Consumer Protection

  • November 25, 2024

    Hemp Sellers Say Conn. Cannabis Laws Violate Constitution

    A dozen Connecticut hemp retailers filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and attorney general challenging a number of state laws meant to regulate so-called high-THC hemp products, claiming the statutes are so vague they are unconstitutional.

  • November 25, 2024

    FTC's Antitrust Case Against Meta Gets April Trial Date

    A D.C. federal court has set an April 14 trial date for the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case accusing Meta of monopolizing personal social networking through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

  • November 25, 2024

    TMX Moves For Emergency Block On $52M Pa. Fine Hearing

    An affiliate of TMX Finance asked a Texas federal court to pause Pennsylvania regulators' efforts to enforce the state's anti-usury laws against it, claiming it faced a "Hobson's choice" of responding to an enforcement proceeding whose legality was being questioned, or waiving its arguments and facing a $52.7 million fine.

  • November 25, 2024

    Calif. Board Seeks Comment On AI Rules Amid Pushback

    The California Privacy Protection Agency on Friday opened the public comment period for its latest rulemaking package proposing expansive draft rules regulating technologies fueled by artificial intelligence — including in the employment, education, healthcare, consumer protection, banking and insurance contexts — which business groups have already criticized as being overly broad and burdensome.

  • November 25, 2024

    Medical Info. Co. Beats Junk Fax Suit Over Free E-Book Offer

    A medical information company has once again defeated a long-running Telephone Consumer Protection suit over unsolicited faxes it sent in 2013, with a West Virginia federal judge ruling the plaintiffs produced no evidence that the company got paid when recipients responded to their faxes.

  • November 25, 2024

    4th Circ. Stands By HELOC 'Offset' Ruling Against PNC

    The full Fourth Circuit has declined to reconsider a panel decision that extended protections under the Truth In Lending Act by barring banks from dipping into a cardholder's deposit account to cover outstanding payments on a home equity line of credit without the borrower's consent.

  • November 25, 2024

    DOJ Says Realtor Commissions Deal Is No Antitrust Shield

    The U.S. Department of Justice warned the National Association of Realtors that changes to broker commission rules agreed to in a settlement with home sellers does not shield the industry from government antitrust scrutiny.

  • November 25, 2024

    Jury Finds Natera Owes Guardant $292.5M In False Ad Suit

    A California federal jury on Monday awarded $292.5 million in actual and punitive damages to medical test maker Guardant Health after finding that its rival Natera falsely advertised its colorectal cancer test Signatera as superior to Guardant's competing product Reveal.

  • November 25, 2024

    Housing Project Will Pollute Public Water, Conn. City Says

    The construction of 16 houses in Ledyard, Connecticut, will contaminate the groundwater and endanger the drinking water supply for people living on the site, the city of Groton's water department said in an appeal of the project's approval to the state court.

  • November 25, 2024

    Trump 2.0 Expected To Maintain Tech Antitrust Cases

    President-elect Donald Trump has promised dramatic changes with his pending second term, but antitrust practitioners are anticipating a return to normal after four years of an aggressive Biden administration that's seemed skeptical of big business on the whole, though they also don't expect enforcement to be lax.

  • November 25, 2024

    Solar Co. Ex-CEO Attys Say DQ Request 'Untethered To Facts'

    Lawyers representing the former CEO of a now-defunct solar energy company against fraud and racketeering claims have told a Michigan federal judge that their previous in-house work for the company is not grounds to disqualify them from the suit, calling the plaintiffs' attempt to have them removed "untethered to facts" and improperly delayed.

  • November 25, 2024

    High Court Refuses To Review FDA Cigarette Warning Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said that it won't take up a challenge to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule requiring larger warnings on cigarette boxes, in a suit brought by tobacco companies.

  • November 22, 2024

    Del Monte's 'Fruit Naturals' Label Not Deceptive, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to revive a California woman's proposed class action accusing Del Monte Foods of falsely advertising fruit cups as being "natural" despite containing synthetic preservatives, saying a reasonable consumer would know to read the products' back label to confirm the ingredients.

  • November 22, 2024

    Trump Makes Picks For FDA, CDC And Surgeon General

    President-elect Donald Trump on Friday ​​revealed his nominations for several health agencies, picking Johns Hopkins surgeon and professor Dr. Marty Makary for Food and Drug Administration commissioner, former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, and Fox News contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general.

  • November 22, 2024

    Ill. Judge Bucks Colleague In Limiting BIPA Change's Reach

    An Illinois federal judge held Friday that a legislative amendment limiting damages under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act doesn't apply to lawsuits filed before the change took effect, refusing to side with a recent ruling from another judge in the same court that reached the opposite conclusion. 

  • November 22, 2024

    Natera's Conduct 'Despicable,' Guardant Says As Trial Wraps

    Guardant urged a California federal jury at the close of its false advertising trial Friday to make rival Natera pay it hundreds of millions of dollars, saying the competitor's misrepresentation of the companies' competing cancer detection tests was "despicable," while Natera countered it was Guardant that used deceptive marketing.

  • November 22, 2024

    Pam Bondi's 'Greatest Hits' As Florida Attorney General

    In her eight years as attorney general of Florida, Pam Bondi — who has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general — took on pill mills and telemarketing scams targeting the state's large elderly population, while also leading GOP state efforts to battle the Obama administration.

  • November 22, 2024

    Sirius XM Cancellation Policies Flout Federal Law, Judge Says

    A New York state judge held that Sirius XM Radio Inc.'s account cancellation policies, while not fraudulent, violate federal law by forcing consumers to call customer service and listen to drawn-out discount pitches before they're able to unsubscribe.

