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Consumer Protection
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July 23, 2024
Knives Out For Another Pro-Agency Landmark After Chevron
Only weeks after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives took a hatchet to the judicial deference shown to federal agencies, right-leaning lawyers are imploring the justices to rock the administrative law realm again by gutting a New Deal-era precedent at the heart of the modern regulatory system.
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July 23, 2024
Kroger And Colo. Talks To Avoid Merger Hearing Stall Out
Negotiations between Kroger Co. and Colorado enforcers to avoid an injunction hearing in the state's challenge to a $24 billion merger with Albertsons appeared to have stalled, prompting the grocers Tuesday to pitch a state judge on other options to avoid the fast-approaching proceeding.
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July 23, 2024
'Not Doing Enough': Banks Grilled Over Zelle Fraud, Scams
Senate Democrats on Tuesday confronted bank executives over a new staff report that found three of the nation's largest banks have declined to reimburse customers in recent years for close to $900 million in payments reported as fraudulent or scam-related that were sent on Zelle, the largest U.S. peer-to-peer payment platform.
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July 23, 2024
FTC Won't Delay Challenge To Handbag Merger Either
The Federal Trade Commission has declined to pause its administrative challenge to the $8.5 billion handbag merger between the owners of Coach and Michael Koors, saying that even a district court refusal to temporarily enjoin the merger might not end the FTC's in-house case.
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July 23, 2024
Cannabis Industry Stakeholders Weigh In On Rescheduling
As the period for public comment on the Biden administration's proposal to reclassify marijuana came to a close Monday, anti-legalization activists, marijuana industry advocates and state cannabis regulators each submitted their thoughts on the potential policy shift.
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July 23, 2024
X's Tesla Ties Could Require Judge's Recusal, Watchdog Says
Elon Musk's X Corp. wants to avoid disclosing its financial links with Tesla in the social media company's defamation lawsuit against Media Matters for America because the Texas federal judge overseeing the case likely holds Tesla stock and would need to recuse himself, the progressive media watchdog said.
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July 23, 2024
EPA Must Ban PFAS In Pesticides, Environmental Groups Say
Farmer advocacy groups and environmentalists urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to flex its regulatory muscles and prohibit the use of pesticide formulas and containers made with so-called forever chemicals, according to a petition that says the agency is doing little to address the issue.
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July 23, 2024
Nigeria Fines Meta $220M Over WhatsApp Privacy Policy
Nigerian regulators have hit Meta with a $220 million fine over alleged privacy and antitrust violations and ordered the company to stop sharing WhatsApp users' data with advertisers without express permission, the culmination of a nearly three-year-long investigative process.
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July 23, 2024
Microsoft Calls FTC Price Hike Claims 'Misleading' At 9th Circ
Microsoft pushed back against the Federal Trade Commission's contention that an increase in the company's gaming subscription pricing is evidence of the anticompetitive effects of the software giant's $68.7 billion acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard Inc., calling the commission out for trying to "reinvent" its case against the merger on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
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July 23, 2024
Laser Sights Not 'Arms,' Judge Rules, Backing Chicago Ban
An Illinois federal judge Monday upheld the constitutionality of Chicago's laser sight ban and refused to entertain a resident's "eleventh-hour request" to pursue nominal damages, ending the 14-year-old case.
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July 23, 2024
US, UK, EU Antitrust Enforcers Outline AI Principles
The top antitrust officials from the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission and the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority presented a unified international commitment Tuesday to closely monitor artificial intelligence technology and the companies that they warned could wield AI anticompetitively.
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July 23, 2024
Wash. AG Says 'Abortion Reversal' Clinic's Suit Still Deficient
Washington state's attorney general said Monday an anti-abortion clinic group being investigated for marketing an "abortion reversal pill" cannot blame his two-year-old document demands for a recent insurance rate hike, pushing a Tacoma federal judge to reject the group's legal effort to shield itself from future consumer protection enforcement.
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July 23, 2024
Madonna Tells DC Judge Late Show Suit Already Failed In NY
Madonna and venue management company Monumental Sports & Entertainment asked a D.C. federal judge to toss a lawsuit claiming that the pop singer kept concert attendees waiting for hours before taking the stage in Washington, D.C., saying the proposed class action should fare no better than a similar suit in New York that was dropped last month.
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July 23, 2024
FTC Attys On Kroger Case Get Extensions After IT Outage
The administrative law judge overseeing the Federal Trade Commission's in-house challenge to Kroger and Albertsons' $25 billion merger has given the agency and the grocery behemoths two extra days on a couple of filing deadlines after the FTC said the worldwide Microsoft outage left several counsel laptops unusable.
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July 23, 2024
EPA Tells 5th Circ. Louisiana Can't Stall Chemical Regulation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Fifth Circuit cannot decide whether a Louisiana regulator can give a neoprene maker an extra two years to comply with a federal chemical rule because the issue is already before the D.C. Circuit.
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July 23, 2024
Yamaha Sinks Defective WaveRunner Watercraft Suit
An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday threw out a proposed class action alleging Yamaha Motor Corp. USA sold WaveRunner-brand personal watercraft with defective fuel gauges and trip computers, saying the complaint fails to properly allege a breach of warranty or fraud.
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July 23, 2024
Optum Can Arbitrate Calif. Healthcare Provider's Antitrust Suit
A California federal judge Tuesday ordered certain Emanate Health entities who signed hospital services and physician agreements with Optum to arbitrate their antitrust suit accusing it of monopolizing a primary care physician market, finding the agreements encompass rules that say issues of arbitrability will be referred to an arbitrator.
