Consumer Protection

  • May 15, 2026

    Calif. High Court Releases EdTech Co. From Data Breach Suit

    California's top court struck down a proposed class action accusing education technology provider Illuminate of failing to safeguard students' personal and health information, which was exposed in a data breach, finding the plaintiff hadn't sufficiently alleged key elements for his claims under the state's medical confidentiality or data security laws.

  • May 15, 2026

    DC Circ. Has Doubts About Standard General's FCC Bias Suit

    The D.C. Circuit did not seem convinced Friday morning that the Federal Communications Commission was part of a racist conspiracy to kill Standard General hedge fund manager Soo Kim's $8.6 billion merger with broadcaster Tegna due to his race.

  • May 15, 2026

    Amazon Skipped Tariff Refunds To Appease Trump, Suit Says

    A proposed class action filed against Amazon on Friday seeks to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful Trump administration tariffs that customers say the retail giant charged shoppers but is now failing to reclaim in order to appease the president.

  • May 15, 2026

    Software Firm Seeks Belgian Venue For Calif. Cannabis Suit

    A Belgian software company has urged a California state court to throw out a nearly $400,000 fraud and breach of contract lawsuit filed by the owners of the PlugPlay cannabis vape brand, arguing both sides agreed all disputes must be litigated in Belgium.

  • May 15, 2026

    Meta Safety Monitor Would Create Roadblock, Judge Told

    Putting Meta under the supervision of a court-ordered monitor would only cause a slowdown in the development of new child safety features, a compliance executive testified Friday in the New Mexico attorney general's bench trial seeking changes to company practices.

  • May 15, 2026

    Ga. Panel Backs Win For Kratom Seller In Wrongful Death Suit

    A Georgia appellate panel affirmed an early win Friday for a kratom distributor whose customer died after ingesting its product, agreeing with a trial court that the company's repackaging of the substance did not make it a manufacturer.

  • May 15, 2026

    OCC Adopts Rules To Curb State Escrow-Interest Laws

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency moved Friday to shield many of the nation's biggest banks from state requirements to pay interest on homeowner mortgage escrow accounts, finalizing a pair of rules that extend its push to bolster federal banking preemption.

  • May 15, 2026

    4 Key Issues Environmental Attys Are Watching In Farm Bill

    After a contentious passage in the House, the Farm Bill may face a similarly thorny path in the Senate. Here, Law360 previews the key issues environmental attorneys are watching in the proposed legislation.

  • May 15, 2026

    4th Circ. Halts Md. Law Banning Electricity Greenwashing

    The Fourth Circuit on Friday halted a Maryland law aimed at preventing electricity companies from falsely marketing their power as environmentally friendly, saying it may be overly broad in a likely violation of the First Amendment.

  • May 15, 2026

    Payments Co. Cliq Must Pay $6.5M For Violating FTC Deal

    A Nevada federal judge has directed Cliq Inc. and its executives to pay a $6.5 million sanction over the Federal Trade Commission's claims the payment processor violated the terms of a 2015 settlement by continuing to work with high-risk merchants that allegedly defrauded customers.

  • May 15, 2026

    Amazon Fights Revival Of Class Claim In Alexa Recording Suit

    Amazon on Friday urged a Washington federal judge to deny Alexa users' bid to reinstate a class consumer protection claim based on allegations the devices secretly recorded their personal conversations, arguing that the court correctly recognized the e-commerce giant "clearly" and "repeatedly" disclosed its data practices.

  • May 15, 2026

    Texas Hospital Creates 'De-Transition Clinic' After Settlement

    The Texas attorney general announced a settlement with Texas Children's Hospital that will see the creation of a detransition clinic, saying Friday that the hospital will pay $10 million for billing Texas Medicaid for "illegal 'gender-transition' interventions."

  • May 15, 2026

    Groups Drop CFPB Suit Over Stalled Biden-Era Small-Biz Rule

    Consumer-aligned groups that sued to force the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to implement its Biden-era reporting requirements for small-business lenders have voluntarily dropped their case, according to a Friday federal court filing.

  • May 15, 2026

    NJ Vape Store Network Settles AG's Fraud Case For Over $100K

    A New Jersey vape distributor and 17 smoke shops will pay more than $100,000 to resolve allegations that they were selling flavored e-cigarettes banned by state consumer protection laws, Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said Friday.

  • May 15, 2026

    9th Circ. Revives Licorice Buyer's Wiley Wallaby Label Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday reinstated a consumer's proposed class action accusing a candy maker of deceptively labeling Wiley Wallaby-brand berry licorice as naturally flavored despite using an artificial ingredient, finding the buyer leveled plausible allegations that the manufacturer's statements would likely trick a reasonable consumer.

