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Consumer Protection
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June 17, 2024
'What Am I Supposed To Do?': Epic-Apple Doc Row Irks Judge
A California federal judge presiding over Epic Games' high-stakes antitrust compliance fight against Apple expressed frustration Monday with the parties' disagreement over the scope of Apple's document production, asking counsel repeatedly "What am I supposed to do?" and "Do I need to get somebody on the stand to explain this?"
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June 17, 2024
Calif. Becomes Last State To Ink Deal Over Blackbaud Breach
Blackbaud Inc. has agreed to pay $6.75 million to resolve data security claims brought by California's attorney general, who was the only one to sit out a nearly $50 million settlement that the software provider reached last year with every other state over a 2020 ransomware attack that affected thousands of its customers.
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June 17, 2024
Milbank Snags FTC Competition Trial Chief For DC Office
Milbank LLP announced Monday it has hired the chief trial counsel for the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, bulking up its Washington, D.C., antitrust and competition practice with a veteran litigator who led the government's challenge to Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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June 17, 2024
FTC Says Adobe Uses Fee To Trap Consumers In Subscription
Adobe Inc. has for years deceived customers by keeping them in the dark about an early termination fee for its most lucrative subscription plan, making it difficult to cancel and trapping consumers in subscriptions they no longer want, the Federal Trade Commission alleged Monday.
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June 17, 2024
CFPB Reaches $7M Deal In Suit Over Ex-Exec's Money Moves
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday that it will accept $7 million from a former online loan executive and his wife to resolve a Kansas federal court lawsuit in which the agency accuses them of trying to keep millions more dollars out of the agency's reach.
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June 17, 2024
Teamsters Plan Says Health Network Has Monopoly In Conn.
A Teamsters healthcare benefits plan and a Connecticut public transit provider have sued the healthcare network Hartford Healthcare Corp., accusing it of having a monopoly over healthcare in a half-dozen regions of the state.
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June 17, 2024
T-Mobile To Consider Changing 'Price Lock' Ads After Dispute
T-Mobile said it will look into modifying "Price Lock" advertising claims after AT&T told the Better Business Bureau that the ads mislead consumers by suggesting that T-Mobile locks in a certain price, when it only offers a free month of home internet service under certain conditions if the price goes up.
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June 17, 2024
US Surgeon General To Seek Warning Label On Social Media
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has called on lawmakers to require social media companies to put warnings on their sites that say young people who use them have more mental health issues, according to an opinion article published on Monday.
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June 17, 2024
9th Circ. Says Facebook 'Face Signatures' Not Subject To BIPA
The Ninth Circuit sided with Meta Platforms on Monday by declining to revive an Illinois resident's proposed class action accusing Facebook of breaking the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, ruling that the "face signature" at issue isn't protected by the law because it cannot be used to identify someone.
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June 17, 2024
Ad Tech Judge Says No 'Moving Target' Damages, No Jury
A Virginia federal judge refused to consider the government's "late-arriving" math on how much federal agencies were overcharged by Google's digital advertising placement technology, according to an order unsealed Friday, a decision that allowed Google to successfully short-circuit the U.S. Department of Justice's damages claim and avoid a jury trial sought by the agency.
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June 17, 2024
Toss Universal Service Fund Challenge, FCC Urges 5th Circ.
The Federal Communications Commission on Monday urged the Fifth Circuit to throw out a challenge to the agency's telecom subsidy system after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a pair of similar cases.
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June 17, 2024
Wash. Property Manager Hit With Suit Over Extra Fee
A proposed class of former tenants accused a Bellevue, Washington, property management company of violating state law by charging a $100 security deposit disposition fee when tenants move out.
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June 17, 2024
Google Says Texas Took Opposing Positions On Key Law
Google told a Texas federal court the state attorney general's office made arguments in the case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing display advertising technology that directly contradict arguments the state is making in a case challenging the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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June 17, 2024
Chrysler MDL Class Can Fix 'Puzzling' State Claim Skip
A Michigan federal judge has said he will give a class of drivers alleging Chrysler minivans have a defect that causes their batteries to explode unexpectedly an opportunity to fix their "puzzling" choice not to plead state-by-state claims in the first master complaint of the sprawling multidistrict litigation.
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June 17, 2024
Bookstores Appeal Denied Bid To Join FTC's Amazon Case
A trade association for bookstores is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court refused its request to intervene in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust suit against Amazon that raises concerns about the e-commerce giant's sale of books and contracts with publishers.
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June 17, 2024
Zantac Suits Must Exit State Court, Conn. Judge Told
A Connecticut state court judge must relinquish jurisdiction over two lawsuits claiming that generic versions of the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer because state statutes do not subject entities with foreign business registrations to the auspices of Constitution State judges, a pharmaceutical industry attorney argued at a hearing Monday morning.
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June 17, 2024
Crypto Trading Firm Nabs NY BitLicense
Crypto trading firm and liquidity provider Cumberland DRW announced Monday that the New York Department of Financial Services has granted it a BitLicense, which allows it to operate a crypto business within the state.
