Consumer Protection

  • September 30, 2025

    Co-Marketing Isn't A Kickback Scheme, NC Lender Says

    A mortgage lender is urging a North Carolina federal court to toss a homebuyer's suit accusing it and an insurance broker of running a kickback scheme, arguing that the homebuyer is wrongfully alleging that its co-marketing agreement with the brokerage is some sort of kickback scheme.

  • September 30, 2025

    Fla. Lawyer Charged With Battery While Facing Suspension

    A Florida lawyer accused of scamming dozens of clients and facing emergency suspension was arrested Monday night on a domestic violence charge, a development that could hasten bar disciplinary action against him.

  • September 30, 2025

    Calif. Agency Fines Retailer $1.35M Over Data Privacy Lapses

    Rural lifestyle retailer Tractor Supply Co. will pay a record $1.35 million penalty and overhaul its data privacy practices to resolve the California privacy agency's claims that it failed to properly notify consumers and job applicants of their privacy rights, maintain adequate agreements with service providers and provide consumers with an effective way to stop the sharing and sale of their personal information, the regulator announced Tuesday.

  • September 29, 2025

    Visa Defeats Claims It Profited From Child Porn, For Now

    A California federal judge has thrown out allegations Visa knew about and profited from child pornography on Pornhub and other websites it worked with, though he gave the young woman who sued another opportunity to file an amended complaint.

  • September 29, 2025

    Meta Faces Sanctions Bid Alleging Co. Destroyed 'Taps' Data

    Personal injury plaintiffs have urged a California state judge to sanction Meta Platforms Inc. in coordinated litigation over claims social media harms young users' mental health, alleging Meta willfully destroyed crucial time‑stamped "taps" data that captures users' taps, scrolls and swipes on Facebook and Instagram.

  • September 29, 2025

    Newsom Signs AI Law Requiring Guardrails, More Disclosures

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed into law a bill that bolsters safety and disclosure requirements for artificial intelligence companies in the Golden State, a measure the governor said further establishes California as a leader in "safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence."

  • September 29, 2025

    Google VP Says Ad Tech Breakup Has Risks For Publishers

    A Google LLC executive tried to convince a Virginia federal judge Monday that the U.S. Justice Department has the company's advertising placement technology business backward, arguing that instead of helping website publishers, the breakup sought by the government would cost time and money, while artificial intelligence is scrambling prospects too much to warrant greater intervention.

  • September 29, 2025

    SEC, CFTC Eye Collaboration To Cut Redundant Rules, Cases

    Federal commodities and securities regulators said Monday that they're looking for ways to cut down on duplicative regulation and enforcement matters and coordinate their exemptions and rule writing amid increasing innovation in the markets they oversee.

  • September 29, 2025

    Meta Ducks Antitrust Suit As Economist's Opinions Excluded

    A California federal judge on Monday freed Meta from an antitrust lawsuit that accused it of monopolizing an asserted market for personal social networking, saying Facebook users failed to prove the existence of an antitrust injury, with or without help from an expert witness.

  • September 29, 2025

    White House Eyes More Than 'Zero Sum Game' On Spectrum

    A Trump White House official said Monday that the administration hopes to expand available spectrum for new uses and does not see commercial players pitted against each other in a "zero sum game" as the only approach to sharing the airwaves.

  • September 29, 2025

    CFPB Union Asks DC Circ. To Rehear Injunction Ruling

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's worker union on Monday urged the full D.C. Circuit to come to the rescue of an injunction that has blocked the Trump administration from enacting sweeping cuts at the agency, warning the regulator's continued existence is at stake.

  • September 29, 2025

    Chess Website Can't Dodge Suit Over Video Data-Sharing

    An Illinois federal judge has refused to ax a proposed class action accusing Chess.com LLC of illegally sharing information about website visitors' video-viewing activities, finding that the plaintiff qualified as a "consumer" and met two other necessary elements to assert a claim under the Video Privacy Protection Act.

  • September 29, 2025

    FPI Signs $2.8M Deal To Exit Yardi Price-Fixing Class Action

    Property management firm FPI Management Inc. has reached a $2.8 million deal to settle a proposed price-fixing class action in Washington federal court accusing it and others of using Yardi Systems Inc.'s third-party software to inflate residential rents.

  • September 29, 2025

    Tribe Drops Price-Fixing Suit Against Drugmakers, PBMs

    The Miccosukee Tribe in Florida has dropped its lawsuit alleging drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers Eli Lilly, Express Scripts, CVS Health and other companies illegally conspired to limit competition and artificially inflate the price of insulin drugs, according to a notice of voluntary dismissal.

  • September 29, 2025

    Resort Co. Loses TCPA Suit Targeting Unsolicited Promo Calls

    Club Exploria LLC lost its bid to compel arbitration in a class action targeting unsolicited telemarketing calls when an Illinois federal judge favored instead the lead plaintiff's bid for a quick win on his claim that the resort company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

  • September 29, 2025

    Utah Tribe Seeks Sanctions In Water Fight With Farm Cos.

    A Native American tribe has asked a Utah federal court for sanctions up to default judgment against a group of farm companies in a water use lawsuit, saying their failure to comply with any order and participate in the litigation willfully ignores the suit's seriousness.

