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Consumer Protection
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October 31, 2025
4th Circ. Denies En Banc Review In Bestwall Ch. 11 Case
The Fourth Circuit on Thursday declined asbestos claimants' request for an en banc review of a panel ruling in a Georgia-Pacific LLC spinoff's Chapter 11 case, rejecting on an 8-6 vote an argument that the bankruptcy is a sham and blocks victims' access to justice.
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October 31, 2025
Bayer Investors Get Final OK For $38M Settlement, Atty Fees
A California federal judge has finalized a $38 million settlement between Germany-based Bayer AG and a class of investors who claim the company deceived them about the litigation risks of acquiring Roundup producer Monsanto, with the lead plaintiffs' attorney saying the deal reaffirmed investors' ability to hold foreign companies responsible for violating U.S. securities laws.
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October 31, 2025
1st Circ. Refuses To Transfer FCC Prison Phone Rate Case
The First Circuit declined Friday to move multidistrict litigation over prison phone rate caps to the Fifth Circuit, rejecting an argument from phone service providers.
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October 31, 2025
CFPB Union Sounds Alarm As Funding 'Approaches Zero'
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's employee union warned that the agency is on the verge of running out of money and called for its acting Director Russell Vought to immediately request additional funds from the Federal Reserve.
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October 31, 2025
OpenAI Opposes 'Cookie-Cutter' Google Search Fixes
OpenAI waded into the Justice Department's case against Google's search monopoly Friday to urge the D.C. federal judge to apply flexibility to mandates requiring Google to syndicate its search results to would-be rivals, arguing that permitting Google's more rigid "ten blue links" proposal would stifle "innovative uses."
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October 31, 2025
PVC Pipe Makers Say Price 'Conspiracy' Is 'Basic Economics'
Polyvinyl chloride pipe manufacturers facing antitrust claims over 2020 price increases have told an Illinois federal judge the purchaser plaintiffs have failed to plausibly show there was a per se price-fixing conspiracy, so their suit should be dismissed.
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October 31, 2025
NJ Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Ban Kratom Extract
A New Jersey state senator is looking to ban a kratom-derived compound, 7-hydroxymitragynine or 7-OH, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says should be highly restricted and is at the center of several proposed consumer class actions.
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October 31, 2025
Ed Dept. Pushing Millions Of Borrowers Into Default, Suit Says
The secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and three major credit bureaus were hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court for allegedly forcing millions of student loan borrowers into delinquency and default due to operational failures in loan servicing after the COVID-19 deferment period ended earlier this year.
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October 31, 2025
4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In October
Massachusetts state court judges in October dealt with missing details in a trade secrets case, missing lawyers in a proposed class action over COVID-19-related refund demands, and missing evidence during summary judgment proceedings.
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October 31, 2025
Federal Action Sought To Boost Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Federal officials need to update rules governing low Earth orbit satellites to allow the space-based communications industry to keep expanding at a time of rising congestion, according to a pair of think tanks.
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October 31, 2025
Gov't Shutdown Puts Pause On Firefighting Foam PFAS Suits
A South Carolina federal judge on Friday agreed to stay 22 cases in a multidistrict litigation seeking to hold the U.S. government liable for so-called forever chemical contamination from firefighting foam as the government shutdown continues.
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October 31, 2025
FCC Plans To Drop More Regs Covering 'Obsolete' Techs
When the Federal Communications Commission convenes for its monthly meeting in November, it will vote on a measure that would nix nearly two dozen more rules that the agency has deemed obsolete in one fell swoop.
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October 31, 2025
Students Defend Law School Application Fee Antitrust Suit
Plaintiffs in a proposed class action accusing the Law School Admission Council of fixing application fees with its member schools claim in a new filing their complaint is strong enough to survive a motion to dismiss.
