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Consumer Protection
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July 31, 2024
HSBC Says HUD Has Closed Fair Lending Probe
HSBC's U.S. banking arm said it is no longer facing a multicity fair lending investigation from federal housing authorities after an outside complaint that prompted the probe was withdrawn.
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July 31, 2024
Justices Urged To Review Airline Price-Fixing Deal Payout
Two class members in a long-running airline price-fixing suit are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a secondary distribution of over $5 million in settlement money, saying unclaimed funds should have been sent to state treasuries, not class counsel.
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July 31, 2024
Wells Fargo Hit With Suit Over Cash Sweep Program
Wells Fargo was hit with a proposed class action by a customer claiming the bank's cash sweep investment program only allows users to sweep their cash into Wells Fargo-selected accounts, a practice the suit says has drawn regulatory scrutiny because it disproportionately benefits the bank.
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July 31, 2024
Include Satellites In Broadband Updates, SpaceX Tells FCC
SpaceX urged the Federal Communications Commission to include provisions for gateway earth station satellite hubs like its own in proposed regulations to expand broadband access within certain spectrum bands, telling the regulator that doing so would be a "win-win-win" for stakeholders.
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July 31, 2024
737 Max Families Say Boeing Deal 'Morally Reprehensible'
Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes asked a Texas federal court Wednesday to reject Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the "rotten deal" lets the American aerospace giant skirt culpability for the deaths of 346 people.
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July 31, 2024
GOP Senate Bill To Bar FCC's AI Disclosure Rule Blocked
A Republican effort in the U.S. Senate aiming to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from requiring broadcasters to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in political ads lost traction at the committee level Wednesday.
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July 31, 2024
EPA Floats Ban On Many Uses Of Carcinogen 1-BP
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed banning all consumer uses of the carcinogen 1-bromopropane — except in insulation — as well as some industrial and commercial uses.
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July 31, 2024
SEC Settles Reg BI Case Against Calif. Broker-Dealer
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday it has agreed to settle allegations that Western International Securities Inc. sold more than $13 million in high-risk debt securities to those with lower risk profiles, marking the potential end of a first-of-its kind enforcement action claiming violations of Regulation Best Interest.
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July 31, 2024
5th Circ. Pause Spells Doom For DOT Airline Fees Rule
The Fifth Circuit gave the airline industry a temporary reprieve from a new U.S. Department of Transportation rule requiring carriers to more clearly disclose add-on fees upfront, a decision that stands to embolden opponents of the Biden administration's more aggressive consumer-focused policies.
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July 31, 2024
Philip Morris Nicotine Pouches Are Deceptive, Lawsuit Claims
Philip Morris violated advertising and trade practices laws by selling "highly addictive" nicotine products designed and packaged to resemble breath mints and deceptively telegraphed that the tobacco-free pouches were healthier than cigarettes, according to a proposed class action in Connecticut federal court.
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July 31, 2024
Corteva Unit Ordered To Search 110K Boxes For PFAS Docs
A former North Carolina Superior Court judge in charge of ironing out a dispute between the state and a Corteva Inc. subsidiary over allegedly missing documents ordered the company to search through 110,000 boxes for information related to "forever-chemicals," finding it failed to give assurance the boxes were thoroughly searched.
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July 31, 2024
NYC Fraudster Gets Two Years For Crime Borne Of 'Nastiness'
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a New York City woman to two years in prison Wednesday for stealing $290,000 from investors who backed her purported investment club, saying the defendant's criminal conduct, including threats to victims, was uncommonly callous.
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July 31, 2024
Pop-Up Malware Scammer Gets 7 Years For Duping Elderly
A Manhattan federal judge hit an Indian national with a seven-year prison sentence Wednesday after he admitted operating a malware call center that targeted over 6,000 victims with deceptive pop-up warnings and generated more than $6 million in criminal proceeds.
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July 31, 2024
4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In July
Massachusetts state court judges refereed a damages dispute between a real estate titan and a Big Four consultant, ruled in favor of allegedly underpaid healthcare workers and untangled a defamation suit over a labor executive's old social media posts, among other notable rulings during the month of July.
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July 31, 2024
DraftKings Closes NFT Platform Over 'Legal Developments'
DraftKings has announced that it is shuttering its nonfungible token marketplace due to "recent legal developments," with the decision coming weeks after a Massachusetts federal judge permitted a proposed securities class action involving the marketplace to move forward.
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July 31, 2024
Fifth Third Seeks Exit From Bounced Check Fee Suit
Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank NA has asked a federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging it charges consumers unlawful fees when they try to deposit a check that bounces, saying the customers agreed to a contract that contains fee clauses for depositing returned items.
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July 31, 2024
Chicago Area's Brookfield Zoo Sued Over Data Breach
The popular Brookfield Zoo has been hit with a putative class action alleging inadequate cybersecurity measures failed to protect against a January data breach the zoo waited six months to make public, putting employees at risk of identity theft without proper notice.
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July 31, 2024
TaxAct Customers' Attys Want $5.8M Fee For $23M Deal
The attorneys for TaxAct Inc. customers who secured a $23 million deal to resolve claims that the company was secretly sharing confidential taxpayer information with Meta and Google asked a federal judge to award them more than $5.8 million in fees for their work.
