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Consumer Protection
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November 20, 2024
Bankman-Fried Tech Deputy Who Parsed Code Avoids Prison
A Manhattan federal judge allowed tech expert Zixiao "Gary" Wang to avoid jail Wednesday for his role in the $11 billion FTX fraud, crediting his effort to detail programming "back doors" that enabled Sam Bankman-Fried to loot the bankrupt crypto exchange.
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November 19, 2024
Monsanto's Bid To Pause PCB Trial Again Shot Down
A Washington state appellate commissioner on Friday again refused to undo a trial court's decision not to pause a chemical poisoning tort trial playing out in Seattle, rejecting Monsanto's contention that the court committed "obvious error" in letting the trial proceed while the state's highest court decides a similar case.
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November 19, 2024
High Court Urged To Let Courts Scrutinize Agency Rulings
District courts should be allowed to question rather than grant "absolute deference" to the Federal Communications Commission's interpretation of key statutory terms in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a chiropractic group contended Monday in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a junk fax class action.
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November 19, 2024
Keep Colo. Interest Rate Opt-Out Law Blocked, 10th Circ. Told
A coalition of organizations representing the financial services industry has urged the Tenth Circuit to uphold a district court's injunction against a Colorado interest rate opt-out law, arguing the state's attempt to reframe the federal provision allowing the opt-out as a consumer protection measure ignores the underlying statute's history as rooted in federalist principles.
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November 19, 2024
Calif. Judge Says Crypto DAOs Are Entities That Can Be Sued
A California federal judge has held that decentralized autonomous organizations and their governing members can indeed be sued, refusing to throw out a Golden State cryptocurrency investor's suit against Lido DAO that the judge said presents "several new and important questions" about liability in the crypto world.
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November 19, 2024
Online Lenders, Contractor Face Service Members' Fraud Suit
California-based contractor Multitaskr Construction Inc. and several online lending companies were hit with a consumer lawsuit in California federal court alleging they conspired to originate lucrative fraudulent loans for home improvement projects that were never completed.
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November 19, 2024
All States Now Approved For Feds' Broadband Program
Everyone who is eligible for a slice of the $42.5 billion BEAD Program pie has officially had their broadband deployment plans approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency revealed Tuesday.
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November 19, 2024
CFPB's Medical Debt Guidance Faces Industry Injunction Bid
Debt collectors asked a D.C. federal court on Monday to put an immediate hold on recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau guidance aimed at the medical debt collection market, escalating their challenge to the document ahead of its looming effective date.
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November 19, 2024
What's On Deck At 10th Circ. Arguments In CPSC Magnet Case
On Wednesday, the Tenth Circuit will hear arguments over whether a rule from the Consumer Product Safety Commission over safety standards for high-powered magnets is overly broad and unconstitutional. Here, Law360 looks at what the parties are expected to argue.
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November 19, 2024
Jury To Decide If Gemini's Bitcoin Statements Were False
A New York federal judge has found that crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. was the "maker" of alleged misrepresentations to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about its plans to offer bitcoin futures contracts, but a jury will have to decide if the statements were materially false or misleading.
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November 19, 2024
Trump DOT Pick Puts Highway, Road Rebuilds Back In Focus
President-elect Donald Trump's selection of former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy to serve as his secretary of transportation would send a savvy communicator to liaise with Capitol Hill and refocus the federal government's infrastructure investment priorities more on highways, roads and bridges and less on renewables and clean-energy initiatives, experts say.
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November 19, 2024
Alaska Airlines Fights Emergency 9th Circ. Bid To Halt Merger
Alaska Airlines has urged the Ninth Circuit not to grant an emergency motion blocking its $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, saying the request was filed by flyers and travel agents "without an emergency" after they waited for four months to try to enjoin the airlines from merging.
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November 19, 2024
Court Won't Toss Consumer Antitrust Case Against Amazon
A Washington federal court issued a sealed order Tuesday denying Amazon's bid to toss updated claims from consumers seeking billions of dollars over allegations that they pay higher prices thanks to the e-commerce giant's treatment of sellers on its platform.
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November 19, 2024
Shaq Reaches $11M Deal With Astrals NFT Buyers
Hall of Fame basketball player Shaquille O'Neal and the creators of the Astrals nonfungible token project have agreed to pay $11 million to settle a proposed securities class action with buyers of the tokens that O'Neal allegedly promoted.
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November 19, 2024
32 State AGs Urge Congress To Back Kids' Online Safety Bill
More than 30 state attorneys general urged federal lawmakers to back bipartisan legislation aimed at bolstering youth safety online, writing a letter Monday encouraging Congress to "act to aid our state-level efforts" which included opening investigations and commencing with litigation against social media companies like TikTok and Meta.
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November 19, 2024
NHTSA Letter Unmoots Fire Risk Claims, Ford Drivers Say
Drivers seeking another shot at their tossed case claiming they overpaid for Ford vehicles that spontaneously catch fire say new evidence shows the recall that mooted their claims didn't fix the alleged fuel injector defect, telling a Michigan federal judge Tuesday regulators' concern over the recall's adequacy supports renewing their allegations.
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November 19, 2024
10th Circ. Iffy On Colo.'s Remedy To Generic EpiPen Takings
A Tenth Circuit panel on Tuesday pressed Colorado regulators on whether requiring epinephrine auto-injector makers to repeatedly sue over the cost of complying with a state program provides an adequate legal remedy, with one judge saying that that route offers no finality for manufacturers.
