Consumer Protection

  • May 23, 2024

    'I Just Don't Buy It': Judge Rips Google's Injunction Argument

    A California federal judge considering the scope of a potential injunction against Google following Epic Games' antitrust jury trial win told Google's economist Thursday that the tech giant keeps arguing that more app store options for consumers will create a "terrifying world of chaos and anarchy," but "I just don't buy it."

  • May 23, 2024

    House Members Approve Closing Delta-8 Hemp 'Loophole'

    A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday approved a major change to the statutory definition of hemp and hemp products — which would effectively rewrite national hemp policy if it became law — in the next version of the federal Farm Bill.

  • May 23, 2024

    Kratom Cos. Failed To Warn Man About Risks, Colo. Suit Says

    The parents of a deceased Colorado man allege that four companies that sell kratom are liable for their son's death because of their failure to warn consumers about the risks associated with using the loosely regulated plant-derived substance with opioid-like effects.

  • May 23, 2024

    House Panel Pushes AM Radio Bill Forward

    Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle came together to bump a popular proposal to prevent automakers from removing AM radios from their vehicles through to the full committee, with the bill sailing through markup Thursday morning.

  • May 23, 2024

    FCC Aims To Reduce Risk From China-Controlled Test Labs

    The Federal Communications Commission pushed Thursday for new rules to prevent foreign adversaries, mainly the Chinese Communist Party, from playing a role in testing and certifying communications equipment in the U.S. market.

  • May 23, 2024

    Irma Power Outage Claims Must Be Brought To Fla. Regulator

    A Florida state appellate court reversed the class certification in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit brought against Florida Power & Light Co. over extended electricity outages during Hurricane Irma, citing a new law requiring ratepayers to bring their claims before the state's Public Service Commission.

  • May 23, 2024

    Feds Nab Pair In $2M Sports, Pokémon Trading Card Scam

    Two Washington state men were charged Thursday in New York federal court with running a $2 million scheme to defraud buyers of sports and Pokémon trading cards by claiming low- or mid-grade cards were authentic and highly rated.

  • May 23, 2024

    AT&T Stands To Gain Billions From 4.9 GHz, Report Says

    A group representing Verizon and T-Mobile is renewing its effort to stop AT&T-affiliate FirstNet from gaining further control of the 4.9 gigahertz public safety band, this time arguing that AT&T stands to gain over $3 billion worth of spectrum if the Federal Communications Commission extends FirstNet's authority.

  • May 23, 2024

    Man Behind NH Primary Deepfake Faces Charges, FCC Fines

    The Democratic consultant accused of making robocalls with a cloned voice of President Joe Biden discouraging voters from taking part in the New Hampshire primary faces a state indictment on 13 felony voter suppression charges and $6 million in potential federal fines.

  • May 23, 2024

    House Passes Bill To Block Fed-Issued Digital Dollar

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar in a vote that fell starkly along party lines, with Democrats decrying the bill as fearmongering over privacy concerns and a departure from the previous day's bipartisan passage of a regulatory framework for digital assets.

  • May 23, 2024

    High Court Urged To Rule On FCC Question In TCPA Dispute

    A chiropractic practice group is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take another crack at the question of whether district courts must adhere to a Federal Communications Commission's legal interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, in a bid to revive its proposed class action against McKesson over junk faxes.

  • May 23, 2024

    Coverage Suit Paused Until Resolution Of Gun Sales Dispute

    A California federal court paused Crum & Forster's suit against a police gun and fitness club and the city of Los Angeles over coverage for underlying actions brought by officers accusing the club of selling them stolen handguns, citing factual overlap between the actions.

  • May 23, 2024

    NFL Says Unsolicited-Text Suit Belongs In Arbitration

    The NFL wants to force into arbitration a lawsuit filed by a New York woman frustrated with her inability to stop unwanted text messages from the football organization, citing a binding agreement she consented to when registering to receive notifications about the 2023 draft.

  • May 23, 2024

    GSK, Boehringer Prevail In 1st Zantac Cancer Trial

    A Chicago jury found Thursday that Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts sold by GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim are not responsible for an Illinois woman's colon cancer and her subsequent, debilitating symptoms, handing the drug companies a decisive victory in the first of hundreds of such cases to go to trial.

