Consumer Protection

  • April 24, 2024

    Canada Privacy Chief Aims To Make The Most Of Existing Laws

    Amid his push for more robust enforcement powers, Canada's privacy commissioner hasn't forgotten that existing data protection laws still pack a punch and plans to continue to wield these tools to tackle priorities such as protecting children online and addressing concerns raised by technologies like ChatGPT, the regulator told Law360.

  • April 24, 2024

    FDIC Pushes Back On Lender Groups Suing Over Colo. Law

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has weighed in on a legal challenge to a Colorado law aimed at curbing higher-cost online lending in the state, arguing that the lender trade groups behind the challenge are misconstruing the agency's past words to support their case.

  • April 24, 2024

    3M And Ga. Utility Say $850M PFAS Cleanup Plan A No-Go

    3M, a Georgia utilities provider and carpet and chemical manufacturers told a Georgia federal judge Wednesday they shouldn't have to face an $850 million remediation plan to clean up alleged waterway contamination from forever chemicals.

  • April 24, 2024

    Hedge Fund Says Credit Suisse Misled On Bonds' Health

    U.S.-based hedge fund Appaloosa LP is accusing the former Credit Suisse in New Jersey federal court of misleading investors about its financial health before $17 billion of its bonds were wiped out in a merger with its Swiss competitor UBS.

  • April 24, 2024

    Takeaways From The FTC's Noncompetes Ban

    The first legal challenges to the Federal Trade Commission's new ban on essentially all noncompete agreements that employers impose on workers have already been filed, but questions remain, not just on the rule's legal viability, but also on the likelihood of follow-on rulemakings and the rule's exact reach.

  • April 24, 2024

    Plex Hit With Privacy Lawsuit Over Info Sharing With Meta

    A California man is suing streaming platform Plex, claiming the company secretly shares viewing data with Facebook in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act.

  • April 24, 2024

    Judge Suggests Amazon Never Denied Late-Delivery Refund

    A Washington federal judge seemed to signal Wednesday that a putative class action accusing Amazon of not delivering a package as quickly as promised might get dismissed, noting the plaintiff did not actually get denied a refund because he never requested one. 

  • April 24, 2024

    Wash. Property Manager Sued Over Lease Cancellation Fees

    A proposed class of tenants accused a Seattle property management company and a Washington debt collection agency in state court of using lease cancellation practices that violate state law.

  • April 24, 2024

    Feds File Conspiracy Charges In $1M La. 'Romance' Fraud

    U.S. prosecutors in Louisiana have charged three Atlanta-area individuals of running "romance scams" to defraud victims of more than $1 million, according to a recently unsealed indictment in Pelican State federal court.

  • April 24, 2024

    Pacifica Will Pay $25K For Station Ad Violations, FCC Says

    Pacifica Foundation Inc. has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine and enter into a compliance plan to resolve allegations that it allowed an iconic New York public radio station to air several shows promoting products without identifying the program sponsors.

  • April 24, 2024

    Borrower Asks Full 4th Circ. To Hear Debt Canceling Case

    A student loan borrower has asked the full Fourth Circuit to rehear his claims that a Pennsylvania loan servicer thwarted forgiveness of his federal student loans, arguing that the circuit court had overlooked parts of the loan servicing agreement that provided important context to his argument.

  • April 24, 2024

    FPL Asks Court To Decertify Class Over Irma Power Outages

    Florida Power & Light Co. asked an appeals court Wednesday to undo class certification in a multibillion-dollar suit over extended power outages after Hurricane Irma, arguing that a new law enacted last year requires the plaintiffs to bring their claims before the state's Public Service Commission.

  • April 24, 2024

    DOJ Wants To Weigh In On Texas Google Ad Tech Discovery

    The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge Wednesday for permission to file a statement of interest in a Texas-led lawsuit accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the display advertising market, writing that the states' request for certain discovery items may violate an order in a substantially similar suit the DOJ is pursuing in Virginia.

  • April 24, 2024

    TikTok To Take Divestment Bill To Court

    TikTok vowed on Wednesday to challenge in court new legislation requiring ByteDance Ltd. to divest the popular social media app or face a ban in the U.S., a pledge made the same day President Biden signed the measure into law.

  • April 24, 2024

    'Net Neutrality' Timeline: From Brand X To Biden-Era Brawl

    The legal fight over how to treat broadband service hits a new milestone Thursday in Washington, the latest in a dispute that started a generation ago, soon after consumers began widely using the internet in the 1990s.

  • April 24, 2024

    Forex Trader Must Pay $11.8M For Ponzi-Like Scheme

    A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday said a purported forex commodity pool operator and its agent must pay more than $11.8 million in penalties and restitution for bilking participants in a Ponzi-like scheme, after the defendants ignored a Commodity Futures Trading Commission suit.

  • April 24, 2024

    Metals Firm To Pay $66M Over Retirement Coin Scam

    A California federal judge has ordered a metals trading firm to pay $66 million and each of its owners to pay between $1 million and $3 million to settle claims that they defrauded hundreds of investors by convincing them to sell their retirement securities to buy gold and silver coins at inflated prices.

