Consumer Protection

  • June 27, 2024

    SEC Says It Met Its Burden To Apply Dealer Rule To Crypto

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told a Texas federal judge that the agency has met its burden to explain how its expanded definition of "dealer" applies to the crypto industry, urging the court to cut through an industry challenge.

  • June 27, 2024

    Live Nation Tries To Push DOJ's Antitrust Suit Out Of NY

    Counsel for Live Nation Entertainment and subsidiary Ticketmaster on Thursday told a skeptical Manhattan federal judge that the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case belongs in D.C. federal court, where the green light was given for the companies' 2010 merger.

  • June 27, 2024

    Colo. AG's Kroger Merger Suit Survives Dismissal Bid

    A Colorado state judge has refused to toss a suit challenging Kroger's planned $24 billion purchase of Albertsons, rejecting the grocery chains' arguments that state enforcers are asking for an overly broad, nationwide injunction by seeking to block the deal.

  • June 27, 2024

    11th Circ. Won't Revive Robinhood Investors' Meme Stock Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court's dismissal of an investor antitrust suit against Robinhood Markets and Citadel Securities, holding that the investors failed to allege any plausible anti-competitive effects that occurred as a result of the platforms allegedly conspiring to restrict trades of "meme" stocks like GameStop in 2021.

  • June 27, 2024

    GoodPop Says Rival Misleads With '100% Real Fruit' Claim

    The makers of GoodPop popsicles sued rival Jonny Pops LLC on Thursday, saying that despite Jonny Pops advertising its products as being made with "100% real fruit" and healthy "simple ingredients," the pops are mostly water and added sugar well beyond what is healthy for children or adults.

  • June 27, 2024

    EU High Court Upends Servier Decrease Of Pay-For-Delay Fine

    French pharmaceutical giant Servier is back on the hook for all but €2.4 million ($2.57 million) of a more than €300 million European Union antitrust fine after the European Court of Justice upended a lower court decision that had reduced the penalty by over €100 million.

  • June 27, 2024

    Roblox Likely To Face Trimmed Suit Over Gambling By Kids

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he'll allow proposed class claims alleging Roblox Corp. negligently fails to protect children from gambling through the platform, but said a re-alleged fraud claim he previously tossed is still "pretty weak."

  • June 27, 2024

    SpaceX Says Local Regs Best Suited For Fixing 'Dead Zones'

    SpaceX is steadily deploying a fleet of satellites to cover mobile carrier "dead zones" across the globe, but cautions the Federal Communications Commission that it must allow each country's regulators to govern issues like signal interference on the ground.

  • June 27, 2024

    Coinbase Says SEC, FDIC 'Stonewalled' Crypto Info Requests

    Crypto exchange Coinbase filed suits against both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Thursday after it said the agencies "stonewalled" information requests for documents that could shed light on agencies' internal views on digital assets.

  • June 27, 2024

    House Panel Cans Vote On Data Privacy, Kids' Safety Bills

    The House Energy and Commerce Committee unexpectedly scrapped plans to discuss nearly a dozen bills Thursday morning, including a closely watched proposal to create a federal data privacy framework that has faced backlash from House leadership, consumer advocates and other stakeholders. 

  • June 27, 2024

    Free-Speech Orgs Tell DC Circ. TikTok Ban Is Prior Restraint

    A collection of free speech and press groups has urged the D.C. Circuit to strike down Congress' TikTok sale-or-ban law, calling the statute a "direct and serious threat" to First Amendment freedoms in an amicus brief.

  • June 27, 2024

    NFL Hit With $4.7B Verdict In Sunday Ticket Antitrust Trial

    A California federal jury handed the National Football League and its teams a stunning courtroom defeat Thursday by awarding two classes of DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscribers about $4.7 billion in total damages in an antitrust trial over claims they illegally pumped up the price of the sports broadcast package.

  • June 27, 2024

    CFPB Urged To Set Standards On Rooting Out AI Lending Bias

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should give the financial industry more explicit instructions to minimize discrimination risk when harnessing artificial intelligence and other algorithmic technology for lending, a pair of prominent consumer advocacy groups told the agency.

  • June 27, 2024

    Whole Foods, Hain Want Full 5th Circ. Review Of Baby Food Suit

    Whole Foods Market Inc. and Hain Celestial Group Inc. are urging the full Fifth Circuit to review a decision remanding a suit against them alleging Hain's baby food caused the mental and physical decline of a toddler, saying the panel ignored both Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court precedent to remand the case after a final judgment in federal court.

  • June 27, 2024

    NTSB Rips Boeing For Blabbing About Blowout Probe

    The National Transportation Safety Board sanctioned Boeing on Thursday for sharing nonpublic details of an ongoing investigation into January's 737 Max 9 midair door plug blowout, deepening the American aerospace giant's regulatory troubles amid multiple probes into its safety culture and quality control.

