Consumer Protection

  • June 27, 2025

    Tesla To Face Punitive Damages Claim At Trial Over Fla. Crash

    Tesla will face a punitive damages claim at trial next month in a wrongful death suit over a deadly collision in 2019, with a Florida federal judge saying there is enough evidence the carmaker knew about dangers associated with its autopilot system to send the claim to a jury.

  • June 27, 2025

    Loyola Says It Had No Role In Student-Athlete Data Breach

    Loyola University Chicago moved Thursday to be dismissed from an Illinois federal lawsuit claiming it failed to protect the private data of its student-athletes, saying it can't be held liable for the unlawful access of an ex-University of Michigan football coach who has no affiliation or connection to the university.  

  • June 27, 2025

    Greystar, Landlords Push To Toss DOJ's RealPage Suit

    Greystar Management Services LLC and several other landlords urged a North Carolina federal court to toss a rent price-fixing suit lodged by the federal government and multiple states, arguing in part that they have failed to provide specifics for their antitrust claims.

  • June 27, 2025

    UK Tribunal Says Visa, Mastercard Fees Infringe Antitrust Law

    A U.K. tribunal issued a judgment Friday siding with merchants seeking damages from Visa and Mastercard for claims they were charged excessively high transaction fees, finding the interchange fees merchants pay to banks violate competition law.

  • June 27, 2025

    Sunbeam Says 'Reptile Theory' Tactics Doom $8.8M Verdict

    Sunbeam Products Inc. and parent company Newell Brands Inc. want a new trial in a case where a woman won an $8.8 million verdict on claims that a slow cooker made by the companies left her with burns, asserting that her attorneys committed misconduct aimed at using "Reptile Theory" to inflame the jury.

  • June 27, 2025

    Financial Regulators Say Banks Can Use Third-Party TIN Info

    Financial regulators on Friday said banks can collect tax identification number information from third parties, rather than just from their customers, pointing to changes in banking since the requirement was enacted under the USA PATRIOT Act.

  • June 27, 2025

    Compass Wants 'Zillow Ban' Halted For Antitrust Case

    Compass asked a New York federal court Friday to stop Zillow from enforcing a new policy the real estate brokerage claims is designed to block competition, saying the threat of Zillow's rules is already causing harm and confusion.

  • June 27, 2025

    Wireless Co. Says Feds Breached 'Rip And Replace' Promise

    Illinois-based SI Wireless LLC told a Court of Federal Claims judge the U.S. government breached a promise to reimburse it for removing Chinese-made equipment deemed a national security risk from its telecommunications network and has failed to follow through with nearly $157 million in payments.

  • June 27, 2025

    Off The Bench: Tatis Says Loan 'Predatory,' Tennis Player Suit

    In this week's Off The Bench, a Major League Baseball star wants out of a "predatory" loan from a future earnings investment company, a group of migrant workers keep alive their suit accusing companies that helped develop World Cup facilities in Qatar of exploitation and abuse, and the tennis Grand Slam tournaments may be in the crosshairs of players suing the sport's hierarchy.

  • June 27, 2025

    Mass. Cannabis Labs Call Rival's Suit 'Publicity Stunt'

    Seven Massachusetts cannabis testing labs are asking a state court judge to toss out a lawsuit brought by a competitor accusing them of manipulating test results, with three of the defendants calling the complaint a "publicity stunt" driven by the plaintiff's declining market share.

  • June 27, 2025

    Justices Uphold Texas Law Requiring Porn Site Age Checks

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify visitors' ages could take effect, agreeing with a divided Fifth Circuit's decision to vacate an injunction while using a different standard of judicial review to evaluate the statute.

  • June 27, 2025

    Justices Salvage FCC Subsidy Fees, Reversing 5th Circ.

