Consumer Protection

  • February 26, 2025

    Judge Won't Disqualify Firm In Solar Co. Fraud Fight

    A federal judge denied Michigan residents' attempt to disqualify attorneys representing a bankrupt solar company's former founding CEO in their fraud case, holding that the law firm's allegedly obstructionist discovery tactics don't amount to an actual conflict of interest.

  • February 26, 2025

    CVS Ordered To Comply With FTC's PBM Subpoena

    A D.C. federal judge is ordering CVS to turn over new materials in the Federal Trade Commission's investigation into its pharmacy benefit manager Caremark Rx, saying that just because producing updated documents would cost the company more doesn't mean it faces an "undue burden."

  • February 26, 2025

    Mass. High Court Reaffirms No Private Right To Atty Discipline

    Massachusetts' highest court on Wednesday reaffirmed that there is no private right of action to compel the state bar to open an investigation or disciplinary proceedings.

  • February 25, 2025

    Retailer Pushes To Ax 2,400 Web Tracking Arbitration Claims

    Children's clothing retailer Janie & Jack LLC is attempting to stave off more than 2,400 arbitration claims filed by individuals over the company's allegedly unlawful website tracking practices, telling a California federal court that the website visitors are "weaponizing" an arbitration agreement that doesn't even apply to them. 

  • February 25, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump's Federal Funding Freeze

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing a federal spending freeze while a group of nonprofits challenge the freeze, calling the measure "ill-conceived from the beginning."

  • February 25, 2025

    Total High Speed Coverage In Alaska 'Not Realistic,' FCC Told

    The Alaska Connect Fund sets unrealistic standards for bringing high-speed internet to the state, a telecom operating in Alaska told the Federal Communications Commission at a recent meeting where it urged the agency to lower its expectation.

  • February 25, 2025

    GreenSky Loan Class Action Certified In Calif. Court

    A California federal judge has granted class certification to consumers suing GreenSky Inc. over alleged unlawful loan transaction fees, finding that expert analysis showed merchants likely passed these fees onto borrowers, but also granted summary judgment to the lending company on claims related to performance fees over the lack of evidence that consumers had to pay them.

  • February 25, 2025

    Trump Admin Says 'There Will Continue To Be A CFPB'

    The Trump administration denied late Monday that it is planning to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, telling a D.C. federal judge that it had closed the agency's headquarters and benched employees instead partly due to their own "disruptive protests."

  • February 25, 2025

    Block Considers NY Settlement Over Money-Laundering Curbs

    Block Inc., the parent company of the peer-to-peer mobile payments platform Cash App and payments platform Square, is working to resolve allegations from New York state's financial regulator touching on its compliance with money-laundering restrictions, the company says.

  • February 25, 2025

    Sig Sauer Asks 6th Circ. For Second Shot At Expert Ruling

    The full Sixth Circuit should disqualify expert testimony that said gunmaker Sig Sauer Inc. failed to use existing safety features found in rival products when designing its model P320, the pistol at the center of many unintentional discharge lawsuits, according to the company's petition, which alternatively asked the judges to send it to Kentucky's top court.

  • February 25, 2025

    GoDaddy, Tech Co. Quietly Agree To Kill Antitrust Suit

    The world's largest domain registrar, GoDaddy, has come to terms with the company behind an antitrust suit claiming that it blackballed the tech company from its platform, according to documents filed recently in Virginia federal court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Alex Jones Asks To Maintain Stay On Sandy Hook Payment

    Infowars founder Alex Jones told the Connecticut Appellate Court that he shouldn't be forced to pay the judgment that Sandy Hook families won in their long-running defamation case as he awaits a review by the state's Supreme Court, saying the plaintiffs are wrong that he discarded underlying constitutional arguments.

  • February 25, 2025

    Cannabis Cos. Want THC Potency Suits Consolidated

    About two dozen cannabis companies, including multistate operators like Columbia Care and Acreage, have urged an Illinois federal judge to consolidate a series of "nearly identical" proposed class actions accusing them of mislabeling their products to get around state-mandated THC potency limits, saying "there is no question" the suits "involve the same questions of law and fact."

  • February 25, 2025

    Meta Says 9th Circ. Shouldn't Touch Antitrust Cert. Denial

    The Ninth Circuit should refuse to take up the appeal of a proposed class that was denied certification due to its novel theory that Meta Platforms Inc. would have been forced to pay users for the use of their data if it hadn't lied about how it was using it, the social media behemoth has told the court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Fla. Bill Targets Last-Resort Coverage For Unsafe Condos

    A bill introduced ahead of Florida's 2025 legislative session looks to bar the state's Citizens Property Insurance Corp. from providing or renewing coverage policies for condominiums that fall short of inspection requirements.