  • April 24, 2024

    Congress Didn't OK FCC's 'Disparate Impact' Ban, Critics Say

    Business groups told the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday that the Federal Communications Commission's new rules against discrimination in broadband deployment should be overturned because Congress never intended that the agency use a sweeping "disparate impact" liability standard.

  • April 24, 2024

    Groups Back Intuit's 5th Circ. Challenge To FTC Over Ads

    Business and conservative groups defended tax software giant Intuit Inc. in its Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying the agency acts as both prosecutor and jury and that its administrative judges have unchecked power.

  • April 24, 2024

    Group Fights SpaceX's FCC Grants After Musk's Actions In War

    A pro-Ukraine nonprofit is urging the Federal Communications Commission to halt spectrum assignments to Elon Musk's SpaceX and launch an investigation into the CEO's "erratic" behavior, arguing that his alleged meddling in U.S. foreign policy could disqualify him from exercising control over the company's Starlink satellite network system.

  • April 24, 2024

    Bill O'Reilly Can't Duck Canceled Cruise Suit, Customer Says

    Bill O'Reilly cannot use his New York ties to shrug off a proposed class action, a man denied refunds for a canceled cruise has told an Arkansas federal court, arguing the former Fox News host and others gave the court jurisdiction when they launched a nationwide marketing campaign for the trip that reached Arkansas residents.

  • April 24, 2024

    Binance Founder Should Get 3 Years, Not Probation, Feds Say

    Federal prosecutors asked a Washington federal judge to sentence Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to three years over his failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program at his crypto exchange, but the founder said jail time isn't necessary since he's already paid "massive" fines and comparable cases haven't resulted in prison sentences.

  • April 24, 2024

    Chamber Of Commerce Sues FTC Over New Noncompete Rule

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has lodged a promised lawsuit challenging the Federal Trade Commission's new rule banning noncompete agreements, contending the pacts are good for the economy and that the agency lacks authority to issue the regulation.

  • April 24, 2024

    FDA Can Keep Most Docs Hidden From Juul's FOIA Request

    A District of Columbia federal judge has largely sided with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a suit by Juul Labs Inc. seeking documents related to the FDA's decision to ban its products, saying the bulk of the files fall under a privilege that protects predecision deliberations.

  • April 24, 2024

    Dow Loses Bid To Keep NJ Toxic Water Row In Federal Court

    A New Jersey federal judge on Tuesday remanded to state court the attorney general's lawsuit accusing Dow Chemical Co. and other companies of hiding the danger of 1,4-dioxane, a likely cancer-causing compound, and causing "pervasive and widespread" groundwater pollution.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Fintech 'Prenups': Planning For A Card Program Breakup

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    After a year of economic downturns, some banks and their fintech partners are realizing they may have rushed to the altar without a good prenup, but planning ahead can curb both foreseeable and unexpected issues in the event of a termination of a bank-fintech card-issuing agreement, say Andrew Grant at Ketsal and Richard Malish at Community Federal Savings Bank.

  • Legal Considerations For Circular Economy Strategies

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    As circular economy goals — generating revenue at multiple points in a product's life cycle — become nearly ubiquitous in corporate sustainability practices, companies should reassess existing strategies by focusing on government incentives, regulations, and reporting and disclosure requirements, say Rachel Saltzman and Erin Grisby at Hunton.

  • 3 Notification Pitfalls To Avoid With Arbitration Provisions

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    In Lipsett v. Popular Bank, the Second Circuit found that a bank's arbitration provision was unenforceable due to insufficient notice to a customer that he was bound by the agreement, highlighting the importance of adequate communication of arbitration provisions, and customers' options for opting out, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Tips For Orgs Facing AI Data Privacy Compliance Challenges

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    Regulators around the world are actively seeking to enforce data privacy and consumer protection laws against companies providing artificial intelligence-related services, raising complex compliance questions in areas like transparency, data minimization, lawfulness of processing, data subject rights and higher risk activities, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • What's At Play In Rising Lanham Act Cases At The ITC

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    Amid an uptick in Lanham Act claims involving false advertising related to medical devices at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Brian Busey and Maryrose McLaughlin at MoFo discuss recent ITC complaints from Eli Lilly and R.J. Reynolds, Lanham Act claim limits under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the issues practitioners face in this realm.

  • Preempting Bottled Water Microplastics Fraud Claims

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    Food products like bottled water are increasingly likely to be targets of consumer fraud complaints due to alleged microplastics contamination — but depending on the labeling or advertising at issue, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act can provide a powerful preemption defense, say Tariq Naeem and Brenda Sweet at Tucker Ellis.

  • Enforcement Risk Amid Increased Consumer Data Use

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    While no state has introduced a private right of action for noncompliance with a comprehensive consumer privacy law — except for the California Consumer Privacy Act's data breach provision — organizations and retailers face risk from enforcement actions by state attorneys general and privacy regulators, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • What FTC's 'Killer Acquisition' Theory Means For Pharma Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit to block Sanofi's acquisition of a pharmaceutical treatment developed by Maze Therapeutics builds on previous enforcement actions and could indicate the agency's growing willingness to use its so-called killer acquisition theory against perceived attempts to eliminate nascent competition, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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