Consumer Protection

  • June 06, 2024

    EPA To Reevaluate Widely Used Toxic Chemical Under TSCA

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule to limit the use of a chemical found in hundreds of products from paint to cleaning products that has been linked to miscarriages, reduced male fertility and other health issues.

  • June 06, 2024

    Abbott Labs Must Face Bulk Of Glucerna False Ad Suit

    A California federal judge won't free Abbott Laboratories from a proposed class action over its Glucerna shakes, saying the complaint plausibly alleges that the labeling would mislead consumers about the health aspects of the drinks.

  • June 06, 2024

    ZoomInfo To Pay Nearly $30M To End Privacy Suit

    ZoomInfo has agreed to come up with close to $30 million to resolve potential class claims that it nonconsensually used people's names and identities to advertise paid access to its full database, allowing monetary recovery for just more than a million class members in four states, class counsel told an Illinois federal judge Thursday.

  • June 06, 2024

    'Brussels Effect' Of EU's AI Act Is Uncertain, Legal Pros Say

    BigLaw attorneys advising international clients on the European Union's AI Act tell Law360 there are significant uncertainties over vague terms in the 458-page statute, how its steep eight-figure fines will be enforced, and whether it will set a new standard globally as part of the "Brussels effect."

  • June 05, 2024

    Texas AG Sets Up New Team To Enforce Data Privacy Laws

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is "doubling down" on efforts to curb companies' misuse of residents' personal information by establishing a new team dedicated to enforcing the state's data protections, including a comprehensive consumer data privacy law that's set to take effect next month. 

  • June 05, 2024

    Amazon Beats BIPA Suit Targeting Thermal Camera Use

    An Illinois federal judge handed Amazon a pretrial win over accusations that it violated workers' biometric privacy rights by using thermal cameras to screen for fevers during the pandemic, saying the company is immune from such claims under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fubo Loses Bid To Toss Consumer's Privacy Suit

    Streaming service Fubo cannot escape a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully shared subscribers' personally identifiable information, or PII, with third-party advertisers, an Illinois federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    PwC Asks Calif. Justices To Revive $2.5M Sanction Against LA

    PwC urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive a $2.5 million sanction against the city of Los Angeles for yearslong discovery misconduct in an underlying utility billing dispute, arguing the trial court's inherent authority to pose such penalties isn't limited to nonmonetary sanctions.

  • June 05, 2024

    Catholic Broadcasters Angry Over FCC 'Gender Ideology' Rule

    The Catholic Radio Association is up in arms over the Federal Communications Commission's new workforce diversity reporting mandates that will require broadcasters to report how many nonbinary people they employ, telling the agency they're being forced to record something that "does not comport to reality."

  • June 05, 2024

    Bank Group Takes Fight Over FDIC Fee Letter To 8th Circ.

    A Minnesota bank industry group is appealing its federal district court loss in litigation over Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guidance proscribing non-sufficient funds fees, or NSF fees, the organization said Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Review Cathay Pacific Ticket Refund Fight

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday refused to reconsider its decision ordering a couple who were left stranded in the Philippines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to arbitrate their breach of contract dispute with Cathay Pacific Airways under their contract with a third-party booking site.

  • June 05, 2024

    Wells Fargo Sued For Allegedly Aiding $300M Ponzi Scheme

    Wells Fargo Bank NA has been hit with a proposed class action in Florida federal court alleging that it aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme that duped more than 1,000 investors, most of whom were elderly and lost substantial life savings due to the scheme.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fla. High Court Told Immunity Doesn't Bar UF COVID-19 Suit

    A University of Florida student on Wednesday urged the state's high court to revive his lawsuit over cancellation of on-campus services during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that sovereign immunity doesn't bar his breach-of-contract claim against the college.

  • June 05, 2024

    Google Legal Dept. Goes From Crisis Mode To Long Term

    As much of the major antitrust litigation against Google winds down, the company is shuffling around its in-house legal departments to add more people and settle from crisis mode into the more sustainable posture of a technology giant where lawsuits have likely become a permanent feature of its existence.

  • June 05, 2024

    Panel To Pick Venue For FCC Net Neutrality Challenges

    The federal courts are poised to randomly pick which circuit court will initially hear more than half a dozen legal challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's recently adopted net neutrality rules.