  • May 15, 2026

    Grok Chatbot Shares Private Info With Tech Cos., Suit Says

    Users of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok have had their most personal queries and conversations shared with Meta, Google and TikTok for advertising purposes without the users' permission, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

  • May 15, 2026

    RealPage And Most Landlords Must Face NJ's Antitrust Claims

    A New Jersey federal judge held that RealPage and most landlords accused of price-fixing must face the state attorney general's antitrust allegations because the complaint contends all but one landlord largely ceded individual pricing decisions to RealPage, according to a mixed decision unsealed Thursday that tossed some state claims.

  • May 15, 2026

    4th Circ. Hands Express Scripts Jury Trial In W.Va. Opioid Suit

    The Fourth Circuit on Friday issued a writ of mandamus backing Express Scripts Inc.'s right to a jury trial in litigation over the pharmacy benefit manager's alleged role in contributing to the opioid crisis in West Virginia.

  • May 15, 2026

    Metals Co. Sued Over Massive Feb. Data Breach

    A Georgia-based steel and metal distributor was hit with a proposed class action in federal court alleging it failed to safeguard the personal data of more than 5.5 million account holders during a February data breach.

  • May 15, 2026

    8 Questions For Rural Broadband Advocate Mike Romano

    Several developments in rural connectivity, from a cascade of federal grants to legislative efforts to shore up the Universal Service Fund, means a crowded plate for the NTCA's new boss, Mike Romano. Here, Law360 catches up with Romano to hear more about his plans as he settles into his role.

  • May 15, 2026

    US Opens Duty Probe Into Chinese Medicinal Chemical

    The U.S. Department of Commerce said Friday it will examine a pharmaceutical compound imported from China to determine whether it has been subsidized and sold at less than fair value, potentially setting up countervailing and antidumping duties.

  • May 15, 2026

    Insurer Owes No Coverage In Ill. Genetic Testing Fraud Suit

    An insurer does not have to defend an embryo storage lab against a proposed class action alleging it used deceptive marketing to sell genetic testing services to IVF patients, because misleading promotion doesn't fall under the lab's coverage, an Illinois federal judge has ruled.

  • May 15, 2026

    $19.2M Joint Juice Deal Ends Calif. False Ad Suit

    A California federal judge has given final approval to a nearly $19.2 million settlement to end more than a decade of litigation alleging that the makers of Joint Juice misled consumers about its health benefits.

  • May 15, 2026

    Meta Fights Uphill To Nix BIPA Voiceprint Privacy Claims

    A California federal judge said Friday she's inclined to deny Meta Platforms Inc.'s summary judgment bid on an Illinois resident's claims Meta violated the Prairie State's Biometric Information Privacy Act by obtaining her voice recordings from Facebook and Messenger platforms, saying there's enough evidence to establish a material factual dispute.

  • May 15, 2026

    Coach Not Covered In $10M Sex Abuse Case, NC Judge Says

    A North Carolina federal judge said a swimmer who won a $10 million judgment against a swim coach who sexually assaulted her cannot seek that payment from the coach's insurer because neither the coach nor the swim club he operated are covered under the policies.

Expert Analysis

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 4th Circ. Ruling Will Rewrite Class Action Litigation Strategies

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union is the first from a federal circuit court to hold that motions to strike are inappropriate vehicles for challenging class allegations at the pleading stage, invalidating a tactic that had been used for decades, says Jim Francis at Francis Mailman.

  • AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

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    Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

  • Food Kiosk Merger Offers FTC Insights For Dealmakers

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent approval of 365 Retail Markets' merger with fellow food-kiosk provider Cantaloupe balances structural divestiture with behavioral provisions, emphasizing the role of early engagement by the parties and the importance of tailored remedies in concentrated markets, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • AG Watch: Reconciling 2 Maryland Data Privacy Statutes

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    In-house counsel should map the interplay between the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act's strictly necessary standard to deliver a requested service, and the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act's exemption of consent-based pricing within loyalty programs, before the state attorney general begins enforcement on the latter in October, says Erek Barron at Mintz.

  • Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

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    State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • 5 Takeaways From Justices' Subpoena Fight Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in First Choice v. Davenport fortifies a line of First Amendment associational privacy cases stretching back nearly 70 years, and ensures that organizations subject to government demands for donor information have a meaningful federal forum in which to defend their constitutional rights, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • How Treasury's Stablecoin Test Will Shape State Oversight

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    The Treasury Department's recently proposed principles for judging whether state stablecoin regimes are "substantially similar" to the federal framework signal that issuers should expect stricter benchmarking against the bank agencies' standards, limited state flexibility and heightened pressure to reassess compliance as rules take shape, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Mass. Draft Regs Signal Nationwide Scrutiny Of Junk Fees

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    Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's new draft regulations for assisted living facilities is only her latest move in the war on junk fees — and part of a national reordering of consumer protection enforcement in which states are aggressively and creatively asserting authority, says Steve Provazza at Arnall Golden.

  • CFPB Rule Recalibrates Fair Lending Compliance

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    A close reading of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new final rule on fair lending enforcement reveals a thoughtful and disciplined effort to realign enforcement with statutory text, evidentiary rigor and practical compliance realities, says Alan Kaplinsky at Ballard Spahr.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

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