Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Consumer Protection
-
June 11, 2024
CFPB Floats Rule To Take Medical Debt Off Credit Reports
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday proposed a rule that would restrict how lenders and credit reporting companies can use consumers' medical debt information, a measure that the agency said could remove up to $49 billion in outstanding medical bills from millions of credit reports.
-
June 11, 2024
Singleton Schreiber Adds Tribal And Environmental Law Pro
Plaintiffs firm Singleton Schreiber has hired a Florida attorney focused on advocating for Native American tribes to its tribal litigation practice and climate change litigation practice as senior counsel, the firm has announced.
-
June 11, 2024
J&J Inks $700M Deal To End AGs' Talc Marketing Suits
Forty-three state attorneys general on Tuesday said there has been a $700 million nationwide settlement and a consent judgment has been reached with Johnson & Johnson that ends claims it misled consumers about the safety of its talc products.
-
June 11, 2024
Wilson Elser Attys Officially Exit Airline Suit After Filing Gaffe
A Texas state judge has approved American Airlines' request for the departure of its Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP legal team that blamed a young child for a then-flight attendant's alleged covert bathroom recording, a week after the same lawyers were replaced from a similar suit in North Carolina federal court.
-
June 11, 2024
Pepsi Bottling Partner Hit With Pollutant Lawsuit In Mass.
A Massachusetts environmental advocacy group has followed through on plans to sue a bottler of Pepsi products over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, but a lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation says the organization is "optimistic" it will be able to resolve the issue.
-
June 11, 2024
FDA Urges 11th Circ. To Back E-Cig Ban Over High Nicotine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is urging the Eleventh Circuit to not let Bidi Vapor market an e-cigarette product that the agency claimed would expose users to nearly twice as much nicotine as a typical combustible cigarette.
-
June 10, 2024
Privacy Law Needs Broader State Override, Trade Groups Say
Nearly two dozen business groups are calling on Congress to expand the preemption provisions in proposed legislation to give consumers more control over their personal information, arguing that the current draft "falls short" of creating a uniform national data privacy framework by failing to fully override the emerging state law patchwork.
-
June 10, 2024
ATF Says States Lack Standing In Suit Over Gun Show Rule
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told a federal judge in Texas that a coalition of Republican-led attorney generals could not prove how a rule closing the so-called gun show loophole harmed the states.
-
June 10, 2024
5 Teva Inhaler Patents Kicked Out Of Orange Book
A New Jersey federal judge said Monday that a handful of patents covering Teva-brand asthma inhalers were "improperly listed in the Orange Book," a legal holding that U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan quickly took some credit for.
-
June 10, 2024
Calif. Targets Oil Giants' Profits In Amended Climate Suit
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday tweaked the state's climate deception suit against Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP to also target the oil and gas companies' "illegally obtained" profits under a recently enacted state law.
-
June 10, 2024
Rehab Clinics Add To MultiPlan Insurance Fixing Pile-On
Addiction treatment providers sued MultiPlan, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth and Elevance Friday and Saturday in 14 separate New York federal court complaints that appear to be the first to add substance abuse disorder-specific allegations to the cases pegging MultiPlan at the center of a scheme to suppress insurer payouts.
-
June 10, 2024
Coca-Cola Beats False Ad Claims Of PFAS In Juice, For Now
Coca-Cola defeated, for now, a proposed false advertising class action alleging its line of Simply Tropical fruit juice contains "forever chemicals," when a New York federal judge said Monday the customer lacks standing because his complaint relies on a single allegation of testing without linking the test result to his purchase.
-
June 10, 2024
Gemini Says Jury Must Weigh Alleged 'Omissions,' Not Judge
Gemini Trust Co. has told a Manhattan federal judge that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's claims that the crypto exchange omitted key information related to a proposed bitcoin futures contract isn't ripe for a pretrial decision because the claims involve "hotly disputed factual questions."
-
June 10, 2024
DOJ, FDA Form Task Force To Crack Down On Illegal E-Cigs
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday said that a federal multi-agency task force has been founded to stop illegal sales of e-cigarettes.
-
June 10, 2024
6th Circ. Won't Rethink Drop Of Suit Over Doped Derby Horse
A Sixth Circuit panel on Monday declined to rehear arguments from a group of gamblers who claim they should have been paid for their 2021 Kentucky Derby winning bets after the first-place horse was eventually disqualified for doping.
-
June 10, 2024
Home Flooding Was Unavoidable, Agency Tells Appeals Court
A Texas river management agency has told a state appeals court that a group of Houston residents' properties would have flooded regardless of its actions to mitigate Hurricane Harvey's effects, urging the appellate court to overturn a trial court order denying its bid for release from the residents' suit.
-
June 10, 2024
Health Data Co. Says Rival's Request Risks Patient Security
A healthcare data company pushed back against claims in Maryland federal court that it blocks a rival's access to nursing home patient data used to identify potential complications, saying the rival is asking to disable security measures that prevent attacks on its system.
