Consumer Protection

  • July 11, 2024

    Sens. Say AI Fuels Need For Data Privacy Law But Fail To Act

    Members of a key U.S. Senate committee Thursday largely agreed that companies' growing efforts to amass private information to fuel artificial intelligence technologies are accelerating the need for a federal data privacy framework, but they failed to make progress on a bipartisan proposal opposed by the committee's top Republican.

  • July 11, 2024

    Sens. Pitch COPIED Act To Fight AI-Content, Empower Artists

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation dubbed the COPIED Act on Thursday to fight the growth of AI-generated "deepfakes," proposing a framework that would give journalists and artists control over their work via a watermarking process and allow them to sue those who use their work without permission.

  • July 11, 2024

    TikTok's Bid For Users' Device Data Found Overbroad

    A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in multidistrict litigation over claims that social media is addictive denied TikTok's request Thursday for "full" forensic images of all personal devices bellwether plaintiffs used to access its platform, telling defense counsel that he's concerned about the "overbreadth" of the request and privacy issues.

  • July 11, 2024

    Tempur Sealy, Mattress Firm Blast FTC's Merger Challenge

    Tempur Sealy and Mattress Firm fired back at the Federal Trade Commission's bid to block a proposed merger between the mattress companies, contending in separate filings that the FTC's ambiguous allegations require tossing the agency's administrative complaint.

  • July 11, 2024

    Kroger Asks To Delay At Least Part Of FTC Challenge

    Kroger and Albertsons are asking an administrative law judge from the Federal Trade Commission to pause the evidentiary portion of the agency's in-house case against the supermarket giants' merger, saying the companies are facing too many overlapping cases in different venues to adequately prepare and present their case.

  • July 11, 2024

    Disney Beats Suit Over Post-Pandemic Park Pass Restrictions

    A Florida federal judge Thursday tossed a lawsuit accusing Disney World of cheating customers who held pricey "Platinum" passes for its Sunshine State parks by imposing new restrictions on their use after the pandemic hit, saying the two women who sued could have canceled their passes and received a refund.

  • July 11, 2024

    Apple Ducks iPhone Web App Antitrust Suit, For Now

    Consumers will have to rejigger their proposed antitrust class action alleging Apple anticompetitively prevents iPhones from running web-based apps that don't need to be downloaded, after a California federal judge said Thursday that they've failed to show a conspiracy or connect the dots from company rules to customer injury.

  • July 11, 2024

    Customers Want Domino's Kept In BIPA Voiceprint Suit

    Domino's Pizza customers told an Illinois federal judge Wednesday that the chain's corporate parent should face their lawsuit over the state's biometric privacy law, saying Domino's can't shield itself given the "unusually high degree of control" it has over the subsidiaries that ultimately own the restaurants they ordered from.

  • July 11, 2024

    7th Circ. Revives CFPB's Lender Redlining Suit

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be allowed to pursue claims that a mortgage lender illegally disparaged majority-Black neighborhoods, the Seventh Circuit said Thursday, finding the agency was empowered to enforce violations against prospective borrowers.

  • July 11, 2024

    Attys Say Milberg Must Pay For Fraud In Visa, Mastercard MDL

    Class counsel representing plaintiffs in long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees have called for sanctions against Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman LLC, laying out arguments for a fee reimbursement after the firm admitted to mistakenly registering fraudulent clients.

  • July 11, 2024

    Calif. Nabs $50M Deal With Oil Traders In Gas Price-Rigging Suit

    California secured a $50 million settlement with oil trading companies Vitol and SK Energy, resolving allegations that the companies schemed to artificially inflate gas prices in the Golden State after an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery exploded in 2015, California's attorney general announced Wednesday.

  • July 11, 2024

    Legal Foundation Urges Justices To Limit RICO's Civil Scope

    The Washington Legal Foundation on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Second Circuit decision allowing a trucker to sue three CBD companies under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, saying the circuit court ignored RICO's structure and purpose.

  • July 11, 2024

    FERC 'Waiting For Me To Die' With Late Order, Utility Atty Says

    Counsel for the Louisiana Public Service Commission told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is "waiting for me to die" as it delays issuing a compliance order to System Energy Resources Inc., saying the agency was doing irreparable harm to consumers.

  • July 11, 2024

    Oil Giants Defeat City Of Baltimore's Climate Change Claims

    A Maryland judge has dismissed Baltimore's suit seeking climate change-related damages from oil companies including Chevron, Exxon and BP, ruling that the city's claims stem from a global phenomenon and thus are "beyond the limits of Maryland state law."

