Consumer Protection

  • August 14, 2024

    CPSC Foes Widen Assault On New Deal-Era Precedent

    A maker of child care products is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the constitutionality of protections barring the president from firing U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission members without good cause, telling the justices that the powerful agency doesn't fit the narrow exceptions to the White House's otherwise unrestricted removal authority.

  • August 14, 2024

    DoorDash Contract Can't Shield ID Service From BIPA Claims

    Identity verification service Persona Identities Inc. shouldn't have been allowed to rely on DoorDash's contract with two drivers to redirect their biometric privacy claims from court to arbitration, an Illinois appellate panel has ruled.

  • August 14, 2024

    Streaming Cos. Ask FCC To Gauge Fixed Broadband Market

    Video streamers and other edge providers hope to make one thing clear as the Federal Communications Commission dissects competition in the high-speed internet space — the fixed broadband service market is still dominated by a few heavyweights and more should be done to assess how the addition of new competitors affects individual markets.

  • August 14, 2024

    4th Circ. Says T-Mobile Must Face 'Simply Prepaid' TM Fight

    The Fourth Circuit revived a Virginia-based telecommunications company's infringement suit against T-Mobile, ruling that Simply Wireless had done enough to show it was planning to revamp its "Simply Prepaid" branding and hadn't abandoned the trademark when T-Mobile began using it.

  • August 14, 2024

    Mobile Carriers Worry Anti-Robotext Rules Could Go Too Far

    Content-neutral text-blocking standards are not the way to go, a key wireless trade group has told the Federal Communications Commission, saying that stripping away the current industry standards in favor of nondiscriminatory ones would "open the floodgates to messages that consumers do not want."

  • August 14, 2024

    Suit Claims Giant Uses Banned, Toxic Oil In Orange Soda

    A proposed class of soda drinkers is suing The Giant Co. LLC in Pennsylvania federal court, alleging that it makes and sells orange soda made with a kind of vegetable oil that federal regulators banned for its negative effects on the thyroid gland.

  • August 14, 2024

    Insurer Off Hook For Jury Award In Construction Dispute

    A commercial insurer does not have to indemnify a contractor found liable for multiple structural and other problems in a home he built, a Massachusetts intermediate appellate court concluded Wednesday in a case of first impression involving what is considered "property damage" in a construction dispute.

  • August 14, 2024

    $24M Hidden Fee Deal With AIG Opposed By Class Member

    A member of a class of travel insurance buyers who accused AIG insurers of stacking hidden fees on top of insurance travel premiums urged a California federal court to reject a nearly $24 million proposed settlement, saying it inappropriately combines distinct California and Washington claims.

  • August 14, 2024

    Ex-Binance GC Joins Crypto Co. Bitget As Legal Chief

    Seychelles-based crypto exchange Bitget on Wednesday announced it has hired a new chief legal officer who, among other roles, served as general counsel at Binance prior to its high-profile settlement with U.S. authorities last year.

  • August 14, 2024

    SEC Says Ga. Firm's Ponzi Scheme Fueled 'Lavish' Lifestyle

    An Atlanta-area firm that promised investors lucrative returns on real estate deals was in reality running a "classic Ponzi scheme" by funneling portions of the $300 million it received into buying a yacht and a luxury condo for its founder, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

  • August 13, 2024

    Anesthesia Co. Says FTC Lacks Authority To Bring 'Rollup' Suit

    U.S. Anesthesia Partners has told the Fifth Circuit the Federal Trade Commission lacks authority to bring its case directly in federal court without also filing an administrative case accusing the group of monopolizing the Texas anesthesiology market.

  • August 13, 2024

    TMX Affiliate Sues Pa. Regulator To Block Potential $52M Fine

    A Texas and Georgia-based affiliate of consumer lending company TMX Finance has sued the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, challenging an order from the department that the company says seeks over $52 million in civil penalties over claims tied to loan agreements that allegedly carry interest rates as high as 720%.

  • August 13, 2024

    Jury Awards $51M To Family In Carbon Monoxide Leak

    A Texas jury awarded a woman and her two children $51 million after they suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning in their apartment in 2015, finding in a Tuesday verdict that their apartment complex was responsible for the leak that allegedly left the children with serious brain injuries.

  • August 13, 2024

    Chamber Defends Texas Home For CFPB Late-Fee Rule Suit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade associations battling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late-fee rule told a Texas federal judge on Monday that the agency's latest bid to send the case to Washington, D.C., risks creating new rule challenge obstacles for local-level business groups and should be rejected.

  • August 13, 2024

    CFPB Says Predatory Lenders Targeting Muslim Homebuyers

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday it found that an often predatory form of home financing, known as contracts for deed, has become increasingly prevalent in Muslim communities.

  • August 13, 2024

    Campbell Soup Co. Defends V8 Splash Labeling As Accurate

    Campbell Soup Co. has urged a New Jersey federal judge to toss a putative class action alleging it duped consumers into thinking its V8 Splash beverages are naturally flavored and healthy, saying the drinks' labels never claimed the drinks were free of artificial flavors.

  • August 13, 2024

    Texas AG Targets General Motors Over Unlawful Data Sales

    Texas' attorney general has escalated his probe into data privacy practices at connected car manufacturers, hitting General Motors with a lawsuit in state court Tuesday accusing the automaker of unlawfully gathering and selling drivers' private data — which would then be resold to insurance companies — without permission.

