Consumer Protection

  • June 24, 2024

    Sierra Club Says Mich. Power Co. Liable For Illegal Pollution

    The Sierra Club and a small town in Michigan are looking to hold a power plant partially liable for air pollution produced by a steel factory, claiming in amended complaints filed Monday that many of the factory's regulatory compliance failures can be traced back to energy company employees.

  • June 24, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Reconsider Or Sanction In Kari Lake Vote Suit

    The Ninth Circuit has rejected Arizona Republican Kari Lake's attempt to revive her 2022 suit over the state's voting machines, issuing a two-sentence order that also rejects a sanctions bid Maricopa County officials filed in response to the former gubernatorial candidate's attempt to restart her failed suit.

  • June 24, 2024

    Illinois, Other States Back FTC Bid To Affirm Intuit Ad Ruling

    Illinois, along with 20 other states and the District of Columbia, defended the Federal Trade Commission in tax software giant Intuit's Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the agency's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying in an amicus brief that the FTC's conclusion was correct.

  • June 24, 2024

    Boeing Says Turbulent Securities Suit Should Be Dismissed

    Boeing has moved to dismiss a proposed securities fraud suit in Virginia federal court accusing it of misleading investors about the overall safety of its 737 Max jets, saying that the plaintiffs' "kitchen-sink" approach falls short of pleading requirements.

  • June 24, 2024

    Mars Beats Dove Chocolate False Ad Suit At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal Monday of a proposed class action claiming that a Mars subsidiary falsely advertised its Dove dark chocolate products as being made without using child slave labor or contributing to rainforest deforestation, finding that the candy packages' "Rainforest Alliance Certified farms" labeling isn't misleading.

  • June 24, 2024

    Sirius XM Made Millions Off Hidden Royalty Fee, Suit Alleges

    Sirius XM Radio Inc. has been tricking customers into paying an extra 21% every month by tacking a hidden "royalty fee" onto bills, according to a new proposed class action alleging that the fee is responsible for every bit of the company's profits for the last several years.

  • June 24, 2024

    Missed Forecasts 'Not Fraud,' Advance Auto Tells Investors

    Advance Auto Parts Inc. and its top brass are looking to exit a proposed class action alleging they misled investors about the failure of a new pricing strategy and purposefully inflated the impact of price reductions, saying that missed forecasts and accounting errors "are not fraud."

  • June 24, 2024

    Broadband Advocates Urge FCC To Revisit Subsidy Fees

    Advocates for broadband expansion are asking the Federal Communications Commission to revisit an April decision that exempted internet service providers, at least for now, from contributions to the FCC's telecom subsidy program.

  • June 24, 2024

    Gucci Goods Sourced From Mistreated Reptiles, Suit Says

    Gucci and parent company Kering Americas are facing a proposed class action in Illinois state court by a former sales associate who accuses the luxury retailers of falsely claiming that their exotic-skin goods are humanely sourced, even though an investigation purportedly revealed that at least two Kering-owned tanneries were subjecting crocodiles and pythons to abusive slaughtering practices. 

  • June 24, 2024

    Mortgage Co. Fights To End Borrowers' RICO 'Smear' Suit

    United Wholesale Mortgage has urged a Michigan federal judge to toss a putative class action claiming it violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by forcing brokers to originate loans through UWM, arguing the suit is an illegitimate "smear" attempt to tarnish UWM's reputation to benefit hedge fund short-sellers.

  • June 24, 2024

    Auto Software Co. Facing Suit Over Ransomware Hack

    CDK Global has been hit with a proposed privacy class action in Illinois federal court by a Florida resident who says the auto software company unlawfully failed to protect his and other individuals' personal information from being exposed in a ransomware attack the company detected last week.

  • June 24, 2024

    AT&T Must Keep Basic Services Intact, Calif. Regulators Say

    California regulators have required AT&T to maintain its commitment to basic phone service by denying its bid to withdraw as a "carrier of last resort," a decision that has prompted the company to pursue legislation that would maintain the designation only for rural communities that have limited options for telecom service.

  • June 24, 2024

    Fragrance Co. Fined €15.9M For Deleting WhatsApp Messages

    The European Commission fined International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. €15.9 million ($17 million) on Monday, after enforcers said a senior employee deleted WhatsApp messages during an investigation of potential anti-competitive activity in the fragrance industry.

  • June 24, 2024

    Pa. Court OKs $3.65M Deal On Student Loan 'Pay-To-Pay' Fees

    A Pennsylvania federal judge said Monday that she would give her final approval to a $3.65 million settlement of claims that loan servicer Educational Computer Systems Inc. had improperly charged payment fees on hundreds of thousands of federally-backed student loans.

  • June 24, 2024

    Google's Brin, Pichai Must Face Texas Ad Tech Depos

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is bound for the deposition chair for four hours of testimony while company co-founder Sergey Brin is facing two and a half hours after a Texas federal judge refused Friday to spare the executives from a state enforcer antitrust lawsuit targeting the search giant's digital advertising placement technology.

  • June 24, 2024

    $2.9M Health Co. Data Breach Settlement Gets Final Approval

    A Michigan federal judge has given final approval to a $2.9 million deal for a maker of prosthetics and orthotics to settle claims the company didn't protect customers' sensitive information from a cyberattack.

  • June 24, 2024

    Altria Subsidiary Allowed To Sell Menthol-Flavored Vapes

    Altria Group Inc. subsidiary NJOY has secured permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell four menthol-flavored vapes, marking the first time any kind of flavored e-cigarette has secured federal approval.

