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Consumer Protection
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August 09, 2024
Biz Groups Urge Keeping CFPB's $8 Late Fee Cap On Ice
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and other trade group plaintiffs have urged a Texas federal judge to leave in place an injunction staying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule capping most credit card late fees at $8, saying the lowered fee would not serve as a sufficient deterrent for consumers.
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August 09, 2024
Home Sellers Get Approved For $250M HomeServices Deal
A Missouri federal judge granted preliminary approval for a $250 million class action settlement to end an antitrust suit filed by home sellers who accused the National Association of Realtors, HomeServices of America Inc. and other companies of conspiring to artificially inflate broker commission fees.
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August 09, 2024
Rural Broadband Cos. Worry FCC Deadlines Are Too Tight
The Federal Communications Commission should seriously consider pushing back deadlines for certain federally funded rural broadband projects so that they mesh with those of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, a group of broadband service providers have told the agency.
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August 09, 2024
Dem Lawmakers Ask OpenAI To Disclose Safety Processes
Two members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation are calling on OpenAI to provide information about its safety processes and how it handles whistleblowers and conflicts of interest, in a letter to the company.
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August 09, 2024
Colony Ridge Mortgage Co. Says It Was 'Office Geek' For Site
A Texas mortgage company pushed Friday to be released from a lawsuit accusing a Houston-area real estate developer and lender of predatory lending practices, telling a federal judge that it never met with the Hispanic consumers allegedly preyed on through the scheme and that the company was "just doing paperwork."
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August 09, 2024
DC Circ. Says Animal Group Can't File Perdue False Ad Suit
The Animal Legal Defense Fund doesn't have standing to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture over labels the agency approved for Perdue poultry products that the advocacy group says mislead customers into believing the animals have access to the outdoors, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday.
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August 09, 2024
Meta Urges Justices To Ax Investors' Risk Disclosure Suit
Meta Platforms Inc. filed its opening brief Friday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision that kept alive a class action stemming from the Cambridge Analytica data abuse scandal, arguing that decision would create unnecessary disclosure obligations and encourage "fraud by hindsight" lawsuits.
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August 09, 2024
'Outrageous': Dems Grill JPMorgan Over Potential New Fees
Two Senate Banking Committee Democrats have ripped into JPMorgan Chase & Co. over an executive's recent warning that it may hike some costs for customers in response to pending fee rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, calling it an "outrageous" threat and demanding more details from the megabank.
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August 09, 2024
Congress Pushed To Revamp FCC Programs After Court Loss
Free market advocates want lawmakers to overhaul the Federal Communications Commission's array of telecom subsidies to turn them into a much smaller, "voucher-like" program after the Fifth Circuit found the existing system unconstitutional.
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August 09, 2024
Marketer Seeking Dismissal Of Mass. Data Privacy Suit
Texas-based online marketing company InMarket Media LLC is asking a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a proposed class action by two women who say the company secretly collected and sold location data through its apps, arguing in a motion to dismiss that the court lacks jurisdiction over the company.
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August 09, 2024
Cubs Fan Continues Fight Over Wrigley's ADA Compliance
Hoping to resuscitate his lawsuit, a Chicago Cubs fan has told the Seventh Circuit that even though a district court ruled that Wrigley Field has the designated amount of Americans With Disabilities Act seating, those seats are not appropriate or properly situated throughout the field.
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August 09, 2024
Wash. AG Says Kroger Refusing To Delay Merger For Ruling
The Washington Attorney General's Office told a state court that Kroger will not agree to put off closing its planned merger with Albertsons until after a final ruling in the state's merger challenge, but the companies say they've already agreed not to finalize the deal until litigation plays out in another state.
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August 09, 2024
CFTC's Proposed Election Trading Ban Garners Mixed Feedback
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has fielded a range of comments on its proposed rule to ban trading on the outcome of elections, with certain politicians and advocacy groups throwing their weight behind the measure and others accusing the agency of overstepping its authority.
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August 09, 2024
Highway Contractor, Exec Charged With $100M Price-Fixing
Federal prosecutors announced the indictment of an Oklahoma highway runoff contracting business and two of its employees for their involvement in a price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation conspiracy that impacted over $100 million in publicly funded construction contracts in the state.
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August 09, 2024
Mich. Pot Co. Alleges IP Atty, Wife Are Ruining Its Reputation
Efforts by a Montana intellectual property attorney and his wife to hit back after losing money in an alleged investment scam have missed the mark by targeting a Michigan cannabis company that was also ripped off, the company claimed Wednesday.
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August 09, 2024
Ads Group Nixes Anti-Hate Initiative Days After Musk Suit
The World Federation of Advertisers is pulling the plug on an initiative aimed at avoiding advertising next to hate speech and other "illegal or harmful content," days after drawing a lawsuit from Elon Musk's X Corp. calling the program an anticompetitive group boycott.
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August 09, 2024
Citibank's $29.5M Deal To End Robocall Row Gets First Nod
An Arizona federal judge has signed off on a deal that requires Citibank NA to pay $29.5 million to settle long-running litigation pressed by a class of noncustomers who accused the bank of bombarding them with unauthorized robocalls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
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August 09, 2024
Jackson Lewis Adds East Coast Principals In Virginia, Florida
Jackson Lewis PC announced Thursday that it had hired two principals in Florida and Virginia whose practices focus on separate but essential areas of labor and employment law, one of whom is joining after spending his entire legal career at his previous firm.
