Consumer Protection

  • February 25, 2025

    Agri Stats Can't Avoid Price-Fixing Deposition, DOJ Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice is calling on Agri Stats' top executives to face deposition in the agency's price-fixing case, telling a Minnesota federal judge that the company's brass can't avoid questioning just because they were deposed in private suits years ago.

  • February 25, 2025

    Calif. Wins Remand Of Exxon Plastic Suit, Green Groups Lose

    California convinced a federal judge to remand to state court its lawsuit alleging Exxon Mobil Corp. is responsible for plastic waste and pollution due to deceptive public messaging about recycling, but environmentalists' similar suit will stay in federal court.

  • February 25, 2025

    FCC Probes IHeart Practices Amid Broadcast Payola Inquiry

    The Federal Communications Commission's chief, who says he wants to crack down on payola practices, has launched a probe into whether iHeart is forcing musicians to accept cut-rate pay to entertain crowds at the company's upcoming Austin, Texas, event in return for more favorable airtime.

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Pick Concerned But Won't 'Prejudge' Censorship Claims

    Kressin Meador Powers LLC partner Mark Meador walked a fine line during his confirmation hearing Tuesday when asked for his views on GOP claims of censorship on online platforms, expressing an "overarching concern" about content moderation practices while nevertheless asserting he'll keep an open mind on specific allegations if confirmed as the Federal Trade Commission's newest Republican member.

  • February 25, 2025

    Sidley Brings On Dentons Consumer Safety Pros In Calif.

    Sidley Austin LLP continues expanding its West Coast team, announcing it is adding a pair of Dentons consumer products safety litigators as partners in its San Diego and Los Angeles offices. 

  • February 25, 2025

    Referral Co. Barred From $5.54B Swipe Fee MDL Settlement

    A New York federal judge has blocked a referral partner of a claims filing service from any role in the $5.54 billion settlement of long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees, after the referral partner allegedly improperly used class member information to submit claims.

  • February 25, 2025

    Vape Cos. Want To Stop Iowa Law Banning Some E-Cig Sales

    A group of vape companies and users is again asking an Iowa federal court to block a state law banning the sale of some e-cigarette products, saying it is preempted by federal law and the Constitution.

  • February 25, 2025

    Insurers Owe Chubb $3.3M For Safelite Defense Costs

    Two insurers must contribute $1.65 million each toward costs a Chubb unit incurred defending windshield repair company Safelite against a competitor's suit, an Ohio federal court ruled, finding the pair were not prejudiced by breaches of their policies' notice and voluntary payment provisions.

  • February 25, 2025

    8th Circ. Says Mo. Law Bars $60M Asbestos Coverage Suit

    An Eighth Circuit appeals panel affirmed that an insurer could not make arguments in Missouri federal court regarding payment of over $60 million for asbestos litigation because it had been battling its insured "for years" over the same issues in state court.

  • February 25, 2025

    FCC Hires US House Lawyer As Regulator's Deputy GC

    The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday named a top lawyer from the legislative branch as the agency's new deputy general counsel for litigation.

  • February 24, 2025

    9th Circ. Axes Fee Award In California Pizza Kitchen Hack Deal

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday scrapped an attorney fee award of $800,000 given to class counsel as part of a deal resolving data breach litigation against California Pizza Kitchen, finding that the lower court had failed to properly compare the "actual value" of the settlement — which the panel put around $950,000 — to the requested fees.

  • February 24, 2025

    FDIC Scraps 10th Circ. Brief Backing Colo.'s Opt-Out Law

    In a pivot, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Monday withdrew a Tenth Circuit brief that had supported Colorado in industry litigation against the state's "opt-out" law aimed at curbing higher-cost online lending.

  • February 24, 2025

    DC Judge Wary Of Constitutionality Of Musk's DOGE

    A D.C. federal judge on Monday questioned the constitutionality of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency while expressing skepticism that groups challenging the department's access to federal systems housing Americans' sensitive data had established the irreparable harm needed to block access.

  • February 24, 2025

    FCC Set To Change View On Online Platforms' Liability Shield

    The Federal Communications Commission appears ready to make some changes to how it views the legal protections afforded to online platforms for content posted by their users.

  • February 24, 2025

    SEC Crypto Task Force Wants Input, Commissioner Says

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce urged firms to bring their input to her Crypto Task Force in a Friday statement that outlined a series of questions the group is grappling with, including the taxonomy of tokens.

  • February 24, 2025

    Comerica Bank Wants Dismissal Of CFPB's Benefits Card Suit

    Comerica Bank has urged a Texas federal judge to toss a suit brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, accusing the bank of multiple failures in administering a government benefits card program, arguing the case overextends the agency's authority, among other things.

  • February 24, 2025

    Bigelow Says Class Trial Is On 'Road To Nowhere'

    Counsel for R.C. Bigelow Inc. urged a California federal judge Monday to call off an upcoming class action damages trial over the tea-maker's "manufactured in the USA" labels, saying the proceeding would be a "road to nowhere" because of fatally flawed sales data.

  • February 24, 2025

    Baby Bottle Cos. Get Parts Of Microplastics Suit Tossed

    Parents who sued Philips over allegations that microplastics leach from its "BPA free" baby bottles and sippy cups saw their lawsuit partially trimmed, after a California federal judge said that the company's label isn't misleading because it doesn't promise the products are "devoid of all harmful plastic."