  • June 27, 2024

    Honeywell Says Sourcing Co. Backpedaled On Supply Deal

    Honeywell has accused a sourcing company of trying to claw its way out of a contract to buy medical-grade gloves by fabricating quality concerns and launching a bogus recall in an allegedly underhanded way to make itself more appealing to potential buyers.

  • June 27, 2024

    Conn. Banking Dept. Defends $25K Fine Against Legal Funder

    The Connecticut Department of Banking is urging a state judge to affirm a $25,000 fine levied on a legal funding business, saying the court should reject the company's contention that it has no authority over transactions at issue in the penalty.

  • June 27, 2024

    SEC Sues Fla. Loan Website, CEO Over 'Fictitious' Revenue

    A purported online lender and its CEO face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that the company's reported revenue for certain periods was "a figment" of the CEO's imagination.

  • June 26, 2024

    SEC Crypto Stance May Shift With Election, Rulemaking Suits

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to shift its cryptocurrency posture to some degree if a new chair is installed after the coming presidential election, but firms not content to wait for a change in the guard can consider challenging the agency's rulemaking process, experts said Wednesday.

  • June 26, 2024

    Biotech Co. Allowed To Appeal Red Cross Antitrust Immunity

    The American Red Cross' immunity from antitrust allegations that it smothered competition for testing platelets for bacteria is back in play after a Massachusetts federal judge agreed Wednesday to let the biotech company suing the blood donation giant ask the First Circuit to revive its claims.

  • June 26, 2024

    Conn. Zantac Ruling To Include Sanofi As Settlement Looms

    A Connecticut state judge will include Sanofi-Aventis US LLC and a related corporate entity in a forthcoming decision on whether Zantac makers must face novel innovator liability claims in the Constitution State, the judge revealed after the pharmaceutical giant suggested a ruling would help finalize a nascent settlement.

  • June 26, 2024

    BofA COVID Benefit Card Suit Trimmed After Prior Order Axed

    A California federal judge has trimmed a suit brought against Bank of America NA by a proposed class of unemployment and disability benefits card recipients while also agreeing with them that a federal magistrate judge erred in holding that the bank's top brass lacked "uniquely relevant information" concerning discovery in the suit.

  • June 26, 2024

    Justices Leave Blurry Line In Place On Misinformation Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday to reverse a Fifth Circuit order prohibiting the Biden administration from joining with social media platforms to fight misinformation leaves an important First Amendment question unanswered and left Missouri's attorney general promising a continuing fight against what he called a "censorship regime."

  • June 26, 2024

    Umpqua Bank Can't Undo Class Cert. In $300M Ponzi Suit

    Oregon-headquartered Umpqua Bank has lost its bid to partially decertify a class of investors suing it over claims that it aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme, and it also can't block those same investors from later seeking prejudgment interest in the case, a San Francisco federal judge has determined.

  • June 26, 2024

    FCC Urged To Prevent Abuse Through High-Tech Cars

    Privacy and abuse survivor advocates have outlined ways the Federal Communications Commission could safeguard connected car technology to mitigate domestic and sexual abuse, urging the agency to expand and adapt existing rules to limit abusers from using joint cellphone plans to stalk or harass people to apply to data in vehicles with advanced wireless connectivity.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?

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    Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.

  • PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

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    A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Microplastics At The Crossroads Of Regulation And Litigation

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    Though there are currently not many federal regulations specifically addressing microplastics as pollutants, regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits asserting consumer protection claims are both on the rise, and manufacturers should take proactive steps to implement preventive measures accordingly, say Aliza Karetnick and Franco Corrado at Morgan Lewis.

  • New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape

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    While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.

  • Opinion

    CFPB Could, And Should, Revise Open Banking Rulemaking

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    In light of continued global developments in open banking, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should evaluate whether it actually should use its proposed rule on Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act to amplify personal financial data rights in the U.S., says Brian Fritzsche at the Consumer Bankers Association.

  • FDIC Bank Disclosure Rules Raise Important Questions

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rules mandating disclosures for nonbanks offering deposit products leave traditional financial institutions in a no-man's land between fintech-oriented requirements and the reality of personal service demanded by customers, say Paul Clark and Casey Jennings at Seward & Kissel.

  • Setting Goals For Kicking Corruption Off FIFA World Cup Field

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    The unprecedented tri-country nature of the 2026 men's World Cup will add to the complexity of an already complicated event, but best practices can help businesses stay on the right side of anti-corruption rules during this historic competition, say Sandra Moser and ​​​​​​​Emily Ahdieh at Morgan Lewis.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s spring 2024 consumer compliance supervisory report found that relatively few institutions had significant consumer compliance issues last year, but the common thread among those that did were inadequacies or failures in disclosures to consumers, says Matthew Hanaghan at Nutter.

  • Online Portal Helps Fortify Feds' Unfair Health Practices Fight

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    The Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently launched an online portal where the public can report potentially unfair healthcare practices, effectively maximizing enforcers' abilities to police anti-competitive actions that can drive up healthcare costs and chill innovation, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Series

    Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

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