Consumer Protection

  • March 18, 2026

    Axion Cleared Of False Advertising Before Agilent Patent Trial

    Ahead of a patent infringement trial set to begin next week, a Delaware federal judge has addressed false advertising claims against biotechnology firm Axion and ruled there was no genuine dispute that a set of Axion advertisements deceived customers.

  • March 18, 2026

    FCC Warns 'Rip, Replace' Participants That It Will Be Watching

    Companies receiving Federal Communications Commission funds under the "rip and replace" program ought to be keeping good records of how they're spending the agency's money and disposing of the equipment they're supposed to be replacing, the FCC warned recently.

  • March 18, 2026

    FDA Can't 'Refuse To File' Tobacco Applications, Suit Says

    The maker and a seller of Zone nicotine pouches are suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Texas federal court, alleging the agency stalled and eventually refused to file their marketing application, despite federal law requiring the FDA to either approve or deny such applications.

  • March 17, 2026

    Verizon Can't Ditch Core Claims In Business Data Breach Suit

    Verizon must continue to face the bulk of a proposed class action over alleged "email bomb attacks" targeting its business customers, after a New York federal judge found that the nonprofit pressing the suit had established a concrete injury stemming from the data breach and had adequately asserted a trio of negligence, contract and California consumer protection law claims.

  • March 17, 2026

    Instagram Layers Backups To Catch Bad Content, Jury Told

    Instagram's algorithm data head told a New Mexico jury Tuesday that Meta layers processes to ward against harmful content, so if a violating post is missed and starts going viral, it can be caught by a backstop.

  • March 17, 2026

    SEC Draws Lines With Crypto 'Token Taxonomy' Guidance

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shared its anticipated "token taxonomy" on Tuesday, issuing interpretive guidance that detailed which types of cryptocurrency assets appear to be beyond the reach of securities laws and the circumstances that could pull them back into the regulator's oversight as part of an investment contract.

  • March 17, 2026

    Pot Co. Escapes Potency Suit, Judge Warns Plaintiff Firm

    MariMed and other cannabis companies beat claims they intentionally mislabeled their products to sidestep Illinois THC potency limits, with a federal judge highlighting the string of consumer-led suit losses and warning counsel to "heed the strong and universal concerns about the plausibility of their legal theories."

  • March 17, 2026

    FPI, Apartment Owners Reach $7M Deal In Wash. AG's Tenant Suit

    California-based property manager FPI and owners of five low-income apartment complexes have agreed to pay $7 million to end the Washington attorney general's lawsuit accusing them of exploiting senior tenants by overstating property qualities and withholding information about future rent rises, according to an agreed order finalized Monday.

  • March 17, 2026

    FCC OKs Alaska Plan Changes As Tribe Moves To New Village

    GCI Communication Corp. won't have to continue to provide service to an Alaskan Native village in the state's eroding coastal lowland after its population moved on to new territory that was gained in a land swap with the federal government, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled.

  • March 17, 2026

    OpenAI, Musk Can't Argue Over Wealth In $38M Fraud Trial

    A California federal judge laid out the ground rules for an upcoming April jury trial on Elon Musk's claims OpenAI duped him into donating $38 million, barring evidence regarding the "wealth or lack thereof of any party," unless the dispute reaches the punitive damages stage, which the judge called "unlikely."

  • March 17, 2026

    Mich. AG Joins Fair Housing Laws Fight Against HUD Guidance

    Michigan's attorney general spoke Tuesday about joining 15 states and the District of Columbia in a California federal suit claiming the Trump administration undermines enforcement of fair housing laws by threatening to halt funding for local government programs protecting people discriminated against for gender and sexual orientation, among other things.

  • March 17, 2026

    Bettor Pushes For Early Win In Fanatics Wager Limits Suit

    A Michigan bettor has asked a federal court to hand him a partial summary judgment win against a sportsbook owned by Fanatics Inc., claiming the platform illegally let users instantly raise their own betting limits in violation of consumer protection rules in multiple states.