  • February 24, 2025

    Norfolk Southern's Tank Car Co. Liability Claims Head To Trial

    An Ohio federal judge said that Norfolk Southern can pursue its claims seeking to have tank car companies pay at least some of the damages over 2023's East Palestine derailment, teeing up for trial key questions of liability concerning the tank cars' maintenance and transport of toxic chemicals.

  • February 24, 2025

    Insurer Needn't Cover Hospital's $2.5M Virus Vax Probe Costs

    A Chubb unit has no obligation to pay an Illinois hospital for $2.5 million in legal costs associated with responding to federal and state probes into its COVID-19 vaccine distribution program, a federal court ruled, finding that the policy's $1 million regulatory claims sublimit applies.

  • February 24, 2025

    'Fraternal Duty' No Grounds For Conspiracy, 11th Circ. Told

    A Georgia man found guilty last year of participating in a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme for tens of millions of dollars of ready-mix concrete contracts asked the Eleventh Circuit Friday to throw out his conviction, arguing federal prosecutors failed to prove a wide-ranging conspiracy that captured the coastal concrete market.

  • February 24, 2025

    Robinhood, OpenSea Say SEC Closed Crypto Inquiries

    Robinhood said Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "has officially closed" an investigation into its cryptocurrency arm without any enforcement action, joining a growing number of crypto matters the SEC has dropped or paused under the new Trump administration.

  • February 24, 2025

    PBMs To Challenge FTC Case At 8th Circ., But Without Pause

    A Missouri federal judge summarily refused, again, on Monday to temporarily block the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices, letting the case proceed while the pharmacy benefits managers appeal to the Eighth Circuit.

  • February 24, 2025

    Vape Interests Urge 6th Circ. To Halt Kentucky E-Cig Law

    A coalition of e-cigarette interests is urging the Sixth Circuit to halt enforcement of a new Kentucky law regulating vaping products while their appeal plays out.

  • February 24, 2025

    DraftKings Rips 'Flawed' Privacy Suit Over Meta Tracking Pixel

    DraftKings Inc. wants a New York federal judge to toss a "fundamentally flawed" suit that accuses the company of disclosing customer information to third parties for targeted advertising, arguing the plaintiff is attempting to expand the Video Privacy Protection Act beyond its intended purpose.

Expert Analysis

  • 'Minimal Participant' Bar Is Tough To Clear For Whistleblowers

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    Under the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate whistleblower pilot program, would-be whistleblowers will find it tough to show that they only minimally participated in criminal misconduct while still providing material information, but sentencing precedent shows how they might prove their eligibility for an award, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Impact Of Corporate Transparency Act Ambiguity On Banks

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    Even though banks generally needn't file beneficial ownership information reports, financial institutions must continue to monitor the status of the Corporate Transparency Act and understand its requirements in case the nationwide injunction that was issued against the CTA earlier this month is overturned, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • A Look At SEC, CFTC's Record Year For Whistleblower Awards

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    Another banner year shows that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission have developed the gold standard for whistleblower award programs, but a CFTC funding crisis threatens to derail that program's success, say Andrew Feller and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • The Prospects Of Pa. Gaining Its Own Antitrust Law After 2024

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    In the only state that does not have its own antitrust law, Pennsylvania's business community's strong opposition to the Pennsylvania Open Markets Act signals a rough road lies ahead for passage of the bill after Republicans retained a narrow majority in the state Senate, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Expect Continuity In 2025 Anti-Money Laundering Policy

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    The past year has seen a range of anti-money laundering actions from federal financial regulators, and notwithstanding the imminent change from the Biden administration to the Trump administration, continuity may be more prevalent than change in the AML compliance space in 2025, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • 5 Notable Anti-Money Laundering Actions From 2024

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    Regulators' renewed interest in anti-money laundering programs in 2024 led to numerous enforcement actions and individual prosecutions in industries like banking, cryptocurrency and gaming, including the blockbuster TD Bank settlement and investigations of casinos in Nevada, says Michael Beckwith at Dickinson Wright.

  • How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of Eye Contact At Trial

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    As a growing body of research confirms that eye contact facilitates communication and influences others, attorneys should follow a few pointers to maximize the power of eye contact during voir dire, witness preparation, direct examination and cross-examination, says trial consultant Noelle Nelson.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

  • Strategies For Home Equity Investment Providers In 2025

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    The home equity investment product market is thriving even amid consumer concerns, regulatory scrutiny and conflicting court decisions, setting the stage for a promising but challenging environment for providers in 2025, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Marketing Messages Matter In State AG Consumer Protection

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    Attorneys general interpret marketing claims far more broadly than many companies may realize, so to mitigate potential risk, businesses should be vigilant about all consumer messaging, including communications that may not traditionally be considered advertising in the colloquial sense, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Cos. Must Brace For New PFAS Regulations And Litigation

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed adding over 100 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the Toxic Release Inventory — and with increasing scrutiny of PFAS from the states and the plaintiffs bar as well, companies should take steps to reduce risks in this area, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Opinion

    6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

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    Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

  • How CFPB Rule Would Affect Data Brokers And Beyond

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently proposed a rule that would not only expand data broker oversight by classifying many as consumer reporting agencies, but would also impose new limitations on companies seeking to obtain information from them, potentially requiring such entities to alter their business models, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

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