  • May 23, 2024

    DOJ Sues Live Nation 14 Years After Ticketmaster Deal

    The U.S. Department of Justice sued Live Nation Thursday over the 2010 agreement clearing the concert promotion giant's purchase of Ticketmaster, an oft-maligned deal that enforcers now want to unwind and that is blamed for fiascoes like the meltdown of ticket sales for Taylor Swift's Eras tour.

  • May 23, 2024

    Wow Such Basic: Justices Back Crypto Fans In Dogecoin Duel

    It's up to judges, not arbitrators, to figure out whether contracts between businesses and consumers have subtly superseded earlier agreements to hash out disputes in arbitration rather than litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

  • May 22, 2024

    Neb. Takes Aim At TikTok For 'Exploiting' Teen Users

    Nebraska's attorney general has become the latest to accuse TikTok of operating a service that is addictive and harmful to teens, alleging in a complaint filed in state court Wednesday that the popular video-sharing site has misled consumers about how safe and appropriate the platform is for minors.

  • May 22, 2024

    Stubhub, Attys Beat Sanctions Bid For Lost Hyperlinked Docs

    A California federal magistrate judge on Monday rejected a request for sanctions against StubHub and its counsel over problems finding hyperlinked documents in a case brought by consumers seeking refunds for events that were canceled or rescheduled due to COVID-19, saying the court's order requiring their production was "in most cases impossible to comply with."

  • May 22, 2024

    EasyPay Agrees To Exit Mass. In 'Rent-A-Bank' Settlement

    EasyPay, an alternative finance company, has settled with Massachusetts officials over claims that it gouged Bay State borrowers with predatory loans issued through an out-of-state bank, agreeing to pay $625,000 to consumers and stop doing business in the state as part of a deal unveiled Wednesday.

  • May 22, 2024

    Caesars Escapes Privacy Suit Over Online Video Games

    A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday tossed without prejudice a proposed class action accusing Caesars of illegally sharing the personal identifying information of those who played video games on its casino website, saying the online games are not covered under the law the plaintiff alleges the casino violated.

  • May 22, 2024

    US House Passes Crypto Bill Over SEC, White House Dissent

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a Republican-led framework to regulate digital assets despite pushback from many Democrats, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the White House, which questioned whether the bill will actually provide the clarity it promises.

  • May 22, 2024

    Ex-FTX Exec Deserves Up To 7 Years For Fraud, Feds Say

    Federal prosecutors have told a New York federal judge they are seeking a five- to seven-year prison sentence for former FTX executive Ryan Salame, arguing that his campaign finance offense "is one of the largest-ever in American history."

  • May 22, 2024

    Monsanto's Appellate Win Won't Nix $438M PCB Loss

    A Washington state trial judge has declined to throw out a $438 million judgment against Monsanto in one of a series of PCB poisoning suits tied to a school site, rejecting the company's argument that the judgment cannot stand on the heels of a state appellate court ruling reversing another plaintiffs' win in the case group.

  • May 23, 2024

    Sunsetting Section 230 Gains Traction On Both Sides Of Aisle

    Everyone at Wednesday's House subcommittee hearing, from left to right, seemed to agree that it's time to ditch the Communications Decency Act's hotly contested Section 230, which shields online platforms from liability for content posted by third parties.

  • May 22, 2024

    ATM Plaintiffs Must Share New Data In Visa, Mastercard Suit

    A D.C. federal judge ordered ATM operator plaintiffs on Wednesday to turn over updated data showing average interchange fees and transaction surcharges at the center of a discovery dispute in their long-running class action against Visa and Mastercard, telling the plaintiffs that she wanted to err on the side of "liberal discovery."

Expert Analysis

  • How Calif. Video Recording Ruling May Affect Insured Exams

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    A recent California appellate decision, Myasnyankin v. Nationwide, allowing policyholders to video record all parties to an insurance examination under oath, has changed the rules of the road for EUOs and potentially opened Pandora's box for future disputes, say John Edson and Preston Bennett at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Things Trial Attorneys Can Learn From Good Teachers

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    Jennifer Cuculich at IMS Legal Strategies recounts lessons she learned during her time as a math teacher that can help trial attorneys connect with jurors, from the importance of framing core issues to the incorporation of different learning styles.