  • March 17, 2026

    China Surveillance Makes Radio Conference Harder, Senate Told

    China's ability to monitor foreign visitors from the moment they step onto its soil will make it harder for U.S. officials to navigate next year's critical treaty-making conference on radio spectrum rules in Shanghai, experts told the U.S. Senate Tuesday.

  • March 17, 2026

    Biden Admin's Definition Of ERISA Fiduciary Erased

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday vacated regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor that would have expanded the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under federal benefits law, changes that a collective of insurance groups said the federal agency didn't have the authority to make.

  • March 17, 2026

    Kalshi Hit With First Criminal Betting Charges In Arizona

    Arizona has laid criminal gambling charges against prediction market platform Kalshi, becoming the first state to do so among a slew of others pressuring the company to disallow users from betting on sporting events.

  • March 17, 2026

    Lawmakers Want More Oversight For Antitrust Settlements

    Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would give courts more power to review settlements reached in government antitrust cases, after the U.S. Department of Justice recently cut a pair of controversial deals, including with Live Nation last week.

  • March 17, 2026

    Fla. Judge Orders Consumers To Arbitrate Binance Claims

    A Florida federal judge sent two proposed class suits against Binance to arbitration Monday after finding that the arbitration provision of Binance's terms of use applied to the investors' claims that the exchange laundered stolen cryptocurrency.

  • March 17, 2026

    Apple Seeks Sanctions For 'Unrelenting' Antitrust Depo Efforts

    Apple urged a California federal judge to sanction iPhone users' counsel over their allegedly "unrelenting and increasingly egregious" subpoena efforts in antitrust litigation accusing Google of suppressing rival search engines with anticompetitive deals, arguing the consumers are fishing for evidence to try to improperly reinstate Apple as a defendant.

  • March 17, 2026

    House Panel Advances Bill Aimed At Curbing ERISA Litigation

    A GOP-led panel in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced legislation that would raise the pleading standards for proposed class action federal benefits lawsuits and delay the start of discovery in those disputes, with Democrats on the committee voting to oppose the legislation. 

  • March 17, 2026

    Texas Man Asks Justices To Undo Samsung Battery Suit Win

    A man who claims a Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. battery exploded in his pocket is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to revive his case, arguing the Fifth Circuit wrongly applied an exception that allows companies to evade jurisdiction in states where they do business by claiming they marketed the products to manufacturers, not consumers.

  • March 17, 2026

    Google Wants Cutoff Date For Ad Tech Rivals' Claims

    Google moved to tee up a dismissal bid aimed at cutting key targeted policies from New York federal court antitrust claims from rival advertising placement technology providers, arguing that its "sophisticated" competitors cannot get around a four-year statute of limitations pegged to the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit.

  • March 17, 2026

    'No Disrespect' But Law Prof Mom Not SBF's Atty, Judge Says

    A federal judge in Manhattan cautioned retired Stanford Law School professor Barbara Fried, the mother of convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, that she cannot make filings on behalf of her son in his bid for a new trial, saying she has not filed an appearance with the court.

  • March 17, 2026

    Mich. AG Says Robinhood Gets Notice Until Injunction Sorted

    A federal judge signed off Monday on an agreement between Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Robinhood Derivatives LLC, stating that the attorney general's office must give 48 hours' notice if it plans to take enforcement action against the securities trading company for sports betting.

  • March 17, 2026

    Motorists Lose Bid To Challenge Chicago Skyway Toll Hikes

    An Illinois federal judge has dismissed for good a putative class action claiming the companies in charge of a major toll road leading into Chicago have increased certain tolls more than they're allowed under their lease agreement with the city, saying alternative routes exist, but the plaintiffs willingly paid the advertised rates and "got what they bargained for."

