Consumer Protection

  • April 10, 2024

    Cadence Bank Sued Over Numerous Out-Of-Network Fees

    Texas-based Cadence Bank has been hit with a proposed class action accusing it of imposing multiple fees on customers who check their account balances when withdrawing cash from out-of-network ATMs.

  • April 10, 2024

    Dubious Merger Bid? 'Find A Different Deal,' DOJ Official Says

    A U.S. Department of Justice antitrust official on Wednesday stood by the hardline Biden-era stance against most merger clearance settlements, saying that companies coming forward with potentially problematic transactions should rethink doing the deals at all or at least come with strong upfront divestiture proposals.

  • April 10, 2024

    FDIC Details Prep For Winding Down Failing Financial Giants

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Wednesday laid out its most comprehensive overview to date of how it would seek to resolve a failing U.S. banking giant, a scenario that would make use of as-yet untested authorities put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.

  • April 10, 2024

    FCC Urged To Wait For BEAD Fund Awards Before 5G Auction

    Small, independent cable providers want the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on a rural 5G development auction until the U.S. Department of Commerce completes its massive award of high-speed internet build-out funds.

  • April 10, 2024

    Settlements Prompt SC Cheer Abuse Case Dismissal

    Four suits levying sexual abuse allegations against competitive cheerleading's power brokers have been tossed from South Carolina federal court as a series of settlements have shifted the focus of the litigation from corporate giants to individual gyms and coaches.

  • April 10, 2024

    Rural Project Winners Say 'Harsh' Realities Justify Amnesty

    Internet service providers that faced skyrocketing costs as they sought to complete federally backed broadband projects are again calling for limited relief from Federal Communications Commission penalties and a shot at future funding.

  • April 10, 2024

    DeFi Platform Uniswap Discloses SEC Enforcement Notice

    The firm behind decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap said on Wednesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had notified the firm that it may soon face an enforcement case.

  • April 10, 2024

    GOP Senators Ask 5th Circ. To Ax School Bus Wi-Fi

    Seven Republican senators are backing a Fifth Circuit challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's plan to subsidize school bus Wi-Fi, saying the government shouldn't be funding children's unsupervised internet access on the way to and from school.

  • April 10, 2024

    Merger Notification Overhaul 'Pretty Close,' DOJ Official Says

    A senior U.S. Department of Justice antitrust official predicted Wednesday that the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission are likely just weeks away from issuing the final version of a major overhaul to the filing requirements of companies notifying mergers to the agencies.

  • April 10, 2024

    Past Violations To Get Close Eye With New Merger Filing Rules

    Changes proposed to Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice merger reporting requirements would impose significant document submission obligations on merging parties, such as past violations of antitrust and labor law, practitioners and an agency deputy said Wednesday.

  • April 10, 2024

    Activists Can't Show LexisNexis Violated Ill. Consumer Law

    Activists were unable to convince an Illinois federal court that LexisNexis Risk Solutions Inc. had violated an Illinois consumer protection law by collecting and selling personal information to immigration and other law enforcement agencies, with the court saying the data was not private.

  • April 10, 2024

    GM Hit With Class Action Over 'Shift-To-Park' Defect

    General Motors vehicles have a defect that prevents vehicles from detecting when they are in park, stopping drivers from shutting off or locking the vehicle and causing batteries to drain, a proposed class of drivers alleged in a new suit Tuesday.

  • April 10, 2024

    Chase, Zelle Can Arbitrate Stolen-Funds Reimbursement Case

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday granted Chase Bank and Zelle's request to arbitrate customer claims they acted negligently and violated consumer protection laws by refusing to refund stolen funds, with the judge saying that relevant virtual terms of service required by Chase are valid, and that Zelle may enforce the agreement as a third-party beneficiary.

  • April 10, 2024

    Biden's Student Loan Relief Plan Is Unlawful, States Say

    A coalition of states have sued the Biden administration over a student loan forgiveness program that's set to kick in this summer, alleging in a Missouri federal lawsuit that the plan sidesteps statutory authority and will unduly cost taxpayers nearly $500 billion.

  • April 10, 2024

    EPA Finalizes First-Ever PFAS Drinking Water Standards

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced the final version of its first-ever regulatory limits on "forever chemicals" in drinking water, a move the EPA said will be accompanied by nearly $1 billion in new funding for implementation.

  • April 09, 2024

    Men Agree To Pay $1M For Robocalls Targeting Black Voters

    A pair of conservative conspiracy theorists have agreed to collectively pay $1 million to resolve litigation stemming from their robocall campaign that spread lies about voting by mail to Black voters ahead of the 2020 election, according to a consent decree filed Monday in New York federal court.

  • April 09, 2024

    After Uproar, New MDL Rule Advances With Attys Assuaged

    Following years of debate and months of outcry, a judicial panel Tuesday approved the first formal rule aimed at improving efficiency and fairness in the nation's burgeoning realm of multidistrict litigation, earning plaudits from placated lawyers in the defense and plaintiffs bars.

  • April 09, 2024

    5th Circ. Asks For Briefing Amid Scrutiny Of Judge's Citi Stock

    The Fifth Circuit has ordered additional briefing in a banking industry-backed legal challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late-fee rule amid questions that have been raised about a potential conflict of interest involving a circuit court judge on the case.

  • April 09, 2024

    Crypto Booster Says $1B SEC Fraud Suit Offends Free Speech

    The crypto founder known as Richard Heart told a federal judge in Brooklyn on Tuesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission violated his and others' free speech rights when it brought a case accusing him of selling $1 billion worth of unregistered digital asset securities across his projects and misappropriating customer assets.