  • September 29, 2025

    Boeing Using Rejected Args In 737 Max Fraud Suit, Fund Says

    An investment fund has told an Illinois federal judge that Boeing cannot escape a lawsuit alleging it misrepresented the overall safety of the 737 Max 8 after two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019, saying it has pinpointed specific misstatements that judges in similar cases have already deemed actionable.

  • September 29, 2025

    EPA Dodges Texas Farmers' PFAS Contamination Lawsuit

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Monday tossed Texas farmers and ranchers' lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to stop "forever chemicals" from contaminating their farmland and that they've suffered medical problems from the exposure.

  • September 29, 2025

    CFTC Illegally Blocking Fantasy Site's Application, Court Told

    A fantasy sports company is challenging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's move to intervene in its application to become a licensed broker for derivatives trading, saying its application has been stalled in front of the industry's regulating body despite meeting all the requirements.

  • September 29, 2025

    Hagens Berman Misstep Ends Amazon-Apple Suit, For Now

    A Washington federal judge threw out a proposed class action targeting an alleged pact between Amazon and Apple to limit device sales on the e-commerce platform, agreeing on Monday to revisit an earlier ruling after fresh facts surfaced showing that the former lead plaintiffs' counsel misled the court for months.

  • September 29, 2025

    Why $2.5B Might Not Be Enough In FTC's Amazon Settlement

    As the Federal Trade Commission and some observers hailed Amazon's $2.5 billion deal over its Prime membership practices as a milestone to protect consumers from manipulative tactics, others doubted the 10-figure settlement will be enough to hold the company accountable following a case it had seemed likely to lose.

  • September 29, 2025

    Meta Stole Plan For Instagram Shopping, Antitrust Suit Alleges

    A British company Friday sued Meta Platforms Inc. in California federal court, claiming the tech giant was only able to build Instagram Shopping and create a "Meta monopoly" over the tag-based shopping market by secretly stealing the startup's proprietary business plan and exploiting its social network dominance.

  • September 29, 2025

    Wells Fargo Defends $400K Award Against Ex-Adviser

    Wells Fargo urged a North Carolina federal court to reject a bid from a former financial adviser to vacate a nearly $400,000 arbitration award entered against him, arguing that the ex-employee has failed to meet the high burden required for court interference.

  • September 29, 2025

    TikTok Can't Use Section 230 To End NJ AG's Harm Suit

    A New Jersey state court judge has rejected TikTok's bid to use an internet safety law carveout that shields publishers of third-party information to end Attorney General Matthew Platkin's lawsuit over the exploitation of children, reasoning that the alleged harm stems from the social media app's design rather than what users view.

  • September 29, 2025

    FTC Tightens Fixes For $13B Omnicom-Interpublic Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission is requiring a monitor to oversee Omnicom's compliance with the conditions put on its $13.5 billion deal for Interpublic preventing the marketing giant from working with others to steer advertising away from publishers based on their political viewpoints.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At DOJ's Dropped Case Against Early Crypto Operator

    Author Photo

    The prosecution of an early crypto exchange operator over alleged unlicensed money transmission was recently dropped in Indiana federal court, showcasing that the U.S. Justice Department may be limiting the types of enforcement cases it will bring against digital asset firms, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • 4 Consumer Class Action Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

    Author Photo

    The first half of 2025 has seen a surge of consumer class action trends related to online tools, websites and marketing messages, creating a new legal risk landscape for companies of all sizes, says Scott Shaffer at Olshan Frome.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

    Author Photo

    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • 3 Cautionary Tales For Cos. Using Facial Recognition Tech

    Author Photo

    Whether a business intends to develop its own facial recognition applications or contract with another company to use such services, three recent case studies should be kept in mind to help lower the risk of litigation or regulatory enforcement, says Adam Nyenhuis at Hilgers Graben.

  • Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

    Author Photo

    Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

    Author Photo

    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

    Author Photo

    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Rocket Mortgage Appeal May Push Justices To Curb Classes

    Author Photo

    Should the U.S. Supreme Court agree to hear Alig v. Rocket Mortgage, the resulting decision could limit class sizes based on commonality under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as opposed to standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, say attorneys at Carr Maloney.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

    Author Photo

    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • How State AG Consumer Finance Enforcement Is Expanding

    Author Photo

    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau becomes less active, state attorneys general are increasingly shaping the enforcement landscape for consumer financial services — and several areas of focus have recently emerged, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Businesses Need To Know To Avoid VPPA Class Actions

    Author Photo

    Divergent rulings by the Second, Sixth and Seventh Circuits about the scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act have highlighted the difficulty of applying a statute conceived to regulate the now-obsolete brick-and-mortar video store sector in today's internet economy, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

    Author Photo

    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • 2025's First Half Brings Regulatory Detours For Fintechs

    Author Photo

    The first half of the year has resulted in a bifurcated regulatory environment for fintechs, featuring narrowed enforcement in some areas, heightened scrutiny in others and a policy window that, with proper compliance, offers meaningful opportunities for innovation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

    Author Photo

    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • 3 Juror Psychology Principles For Expert Witness Testimony

    Author Photo

    Expert witnesses can sometimes fall into traps when trying to teach juries complex topics by failing to consider the psychology of juror comprehension, but attorneys can help witnesses avoid these pitfalls with a deeper understanding of cognitive lag, chunking and learning styles, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

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.