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June 17, 2024
FTC Says Hospital Won't Fail Without Novant Buyout
The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back against claims that North Carolina's Lake Norman Regional Medical Center will fail if the agency halts its acquisition by Novant Health, telling the Fourth Circuit that the hospital is, in fact, profitable and stable.
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June 17, 2024
LA City Atty Accused Of Retaliating Against Criminal Chief
The former criminal chief of the Los Angeles city attorney's office is seeking more than $1 million over claims she faced a "barrage of retaliation" and was unfairly placed on leave after reporting the city attorney's alleged excessive on-the-job alcohol consumption, her refusal to prosecute certain companies and other purported misconduct.
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June 17, 2024
Sen. Spectrum Bill Called Inadequate For Connectivity Needs
A Senate bill to renew the Federal Communications Commission's authority to auction spectrum is facing criticism from a technology think tank as the legislation heads to a committee vote Tuesday.
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June 17, 2024
College Students Say Mass. COVID Liability Shield Unjust
Three former students seeking tuition refunds are urging a Massachusetts court to rule on the constitutionality of a state law wiping away schools' liability for switching to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a statute that has all but doomed their separate federal complaints.
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June 17, 2024
Talc Claimants Want Documents In Fight Over J&J Unit Venue
Cancer patients with talc damage claims against Johnson & Johnson have urged a New Jersey federal court to give them access to transcripts and exhibits from depositions of top executives at the company's talc unit, saying the information will aid their effort to bar the J&J spinoff from filing a third Chapter 11 outside the Garden State.
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June 17, 2024
SEC Head Of Crypto Assets And Cyber Unit Departs Agency
The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's crypto and cyber enforcement team said Monday that he has left the agency after nearly nine years.
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June 14, 2024
Meta Halts AI Tech Debut In EU After Regulatory Backlash
Meta Platforms Inc. said Friday that it was putting on hold plans to expand its artificial intelligence offerings to the European market after the Irish privacy regulator raised concerns about the company's efforts to use public content posted on Facebook and Instagram to fuel these models.
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June 14, 2024
Electronics Cos. Fight 'Drastic' $2B Price-Fixing Default
Irico Group and a subsidiary on Thursday opposed a special masters report recommending the Chinese electronics companies should be on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment in litigation alleging they participated in a cathode ray tube price-fixing conspiracy, telling a California federal court the remedy is "drastic" and unwarranted.
Expert Analysis
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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High Court's BofA Ruling Leaves State Preemption Questions
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cantero v. Bank of America sheds light on whether certain state banking regulations apply to federally chartered banks, but a circuit split could still force the Supreme Court to take a more direct position, says Brett Garver at Moritt Hock.
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Cyber Takeaways For Cos. From Verizon Data Breach Report
Camilo Artiga-Purcell at Kiteworks analyzes the key findings of the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report from a legal perspective, examining the implications for organizations' cybersecurity strategies and compliance efforts.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Lessons From Epic's Dutch Fine For Unfair Marketing To Kids
Dutch regulators' imposition of a €1.1 million fine on Epic Games for unfair commercial practices targeting children marks a significant moment in the ongoing scrutiny of digital market practices, and follows an increased focus on children's online safety in the U.S. and European Union, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
California Has A Duty To Curtail Frivolous CIPA Suits
As plaintiffs increasingly file class actions against companies for their use of website tracking cookies and pixels, the Legislature should consider four options to amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act and restore the balance between consumer privacy and business operational interests, say Steven Stransky and Jennifer Adler at Thompson Hine and Glenn Lammi at the Washington Legal Foundation.
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Risks And Promises Of AI In The Financial Services Industry
Generative artificial intelligence has immense potential to revolutionize the financial services industry, but firms considering its use should first prepare to show their customers and the increasingly divided international regulatory community that they can manage the risks inherent to the new technology, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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Series
Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer
There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.
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Key FCC Enforcement Issues In AT&T Location Data Appeal
AT&T’s decision to challenge a $57 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission for its alleged treatment of customer location information highlights interesting and fundamental issues about the constitutionality of FCC enforcement, say Patrick O’Donnell and Jason Neal at HWG.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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What To Know As CFPB Late Fee Rule Hangs In Limbo
Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final credit card late fee rule faces an uncertain future due to litigation involving injunctions, emergency petitions and now a venue dispute, card issuers must understand how to navigate the interim period and what to do if the rule takes effect, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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A Deep Dive Into The Evolving World Of ESG Ratings
Attorneys at Mintz discuss the salience of environmental, social and governance ratings in corporate circles in recent years, and consider certain methodologies underlying their calculation for professionals, as well as issues concerning the ESG ratings and products themselves.
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What TikTok's Race Against The Clock Teaches Chinese Firms
The Biden administration's recent divestiture deadline on TikTok parent ByteDance provides useful information for other China-based companies looking to do business in the U.S., including the need to keep products for each market separate and implement firewalls at the design stage, says Richard Lomuscio at Stinson.
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Updated Federal Rules Can Improve Product Liability MDLs
The recent amendment of a federal evidence rule regarding expert testimony and the proposal of a civil rule on managing early discovery in multidistrict legislation hold great promise for promoting the uniform and efficient processes that high-stakes product liability cases particularly need, say Alan Klein and William Heaston at Duane Morris.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.