-
June 10, 2024
Ill. Judge Hangs Gain False Labeling Claims Out To Dry
An Illinois consumer who washes clothes with Gain detergent cannot pursue fraud claims targeting a bottle's purported load capacity because she hasn't shown that reasonable customers believe the label refers to large rather than medium loads, a federal judge said Monday.
-
June 10, 2024
Apple IPhone Antitrust MDL Heads To NJ, Where DOJ Is Suing
Apple customers accusing the company of locking in iPhone users through anticompetitive agreements will have their cases consolidated in New Jersey, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled Friday, finding the parties can coordinate with the U.S. Department of Justice's enforcement action there to avoid duplicative discovery and inconsistent rulings.
-
June 10, 2024
Bloomberg's Utility Bond Changes Hurt Consumers, Suit Says
Bloomberg LP was hit with a proposed class action by California and Texas electricity customers who claim the company reclassified certain bonds issued by utility companies to elevate their perceived risk and hike interest rates, a move they say benefited institutional investors but imposed increased costs on electricity customers.
-
June 10, 2024
NY Lawmakers Pass Kids Social Media Addiction Bill
New York lawmakers have passed a bill that will rein in social media algorithms from delivering addictive content to minors and sent it to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk for approval, which is widely expected.
-
June 10, 2024
Baltimore Lands $45M Deal With Allergan In Opioid Litigation
Baltimore has put to rest its claims that Allergan played a part in the opioid crisis, reaching a $45 million settlement with the pharmaceutical company, an amount the city called "unprecedented" in an announcement on Monday.
-
June 10, 2024
9th Circ. Says Choctaw's Dispute With CVS Must Be Arbitrated
A Ninth Circuit panel forced the Choctaw Nation to arbitrate a dispute over prescription drug reimbursement with CVS Health Corp. subsidiaries, affirming an Arizona federal judge's order in a published opinion Monday.
-
June 10, 2024
Triumph Motorcycles Hit With Complaint Over Defective Brakes
An Iowa resident has accused a Georgia-based motorcycle company of putting defective brakes on a bike that caused him to sustain permanent brain injuries after he was unexpectedly thrown from the vehicle, in a complaint filed in North Carolina federal court.
-
June 10, 2024
'Junk Fee' Suit Against Hilton Shipped Back To State Court
A D.C. federal judge has sent back to state court a traveler advocacy group's lawsuit accusing Hilton of tricking hotel guests into paying "junk fees" late in the booking process, rejecting the hotel chain's bid to litigate the proposed class action in federal court.
Expert Analysis
-
A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps
The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
-
5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits
Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
-
A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
-
Calif. Web Tracking Cases Show Courts' Indecision Over CIPA
Several hundred cases filed to date, and two recent conflicting rulings, underscore California courts' uncertainty over whether the use of web analytics tools to track users' website interactions can give rise to a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, says Patricia Brum at Snell & Wilmer.
-
To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
Takeaways From SEC's New Data Breach Amendments
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent amendment of its consumer privacy rules to require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place to uncover data breaches and report them to customers evidences that protecting client records and information remains an SEC priority, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
-
What Junk Fee Law Means For Biz In California And Beyond
Come July 1, companies doing business in California must ensure that the price of any good or service as offered, displayed or advertised is inclusive of all mandatory fees and other charges in compliance with S.B. 478, which may have a far-reaching impact across the country due to wide applicability, say Alexandria Ruiz and Amy Lally at Sidley Austin.
-
Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
-
A Look At M&A Conditions After FTC's Exxon-Pioneer Nod
The Federal Trade Commission's recent consent decree imposing several conditions on Exxon Mobil's acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources helps illustrate key points about the current merger enforcement environment, including the probability of further investigations in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, say Ryan Quillian and John Kendrick at Covington.
-
'Food As Health' Serves Up Fresh Legal Considerations
The growth of food as medicine presents a significant opportunity for healthcare organizations and nontraditional healthcare players to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, though these innovative programs also bring compliance considerations that must be carefully navigated, say attorneys at McDermott.
-
Aviation Watch: Mostly Smooth Landing For New FAA Law
The recently signed Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act enhances air safety in several key ways, including strengthened passenger rights and cockpit voice recorder requirements, but an expansion of slot exemptions at Reagan National Airport is a notable misstep, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
-
Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
-
FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling
As Federal Trade Commission litigation against U.S. Anesthesia Partners proceeds following a Texas federal court's recent decision to dismiss a private equity sponsor from the suit, the case attempts to incorporate and advance some of the commission's theories of competitive harm from the final 2023 Merger Guidelines, say attorneys at Mintz.
-
FTC Hearing On Fake Review Rule Stressed Compliance Costs
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to finalize its proposed rule to prohibit marketers from using deceptive practices in their product reviews after an informal hearing covered arguments over whether costs of implementing the rule, such as review moderation and software maintenance, would be minimal, says Jeffrey Edelstein at Manatt.
-
FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.