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November 19, 2024
Fox TV Renewal Calls For Strict License Test, Advocates Say
A media advocacy group said Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission needs to act quickly to "establish a bright-line test" for broadcasters' fitness for a station license by setting up a hearing on the controversial renewal bid for Fox TV's Philadelphia station.
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November 19, 2024
Undefined Terms Cinch Cloudera's Win In 'Cloudy' Fraud Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a proposed class action against Cloudera Inc. alleging the data management and analytics company duped investors into buying stock at artificially inflated prices, saying the suit didn't substantiate its falsity claims with clear definitions for terms like "cloud native."
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November 19, 2024
DOJ Effort To Force Google Chrome Sale Draws Criticism
Google's regulatory chief and at least one trade group are blasting a reported push from the U.S. Department of Justice to seek expansive remedies and potentially force a sale of Google Chrome in an ongoing court battle with the tech giant.
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November 19, 2024
FCC To Vote On More Credit Options To Back Broadband Aid
The Federal Communications Commission is poised to allow more financial institutions to issue letters of credit that broadband providers can rely on to secure federal funding for high-speed infrastructure projects.
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November 19, 2024
Senators Blast Visa And Mastercard, Promise Action On Fees
A bipartisan group of Senate Judiciary Committee members blasted executives from Visa and Mastercard on Tuesday over swipe fees charged to merchants, promising to rein in what the lawmakers called the companies' monopoly on credit card payments if they do not change their practices.
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November 19, 2024
Calif. Man Wants 9th Circ. To Rehear LG Battery Decision
A California man who alleges that a faulty LG Chem Ltd. 18650 lithium-ion battery melted the skin off his hand is asking the Ninth Circuit for an en banc rehearing of a decision dismissing his defect claims against the company, saying the panel broke with other circuits and binding precedent by finding that California courts did not have jurisdiction over the Seoul-based company.
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November 19, 2024
Ballard Spahr Brings On Former Federal Prosecutor In LA
Ballard Spahr LLP is expanding its consumer finance services team, announcing Tuesday that a former assistant U.S. attorney is joining its Los Angeles office as of counsel.
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November 19, 2024
1st Circ. Won't Pause Prison Phone Rate Caps
The First Circuit said it won't stop the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing new caps on rates charged for prison phone calls while service providers challenge the rules in court.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
The Right Kind Of Deregulation In Commercial Airline Industry
Similar to the economic deregulation that occurred more than four decades ago during the Carter administration, the incoming Trump administration should restore the very limited federal regulatory role in the economics of the airline industry, says James Burnley at Venable.
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Unpacking The CFPB's Personal Financial Data Final Rule
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's personal financial data rights rule includes several important changes from the proposed rule, and hundreds of pages of supplementary information that provide important insights into the manner in which the bureau will enforce the final rule, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Opinion
Feds May Have Overstepped In Suit Against Mortgage Lender
The U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage goes too far in attempting to combat racial bias and appears to fail on the fatal flaw that mortgage lenders should be at arm's length from appraisers, says Drew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.
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4 Ways Attorneys Can Emotionally Prepare For Trial
In the course of litigation, trial lawyers face a number of scenarios that can incite an emotional response, but formulating a mental game plan in advance of trial can help attorneys stay cool, calm and collected in the moment, says Rachel Lary at Lightfoot Franklin.
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The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule
Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.
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The AI Consumer Class Action Threat Is Not A Hallucination
As regulators scrutinize whether businesses can deliver on claims about their artificial intelligence products and services, the industry faces a wave of consumer fraud class actions — but AI companies can protect themselves by prioritizing fundamental best practices that are often overlooked, say Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein and Richard Torrenzano at the Torrenzano Group.
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Presidential Campaign Errors Provide Lessons For Trial Attys
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign employed numerous strategies that evidently didn’t land, and trial attorneys should take note, because voters and jurors are both decision-makers who are listening for how one’s case presentation would affect them personally, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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The Do's And Don'ts Of Commercial Debt Under Calif. FDCPA
Lenders, servicers and attorneys collecting on their behalf should pay careful attention to the consumer protections under the newly expanded California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that may apply going forward to some commercial debts, say attorneys at Womble Bond.
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Series
Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.
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Video Privacy Law Claims After 2nd Circ. NBA Ruling
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Salazar v. National Basketball Association expanded the definition of what constitutes a consumer under the Video Privacy Protection Act, breathing new life into the law by making any newsletter subscriber to a platform that hosts video content a potential plaintiff, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Next Steps In The $2.8B Blue Cross Payout To Providers
Healthcare providers deciding whether to participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield network's recent $2.8 billion antitrust class action settlement must weigh key recovery factors, including provider type and litigation cost, say attorneys at Hall Render.
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OCC Recovery Guidance Can Help Banks Bounce Back Better
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recently finalized recovery guidelines add to the constellation of exercises that larger banks must undertake, while also aiding information-gathering and preparedness efforts that can help prevent — or better manage — bank failures, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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EPA's New Lead Pipe Rule Leaves Key Questions Unanswered
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently released update to its Lead and Copper Rule is a major step forward in the elimination of lead from drinking water systems, but it lacks meaningful guidance on alternative materials, jurisdictional concerns, cost allocation and other topics, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.
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What To Expect From State AGs As Federal Control Changes
Under the next Trump administration, Democratic attorneys general are poised to strengthen enforcement in certain areas as Republican attorneys general continue their efforts with stronger federal support — resulting in a confusing patchwork of policies that create unintended liabilities for businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?
Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.