  • February 25, 2025

    Another Crypto Co. Says SEC Inquiry Ends Without Action

    Decentralized finance platform Uniswap Labs announced Tuesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its multi-year investigation into the firm, marking the latest crypto business to claim the regulator is walking away without taking action.

  • February 25, 2025

    River Agency Says Harvey Flood Dispute Was Already Decided

    A Texas river management agency urged a state appeals court Tuesday to shut down claims brought by dozens of residents whose properties were flooded by Hurricane Harvey, pointing to a separate appellate court decision that ended similar claims by many of the same people.

  • February 25, 2025

    Kroger Seeks More Sanctions For Prolific Consumer Atty

    Kroger is urging an Illinois federal judge to sanction prolific consumer advocate lawyer Spencer Sheehan for filing a meritless suit over the effectiveness of its lidocaine patches, citing his "history of filing frivolous lawsuits across the nation" and a "troubling pattern of recklessness and abuse of the federal judiciary" for which he has been sanctioned three other times.

  • February 25, 2025

    Petrochemical Cos. Want Judge Out Of Plastic Recycling Row

    Petrochemical companies called on a Missouri federal judge to recuse himself from a proposed class action accusing them of misleading customers about the recyclability of plastic, saying his wife has a direct interest in the case as a Kansas City city council member.

  • February 25, 2025

    Ex-Privacy Board Members Sue Trump Over Firings

    Two Democrats who had served on Congress' privacy watchdog over the executive branch's counterterrorism policies are suing the Trump administration, claiming they were illegally fired from the nonpartisan board to deny it a quorum and end its oversight.

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Probing $615M Healthcare Staffing Merger

    Talent software and staffing company Aya Healthcare Inc.'s roughly $615 million bid to buy Cross Country Healthcare Inc. and take the staffing and recruitment company private hit a snag last week with a Federal Trade Commission merger probe that prevents the transaction from closing, for now.

  • February 25, 2025

    Rural Wireless Cos. Concerned About 5G Fund Rollout

    A rural wireless group renewed pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to change up the timing of an auction to expand 5G service, saying the FCC should wait until federal infrastructure dollars are distributed before moving ahead.

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Wins Discovery Spat In Amazon Prime Subscription Suit

    A Washington federal judge won't force the Federal Trade Commission to share with Amazon discussions during past rulemaking about the scope of a federal law protecting online shoppers from deceptive billing, concluding for a second time that such information is irrelevant to whether the company's Prime subscription practices are illegal.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Strategies For Home Equity Investment Providers In 2025

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

  • Reviewing 2024's State Consumer Privacy Law Enforcement

    Author Photo

    While we are still in the infancy of state consumer privacy laws, a review of enforcement activity this year suggests substantial overlaps in regulatory priorities across the most active states and gives insight into the likely paths of future enforcement, says Thomas Nolan at Quinn Emanuel.

  • Preparing For The New Restrictions On Investment Into China

    Author Photo

    In light of a new regulatory program governing U.S. investments in China-related technology companies of national security concern, investors should keep several considerations in mind, including the rules' effect on existing and new investments, compliance hurdles, and penalties for noncompliance ahead of the rules' January implementation, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Teaching Your Witness To Beat The Freeze/Appease Response

    Author Photo

    In addition to fight-or-flight, witnesses may experience the freeze/appease response at trial or deposition — where they become a deer in headlights, agreeing with opposing counsel’s questions and damaging their credibility in the process — but certain strategies can help, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

    Author Photo

    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • FTX Exec's Sentencing Shows Pros And Cons Of Cooperation

    Author Photo

    The sentencing of former FTX tech deputy Gary Wang, whose cooperation netted him a rare outcome of no prison time, offers critical takeaways for attorneys and clients navigating the burgeoning world of crypto-related prosecutions, says Andrew Meck at Whiteford.

  • SEC Custody Rule Creates Crypto Compliance Conundrum

    Author Photo

    While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's application of the custody rule may be a good faith attempt to enhance consumer protections for client assets, it doesn't appreciate the unique characteristics of crypto-assets, forcing advisers to choose between pursuing their clients' objectives and complying with the rule, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

    Author Photo

    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Tracking The Uncertainty Of The FTC's Negative Option Rule

    Author Photo

    The fate of the Federal Trade Commission's final rule requiring businesses that utilize negative options to provide consumers with a simple cancellation method remains in limbo as it faces multiple legal challenges and the threat of possible congressional action looms, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Antitrust in Retail: Handbag Ruling Won't Go Out Of Fashion

    Author Photo

    Although a New York federal court’s recent decision to enjoin a proposed $8.5 billion merger between the owners of Michael Kors and Coach applied noncontroversial antitrust interpretations, several notable aspects of the opinion stand out as likely candidates for further discussion in future merger litigation, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Consumer Protection archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!