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October 31, 2025
RealPage, Landlords Flag 'Fatal Deficiencies' In Antitrust Suit
Property management software company RealPage Inc. and multiple landlords are urging a New Jersey federal court to toss the state's rent price-fixing suit, arguing that the suit contains "fatal deficiencies" and that the state is relying on circumstantial evidence in its attempt to show that the defendants made anticompetitive agreements.
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October 30, 2025
Snowflake, Clients Can't Escape MDL Over Cloud Data Breach
Cloud storage provider Snowflake, along with its clients Ticketmaster and LendingTree, will continue to face sprawling multidistrict litigation over a data breach that hit Snowflake last year, after a Montana federal judge refused several bids to ax or force arbitration of negligence and other claims brought by a wide range of consumers who were impacted by the incident.
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October 30, 2025
Sling TV Settles Privacy Claims From Calif. Streaming Sweep
Sling TV has agreed to pay $530,000 to settle California's allegations that the streaming television service made it hard for consumers to stop the sale of their personal information and failed to provide sufficient privacy protections for children, California's attorney general announced Thursday.
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October 30, 2025
Lufthansa Must Face Same-Sex 'Outing' Suit, 9th Circ. Says
Deutsche Lufthansa AG cannot ground a same-sex couple's lawsuit accusing the German airline of outing their marriage to the Saudi Arabian government, a split Ninth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, saying there are enough strings tying the case to California to meet jurisdiction requirements.
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October 30, 2025
Philly Accuses PBMs Of Knowingly Enabling Opioid Crisis
Philadelphia on Thursday sued CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum, accusing the pharmacy benefit managers of contributing to the city's opioid epidemic via deceptive marketing and conspiring with drugmakers to increase the sale of OxyContin and other prescription opioids.
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October 30, 2025
Apple, Google Fight Bids To Depose CEOs In Antitrust Suit
Google LLC and nonparty Apple Inc. have fired back in California federal court on a proposed class of consumers' effort to depose Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in their antitrust case alleging Google suppressed rival search engines with anticompetitive deals.
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October 30, 2025
BetterHelp Wins Defense Costs From Insurer For Privacy Case
A California federal judge said a CNA Financial Corp. insurance unit must pay for BetterHelp's legal defense costs in underlying consumer litigation claiming the online therapy provider unlawfully disclosed private health information without consent, saying the timing of the alleged Electronic Communications Privacy Act violation triggered the duty to defend.
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October 30, 2025
Small Biz Groups Seek Quick Win In CFPB Lending Data Fight
A coalition of consumer-aligned advocacy groups is seeking summary judgment in Washington, D.C., federal court in their suit aiming to compel the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to implement a 15-year-old Congressional mandate to collect lending data for women- and minority-owned small businesses.
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October 30, 2025
Judge Says FCA Qui Tam Provisions Don't Violate Constitution
A Wisconsin federal judge has rejected Wisconsin Bell's attempt to shutter a whistleblower's claims it overcharged schools and libraries for connectivity services provided under the federal E-Rate program by arguing the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions are unconstitutional.
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October 30, 2025
Garden Supply Co. Faces Suit Claiming PFAS In Products
A gardening supply company was hit on Wednesday with a proposed class action in California federal court alleging that it falsely advertises its soil and fertilizer products as organic even though they contain synthetic and dangerous "forever chemicals."
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October 30, 2025
FCC Dem Concerned About Broadband 'Bridge To Nowhere'
The Federal Communications Commission's lone Democrat said Thursday she's worried the government will end up building a "bridge to nowhere" by leaning too heavily on broadband deployment projects at the expense of connectivity aid.
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October 30, 2025
Florida Tribe Sues PFAS Makers Over Health Risks, Cleanup
A Florida tribe has brought a civil action in South Carolina federal court against several makers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, alleging their land is contaminated by products containing the so-called forever chemicals.
Expert Analysis
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5 Evolving Marketing Risks That Finance Cos. Should Watch
Financial services providers should beware several areas where consumer protection regulators are broadening their scrutiny of modern marketing practices, such as the use of influencer testimonials or advertisements touting artificial intelligence-powered products, so they can better adapt to changing expectations for compliance, say attorneys at Hinshaw.