  • Fintech 'Prenups': Planning For A Card Program Breakup

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    After a year of economic downturns, some banks and their fintech partners are realizing they may have rushed to the altar without a good prenup, but planning ahead can curb both foreseeable and unexpected issues in the event of a termination of a bank-fintech card-issuing agreement, say Andrew Grant at Ketsal and Richard Malish at Community Federal Savings Bank.

  • Legal Considerations For Circular Economy Strategies

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    As circular economy goals — generating revenue at multiple points in a product's life cycle — become nearly ubiquitous in corporate sustainability practices, companies should reassess existing strategies by focusing on government incentives, regulations, and reporting and disclosure requirements, say Rachel Saltzman and Erin Grisby at Hunton.

  • 3 Notification Pitfalls To Avoid With Arbitration Provisions

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    In Lipsett v. Popular Bank, the Second Circuit found that a bank's arbitration provision was unenforceable due to insufficient notice to a customer that he was bound by the agreement, highlighting the importance of adequate communication of arbitration provisions, and customers' options for opting out, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Tips For Orgs Facing AI Data Privacy Compliance Challenges

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    Regulators around the world are actively seeking to enforce data privacy and consumer protection laws against companies providing artificial intelligence-related services, raising complex compliance questions in areas like transparency, data minimization, lawfulness of processing, data subject rights and higher risk activities, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • What's At Play In Rising Lanham Act Cases At The ITC

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    Amid an uptick in Lanham Act claims involving false advertising related to medical devices at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Brian Busey and Maryrose McLaughlin at MoFo discuss recent ITC complaints from Eli Lilly and R.J. Reynolds, Lanham Act claim limits under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the issues practitioners face in this realm.

  • Preempting Bottled Water Microplastics Fraud Claims

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    Food products like bottled water are increasingly likely to be targets of consumer fraud complaints due to alleged microplastics contamination — but depending on the labeling or advertising at issue, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act can provide a powerful preemption defense, say Tariq Naeem and Brenda Sweet at Tucker Ellis.

  • Enforcement Risk Amid Increased Consumer Data Use

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    While no state has introduced a private right of action for noncompliance with a comprehensive consumer privacy law — except for the California Consumer Privacy Act's data breach provision — organizations and retailers face risk from enforcement actions by state attorneys general and privacy regulators, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • What FTC's 'Killer Acquisition' Theory Means For Pharma Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit to block Sanofi's acquisition of a pharmaceutical treatment developed by Maze Therapeutics builds on previous enforcement actions and could indicate the agency's growing willingness to use its so-called killer acquisition theory against perceived attempts to eliminate nascent competition, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling Is Cautionary Tale For Debt Collectors

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    A Florida bankruptcy court recently rejected the assertion that a debt purchaser was entitled to enforce a debt not correctly listed on the debtor's bankruptcy schedules, and the sanctions imposed provide a stark reminder on due diligence in debt collection practices, say Deborah Kovsky-Apap and Stefanie Jackman at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    The Problems In Calif. Draft Behavioral Ad Privacy Regs

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    The California Privacy Protection Agency has an opportunity with its automated decision-making technology and profiling rulemaking to harmonize California's regulation of data-driven advertising, but this will be a failure unless several things are changed in its proposed treatment of behavioral advertising, say Alan Friel and Kyle Fath at Squire Patton.

  • 5 Ways To Hone Deposition Skills And Improve Results

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Depositions must never be taken for granted in the preparations needed to win a dispositive motion or a trial, and five best practices, including knowing when to hire a videographer, can significantly improve outcomes, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.

  • The Challenges Of Measuring Harm In Slack-Fill Cases

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    A recent California federal court partial class certification ruling was a rare victory for plaintiffs in a case over slack-fill empty space in packaged products, indicating that damages arguments may be important at the certification stage, say Sushrut Jain and Valentina Bernasconi at Edgeworth Economics.

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