Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Consumer Protection
-
April 26, 2024
Insurer Can't Avoid Coverage Suit Against Escrow Agent
First American Title Insurance Co. must continue to be a party in Wesco Insurance Co.'s declaratory action seeking to avoid covering claims that Wesco's insureds improperly diverted escrow funds in real estate transactions to third parties with no valid claims to the funds, a Florida federal court ruled.
-
April 26, 2024
Pa. Regulators To Probe FirstEnergy's $503M Rate Hike Bid
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is opening an investigation into a FirstEnergy unit's proposed annual rate increase that would boost its revenue by over $503 million and raise consumer power bills in four districts by between 9.2% and 11.8%, according to a new order from the regulator.
-
April 25, 2024
FTC Sues Bill-Payment Co. Over Misleading Ads, Junk Fees
The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday filed suit against a Seattle-based, third-party bill-paying company for allegedly tricking online consumers into using the company's service by disguising itself as consumers' billers' official payment channel and tacking on junk fees.
-
April 25, 2024
Legal Battles Set To Begin On Broadband 'Neutrality' Regs
Now that the Federal Communications Commission's Democratic leadership brushed past GOP members' opposition to net neutrality rules, it faces what could be a higher hurdle — growing resistance in the courts to expansive views of agency powers.
-
April 25, 2024
Objector Takes $125M PACER Overcharge Deal To Fed. Circ.
An objector to a $125 million deal resolving class action claims that the federal judiciary overcharges users of its PACER court records system is taking his challenge to the settlement to the Federal Circuit.
-
April 25, 2024
FCC OKs $1.35B T-Mobile, Mint Deal With Unlocked Phones
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved T-Mobile's $1.35 billion purchase of Ka'ena, the parent company of Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds' wireless brand Mint Mobile, adopting as a condition for approval the carrier's commitment to more quickly "unlocking" its phones so they can be transferred between service providers.
-
April 25, 2024
Delta Illegally Shares Fliers' Info With Facebook, Suit Says
Delta Air Lines Inc. was hit with a proposed class action lodged Thursday in California state court by two customers who accused it of unlawfully sharing their personal information with Facebook, including their travel dates, airport destinations, travel class, loyalty status, language and currency used to book flights on the airline's website.
-
April 25, 2024
Microsoft, Nintendo And Others Sued Over Addictive Games
A gamer sued Microsoft Corp., Nintendo of America Inc., Rockstar Games Inc. and other video game developers Wednesday in Georgia federal court over allegations that they are intentionally getting users addicted to boost profits, saying he's suffering from depression and anxiety because of his addiction.
-
April 25, 2024
Wash. Large-Magazine Ban Stays As Court Official Fears Tragedy
The Washington Supreme Court commissioner said Thursday the state can maintain its ban on the sale of large-capacity magazines for now, saying in his ruling he was kept awake at night over the potential that lifting the ban would allow an especially "awful" mass shooting.
-
April 25, 2024
Colo. Regulators Say Past Suncor Spills Forced New Permit
Colorado water quality regulators on Thursday urged a state judge not to pause the effects of a renewed water discharge permit that Suncor Energy is challenging as arbitrary and unduly expensive, arguing the new requirements in the updated permit are the company's own fault.
-
April 25, 2024
Houston Surgeon OKs Order For Docs In Wrongful Death Suit
A transplant surgeon at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center in Houston and the families of three patients who died while on the hospital's liver transplant waiting list told a judge Thursday that they had agreed to a temporary restraining order preventing the doctor from deleting or altering any documents related to the families' wrongful death claims.
-
April 25, 2024
Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan No Longer On IP Watch List
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Thursday it has removed the Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan from its watch list of countries with poor track records on intellectual property protection, keeping close trade partners Mexico and Canada on the roster.
-
April 25, 2024
Autodesk Faces Investor Suit Over Internal Controls
Software company Autodesk has been hit with a proposed class action alleging the company's stock price dropped after investors learned it lacked proper internal controls due to issues with its free cash flow and operating margin practices.
-
April 25, 2024
Standard General Claims Racial Bias By FCC In Tegna Deal
Hedge fund manager Soo Kim is suing the Federal Communications Commission and a cadre of media players over what he calls a racially charged conspiracy to block his fund's $8.6 billion purchase of media company Tegna, claiming the agency discriminated against him when it sidelined the deal last year.