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld the funding mechanism for the Federal Communications Commission's $9 billion Universal Service Fund used to subsidize low-income phone service, rural broadband, and school, library and healthcare telecommunications connectivity.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trump DOJ Eyes Algorithmic Collusion, Welcomes 'Little Tech'

    Tackling algorithmic pricing collusion in the healthcare and housing markets and welcoming pro-competitive mergers of "Little Tech" are among the U.S. Department of Justice's plans for protecting consumers in today's digital markets, the top deputy for the DOJ's antitrust division told privacy professionals on Thursday.

  • June 26, 2025

    Student Loan Servicer Must Face Class Action Fraud Claims

    A Chicago federal judge has kept alive a proposed class action accusing student loan giant Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc. of misleading borrowers about how it would automatically apply payments above their monthly minimums owed, though he trimmed an unjust enrichment claim from the suit.

  • June 26, 2025

    Teladoc Can't Shake Most Of Suit Over Meta Pixel Data Sharing

    A New York federal judge refused to toss a proposed class action accusing Teladoc of unlawfully disclosing website visitors' personal health information to Meta, preserving eight wiretapping and consumer protecting claims under federal and several state laws while giving the plaintiffs a chance to amend negligence and three other allegations.

  • June 26, 2025

    FTC OKs $1.6B Gas Station Deal, With Divestiture Of 35 Stores

    The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday an agreement resolving antitrust concerns regarding Alimentation Couche-Tard's proposed $1.57 billion acquisition of 270 fuel stations from grocery chain Giant Eagle, requiring the Canadian convenience store company to divest 35 gas stations.

  • June 26, 2025

    Phillip Morris Moves To Arbitrate Rivals' Tobacco Deal Suit

    Philip Morris USA is urging a Washington state judge to force arbitration in a dispute with R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies over deals delineating billions of dollars in annual payments owed to states under Big Tobacco's 1998 master settlement agreement.

  • June 26, 2025

    Bayer Investors' $38M Settlement Over Monsanto Deal OK'd

    A California federal judge on Thursday preliminarily approved Bayer AG's $38 million settlement with investors who accused the German multinational of downplaying litigation risks related to the weedkiller Roundup when it acquired Monsanto in 2018, saying the deal appeared to be "fair, reasonable and adequate."

  • June 26, 2025

    Cable Biz Wants Notice Before FCC Waives Top-4 Rule

    The cable industry criticized the Federal Communications Commission's handling of a recent waiver of its rule blocking broadcasters from owning more than one top-four TV station in a single market, telling FCC officials they should ask for the public's views before making any exceptions.

  • June 26, 2025

    CSBS Issues Money Transmitter Guidance on Virtual Currency

    The Conference of State Bank Supervisors on Thursday released advisory guidance on how to consider virtual currency when calculating a licensee's tangible net worth under the Money Transmission Modernization Act, the first set of recommendations to be published under the CSBS board of directors' newly established process for issuing nonbinding, advisory guidance.

  • June 26, 2025

    Juul Faces Possible Revival Of Price Discrimination Suit

    A vape wholesaler is urging an Illinois federal judge to reconsider an order ending its lawsuit accusing Juul Labs of giving a rival wholesaler a better deal on e-cigarettes, arguing its failure to explicitly identify the geographic market in which it competed should not have sunk the case.

  • June 26, 2025

    Judge 'Cannot Justify' Ga.'s Social Media Age Limit Law

    A federal judge on Thursday declared unconstitutional Georgia's new restrictions on minors' use of social media, halting enforcement of the measures on First Amendment grounds just weeks before they were to take effect.

  • June 26, 2025

    5th Circ. Revives Biz Records Law, Citing Review Safeguard

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday tossed a permanent injunction blocking a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records, saying the Texas Supreme Court recently "harmonized" the law in a way that addresses Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s constitutional challenge.

  • June 26, 2025

    FCC Votes To Slash Rules At June Meeting

    Most of what the Federal Communications Commission did at its monthly meeting Thursday was vote away rules that it no longer deems useful to keeping the agency and the various telecommunications sectors under its purview running smoothly.