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CFTC, SEC Joint Statement Highlights New Unity On Crypto
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent joint statement announcing a cross-agency initiative enabling certain spot crypto-asset products to trade on regulated exchanges is the earliest and most visible instance of interagency cooperation on crypto regulation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Understanding And Managing Jurors' Hindsight Bias
Hindsight bias — wherein events seem more predictable after the fact than they were beforehand — presents a persistent cognitive distortion in jury decision-making, but attorneys can mitigate its effects at trial through awareness, repetition and framing, say consultants at Courtroom Sciences.
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Hybrid Claims In Antitrust Disputes Spark Coverage Battles
Antitrust litigation increasingly includes claims for breach of warranty, product liability or state consumer protection violations, complicating insurers' reliance on exclusions as courts analyze whether these are antitrust claims in disguise, says Jameson Pasek at Caldwell Law.
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EU-US Data Transfer Ruling Offers Reassurance To Cos.
The European Union General Court’s recent upholding of the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework in Latombe v. European Commission, although subject to appeal, provides companies with legal certainty for the first time by allowing the transfer of European Economic Area personal data without relying on alternative mechanisms, say lawyers at Wilson Sonsini.
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Drug Ad Crackdown Demonstrates Admin's Aggressive Stance
Recent actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeting pharmaceutical companies' allegedly deceptive advertising practices signal an active — potentially even punitive — intent to regulate direct-to-consumer advertising out of existence, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Protecting Sensitive Court Filings After Recent Cyber Breach
In the wake of a recent cyberattack on federal courts' Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, civil litigants should consider seeking enhanced protections for sensitive materials filed under seal to mitigate the risk of unauthorized exposure, say attorneys at Redgrave.
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DOJ Settlement Offers Guide To Avoiding Key Antitrust Risks
The U.S. Justice Department's settlement with Greystar Management shows why parties looking to acquire companies that use pricing recommendation software should carefully examine whether the software algorithm and how it is used in the market create antitrust dangers, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Contractor Considerations As Construction Costs Rebound
The U.S. construction industry is navigating rising costs driven by energy and trade policy, which should prompt contractors to review contract structuring, supply chain management and market diversification, among other factors, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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Series
NC Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
There were several impactful changes to the financial services landscape in North Carolina in the third quarter of the year, including statutory updates, enforcement developments from Office of the Commissioner of Banks, and notable mergers, acquisitions and branch expansions, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.
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Despite Fraud Focus, SEC Still Targeting Technical Violations
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under Chairman Paul Atkins has emphasized its back-to-basics strategy, focusing on identifying and combating fraud and manipulation, but at the same time, it has continued to pursue nonfraud-based actions targeting technical rule violations, a trend that will likely continue, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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New Calif. Chatbot Bill May Make AI Assistants Into Liabilities
While a pending California bill aims to regulate emotionally engaging chatbots that target children, its definition of "companion chatbot" may cover more ground — potentially capturing virtual assistants used for customer service or tech support, and creating serious legal exposure for businesses, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
Of note in the third quarter of the year, New York state regulators moved forward on their agendas to limit abuse of electronic banking, including via a settlement with stablecoin issuer Paxos and a lawsuit against Zelle alleging insufficient security measures, says Chris Bonner at Barclay Damon.
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Series
Judging Figure Skating Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Judging figure skating competitions helps me hone the focus, decisiveness and ability to process complex real-time information I need in court, but more importantly, it makes me reengage with a community and my identity outside of law, which, paradoxically, always brings me back to work feeling restored, says Megan Raymond at Groombridge Wu.
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Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
The third quarter of 2025 brought legislative changes to state money transmission certification requirements and securities law obligations, as well as high-profile accounting and anti-money laundering compliance enforcement actions by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.