  • August 13, 2024

    Google Says Search Ruling Irrelevant To Common Carrier Suit

    A recent ruling from a D.C. federal judge that declared Google a monopolist in the general search market has nothing to do with the Ohio attorney general's bid to designate the search engine as a common carrier, Google told an Ohio state court judge.

  • August 13, 2024

    FINRA Flags Potential Pitfalls As Members Wade Into Crypto

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Tuesday raised potential problem areas it has noticed related to members' dealings in crypto assets as part of a broader update on how the firms it oversees are wading into digital assets.

  • August 13, 2024

    Miss. Stations Could Lose FCC Licenses For Unpaid Fees

    The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday warned the licensee of two radio stations in Mississippi that they could lose their licenses if thousands of dollars in regulatory fees stretching back more than a decade remain unpaid.

  • August 13, 2024

    New Realtor Complaint Challenges NAR's Membership Rule

    The National Association of Realtors is facing a new proposed class action, this time from Michigan real estate brokers and agents challenging state and local requirements that they be members of local and national Realtor organizations to use the association's multiple listing services.

  • August 13, 2024

    Kroger Blasts FTC's 'Head-To-Head' Competition Claims

    Kroger and Albertsons have assailed the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to their merger, telling an Oregon federal judge that there's no need to preliminarily block the deal because the agency is pushing a "never before applied" theory that reducing head-to-head competition is illegal, which the grocery stores said is undone by the law and the companies' planned divestiture of 579 stores.

  • August 13, 2024

    DOJ Gets Crash Course In AI As Attys Brace For Crackdown

    The U.S. Department of Justice is working to keep pace with the swift rise of the tools known as artificial intelligence, investigating potential fraud as its Criminal Division learns the nuances of the technology — an unsettling dynamic for some defense lawyers.

  • August 13, 2024

    3rd Circ. Nixes Debt Collection Suit, Leaves Award In Question

    The Third Circuit ruled Tuesday that a plaintiff fighting an arbitration loss in a proposed debt-collection class action never had standing to sue, but the appellate panel left it for an arbiter or state court to decide whether to erase the actual award in favor of the debt collector.

  • August 13, 2024

    Capital One Blames Customers For 'Refer A Friend' Texts

    Capital One urged a Washington federal judge on Monday to throw out a proposed class action accusing it of violating a state law banning ads in unsolicited texts, contending its customers are ultimately responsible for hitting send on "refer a friend" messages providing others credit card sign-up links.

Expert Analysis

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Compliance Considerations For New Data Protection Law

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    Sam Castic at Hintze Law discusses how to determine if your organization is covered by the newly enacted Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, the scope of the law's restrictions, and how to go about compliance as its June 23 effective date approaches.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule Risks A Wave Of State AG Actions

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule language banning noncompetes may contribute to a waterfall enforcement effect in which state attorneys general deploy their broad authority to treat noncompetes as separate and independent violations, say Ryan Strasser and Carson Cox at Troutman Pepper.

  • CFPB Poised To Up The Ante After Supreme Court Victory

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically ruled last week that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure did not violate the Constitution, the agency boasted that it was "here to stay," signaling that it is moving full steam ahead with its regulatory, enforcement and supervisory agenda, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • How To Use Exhibits Strategically Throughout Your Case

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    Exhibits, and documents in particular, are the lifeblood of legal advocacy, so attorneys must understand how to wield them effectively throughout different stages of a case to help build strategy, elevate witness preparation and effectively persuade the fact-finders, say Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie and Colorado prosecutor Adam Kendall.

  • Diving Deep Into Sweeping NY Financing Bill — And Its Pitfalls

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    A New York bill seeking to impose state usury limits onto a broader variety of financing arrangements and apply lender licensing requirements to more diverse entities would present near-insurmountable compliance challenges for lenders and retailers, say Kate Fisher and Tom Quinn at Hudson Cook.

  • Influencer Considerations As FINRA Initiates Crackdown

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    To avert risks when evaluating influencer and referral programs, firms should assess the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's recent settlements involving the supervision of social media tastemakers, as well as recent FINRA guidance in this area, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches

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    Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Behind Court Challenges To The FTC's Final Noncompete Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent final rule banning noncompetes may not go into effect any time soon amid a couple of Texas federal court challenges seeking to bar the rule's implementation, which will likely see appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, says Michael Elkins at MLE Law.

  • 15 Quick Tips For Uncovering And Mitigating Juror Biases

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    As highlighted by the recent jury selection process in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, juror bias presents formidable challenges for defendants, and attorneys must employ proactive strategies — both new and old — to blunt its impact, say Monica Delgado and Jonathan Harris at Harris St. Laurent.

  • Colo. Lending Law Could Empower State-Chartered Banks

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    Lending programs that rely on rate exportation by state banks should pay close attention to legislative activity and ongoing litigation surrounding Colorado's decision to opt out of rate exportation, which could set a precedent that state-chartered banks have power on par with national banks, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Tiny Tweaks To Bank Merger Forms May Have Big Impact

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    The impact of proposed changes to the Federal Reserve Board's and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s bank merger review forms would be significant, resulting in hundreds of additional burden hours for bank merger applicants and signaling a further shift by the prudential bank regulators toward more rigorous scrutiny of mergers, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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