Consumer Protection

  • July 10, 2024

    FCC To Fine Telecom Involved In Universal Service Challenge

    The Federal Communications Commission is moving forward with a $100,000 fine against an Ohio-based telecommunications company over late paperwork with the Universal Service Administration.

  • July 10, 2024

    Judge Chides Troopers' No-Show Atty At Sanctions Hearing

    A Washington federal judge slapped a group of state troopers with sanctions Wednesday for defying a discovery order in their case against Ford Motor Co., while also calling out their attorney who failed to show up for the hearing despite the court's repeated prodding.

  • July 10, 2024

    House GOP Demands Info On BEAD 'Rate Regulation'

    Congressional Republicans called on a top U.S. Department of Commerce official to release all communications with state agencies in charge of distributing federal broadband grants to see if the agencies were pressured into regulating rates.

  • July 10, 2024

    Wells Fargo Knew of 'Free Trial' Marketing Scam, Plaintiffs Say

    A California federal judge was asked to keep alive a lawsuit alleging that through its problematic sales practices, Wells Fargo played a supporting role in two "free trial" marketing scams that pulled $200 million from consumers, with the plaintiffs arguing evidence shows Wells Fargo knew about the alleged fraud.

  • July 10, 2024

    Iowa Blasts Beverage Makers' Challenge To New Hemp Law

    The state of Iowa is defending a new law placing restrictions on products with hemp-derived THC, saying the beverage makers who have challenged it in federal court will not prevail on their new claim that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

  • July 10, 2024

    Wyoming Officials Urge Court Not To Block New Hemp Law

    Wyoming state officials have urged a federal judge not to block enforcement of a new law targeting hemp-derived intoxicating products, saying the law is not preempted by federal policy and that the state has an interest in cracking down on such wares.

  • July 10, 2024

    Behnam Tells Senate CFTC Is Ready To Be Retail Crypto Cop

    U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam sought to assure lawmakers that his agency is ready to protect retail investors if it is given oversight of digital asset markets during a Wednesday Senate hearing setting the stage for a coming legislative proposal on the future of cryptocurrency regulation.

  • July 10, 2024

    Insurer Must Face Claims In Penile Implant Coverage Suit

    An insurer can't escape a suit brought by a urologist and his practice seeking coverage for a proposed class action over a penile enlargement implant and procedure, a California federal court ruled Wednesday, saying it's too early to conclude that the underlying action doesn't assert potentially covered claims.

  • July 10, 2024

    Uber Must Turn Over Data, Reports In Sex Assault MDL

    A California federal judge has ordered Uber Technologies Inc. to turn over data it collected underpinning safety reports in multidistrict litigation over sexual assault of passengers, but said the ride-hailing company need not turn over information on safety incidents that did not involve sexual misconduct or assault.

  • July 10, 2024

    Rural Broadband Org. Calls For Speedier Permitting Process

    A rural broadband advocacy group is urging Congress to pass two companion bills that would enable the use of online portals to expedite the permitting process to build high-speed networks on federal lands.

  • July 10, 2024

    RJ Reynolds Urges Toss Of Menthol Suit Against FDA

    Tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds has come to the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a friend-of-the-court brief, arguing that the court should toss a federal lawsuit against the agency over its purported delays in implementing a ban on menthol cigarettes.

  • July 10, 2024

    Pa. Judge Skeptical Of Pausing FTC's Noncompete Ban

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday seemed hesitant to grant a tree services company's request to halt the Federal Trade Commission's recent ban on noncompete agreements, as attorneys for the company struggled to point to concrete harms it would suffer if the ban were to take effect as scheduled.

  • July 10, 2024

    2 Roundup MDL Cases Axed After Plaintiffs Fail To Act

    A California federal judge presiding over multidistrict personal injury litigation related to the Monsanto herbicide Roundup has ended two of the numerous cases, with one tossed for failure to prosecute and the second ending in an early win for Monsanto after the plaintiff failed to file a response, amid ongoing concerns that plaintiffs' attorneys are overtaxed.

  • July 10, 2024

    CFPB Pitches Plan To 'Streamline' Mortgage Servicing Rules

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it wants to revamp its mortgage servicing rules to make it faster and easier for struggling homeowners to access forbearance and other relief options, proposing changes that draw in part on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • July 10, 2024

    Conn. Justices Told Banking Agency's Probe Overstepped

    The Connecticut Department of Banking's investigation into Commonwealth Law Group and Commonwealth Servicing Group LLC's debt negotiation practices violated the constitutional separation of powers, because only the state's judicial branch has regulatory authority over legal services provided to clients by their attorneys, the firms told the state Supreme Court.

  • July 09, 2024

    BMW Driver Urges 9th Circ. To Restart Car-Tracking Fight

    A BMW driver urged the Ninth Circuit Tuesday to revive a proposed class action alleging Otonomo surreptitiously tracks drivers' locations through electronic devices installed in their cars, arguing that the trial court erroneously interpreted the statute to wrongly conclude the devices aren't "attached" to vehicles as required by the law.

  • July 09, 2024

    FINRA Fines UBS For Missing Rep's $7.2M Sell-Away Scheme

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined UBS Financial Services Inc. $850,000 as part of a deal to resolve allegations that the firm failed to detect for more than two decades one of its representative's outside sales of mismarketed securities to his UBS clients.