  • November 22, 2024

    Target Can't Shake Shoppers' Biometric Privacy Suit

    An Illinois federal judge has refused to toss a putative class action accusing Target Corp. of deploying surveillance systems that unlawfully gathered shoppers' biometric data, finding that news reports and other sources cited by the plaintiffs were enough to create a "plausible inference" that the retailer engaged in the alleged conduct. 

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Justices Say Court Bungled Ruling In Abortion Case

    The Texas Supreme Court said Friday a lower appellate court tried to "prematurely drag the judiciary into highly contentious and politicized debates" around abortion without analyzing a key standing issue, jeopardizing Planned Parenthood's and other abortion rights groups' bid to invalidate the controversial Texas Heartbeat Act.

  • November 22, 2024

    Europe's Antitrust Enforcer Puts Apple E-Book Probe To Bed

    The European Union's antitrust enforcer is dropping its probe into whether Apple's requirement that e-books and audiobooks be bought through in-app purchases in its App Store broke the bloc's competition rules.

  • November 22, 2024

    Cruz Decries 'Unlawful' Activities In $42.5B Broadband Fund

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, issued a scathing statement Friday warning the U.S. Commerce Department to discontinue what he contends are "unlawful" activities in administering the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

  • November 22, 2024

    Judge Trims Suit Over Tesla Collision Alert Defect

    Tesla Inc. has beaten some of a lawsuit brought by a driver who claims its vehicles' collision monitoring system erroneously detects objects in its path, causing the cars to suddenly brake, after an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday that the driver needed to do more to show significant financial injury.

  • November 22, 2024

    CFTC Advisers: Current Rules Work For Tokenized Collateral

    A U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission advisory group on Friday brought the commodities regulator a step closer to clarifying the use of certain tokenized assets as collateral, voting to tell the commission that existing rules can apply to the use of blockchain-based, noncash collateral.

  • November 22, 2024

    Service Fees Not 'Incidental' To Debt Collection, 11th Circ. Told

    Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to reverse two Florida lower court judgments finding it violated debt collection practices with a fee to process phone or internet payments, saying it's not an illegal "incidental" charge because the borrower is paying for an optional service.

Expert Analysis

  • 'Reverse Redlining' Suit Reveals Language Risks For Lenders

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    The Justice Department's case against consumer finance provider Colony Ridge highlights the government's focus on lending to consumers with limited English proficiency and the risks of generating marketing materials in other languages while conducting actual transactions in English, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration

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    Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.

  • Takeaways From Final Regulations For China Investment Ban

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    ​The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s final rule banning U.S. investment in emerging Chinese technology clarifies some key requirements, includes additional exceptions for covered transactions and attempts to address concerns that the rule will put U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Compliance Considerations Of DOJ Data Security Rule

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    Under the U.S. Department of Justice's proposed rule aiming to prevent certain countries' access to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data, companies must ensure their vendor, employment and investment agreements meet strict new data security requirements — or determine whether such contracts are worth the cost of compliance, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Balancing Health Tech Advances And Clinical Responsibility

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    To maintain their clinical responsibilities and mitigate potential legal risk, health professionals should incorporate the benefits of new medical technology powered by artificial intelligence while addressing its risks and limitations, says Kathleen Fisher Enyeart at Lathrop GPM.

  • Defense Insights As PFAS Consumer Product Claims Rise

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    Amid the recent proliferation of lawsuits seeking damages for failure to disclose the presence of PFAS in consumer products, manufacturers, distributors and consumer product companies should follow the science and consider a significant flaw in many of the filings, say attorneys at Farella Braun.

  • AI Monitoring And FCRA: Employer Compliance Essentials

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission signal determination to treat AI-based workplace surveillance as a potential Fair Credit Reporting Act issue, employers must commit to educating HR and compliance staff on these quickly evolving regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • Crypto Cos. Add New Play In Their Offense Against SEC

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    Consensys and Crypto.com have adopted a novel strategy of preempting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions by moving to crypto-friendly Texas and filing declaratory lawsuits challenging the SEC's jurisdiction to regulate crypto-assets — an aggressive approach that may pay off, say attorneys at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Recent Listeria Outbreaks Hold Key Compliance Lessons

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    Listeria outbreaks in ready-to-eat foods from Boar's Head and other companies, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration responses to these outbreaks, should be closely evaluated from an overall compliance and risk management perspective by food manufacturers, retailers and industry investors, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • 8 Tech Tips For Stress-Free Remote Depositions

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    Court reporter Kelly D’Amico shares practical strategies for attorneys to conduct remote depositions with ease and troubleshoot any issues that arise, as it seems deposition-by-Zoom is here to stay after the pandemic.

  • How To Safely Leverage AI In The Digital Assets Industry

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    Digital asset businesses that use or plan to implement artificial intelligence should assess their risk management frameworks to ensure that AI-related business areas, including customer support and fraud detection, are in compliance with applicable laws and regulatory guidance from the last year, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • What Cos. Can Learn from Water Microplastics Class Actions

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    Class actions against companies whose bottled spring water allegedly contains microplastics, challenging claims such as "natural" and "100% spring water," seem to be drying up — but these cases serve as a good reminder to other businesses to review regulatory standards, and carefully vet plaintiff allegations at the outset, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • $3B TD Bank AML Settlement Is A Wake-Up Call For All Banks

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    TD Bank’s historic settlement over anti-money laundering violations, resulting in over $3 billion in penalties, reminds banks of all shapes and sizes why they need to take financial crime compliance seriously, and highlights three areas that may be especially vulnerable to enforcement, says Jack Harrington at Bradley Arant.

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