Consumer Protection

  • November 08, 2024

    1st Circ. Affirms Order Ending Jet Blue-American Partnership

    The First Circuit backed a lower court decision blocking a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines that it found substantially diminished competition in the domestic air travel market, saying it found no error in the district judge's thorough review of the deal that could revive the venture.

  • November 08, 2024

    Ford Buyers Win Cert. Of Some Classes In 'Death Wobble' Suit

    A California federal judge certified some subclasses in a product liability class action against Ford over an alleged steering defect known as the "death wobble," but denied certification of a nationwide class and trimmed or partially trimmed 13 of the 30 claims.

  • November 08, 2024

    5th Time Not The Charm For 'Stale' Dow Implant Check Fight

    The Sixth Circuit has again rejected an appeal from South Korean claimants who sought replacement checks from a Dow Corning breast implant settlement fund, finding in claimants' fifth trip to the appeals court that they missed their window to cash their duly disbursed settlement checks.

  • November 08, 2024

    Monsanto Judge Pushes Sanction 'Distraction' To After Trial

    A Washington state judge is pausing an order for eight of Monsanto's attorneys to personally pay a total of $20,000 for late disclosure of expert reports in a toxic tort lawsuit, saying he believes the issue will distract from the upcoming trial and the court can revisit the defense lawyers' reconsideration request after the jury returns a verdict.

  • November 08, 2024

    Shaq Reaches Settlement With Astrals NFT Buyers

    The mediator overseeing the dispute between buyers of the Astrals LLC nonfungible token project and basketball Hall of Famer and promoter Shaquille O'Neal told a Florida federal judge that the parties reached a settlement in their most recent session. 

  • November 08, 2024

    Pawn Shop Must Face CFPB's Military Law Claims, Judge Says

    In a matter of first impression, a Texas federal judge has ruled that national pawn shop company FirstCash Inc. cannot use a "bona fide error" defense to argue that its alleged violation of the Military Lending Act was an unintentional mishap, saying the defense only applies to private borrower claims, not federal agency suits.

  • November 08, 2024

    Apple's Cited Rulings Just Cement Old Precedent, Epic Says

    What Apple contends are new rulings from a California appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court are really just affirmations of existing precedent that change nothing about the injunction blocking the iPhone maker's rules against steering users to alternative payment systems, Epic Games has told a California federal judge.

  • November 08, 2024

    Ill. AG Strikes $11M Deal With DoorDash Over Driver Tips

    DoorDash has agreed to pay $11.25 million to resolve a lawsuit accusing it of violating Illinois consumer protection law by misrepresenting to its users that drivers would keep 100% of their tips, according to a consent decree reached with the state.

  • November 08, 2024

    NFT Buyers Drop OpenSea Suit In Face Of Arbitration Demand

    Users of nonfungible token platform OpenSea have dropped their proposed securities class action after the NFT marketplace held firm on its demand that the claims be arbitrated.

  • November 08, 2024

    Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

    The Federal Communications Commission heard from advocates nearly 170 times in October on issues ranging from expanded use of the 6 gigahertz airwaves to programming "blackouts," satellite spectrum sharing, competition in video distribution, and more.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Lets Plaintiffs Drop Kroger Pain Patch Suit

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday allowed two customers who sued supermarket chain Kroger over the effectiveness of lidocaine patches to ditch their class claims after he denied certification last month, and ultimately dismiss the individual claims with prejudice.

  • November 08, 2024

    Investors Duped By Opportunity Zone Promises, Colo. Says

    Colorado's securities commissioner accused a California businessman on Thursday of selling investors on a project ostensibly meant to purchase single-family homes using a federal program for revitalizing economically distressed areas, while instead using company assets as a "personal piggy bank."

  • November 08, 2024

    Orrick Gets Final OK On $8M Deal To End Data Breach Case

    A California federal judge granted final approval Friday to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's $8 million deal to end putative class claims over a data breach that purportedly exposed 638,000 individuals' information, praising the parties for their "efficiency" in handling the case and "good faith" approach to reaching a resolution.

  • November 08, 2024

    Special Master Recommends $7.8M For Flint Plaintiffs' Attys

    A Special Master has recommended that attorneys representing plaintiffs in the Flint Water Crisis litigation receive $7.8 million in fees for their role in securing a $25 million settlement with Veolia North America finalized last month.

  • November 08, 2024

    Mark Zuckerberg Beats Liability In Social Media MDL

    A California federal judge dismissed claims against Mark Zuckerberg in multidistrict litigation alleging Meta concealed social media's risks to young users, finding that plaintiffs failed to show Zuckerberg directly participated in or authorized the alleged concealment despite his control over the company.

  • November 08, 2024

    FCC Will Investigate Racially Offensive Text Messages

    The Federal Communications Commission will investigate reports of racially offensive text message campaigns across numerous states, the agency's chief said Friday.

  • November 08, 2024

    Conn. AG Building Abortion Rights 'Firewall' With Firms' Help

    Connecticut's Democratic attorney general has joined a multistate partnership with a pro-choice nonprofit and law firms including Silver Golub & Teitell LLP and Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder PC as part of what he described Friday as a "firewall" to protect abortion access during a second Trump administration.