-
April 25, 2024
Becton BIPA Suit Gets Cut Short Under Health Exception
An Illinois federal judge permanently tossed a Chicago health worker's biometric privacy claims targeting Becton Dickinson and Co.'s drug dispensing cabinets, saying his arguments for putting distance between his case and foreclosing precedent "border on the frivolous."
-
April 25, 2024
Split Take On NJ 'Fake' Sale Case Disrupts Biz-Friendly Pattern
A recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision rejecting "fake discounts" as a source of consumer fraud was a boon for the class action defense bar, but the takes of three dissenting judges and Attorney General Matt Platkin show that the state's largely business-friendly jurisprudence on what qualifies as an ascertainable loss isn't quite settled.
-
April 25, 2024
FCC Proposes Local Georouting For 988 Calls
The Federal Communications Commission proposed Thursday to introduce geolocation for calls made to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which would ensure that the calls are routed to a local crisis center instead of one in another city or state.
-
April 25, 2024
Antitrust Enforcers Warn FERC About Ownership Overlaps
The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice warned energy regulators Thursday about competitive risks that can arise from investment firms that own stakes in multiple electric utilities, even if they don't have controlling interests.
-
April 25, 2024
Philips Gets $506M Economic Loss Deal OK'd In CPAP MDL
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday gave final approval to a $506.3 million settlement to end economic loss claims in multidistrict litigation over Philips' recalled CPAP breathing machines, including $94.4 million for the plaintiffs' attorneys.
-
April 25, 2024
NC Hospital Leader Condemns FTC's Merger Block Bid
The chief of staff for a North Carolina hospital in the midst of a merger battle ripped the care facility's current owners Thursday in a show of support for new ownership, pleading for federal antitrust regulators to get out of the way lest they usher in "a year long death marked by suffering" for the hospital.
-
April 25, 2024
AIG Unit Says Gunmaker's Suit Policy Omits $250K Per Year
A gun manufacturer must pay $250,000 in self-insured retention limits for each calendar year that underlying litigation brought by the city of Gary, Indiana, is pending — stretching back to a defense agreement reached 10 years ago — an AIG unit has told a Connecticut federal court, saying the agreement was never terminated.
-
April 25, 2024
Mr. Cooper's $3.6M Convenience Fee Settlement Gets Final OK
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday gave the final nod to a nearly $3.6 million settlement to resolve class action claims that Mr. Cooper unlawfully charged processing fees to borrowers who made mortgage payments over the phone.
-
April 25, 2024
Conn. Judge In Drug Price-Fixing Suit Reveals Day Pitney Ties
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea of the District of Connecticut said Thursday he will not recuse himself from overseeing state enforcers' price-fixing claims against Sandoz Inc. and other drug companies despite Sandoz's attorneys being from Day Pitney LLP, where he was once a partner.
-
April 25, 2024
Hospital Operator Must Face Data Privacy Suit In Mass.
A Massachusetts federal judge has ordered a hospital operator to face proposed class action claims that it exposed a patient's personal information to third parties, saying the patient had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
-
April 25, 2024
FCC Restores Net Neutrality Rules In Party-Line Vote
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on party lines Thursday to bring back the Obama-era net neutrality regime by reclassifying broadband service under the Communications Act and making it subject to common carrier telecom rules.
Expert Analysis
-
7 Takeaways From CFPB Circular On Digital Comparison Tools
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new guidance regarding digital comparison-shopping platforms for financial services products and services offers fresh insights into the bureau's interpretation of the abusiveness standard and expands on principles underlying its previous guidance on the topic, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
-
Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial
Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
How Policymakers Can Preserve The Promise Of Global Trade
Global trade faces increasing challenges but could experience a resurgence if long-held approaches adjust and the U.S. accounts for factors that undermine free trade's continuing viability, such as regional trading blocs and the increasing speed of technological advancement, says David Jividen at White & Case.
-
Opinion
Proposed MDL Management Rule Needs Refining
Proponents of the recently proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 believe it may enhance efficiency in multidistrict litigation proceedings if adopted, but there are serious concerns that it could actually hinder plaintiffs' access to justice through the courts — and there are fundamental flaws that deserve our attention, says Ashleigh Raso at Nigh Goldenberg.
-
Meta Data Scraping Case Has Lessons For Platforms, AI Cos.
The California federal court ruling that artificial intelligence company Bright Data's scraping of public data from Meta social media sites does not constitute a breach of contract signals that platforms should review their terms of service and AI companies could face broad implications for their training of algorithms, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
-
Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
-
2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.
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
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
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
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
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
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'
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
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
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.