  • June 26, 2025

    Pa. Judge Tosses Wiretapping Claims In Rivers Casino Suits

    A Pennsylvania state court has dismissed the bulk of two lawsuits accusing the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh of illegally wiretapping a guest to assist her friend's ex-husband in a child custody case, but allowed the plaintiff to proceed with some invasion of privacy claims.

Expert Analysis

  • What New Study Means For Recycling Compliance In Calif.

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    Companies must review the California recycling agency's new study to understand its criteria for assessing claims of product and packaging recyclability under a law that takes effect next year, and then decide whether the risks of making such claims in the state outweigh the benefits, say attorneys at Keller & Heckman.

  • The Future Of Privacy Enforcement Under Ferguson's FTC

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    Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson's early actions indicate a marked shift toward a more traditional approach to privacy enforcement, so companies should expect the commission to maintain a strong focus on enforcing Section 5 of the FTC Act in the privacy area, says Kandi Parsons at ZwillGen.

  • AT&T Decision May Establish Framework To Block FCC Fines

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in AT&T v. FCC upends the commission's authority to impose certain civil penalties, reinforcing constitutional safeguards against administrative overreach, and opening avenues for telecommunications and technology providers to challenge forfeiture orders, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Reassessing Corporate Separateness After Explosion Of LLCs

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    Following the dramatic increase of limited liability companies in the U.S., the Corporate Transparency Act's enactment and the Trump administration's subsequent narrowing of that law, it's worth revisiting the underlying legal principles that govern shell companies in order to remedy the problems that initially motivated the CTA, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.

  • What Banks Should Note As Regulators Plan To Nix CRA Rule

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    While federal bank regulators’ recently announced intent to rescind a Biden-era Community Reinvestment Act final rule will loosen the framework for evaluating banks’ lending, service and investing activities, the decision means industry innovations and changes will remain unaddressed, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Playing Guitar Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a lawyer not only requires logic and hard work, but also belief, emotion, situational awareness and lots of natural energy — playing guitar enhances all of these qualities, increasing my capacity to do my best work, says Kosta Stojilkovic at Wilkinson Stekloff.

  • Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook

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    The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.

  • High Court's Ruling May Not Stop Ghost Gun Makers

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    In Bondi v. VanDerStok, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Gun Control Act applies to untraceable "ghost gun" kits under certain circumstances — but companies that produce these kits may still be able to use creative regulatory workarounds to evade government oversight, says Samuel Bassett at Minton Bassett.

  • Justices' Labcorp Questions Explore Class Cert. Tensions

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    At the recent oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Davis, the justices' questioning highlighted a fundamental tension between constitutional standing requirements, the procedural framework of Rule 23, and the practical challenges of managing large, diverse classes in complex litigation, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • 4 Ways To Leverage A Jury's Underdog Perceptions

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    Counsel should consider how common factors that speak to their client's size, power, past challenges and alignment with jurors can be presented to try and paint their client as a sympathetic underdog, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • CFPB Vacatur Bid Sheds Light On Agency Decision-Making

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    While the CFPB's joint motion to vacate the settlement it reached with Townstone Financial last year won't affect precedent on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's scope, it serves as a road map to CFPB decisional processes and provides insight into how other regulators make similar decisions, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

  • Why Hiring Former Jurors As Consultants Can Be Risky

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    The defense team's decision to hire former juror Victoria George in the high-profile retrial of Karen Read shines a spotlight on this controversial strategy, which raises important legal, ethical and tactical questions despite not being explicitly prohibited, says Nikoleta Despodova at ND Litigation.

  • The Potential Efficiencies, Risks Of Folding PCAOB Into SEC

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    Integrating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission offers the potential for regulatory efficiencies, as well as a more streamlined and consistent enforcement approach, but it also presents constitutional and operational uncertainties, say attorneys at Hilgers Graben.

  • Tips For Companies Crafting Tariff Surcharge Disclosures

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    As the Trump administration imposes tariffs on imports, retail businesses considering itemizing tariff-related costs separately for consumers must ensure that any disclosures are both accurate and defensible to avoid regulatory enforcement or private suits, says Christopher Cole at Katten.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw

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    While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.

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