  • June 24, 2024

    3rd Circ. Seems Ready To Send Experian Row To Arbitration

    A Third Circuit panel on Monday appeared poised to send a Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuit against Experian to arbitration, questioning whether a plaintiff's dispute over applying an arbitration agreement with an Experian-related credit-monitoring service fell under the "scope" disputes that would also get decided by an arbitrator.

  • June 24, 2024

    Apple Becomes 1st Target Of New EU Digital Markets Law

    European authorities provisionally accused Apple's App Store of violating its new digital antitrust law designed to curtail the power of Big Tech, claiming the iPhone maker's guidelines unfairly prevent developers from steering consumers to alternative platforms.

  • June 21, 2024

    Apple Won't Offer AI Tools In EU Due To Regulatory Concerns

    Apple confirmed Friday that the tech giant isn't planning on releasing new artificial intelligence features in the European Union this year due to "regulatory uncertainties" involving the bloc's new Digital Markets Act and the potential security risks that complying with the DMA could pose to Apple users.

  • June 21, 2024

    Lawmakers Visit Imprisoned Ex-IRS Agent And Binance Exec

    Rep. French Hill, R.-Ark., and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D.-Pa., reiterated their calls for the release of Binance executive and former IRS agent Tigran Gambaryan after visiting with him in the Nigerian prison where he's being detained on money laundering charges levied against his employer.

  • June 21, 2024

    Google Ditches Wiretap Suit Over AI Customer Service Calls

    A California federal judge has tossed, for now, a proposed class action accusing Google LLC of using a "human-like" customer service product powered by generative artificial intelligence to illegally eavesdrop on Verizon users' calls, finding that Google was exempt from liability because it was acting as Verizon's agent.

  • June 21, 2024

    Live Nation Investor Sues Leaders Over DOJ Antitrust Claims

    Live Nation's executives and directors were hit with a shareholder derivative lawsuit Friday in California federal court that seeks damages in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice's allegations that the company monopolized concert promotion and ticket sales following its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster.

  • June 21, 2024

    Vape Co. Settles With FDA Over Denied Product Applications

    The maker of Juno brand e-cigarettes is just weeks away from settling a dispute with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over allegations that the agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act by refusing to review the manufacturer's applications on 12 products.

  • June 21, 2024

    Financial Advice Guru Says Timeshare Suit Must Be Arbitrated

    A famous financial advice guru and his company have urged a Washington federal court to pause a proposed timeshare exit fraud class action and send it into arbitration, arguing that several of the named plaintiffs signed related agreements that include arbitration clauses.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'

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    Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • The Epic Antitrust Cases And Challenges Of Injunctive Relief

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    The Epic cases against Apple and Google offer a window into the courts' considerable challenges in Big Tech litigation and establishing injunctive relief that enhances competition and benefits consumers, say Kelly Lear Nordby and Jon Tomlin at Ankura Consulting.

  • Banks Should Continue To Prep For CFPB Data Rule Rollout

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    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supervised banks should not expect industry pressure to delay the rollout of proposed Section 1033 open banking rules, which regulate how consumer financial information flows between financial institutions, and prepare their required data access portals and compliance procedures now, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • How Calif. Video Recording Ruling May Affect Insured Exams

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    A recent California appellate decision, Myasnyankin v. Nationwide, allowing policyholders to video record all parties to an insurance examination under oath, has changed the rules of the road for EUOs and potentially opened Pandora's box for future disputes, say John Edson and Preston Bennett at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Things Trial Attorneys Can Learn From Good Teachers

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    Jennifer Cuculich at IMS Legal Strategies recounts lessons she learned during her time as a math teacher that can help trial attorneys connect with jurors, from the importance of framing core issues to the incorporation of different learning styles.

  • Fintech 'Prenups': Planning For A Card Program Breakup

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    After a year of economic downturns, some banks and their fintech partners are realizing they may have rushed to the altar without a good prenup, but planning ahead can curb both foreseeable and unexpected issues in the event of a termination of a bank-fintech card-issuing agreement, say Andrew Grant at Ketsal and Richard Malish at Community Federal Savings Bank.

  • Legal Considerations For Circular Economy Strategies

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    As circular economy goals — generating revenue at multiple points in a product's life cycle — become nearly ubiquitous in corporate sustainability practices, companies should reassess existing strategies by focusing on government incentives, regulations, and reporting and disclosure requirements, say Rachel Saltzman and Erin Grisby at Hunton.

  • 3 Notification Pitfalls To Avoid With Arbitration Provisions

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    In Lipsett v. Popular Bank, the Second Circuit found that a bank's arbitration provision was unenforceable due to insufficient notice to a customer that he was bound by the agreement, highlighting the importance of adequate communication of arbitration provisions, and customers' options for opting out, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Tips For Orgs Facing AI Data Privacy Compliance Challenges

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    Regulators around the world are actively seeking to enforce data privacy and consumer protection laws against companies providing artificial intelligence-related services, raising complex compliance questions in areas like transparency, data minimization, lawfulness of processing, data subject rights and higher risk activities, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • What's At Play In Rising Lanham Act Cases At The ITC

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    Amid an uptick in Lanham Act claims involving false advertising related to medical devices at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Brian Busey and Maryrose McLaughlin at MoFo discuss recent ITC complaints from Eli Lilly and R.J. Reynolds, Lanham Act claim limits under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the issues practitioners face in this realm.

  • Preempting Bottled Water Microplastics Fraud Claims

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    Food products like bottled water are increasingly likely to be targets of consumer fraud complaints due to alleged microplastics contamination — but depending on the labeling or advertising at issue, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act can provide a powerful preemption defense, say Tariq Naeem and Brenda Sweet at Tucker Ellis.

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