Consumer Protection

  • July 09, 2024

    FTC Deal Bars Messaging App From Allowing Users Under 18

    Anonymous messaging app maker NGL Labs LLC and two of its founders will shell out $5 million and be banned from offering the service to anyone under age 18 to resolve the Federal Trade Commission and Los Angeles County's claims that they unfairly marketed the app to children and teens and falsely portrayed their content moderation efforts.

  • July 09, 2024

    Industry, FCC Argue Net Neutrality's Fate After Chevron's Fall

    Industry groups and the Federal Communications Commission filed competing briefs with the Sixth Circuit over whether to delay the enforcement of net neutrality rules after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the longstanding Chevron doctrine that gave wide deference to agency decision making.

  • July 09, 2024

    Slam By CFTC Member Backs Sanctions Bid, Forex Firm Says

    A foreign exchange firm that accused the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission of misconduct in bringing an action against it has cited recent criticism of the agency's enforcement division by one of its commissioners in support of its bid to toss the case and sanction the regulator.

  • July 09, 2024

    Fla. Judge Won't Nix Antitrust Claims Against Alcon

    The Florida federal judge presiding over the multidistrict litigation alleging disposable contact lens sellers conspired to fix prices refused Tuesday to let Alcon escape antitrust claims by an online contact lens reseller and sent the suit back to New York.

  • July 09, 2024

    Amazon Gets 'Buy Box' Rigging Case Tossed, For Now

    A Washington federal court has dismissed a proposed class action accusing Amazon of using its "Buy Box" feature to deceive consumers after finding that the two men bringing the claims failed to include any details about the transactions they made and allegedly overpaid for.

  • July 09, 2024

    Healthcare Cases To Watch: A 2024 Midyear Report

    Courts across the U.S. this year will oversee key cases to the healthcare industry, from multidistrict litigation over the Change Healthcare hack to a challenge of a state gender-affirming care ban at the Supreme Court. Here are the healthcare cases to watch in the second half of 2024.

  • July 09, 2024

    FCC Settles Call Caption Privacy Probe For $34.6M

    The Federal Communications Commission has secured a $34.6 million settlement with phone call captioning provider CaptionCall for holding onto phone call content too long and other agency rule violations.

  • July 09, 2024

    CFPB Moves To Unfreeze Credit Card Late Fee Rule In Texas

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked a Texas federal judge to formally dissolve a preliminary injunction that has been blocking the agency's $8 credit card late fee rule from taking effect, arguing that the justification of the injunction — the CFPB's allegedly unconstitutional funding structure — no longer holds.

  • July 09, 2024

    FTC Is Denied Amazon's Instructions On Signal Use, For Now

    A Washington federal judge refused Tuesday to give the Federal Trade Commission a peek into what it contends is the extensive use of Signal by Jeff Bezos and other top Amazon.com executives to hide communications relevant to a monopolization lawsuit, preferring to order deposition testimony on that use first.

  • July 09, 2024

    Google Says Social Media Ruling Hurts Common Carrier Case

    Google is telling an Ohio state court that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling bolsters its case against being reclassified as a common carrier.

  • July 09, 2024

    FCC Majority Takes Heat From House GOP Over New Regs

    Democratic leaders of the Federal Communications Commission defended their regulatory policies Tuesday against House GOP critics who accused the agency of tacking in a partisan direction and passing new rules that Republicans said exceed the agency's statutory limits.

  • July 09, 2024

    CBD Cos. Tell Justices RICO Can't Cover Personal Injury

    A trio of CBD companies on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to find that a trucker fired for a positive drug test cannot bring a personal injury claim under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

  • July 09, 2024

    Cannabis Co. Stiiizy Should Face Delta-8 Suit, Court Told

    A California purveyor of delta-8-infused vapes shouldn't be allowed to escape consumer claims that its products contain levels of THC above the legal limits, the plaintiffs behind a proposed class action have argued, saying the company has attempted to do too much business in Illinois to evade personal jurisdiction.

  • July 09, 2024

    Feds Say Pa. Headstone Seller Scammed Bereaved Of $1.5M

    An Upper Merion, Pennsylvania, man already awaiting trial in state court now faces federal wire fraud charges after prosecutors said his family business selling headstones took in more than $1.5 million in up-front payments for grave markers that were never delivered to customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

  • July 09, 2024

    Bigelow's 'Manufactured In USA' Label Not Judge's Cup Of Tea

    A California federal judge held Monday that Bigelow's labels on tea products stating "Manufactured in the USA" are literally false, handing a partial victory to a certified class of tea buyers, leaving only the issues of damages and Bigelow's state of mind when making the statement to a jury. 