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July 31, 2024
Ex-AUSA Joins Motley Rice Fraud Team From DiCello Levitt
Plaintiffs' firm Motley Rice LLC said Wednesday that it hired a former New York assistant U.S. attorney to support its efforts to protect whistleblowers who expose misconduct, fraud and deceptive trade practices.
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July 31, 2024
DC Attorney General Sues StubHub Over 'Junk Fees'
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Wednesday sued StubHub, accusing the ticket resale and exchange website of duping consumers with low ticket prices before tacking on "junk fees" at the end of an artificially urgent purchasing process.
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July 31, 2024
Judge Refuses To Rethink Injury Firm Conflict Of Interest DQ
A law firm was properly disqualified from a family's design defect lawsuit against Home Depot USA Inc. and makers of a lawn mower, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled, confirming a prior finding that a conflict of interest arose between the father and daughter when the companies countersued the father.
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July 30, 2024
Delta Hires Boies Schiller To Recoup Outage-Related Damages
Delta Air Lines has retained Boies Schiller Flexner LLP to help it pursue potential damages from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft in the wake of the mid-July global tech outage that left passengers stranded, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Law360 on Tuesday.
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July 30, 2024
Pa. House Majority Leader Fights Robocall Suit At 3rd Circ.
The Democratic majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Third Circuit to undo a ruling that his automated calls informing constituents about government programs violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
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July 30, 2024
Judge Asks Dish If Circuits Truly Split On Data Breach Claims
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday pressed Dish Network Corp. and a group of current and former Dish employees who are suing the company in a putative class action about a ransomware attack last year to address whether there is a split among federal circuits on what allegations are needed to support claims in data breach cases.
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July 30, 2024
Amazon Must Recall Unsafe Third-Party Products, CPSC Says
Amazon bears legal responsibility for recalling the hundreds of thousands of products sold by third-party sellers on its site that are defective or fail to meet safety standards, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in an order issued Monday.
Expert Analysis
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Highlights From The 2024 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting
U.S. merger enforcement and cartels figured heavily in this year's American Bar Association spring antitrust meeting, where one key takeaway included news that the Federal Trade Commission's anticipated changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino form may be less dramatic than many originally feared, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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The Future Of BIPA Insurance Litigation After Visual Pak
A recent Illinois appellate court decision, National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak, may have altered the future of insurance litigation under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by diametrically opposing a prominent Seventh Circuit ruling that found insurance coverage for violations of the act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Consumer Privacy Takeaways From FTC Extraterritorial Action
With what appears to be its first privacy-related consent agreement with a non-U.S. business, the Federal Trade Commission establishes that its reach is extraterritorial and that consumer internet browsing data is sensitive data, and there are lessons for any multinational business that handles consumer information, say Olivia Greer and Alexis Bello at Weil.
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NC Rulings Show Bankruptcy Isn't Only For Insolvent Debtors
Two recent rulings from a North Carolina bankruptcy court show that lack of financial distress is not a requirement for bankruptcy protection, particularly in the Fourth Circuit, but these types of cases can still be dismissed for other reasons, say Stuart Gordon and Alexandria Vath at Rivkin Radler.
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Series
Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.
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Navigating Kentucky's New Consumer Privacy Law
On April 4, Kentucky passed a new law that imposes obligations on affected businesses relating to the collection, use and sale of personal data — and those operating within the state must prepare for a new regulatory landscape governing the handling of consumer data, say Risa Boerner and Martha Vázquez at Fisher Phillips.
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS
Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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What FinCEN Proposed Customer ID Number Change Means
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent request for comment on changing a requirement for banks to collect full Social Security numbers at account sign-up represents an important opportunity for banks to express their preferability, as communicating sensitive information online may carry fraud or cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Circumstantial Evidence Requires A Pointillist Approach
Because complex cases with sophisticated defendants are unlikely to reveal much, if any, direct evidence, attorneys must aggregate many pieces of circumstantial evidence into a cohesive narrative — much like the painting technique of pointillism, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Questions Persist After Ruling Skirts $925M TCPA Award Issue
After an Oregon federal court's recent Wakefield v. ViSalus ruling that the doctrine of constitutional avoidance precluded it from deciding whether a $925 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act damages award was constitutionally sound, further guidance is needed on when statutory damages violate due process, says Michael Klotz at O'Melveny.
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Benzene Contamination Concerns: Drugmakers' Next Steps
After a citizen petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a flurry of class actions over benzene contamination in benzoyl peroxide acne products, affected manufacturers should consider a thoughtful approach that includes assembling internal data and possibly contacting the FDA for product-specific discussions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Blocked JetBlue-Spirit Deal Illustrates New Antitrust Approach
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent successful block of a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines demonstrates antitrust enforcers’ updated and disparate approach to out-of-market benefits versus out-of-market harms, say Lisa Rumin and Anthony Ferrara at McDermott.
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Back Labels In False Ad Cases Get Some Clarity In 9th Circ.
Courts in the Ninth Circuit have recently delivered a series of wins to advertisers, making clear that any ambiguity on the front of a product's package can be resolved by reference to the back label — which guarantees defendants a powerful tool to combat deceptive labeling claims, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
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Series
Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
Early 2024 developments that could have a notable impact on Florida's finance community include progress on a bill that would substantially revise the state Securities and Investor Protection Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule capping late fees for larger credit card issuers, say Benjamin Weinberg and Megan Riley at Leon Cosgrove.