  • April 09, 2024

    Calif. AG Backs Bill To Revamp 'Abysmal' Corporate Penalties

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta gave his full support Tuesday to a state bill that would increase the cap on criminal penalties for corporate malfeasance from the "abysmal penalty" of $10,000 per felony to $25 million, or twice the value of the inflicted loss, and provide all proceeds to California's crime victim services.

  • April 09, 2024

    Philips, Feds Enter Consent Decree Over Sleep Apnea Devices

    Philips Respironics can't make sleep apnea breathing machines until it hires an independent monitor, undergoes inspections and meets its obligations under a plan to remediate patients affected by a 2021 recall of such devices, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday.

  • April 09, 2024

    What's In The Norfolk Southern $600M Derailment Deal

    Last year's fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, reached a litigation milestone Tuesday with the disaster's first major settlement, a proposed $600 million deal with nearby residents and businesses, but the rail giant must still contend with a federal investigation and other lawsuits.

  • April 09, 2024

    Pfizer Cancer Drug Way Too Expensive, Biden Told

    The U.S. government is being asked yet again to use patent laws to lower the price of a prostate cancer drug that was developed at UCLA and is being sold by Pfizer for $136 a pill in the U.S.

  • April 09, 2024

    FDIC Beats Industry Group's Challenge To NSF Fee Guidance

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation no longer faces a bank industry group's suit alleging its guidance on nonsufficient funds fees violated federal law after a Minnesota federal judge found the group put "the cart before the horse" in presuming certain FDIC guidance would be binding.

  • April 09, 2024

    Dole Escapes Fruit Snack False Ad Suit, For Now

    A California federal judge has tossed a proposed class action accusing Dole Packaged Foods LLC of falsely labeling its fruit snacks as nutritious and healthy when the products are filled with sugar, saying the challenged statements are "puffery."

Expert Analysis

  • How 4 State AGs Are Shaping Data Privacy Compliance

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    As the landscape of state data privacy laws continues to grow across the nation, understanding how state attorneys general — such as in California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia — are thinking about these laws is critical to begin forecasting how enforcement will play out, say Michelle Kallen and Daniel Echeverri at Jenner & Block.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

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    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Securities Class Actions Show No Signs of Slowing In 2024

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    Plaintiffs asserted securities class actions at elevated levels in 2023 — a sign that filings will remain high in the year ahead — as they switched gears to target companies that allegedly have failed to anticipate supply chain disruptions, persistent inflation, rising interest rates and other macroeconomic headwinds, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Top Considerations For Retailers Using AI To Combat Theft

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement action against Rite Aid indicates a significant evolution in the landscape surrounding biometric information and artificial intelligence data collection by retailers, meaning retailers should take reasonable measures to prevent harm to customers, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Major EU AI Banking Ruling Will Reverberate Across Sectors

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    Following the European Court of Justice's recent OQ v. Land Hessen decision that banks' use of AI-driven credit scores to make consumer decisions did not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, regulators indicated that the ruling would apply broadly, leaving numerous industries that employ AI-powered decisions open to scrutiny, say lawyers at Alston & Bird.

  • ESG Concerns Can No Longer Be Ignored In 2024

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    While the long wait for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ESG rule continues, government attention to regulations, increased litigation efforts and shareholder resolutions seeking transparency highlight the importance of placing an emphasis on ESG considerations, say attorneys at Wollmuth Maher.

  • CFPB As Pay App Watchdog May Invite More Fintech Regs

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    While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to enhance federal oversight of the biggest consumer payment applications would impose no new regulatory obligations, the rulemaking could provoke heightened scrutiny for all participants in the digital payments market, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Emerging Risks Affecting The Tech Legal Landscape

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    The tech industry has become a battleground for various legal challenges shaped by geopolitical events, partisan politics, regulatory initiatives, patent disputes and class action trends, but companies can adopt several proactive legal strategies to safeguard their interests, say Natasha Allen and Louis Lehot at Foley & Lardner.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024

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    Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come

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    The legal landscape of consumer reporting is evolving as courts, federal regulators and state legislatures continue to weigh in — and while last year may have seen a slight downtick in the overall volume of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, 2024 is set to be a watershed year for this area of the law, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Breaking Down The New FCC Lead Generation Rules

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    The Federal Communications Commission's new rules to close the so-called lead generator robocall and robotexts loophole herald a transformative halt to the traditional lead generation industry, necessitating the development of entirely new marketplace solutions to align with the impending compliance requirements, says Alexis Buese at Bradley Arant.

  • What To Know About FCA Cybersecurity Enforcement

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    Now is a good time for practitioners, government contractors and potential relators to review recent developments in cybersecurity-related False Claims Act enforcement, and consider best practices for navigating this space in the new year, say Ellen London at London & Stout, and Li Yu and Molly Knobler at DiCello Levitt.

  • 8 Privacy Law Predictions For 2024

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    As the new year begins, looking back to several of last year's privacy law developments may help companies forecast what to focus on when updating their privacy programs, including children's privacy, so-called dark patterns and the collection of data by connected cars, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • What One Litigator Learned Serving On A Jury

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    Kilpatrick attorney April Isaacson shares insights for trial lawyers from her recent experience serving on a jury for the first time, including lessons about the impact of frequent sidebars, considerations for using demonstratives, the importance of clear jury instructions, and the unconscious habits that can drive jurors mad.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    As 2023 came to an end, we continued to see developments in California that are certain to have an impact on the financial services industry in 2024, including the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's request for comments on the state's new digital asset law and the state's continued enforcement actions against debt collectors, say Jennifer Olivestone and Juan Azel at Winston & Strawn.

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