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August 08, 2024
Jurors Weigh $200M For Carbon Monoxide Leak Victims
Counsel asked jurors during closing arguments Thursday in a Dallas County court to give his two child clients a voice after a carbon monoxide leak allegedly left them partially mute, saying that while his clients can't speak, the jurors can deliver a verdict to "speak for them."
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August 08, 2024
In Reddit Hot Seat, Chopra Touts CFPB Medical Debt Proposal
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra took to social media on Thursday to pitch the agency's proposed ban on medical debt reporting, defending it against concerns that the plan could interfere with credit scores and encourage people to skip out on medical bills.
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August 08, 2024
FCC Told To Drop Weiss For Broadband Funding Bank Ratings
More voices are lending themselves to the chorus calling on the Federal Communications Commission to look beyond Weiss Ratings' bank grading system when setting the standard for letters of credit that companies can use to back federally funded broadband networks.
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August 08, 2024
Oracle's $115M Deal For Selling Internet Users' Data Gets OK
A California federal judge on Thursday preliminarily approved Oracle's $115 million deal to end a proposed class action alleging that the software company illegally sold internet users' electronic profiles, but expressed concern over an "overly burdensome" opt-out process that Oracle's lawyer said would prevent "mass" opt-outs.
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August 08, 2024
House Rep. Wants Calif. To Pump Brakes On AI Safety Bill
Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who represents Silicon Valley in Congress, has taken the rare step of voicing her opposition to a proposed California bill to set safety standards for large artificial intelligence models, arguing that the measure lacks a "sound evidentiary basis" and would stifle innovation without addressing real-world harms.
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August 08, 2024
Fed Hits Customers Bank With Crypto-Related Consent Order
The Federal Reserve said Thursday that it had entered into an enforcement action with Pennsylvania-based Customers Bank, pointing to risk management and anti-money laundering compliance deficiencies tied to the bank's "digital asset strategy."
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August 08, 2024
CFPB Urges 5th Circ. To Revive Anti-Bias Exam Policy
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has appealed to the Fifth Circuit to reinstate a 2022 policy that expanded the scope of the agency's anti-discrimination oversight, saying a Texas federal judge's decision to strike it down last year could allow even so-called debanking to go unexamined.
Expert Analysis
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A Deep Dive Into The Evolving World Of ESG Ratings
Attorneys at Mintz discuss the salience of environmental, social and governance ratings in corporate circles in recent years, and consider certain methodologies underlying their calculation for professionals, as well as issues concerning the ESG ratings and products themselves.
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What TikTok's Race Against The Clock Teaches Chinese Firms
The Biden administration's recent divestiture deadline on TikTok parent ByteDance provides useful information for other China-based companies looking to do business in the U.S., including the need to keep products for each market separate and implement firewalls at the design stage, says Richard Lomuscio at Stinson.
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Updated Federal Rules Can Improve Product Liability MDLs
The recent amendment of a federal evidence rule regarding expert testimony and the proposal of a civil rule on managing early discovery in multidistrict legislation hold great promise for promoting the uniform and efficient processes that high-stakes product liability cases particularly need, say Alan Klein and William Heaston at Duane Morris.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.
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Unlocking Blockchain Opportunities Amid Legal Uncertainty
Dozens of laws and legal precedents will come into the fore as Web3, metaverse and non-fungible tokens gain momentum, so organizations need to design their programs with a broader view of potential exposures — and opportunities, say Teresa Goody Guillén and Robert Musiala at BakerHostetler and Steve McNew at FTI Consulting.
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4 Ways Businesses Can Address Threat Of Mass Arbitration
Attorneys at DLA Piper examine the rise of mass arbitration in light of JAMS' new procedures and guidelines, and provide four steps e-commerce businesses can take when revising their dispute resolution provisions to maximize the chances those revisions will be held enforceable.
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The Uncertain Scope Of The First Financial Fair Access Laws
With Florida and Tennessee soon to roll out laws banning financial institutions from making decisions based on customer traits like political affiliation, national financial services providers should consider how broadly worded “fair access” laws from these and other conservative-leaning states may place new obligations on their business operations, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.
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Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ
Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.
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Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture
In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.
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Debate Over CFPB Definition Of Credit Is Just Beginning
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently worked to expand the meaning of credit, so anyone operating on the edges of the credit markets, or even those who assumed they were safely outside the scope of this regulatory perimeter, should pay close attention as legal challenges to broad interpretations of the definition unfold, says John Coleman at Orrick.
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Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond
Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.
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How Federal And State Microfiber Pollution Policy Is Evolving
Growing efforts to address synthetic microfiber pollution may create compliance and litigation issues for businesses in the textile and apparel industries, so companies should track developing federal and state legislation and regulation in this space, and should consider associated greenwashing risks, says Arie Feltman-Frank at Jenner & Block.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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10 Tips To Build Trust With Your Witness During Trial Prep
Preparing a witness for deposition or trial requires more than just legal skills — lawyers must also work to cultivate trust with the witness, using strategies ranging from wearing a hat when conducting mock cross-examination to offering them a ride to court before they testify, say Faye Paul Teller and Sara McDermott at Munger Tolles.
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A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps
The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.