  • July 11, 2024

    Premium Baby Bottles Leach Microplastics, Suit Says

    A proposed class action filed against Newell Brands Inc. this week alleges that the company's Nuk brand of baby bottles, advertised as BPA-free, are, in fact, prone to leaching millions of particles of microplastics through routine use.

  • July 11, 2024

    Feds Seek Input On 37 GHz Sharing Plans

    Federal regulators intend to ask for the public's input in August about a possible revamp of the lower 37 gigahertz airwaves, the U.S. Department of Commerce said.

  • July 11, 2024

    ISP Group Says FCC Remote Learning Plan On Shaky Ground

    Internet service providers say the Federal Communications Commision needs to revisit a proposal to fund Wi-Fi hot spots for students after the U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned the Chevron doctrine, which gave wide judicial deference to agencies.

  • July 11, 2024

    Media Matters Fights Texas AG's Bid To Revive X Probe

    Media Matters for America is urging the D.C. Circuit to keep intact a court order prohibiting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from investigating the media watchdog over its reporting about the social media platform X, asserting that the D.C. courts are the correct place to litigate the "retaliatory" probe.

  • July 11, 2024

    Frontier Communications Fined $2.5M Over Quality Standards

    Connecticut's utility regulator has ordered Frontier Communications to pay nearly $2.5 million in penalties after finding that the company repeatedly violated mandates for maintenance, repair of service problems and filing reports with the state dating back to 2015.

  • July 11, 2024

    Top NC Legal Industry Legislation Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    North Carolina lawmakers have instituted a streamlined process for state business court filings and are eying controls on attorney fees for debt collection lawsuits. Another closely watched measure eases the discipline process for attorneys with the expansion of records access and the ability to expunge certain ethics transgressions.

  • July 11, 2024

    Hershey, Walgreens Sued For 'One Chip Challenge' Death

    The Hershey Co. and its businesses that created and negligently marketed the "One Chip Challenge" to eat an ultra-spicy tortilla chip are responsible for the wrongful death of a Massachusetts 14-year-old, whose death coincided with the product being pulled from the shelves, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the boy's mother.

  • July 11, 2024

    Paxos Says SEC Won't Bring Case Over Binance Stablecoin

    Crypto trust company Paxos said Thursday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told the firm it won't face an enforcement action over its issuance of crypto exchange Binance's stablecoin, BUSD.

  • July 11, 2024

    Fiat Chrysler Says Exploding Minivan MDL Still Lacks Detail

    A Stellantis unit has asked a federal judge in Michigan to significantly pare back multidistrict litigation over a risk of spontaneous explosion in certain Chrysler plug-in hybrid minivans, arguing that many drivers' state claims are stale or are otherwise legally flawed.

  • July 11, 2024

    Calif. Customers Sue Toyota Over Hydrogen Fuel Scarcity

    Toyota customers in California have slapped the automaker with a proposed class action complaint, saying the scarcity of hydrogen fuel available for their Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles has rendered them "unsafe, unreliable and inoperable."

  • July 11, 2024

    GM's $50M Faulty Fuel Pump Deal Gets Early OK

    A Michigan federal judge on Thursday indicated he would give the initial approval to a $50 million settlement to end class claims that General Motors LLC sold trucks with faulty fuel pumps, clearing the way for GM to drop a Sixth Circuit appeal. 

Expert Analysis

  • Realtor Settlement May Create New Antitrust Pitfalls

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    Following a recent antitrust settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers, practices are set to change and the increased competition may benefit both brokers and homebuyers, but the loss of the customary method of buyer broker compensation could lead to new antitrust concerns, says Colin Ahler at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

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    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Preparing For CFPB 'Junk Fee' Push Into Mortgage Industry

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers expanding its "junk fee" initiative into mortgage closing costs, mortgage lenders and third parties must develop plans now that anticipate potential rulemaking or enforcement activity in this space, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Opportunities For Change In FHFA Practices

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine should lead to better cooperation between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Congress, and may give the FHFA a chance to embrace transparency and innovation and promote sustainable housing practices, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

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    In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    NC Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    After federal banking agencies last quarter released a supplemental final rule updating the Community Reinvestment Act, North Carolina banks involved in community development should consider how the new rule might open up opportunities for investment and services that can benefit underserved areas, says Adam Goldblatt at Michael Best.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Series

    After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC

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    The Chevron doctrine did not fundamentally alter the interplay between the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the development of the securities and commodities laws — and its demise will not do so either, says Dan Berkovitz at Millennium Management.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

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