  • July 09, 2024

    1st Circ. Revives Debt Harass Claims Against National Grid

    The First Circuit on Tuesday revived a proposed class action against National Grid USA Service Company Inc. and two debt collection firms whose multiple calls per day to a Massachusetts customer in 2017 and 2018 allegedly violated the state's consumer protection law.

  • July 09, 2024

    Fintech Firm Ingo Sued For Data Breach Disclosure Lag

    Fintech deposit underwriter Ingo Money Inc. faces a proposed class action alleging it waited seven months to notify consumers that it had been successfully targeted by hackers, during which time a "gold mine" of personal information was purportedly in the hands of unauthorized parties.

  • July 09, 2024

    3 States Ask High Court To Freeze Biden's Debt Relief Plan

    Three state attorneys general applied to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to vacate the stay of a nationwide injunction in an effort to pause implementation of a $475 billion student loan debt forgiveness program, saying they are likely to succeed in their attempts to have the program invalidated by the high court.

  • July 09, 2024

    Boeing, DOJ Say 737 Max Families Can't Rush Monitor Pick

    Boeing has told a Texas federal judge that 737 Max crash victims' families cannot rush the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the company's safety and compliance efforts, saying its new tentative plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice adequately addresses the monitorship issue.

  • July 09, 2024

    Fifth Third Fined $20M Over Fake Accounts, Auto Loan Issues

    Fifth Third Bank will pay a total of $20 million to resolve claims from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that bank employees opened accounts for customers without authorization, and forced vehicle insurance onto borrowers who already had coverage.

  • July 09, 2024

    FTC Says Drug Middlemen Inflate Costs, Squeeze Pharmacies

    The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that its study of pharmacy benefit managers has shown that six large companies now control 95% of all prescriptions filled in the U.S., allowing them to profit at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.

  • July 09, 2024

    NYC Defends Policy Of Shuttering Unlicensed Pot Stores

    New York City defended its policy of padlocking stores selling marijuana without a license, saying the stores represent a threat to public health, and it urged a federal judge in Manhattan to reject an injunction sought by more than two dozen targeted retailers.

  • July 09, 2024

    North Carolina PFAS Plaintiffs Want Cost Study To Stay Public

    A class of North Carolina residents who allege Chemours Co. and DuPont discharged wastewater containing so-called forever chemicals into the Cape Fear River is urging a federal judge not to strike and seal their expert's damages report, saying it contains no confidential information that needs to be protected.

  • July 09, 2024

    Baby Bottle Makers Sued Over Claims Products Are 'BPA Free'

    Philips North America and baby product maker Mayborn USA sell baby bottles that contain "considerable amounts of harmful microplastics" despite being advertised as free of the potentially harmful plastic chemical BPA, according to a pair of suits filed in Massachusetts and Connecticut federal courts.

  • July 09, 2024

    Chicken Buyers' Cost-Saving Deal With Producers Approved

    An Illinois federal judge granted final approval Tuesday to settlements direct chicken buyers struck with producers that beat their price-fixing claims at summary judgment or trial, saving them about $1 million in costs they could have otherwise owed the companies.

Expert Analysis

  • 2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.

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    The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Legal Issues When Training AI On Previously Collected Data

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    Following the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance about the use of customer data to train artificial intelligence models, companies should carefully think through their terms of service and privacy policies and be cautious when changing them to permit new uses of previously collected data, says James Gatto at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Protested CFPB Supervisory Order Reveals Process, Priorities

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s order announcing its first use of special oversight power to place installment lender World Acceptance Corp. under supervision despite resistance from the company provides valuable insight into which products and practices may draw bureau scrutiny, and illuminates important nuances of the risk assessment procedures, say Josh Kotin and Michelle Rogers at Cooley.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • 3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'

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    Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • The Epic Antitrust Cases And Challenges Of Injunctive Relief

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    The Epic cases against Apple and Google offer a window into the courts' considerable challenges in Big Tech litigation and establishing injunctive relief that enhances competition and benefits consumers, say Kelly Lear Nordby and Jon Tomlin at Ankura Consulting.

  • Banks Should Continue To Prep For CFPB Data Rule Rollout

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    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supervised banks should not expect industry pressure to delay the rollout of proposed Section 1033 open banking rules, which regulate how consumer financial information flows between financial institutions, and prepare their required data access portals and compliance procedures now, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • How Calif. Video Recording Ruling May Affect Insured Exams

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    A recent California appellate decision, Myasnyankin v. Nationwide, allowing policyholders to video record all parties to an insurance examination under oath, has changed the rules of the road for EUOs and potentially opened Pandora's box for future disputes, say John Edson and Preston Bennett at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Things Trial Attorneys Can Learn From Good Teachers

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    Jennifer Cuculich at IMS Legal Strategies recounts lessons she learned during her time as a math teacher that can help trial attorneys connect with jurors, from the importance of framing core issues to the incorporation of different learning styles.

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