  • November 07, 2024

    Ex-Celsius CEO OK'd To Seek Testimony From Abroad

    A New York federal judge Thursday gave former Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky the green light to seek deposition testimony from witnesses reading abroad that he claims is crucial to his defense, but declined to narrow the case against the founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency-lending platform. 

  • November 07, 2024

    OpenAI Beats Copyright Suit By 2 News Websites, For Now

    OpenAI preliminarily escaped one of the many copyright suits it's facing from journalism publishers on Thursday, as a New York federal judge found that two alternative news websites didn't sufficiently allege harm from the removal of author information in ChatGPT training sets.

  • November 07, 2024

    Valve Says Atty Ignoring, Threatening Gamers In Antitrust Row

    Valve Corp. has urged a Washington federal judge to grant it permission to directly contact game buyers whom the gaming marketplace company is suing to block them from continuing to arbitrate their antitrust claims, saying some gamers want out of arbitration, but their counsel at Bucher Law PLLC is not responsive to their queries.

  • November 07, 2024

    Ex-Natera VP Defends Ad Campaign Against Rival Guardant

    A former Natera Inc. marketing vice president defended the company Thursday in a false advertising case launched by Guardant Health Inc., testifying that there was a sales and marketing campaign against Guardant's Reveal colorectal cancer test, but its aim was to address Guardant's "misleading" claims.

  • November 07, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says Tainted Bayer Antifungals Clearly 'Worth Less'

    Four of the nine named plaintiffs in a proposed class action over Bayer's 2021 recall of potentially benzene-tainted antifungal sprays can revive their claims against the company on the grounds that they'd paid for an effectively worthless product, a Third Circuit panel ruled Thursday.

  • November 07, 2024

    Wash. Gov.-Elect Outlines Plan To Resist Less 'Sloppy' Trump

    As Washington attorney general, Bob Ferguson said he thwarted policies during a "sloppy" first Trump presidency, including blocking an immigration travel ban. And on Thursday, Ferguson, who becomes governor in January, said he is leaving an office well-equipped for a potential round two of litigation with an emboldened and potentially more disciplined Trump administration.

  • November 07, 2024

    Flagstar Customer Asks 6th Circ. To Revive Overdraft Fee Suit

    A Flagstar Bank customer has urged the Sixth Circuit to revive her class claims alleging the bank charged surprise overdraft fees, arguing that a Michigan district court failed to follow the "settled rules" dictating that ambiguous contract terms should be interpreted against the drafter.

  • November 07, 2024

    9th Circ. Finds No Jurisdiction In LG Chem Battery Suit

    The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a suit against LG Chem Ltd. over a lithium-ion battery used in an e-cigarette that allegedly burned a California man, finding that the lower court was correct in holding that it had no jurisdiction over the case.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Credibility Lessons Trial Attys Can Learn From Harris' Run

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    In launching a late-stage campaign for president, Vice President Kamala Harris must seize upon fresh attention from voters to establish, or reestablish, credibility — a challenge that parallels and provides takeaways for trial attorneys, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Opinion

    A Fuzzy Label With Bite: FTC Must Define Surveillance Pricing

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    The Federal Trade Commission recently issued orders to eight companies — including Mastercard, McKinsey and Chase — seeking information on "surveillance pricing," but the order doesn't explain the term or make the distinction between legal and illegal practices, leaving any company that uses personalized pricing in the dark, says Chris Wlach at Huge.

  • Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools

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    A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.

  • How States Are Approaching AI Workplace Discrimination

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    As legislators across the U.S. have begun addressing algorithmic discrimination in the workplace, attorneys at Reed Smith provide an overview of the status, applicability and provisions of 13 state and local bills.

  • A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President

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    For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Opinion

    Big Oil Climate Ruling Sets Dangerous Liability Precedent

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    The recent Maryland court dismissal of Baltimore's case seeking to hold BP responsible for climate damage mischaracterized the city's injuries as divorced from the conduct that caused them, and could allow companies that conceal the dangers of their products to escape liability, says Randall Abate at George Washington University Law School.

  • DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • What To Know About CFPB Stance On Confidentiality Terms

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    A recent circular from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a growing effort across government agencies to address overbroad confidentiality agreements, and gives employers insight into the bureau's perspective on the issue as it relates to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, say Holly Williamson and Elizabeth King at Hunton.

  • Opinion

    3rd. Circ. Got It Right On Cancer Warning Claims Preemption

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    The Third Circuit's recent, eminently sensible ruling in a failure-to-warn case against Roundup manufacturer Monsanto, holding that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts state law claims, provides a road map that other courts should adopt, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions

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    Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.

  • 5 Ways To Confront Courtroom Technology Challenges

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    Recent cybersecurity incidents highlight the vulnerabilities of our reliance on digital infrastructure, meaning attorneys must be prepared to navigate technological obstacles inside the courtroom, including those related to data security, presentation hardware, video playback and more, says Adam Bloomberg at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

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