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July 23, 2024
CFPB Sued Over Its Probe Of Lease-To-Own Fintech Co.
Lease-to-own fintech company Acima has accused the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of trying to overextend its authority with an unconstitutional investigation into the company's transactions that fall outside the bureau's purview.
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July 23, 2024
House Panel Weighs New Rail Safety Regs After East Palestine
The fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year has created new urgency for strengthening federal standards for tank car designs, rail safety technology, track inspection protocols and classifying hazardous materials-carrying trains, industry experts told a House subcommittee Tuesday.
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July 23, 2024
Indonesian National Admits To $23M Ponzi Scheme
An Indonesian national pled guilty in New York federal court on Tuesday to conspiring to defraud a group of investors out of $23 million through a Ponzi scheme, ultimately spending the money on luxury goods and real estate.
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July 23, 2024
Fiat Chrysler Escapes Damages, But Defect Finding Stands
Fiat Chrysler doesn't owe anything to consumers who sued it over allegedly faulty automatic head restraints in its vehicles, a Florida federal judge ruled, affirming a Fort Lauderdale jury's determination, but he declined to give the automaker a total win because it did violate the state's unfair trade law.
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July 23, 2024
General Mills Settles 2012 Suit Over 'All Natural' Kix Cereal
Consumers have reached a settlement with General Mills Inc. to resolve a 2012 suit alleging it lied about Kix cereal being "all natural" even though it contains bioengineered ingredients, according to a New Jersey federal court order.
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July 23, 2024
Funds Say Boeing Can't Ditch 737 Max Securities Suit
Pension funds leading a proposed securities fraud suit against Boeing have fired back at the airline manufacturer's attempt to dismiss allegations that it misled investors about the safety of its 737 Max jets, saying the suit sufficiently showcases how missteps by Boeing's top brass diminished shareholder value.
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July 23, 2024
Biz Groups Form Lobby Effort To Fight FCC Bulk Billing Rules
Bulk billing agreements are often a boon for people living in apartment buildings and condos, according to a new coalition made up of multifamily housing organizations and a cable trade group, which was formed to push the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider banning such arrangements.
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July 23, 2024
Capital One Card Holders Sue To Block Discover Merger
Capital One credit card holders launched a proposed class action seeking to block the company's $35 billion purchase of Discover Monday, claiming the acquisition will drive down competition and further consolidate the already-concentrated credit card market.
Expert Analysis
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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3 Areas Of Enforcement Risk Facing The EV Industry
Companies in the EV manufacturing ecosystem are experiencing a boom in business, but with this boom comes increased regulatory and enforcement risks, from the corruption issues that have historically pervaded the extractive sector to newer risks posed by artificial intelligence, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Nat'l Security Considerations For Telecom Products Counsel
An increase in federal national security measures in the telecommunications space, particularly from the Federal Communications Commission, means that products counsel need to broaden their considerations as they advise on new products and services, says Laura Stefani at Venable.
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Chevron's End Puts Target On CFPB's Aggressive BNPL Rule
A recent interpretative rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, subjecting buy-now, pay-later loans to the same regulations as credit cards, is unlikely to survive post-Chevron challenges of the rule's partisan and shaky logic, say Scott Pearson and Bryan Schneider at Manatt.
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Boeing Plea Deal Is A Mixed Bag, Providing Lessons For Cos.
The plea deal for conspiracy to defraud regulators that Boeing has tentatively agreed to will, on the one hand, probably help the company avoid further reputational damage, but also demonstrates to companies that deferred prosecution agreements have real teeth, and that noncompliance with DPA terms can be costly, says Edmund Vickers at Red Lion Chambers.
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Unpacking The Increasingly Popular Fair Credit Billing Act
The Fair Credit Billing Act is receiving increased attention from regulators and consumers disputing credit card charges, so creditors should understand its procedural requirements — including the law's focus on the mechanics of a dispute and its potential to create civil liability, say David Gettings and Courtney Hitchcock at Troutman Pepper.
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Takeaways From EU's Initial Findings On Apple's App Store
A deep dive into the European Commission's recent preliminary findings that Apple's App Store rules are in breach of the Digital Markets Act reveal that enforcement of the EU's Big Tech law might go beyond the literal text of the regulation and more toward the spirit of compliance, say William Dolan and Pratik Agarwal at Rule Garza.
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2 Rulings Serve As Conversion Fee Warnings For Banks
A comparison of the different outcomes in Wright v. Capital One in a Virginia federal court, and in Guerrero v. Bank of America in a North Carolina federal court, highlights how banks must be careful in describing how currency exchange fees and charges are determined in their customer agreements, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.
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Expect CFPB To Enforce Warning Against 'Coercive' Fine Print
The recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning against unenforceable terms "deceptively" slipped into the fine print of contracts will likely be challenged in court, but until then, companies should expect the agency to treat its guidance as law and must carefully scrutinize their consumer contracts, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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Loss Causation Ruling Departs From Usual Securities Cases
A California federal court recently dismissed Ramos v. Comerica, finding that the allegations failed to establish loss causation, but the reasoning is in tension with the pleading-stage approaches generally followed by both courts and economists in securities fraud litigation, say Jesse Jensen and Aasiya Glover at Bernstein Litowitz.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed
A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
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Series
After Chevron: Impact On CFPB May Be Limited
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is likely to have a limited impact on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's regulatory activities, and for those who value due process, consistency and predictability in consumer financial services regulation, this may be a good thing, says John Coleman at Orrick.