Apple and Google in the mobile ecosystem under new rules coming into force next year.
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November 22, 2024
New Congress Could Undo Rules On Drinking Water, Methane
A consumer advocacy group is warning that Republicans may target a slew of recent and pending regulatory actions when they take control in Washington next year, saying they could make use of the Congressional Review Act to unwind new rules on competition, lead in drinking water, data protection and more.
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November 22, 2024
Nissan Automatic Brake Classes Dismantled By 6th Circ.
A Sixth Circuit panel vacated class certification Friday for Nissan drivers who say their cars' automatic braking system activates unnecessarily, finding the trial judge failed to grapple with software upgrades that may have fixed the alleged flaw for some of the class vehicles.
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November 22, 2024
FTC Can't Block Amazon's Misconduct Defense In Prime Suit
The Federal Trade Commission can't bar some of Amazon's defenses in an enforcement suit alleging consumers were duped into signing up for Prime delivery service, a Washington federal judge has ruled, allowing the e-commerce giant to argue the regulatory agency engaged in misconduct related to the litigation.
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November 22, 2024
Judge Revives Ford Fire Risk Suit After Feds Question Recall
A Michigan federal judge on Friday reopened a putative class action alleging certain Ford Motor Co. Escapes and Bronco Sports SUVs have a defect that caused engine fires, ruling that a query letter from highway safety regulators gave new life to claims the automaker's recall didn't fix the underlying problem.
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November 22, 2024
DC RealPage Antitrust Suit Will Get New Judge In 2025
The District of Columbia's case accusing a slew of landlords of using property management platform RealPage to fix the price of rentals is proceeding on schedule, but the judge who has been overseeing the case is going to be handing the matter off to another at the end of the year.
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November 22, 2024
Capital One 'Abuses' Cast Pall Over Discover Deal, Dems Say
As the Biden administration winds down with Capital One's bid to buy Discover Financial still pending, progressive Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are putting renewed pressure on federal bank regulators reviewing the deal.
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November 22, 2024
Crypto Lobby Asks Trump, Congress To Prioritize Rulemaking
Crypto industry group Blockchain Association sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump and members of Congress on Friday detailing what the industry feels should be immediate priorities for the next administration, including implementing a regulatory framework for digital assets and installing more crypto-amenable agency heads.
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November 22, 2024
Social Media MDL Judge Threatens States With Contempt
A California federal judge presiding over multidistrict litigation concerning social media platforms' allegedly addictive designs told counsel Friday that she's considering holding California and South Carolina state agencies in contempt for refusing to comply with discovery orders, telling counsel, "I can guarantee I will not let this stand."
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November 22, 2024
Insurer Owes $4.5M For Water Damage, Wash. HOA Says
A Washington state homeowners association told a federal court that its insurer owes over $4.5 million in coverage to repair hidden water damage at its condominium community, arguing that no exclusions, conditions or limitations bar coverage under its policy.
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November 22, 2024
PFAS Foam MDL Attys Score $95.8M For Tyco, BASF Deals
A South Carolina federal judge awarded nearly $96 million in combined fees and costs Friday to lead counsel representing public water systems for reaching a $316.5 million deal with BASF Corp. and $750 million with Tyco Fire Products LP over forever chemicals, lauding them as "some of the most qualified mass tort litigators in America."
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November 22, 2024
Debt Collector Awakened Illegal 'Zombie Loans,' Suit Says
Real Time Resolutions Inc., a debt collection company, is facing a new proposed class action from two North Carolina homeowners, who have accused it of assessing an illegal interest on their mortgage that was charged off more than a decade ago.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
The Right Kind Of Deregulation In Commercial Airline Industry
Similar to the economic deregulation that occurred more than four decades ago during the Carter administration, the incoming Trump administration should restore the very limited federal regulatory role in the economics of the airline industry, says former U.S. transportation secretary James Burnley at Venable.
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Unpacking The CFPB's Personal Financial Data Final Rule
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's personal financial data rights rule includes several important changes from the proposed rule, and hundreds of pages of supplementary information that provide important insights into the manner in which the bureau will enforce the final rule, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Opinion
Feds May Have Overstepped In Suit Against Mortgage Lender
The U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage goes too far in attempting to combat racial bias and appears to fail on the fatal flaw that mortgage lenders should be at arm's length from appraisers, says Drew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.
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4 Ways Attorneys Can Emotionally Prepare For Trial
In the course of litigation, trial lawyers face a number of scenarios that can incite an emotional response, but formulating a mental game plan in advance of trial can help attorneys stay cool, calm and collected in the moment, says Rachel Lary at Lightfoot Franklin.
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The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule
Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.
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The AI Consumer Class Action Threat Is Not A Hallucination
As regulators scrutinize whether businesses can deliver on claims about their artificial intelligence products and services, the industry faces a wave of consumer fraud class actions — but AI companies can protect themselves by prioritizing fundamental best practices that are often overlooked, say Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein and Richard Torrenzano at the Torrenzano Group.
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Presidential Campaign Errors Provide Lessons For Trial Attys
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign employed numerous strategies that evidently didn’t land, and trial attorneys should take note, because voters and jurors are both decision-makers who are listening for how one’s case presentation would affect them personally, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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The Do's And Don'ts Of Commercial Debt Under Calif. FDCPA
Lenders, servicers and attorneys collecting on their behalf should pay careful attention to the consumer protections under the newly expanded California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that may apply going forward to some commercial debts, say attorneys at Womble Bond.
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Series
Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.
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Video Privacy Law Claims After 2nd Circ. NBA Ruling
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Salazar v. National Basketball Association expanded the definition of what constitutes a consumer under the Video Privacy Protection Act, breathing new life into the law by making any newsletter subscriber to a platform that hosts video content a potential plaintiff, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Next Steps In The $2.8B Blue Cross Payout To Providers
Healthcare providers deciding whether to participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield network's recent $2.8 billion antitrust class action settlement must weigh key recovery factors, including provider type and litigation cost, say attorneys at Hall Render.
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OCC Recovery Guidance Can Help Banks Bounce Back Better
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recently finalized recovery guidelines add to the constellation of exercises that larger banks must undertake, while also aiding information-gathering and preparedness efforts that can help prevent — or better manage — bank failures, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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EPA's New Lead Pipe Rule Leaves Key Questions Unanswered
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently released update to its Lead and Copper Rule is a major step forward in the elimination of lead from drinking water systems, but it lacks meaningful guidance on alternative materials, jurisdictional concerns, cost allocation and other topics, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.
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What To Expect From State AGs As Federal Control Changes
Under the next Trump administration, Democratic attorneys general are poised to strengthen enforcement in certain areas as Republican attorneys general continue their efforts with stronger federal support — resulting in a confusing patchwork of policies that create unintended liabilities for businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?
Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.