  • July 09, 2024

    Pharma Co. Fined $16.9M For Fake Scripts, Ex-VP Arrested

    A subsidiary of bankrupt DMK Pharmaceuticals Corp. faces a $16.9 million criminal fine after pleading guilty to conspiring in a scheme to ship drugs using false prescriptions, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday, adding that the subsidiary's former vice president of sales was also arrested.

  • July 09, 2024

    Ford Must Face Class Claims Over Oil Pump Defect

    Ford must continue facing a proposed class action alleging it sold EcoBoost engine vehicles with faulty oil pumps after a Delaware federal judge on Monday largely denied the automaker's bid to dismiss the case, permanently tossing only one claim that alleged violations of Michigan's Consumer Protection Act.

  • July 09, 2024

    CFPB's Latest Rules Agenda Includes Blast From Fed Past

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may try to resurrect part of a defunct Federal Reserve regulation that banned banks from employing some consumer credit contract terms, according to a new rulemaking agenda from the agency that also hints at a plan B for its $8 credit card late-fee rule.

  • July 09, 2024

    With Chevron's End, LGBTQ+ Healthcare Regs Face New Risk

    The end of Chevron deference is already disrupting regulation meant to protect LGBTQ+ access to healthcare, with three federal judges blocking enforcement of a Biden administration rule prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in healthcare.

  • July 09, 2024

    No Proof Consumers Vexed By 'Spring' Water, Court Told

    Nestle Waters North America Inc. on Tuesday urged a Connecticut federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Poland Spring water does not emanate from an actual spring, arguing that references to spring water on product labels mean different things to different consumers and that no confusion has been proved.

  • July 09, 2024

    FTC Deal Bars Messaging App From Allowing Users Under 18

    Anonymous messaging app maker NGL Labs LLC and two of its founders will shell out $5 million and be banned from offering the service to anyone under age 18 to resolve the Federal Trade Commission and Los Angeles County's claims that they unfairly marketed the app to children and teens and falsely portrayed their content moderation efforts.

  • July 09, 2024

    Industry, FCC Argue Net Neutrality's Fate After Chevron's Fall

    Industry groups and the Federal Communications Commission filed competing briefs with the Sixth Circuit over whether to delay the enforcement of net neutrality rules after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the longstanding Chevron doctrine that gave wide deference to agency decision making.

  • July 09, 2024

    Slam By CFTC Member Backs Sanctions Bid, Forex Firm Says

    A foreign exchange firm that accused the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission of misconduct in bringing an action against it has cited recent criticism of the agency's enforcement division by one of its commissioners in support of its bid to toss the case and sanction the regulator.

Expert Analysis

  • What 11th Circ. FCRA Ruling Means For Credit Furnishers

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    Credit furnishers should revisit their internal investigation and verification procedures after the Eleventh Circuit declined last month in Holden v. Holiday to impose a bright-line rule that only purely factual or transcription errors are actionable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, say Diana Eng and Michael Esposito at Blank Rome.

  • Supply Chain Considerations For Companies Deploying AI

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    Many businesses will risk failure by embracing artificial intelligence without fully understanding the risks, and the value of a five-step AI supply chain analysis cannot be overstated, say Brooke Berg and Nathan Staffel at Nardello & Co.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Compliance Considerations For New Data Protection Law

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    Sam Castic at Hintze Law discusses how to determine if your organization is covered by the newly enacted Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, the scope of the law's restrictions, and how to go about compliance as its June 23 effective date approaches.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule Risks A Wave Of State AG Actions

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule language banning noncompetes may contribute to a waterfall enforcement effect in which state attorneys general deploy their broad authority to treat noncompetes as separate and independent violations, say Ryan Strasser and Carson Cox at Troutman Pepper.

  • CFPB Poised To Up The Ante After Supreme Court Victory

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically ruled last week that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure did not violate the Constitution, the agency boasted that it was "here to stay," signaling that it is moving full steam ahead with its regulatory, enforcement and supervisory agenda, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • How To Use Exhibits Strategically Throughout Your Case

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    Exhibits, and documents in particular, are the lifeblood of legal advocacy, so attorneys must understand how to wield them effectively throughout different stages of a case to help build strategy, elevate witness preparation and effectively persuade the fact-finders, say Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie and Colorado prosecutor Adam Kendall.

  • Diving Deep Into Sweeping NY Financing Bill — And Its Pitfalls

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    A New York bill seeking to impose state usury limits onto a broader variety of financing arrangements and apply lender licensing requirements to more diverse entities would present near-insurmountable compliance challenges for lenders and retailers, say Kate Fisher and Tom Quinn at Hudson Cook.

  • Influencer Considerations As FINRA Initiates Crackdown

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    To avert risks when evaluating influencer and referral programs, firms should assess the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's recent settlements involving the supervision of social media tastemakers, as well as recent FINRA guidance in this area, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches

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    Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Behind Court Challenges To The FTC's Final Noncompete Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent final rule banning noncompetes may not go into effect any time soon amid a couple of Texas federal court challenges seeking to bar the rule's implementation, which will likely see appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, says Michael Elkins at MLE Law.

  • 15 Quick Tips For Uncovering And Mitigating Juror Biases

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    As highlighted by the recent jury selection process in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, juror bias presents formidable challenges for defendants, and attorneys must employ proactive strategies — both new and old — to blunt its impact, say Monica Delgado and Jonathan Harris at Harris St. Laurent.

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