  • June 05, 2024

    Paddle Co. Misrepresented Pickleball Products, Suit Says

    The makers of the Joola brand, a major name in table tennis, falsely advertised many of their pickleball paddles, including some bearing athlete Ben Johns' name, as approved for tournament play in order to rapidly gain market share in the sport, according to a proposed class action filed in Florida federal court Wednesday seeking at least $5 million.

  • June 05, 2024

    Google Cleared From Suit Over Animal Abuse YouTube Videos

    A California appeals panel has tossed a nonprofit's suit alleging that Google LLC breached its contract by allowing animal abuse videos on YouTube, saying Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act blocks all its claims.

  • June 05, 2024

    Microsoft Blasts Gamers' Bid To Add To Activision Appeal

    Microsoft Corp. says the Ninth Circuit should reject a "bevy of additional, extra-record 'facts'" seeking to hold up the recent layoffs of 1,900 Activision and Xbox employees as proof that the tech giant's acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. was anticompetitive.

  • June 05, 2024

    Synchrony Charges Were Unlawful 'Veteran Penalty,' Suit Says

    Synchrony Bank was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of promoting a misleading 0% interest rate for veterans and failing to disclose that the bank applies retroactive high interest rates on service members' outstanding balances when they leave duty.

  • June 05, 2024

    Attys Get Third Of $1.4M Webster Bank Breach Deal

    A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday granted final approval to a $1.4 million settlement, including $476,000 in fees for class counsel, in a suit from a class of account holders that sought to hold Webster Bank and its fraud detection services provider liable for a ransomware attack.

  • June 05, 2024

    FCC Looking Into Reports Of AT&T Wireless Service Outage

    The Federal Communications Commission said it is trying to find out what happened when AT&T wireless customers lost service in several states Tuesday due to what the company described as an interoperability problem.

  • June 05, 2024

    CFPB Opens Door To Open Banking 'Standard Setters'

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made more progress Wednesday in its efforts to lay the groundwork for open banking in the U.S., adopting a mechanism that will allow "open" and "balanced" organizations to begin setting official, industry-wide technical standards for financial data sharing.

  • June 05, 2024

    Meta Can't Dodge Trial In Monopoly Suit, FTC Says

    The Federal Trade Commission said "voluminous evidence" cuts against Meta's bid to avoid trial over claims the social media giant illegally entrenched its monopoly in the market for personal social networking by acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram.

  • June 05, 2024

    Epic Accuses Apple Of Stalling Antitrust Doc Production

    Epic Games accused Apple Inc. at a hearing Wednesday of dragging its feet on producing internal documents that a California federal judge recently ordered the tech giant to hand over to help decide if Apple complied with her ban on App Store anti-steering rules.

  • June 05, 2024

    $6M KeyBank Breach Settlement 'Very Good,' Ga. Judge Told

    The leading class counsel in a lawsuit over alleged data breaches that occurred at several regional banks and a technology contractor urged a Georgia federal judge Wednesday to reject a last-ditch bid by one segment of the proposed class to block a "very good" $6 million settlement on the table.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

  • 3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up

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    Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 12 Keys To Successful Post-Trial Juror Interviews

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    Post-trial interviews offer attorneys an avenue to gain valuable insights into juror decision making and get feedback that can inform future litigation strategies, but certain best practices must be followed to get the most out of this research tool, say Alexa Hiley and Brianna Smith at IMS Legal.

  • How Employers, Attorneys Can Respond To Noncompete Ban

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    As the Federal Trade Commission's recently issued noncompete ban faces ongoing legal challenges, now is a good time for employers to consider whether they want to take a wait-and-see approach before halting use of noncompetes and for practitioners to gain insight into other tools available to protect their clients' business interests, says Jennifer Platzkere Snyder at Dilworth Paxson.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.

  • New TSCA Risk Rule Gives EPA Broad Discretion On Science

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final amendments to its framework for evaluating the risks of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act give it vast discretion over consideration of scientific information, without objective criteria to guide that discretion, say John McGahren and Debra Carfora at Morgan Lewis.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.

  • Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

  • 4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • Lessons In High-Profile Jury Selection Amid NY Trump Trial

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    Richard Gabriel and Michelle Rey LaRocca at Decision Analysis consider how media exposure can affect a prospective juror in a high-profile case, the misunderstood nature of bias, and recommendations for jury selection in these unique situations as the Trump hush money trial continues in New York.

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