  • March 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Pauses Ban On Perplexity Bot's Amazon Shopping

    The Ninth Circuit has paused an order from a lower court that banned the Perplexity AI Inc.-made bot Comet from shopping on Amazon while an appeal of the order plays out.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

  • 4chan's US Lawsuit May Affect UK Online Safety Law Reach

    Author Photo

    4chan and Kiwi Farms’ pending case against the Office of Communications in a D.C. federal court, arguing that their constitutional rights have been violated, could have far-reaching implications for the extraterritorial enforcement of the U.K. Online Safety Act and other laws if successful, say lawyers at Taylor Wessing.

  • Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

    Author Photo

    A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

  • UK Tribunal's Clearview Decision Expands GDPR Application

    Author Photo

    The Upper Tribunal’s recent decision in Information Commissioner v. Clearview AI is an important ruling on the extraterritorial reach of the European Union and U.K. General Data Protection Regulations, broadening behavioral monitoring to include not only activity by the company, but also its client, says Edward Machin at Ropes & Gray.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: November Lessons

    Author Photo

    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings and identifies practice tips from cases involving claims related to oil and gas royalty payments, consumer fraud, life insurance, automobile insurance, and securities violations.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Dynamic Databases

    Author Photo

    Several recent federal court decisions illustrate how parties continue to grapple with the discovery of data in dynamic databases, so counsel involved in these disputes must consider how structured data should be produced consistent with the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Assessing The SEC's Changing Approach To NFT Regulation

    Author Photo

    Early U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission actions on nonfungible tokens pushed for broad regulation, but subsequent court decisions — including a recent California federal court ruling in Adonis Real v. Yuga Labs — and SEC commissioners' statements have narrowed the regulatory focus toward a more fact-specific approach, say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

  • Where Crypto Mixing Enforcement Is Headed From Here

    Author Photo

    Recent developments involving crypto mixers, particularly the Tornado Cash verdict, demonstrate that the Justice Department's shift away from regulation by prosecution does not mean total immunity, rather reflecting an approach that prioritizes both innovation and accountability, says David Tarras at Tarras Defense.

  • The Legal Issues With AI Agents In Consumer Transactions

    Author Photo

    Enabling artificial intelligence agents to handle not just research and recommendations, but the execution of purchases themselves, fundamentally alters commercial relationships and introduces new practical and legal questions for card issuers, merchants, acquirers and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Wash. Email Subject Line Ruling Puts Retailers On The Hook

    Author Photo

    The Washington state Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Old Navy, finding that a state law prohibits misleading email subject lines, has opened the door to nationwide copycat litigation, introducing potential exposure measured not in thousands, but in millions or even billions of dollars for retailers, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Nasdaq, SEC Proposals May Transform Listing Standards

    Author Photo

    Both Nasdaq and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have increasingly focused their recent regulatory efforts on small and foreign issuers, particularly those from China, reflecting an intention to strengthen the overall quality of companies accessing U.S. markets, but also potentially introducing a chilling effect on certain issuers, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • New NCAA Betting Policy Fits Trend Of Eased Restrictions

    Author Photo

    Allowing NCAA student-athletes to bet on professional sports fits into a decade-long trend of treating college athletes more like adults in a commercial system, but decreasing player restrictions translates to increased compliance burdens for schools, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

  • Series

    Building With Lego Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Building with Lego has taught me to follow directions and adapt to unexpected challenges, and in pairing discipline with imagination, allows me to stay grounded while finding new ways to make complex deals come together, says Paul Levin at Venable.

  • How Banks Can Safely Handle Payments For Gambling Biz

    Author Photo

    As the betting market continues to expand, it's crucial for banks and fintechs to track historical developments in wagering and ongoing prediction markets litigation that can factor into a risk analysis for payment processing with respect to gambling operators, says Laura D'Angelo at Jones Walker.

  • SEC Focused On Fraud As Actions Markedly Declined In 2025

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement activity in its fiscal year 2025 was its lowest in 10 years, reflecting not only a significant decline in the commission's workforce, but also Chairman Paul Atkins' stated focus on fraud and individual wrongdoing and a new approach to crypto regulation, say attorneys at Covington.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Consumer Protection archive.