Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Consumer Protection
-
May 17, 2024
TikTok, Feds Ask DC Circ. To Fast-Track Potential Ban Row
TikTok, a group of its creators and the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday all asked the D.C. Circuit to fast-track challenges to a new federal law that would exclude the popular app from the U.S. market unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company.
-
May 17, 2024
Meet The Attys Fighting Efforts To Ban TikTok
Facing a potential federal ban, TikTok and creators on the platform have tapped a bevy of BigLaw heavyweights, including attorneys who have successfully led challenges to prior moves to shut down the popular social media platform and limit children's online activities, as well as a pair of litigators who've argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
-
May 17, 2024
Apple OK'd New App Fees Despite Antitrust Ruling
An Apple Inc. executive conceded during a high-stakes antitrust hearing Friday over Apple's compliance with a court-ordered ban on App Store anti-steering rules that executives decided to implement a new 27% fee on out-of-app transactions despite knowing a jury had recently found that similar Google fees violated antitrust laws.
-
May 17, 2024
FCC Asked To Clarify PEG Capital Costs Aren't Franchise Fees
Cities want the Federal Communications Commission to make clear in a new rule requiring "all-in" cable pricing disclosures that capital costs involved in public and educational channels don't fall under the definition of franchise fees.
-
May 17, 2024
Co-Lead Counsel Named In Baby Food Toxins MDL
A California federal judge has tapped attorneys from Wisner Baum LLP and the Wagstaff Law Firm PC to lead multidistrict litigation alleging products from baby food manufacturers and distributors, including Walmart Inc. and Gerber Products Co., contain toxic metals and caused children to develop autism spectrum disorder and other conditions.
-
May 17, 2024
T-Mobile Must Face Sprint Merger Suit Before Appealing
The Seventh Circuit summarily rejected T-Mobile's move for interlocutory appeal in a proposed consumer class action targeting the company's 2020 merger with Sprint, allowing the case to advance to discovery after the district court denied T-Mobile's motion to dismiss in the fall.
-
May 17, 2024
Peloton Says Investors Are 'Manufacturing' Bike Recall Suit
Fitness equipment company Peloton urged a New York federal judge on Friday to toss a suit alleging it overstated the safety of its bikes before the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled roughly 2.2 million Peloton products over a bike seat defect, saying the investors are trying to "manufacture" a case from a voluntary recall.
-
May 17, 2024
Crypto Firms Back FIT 21 Legislation Ahead Of House Vote
The advocacy group Crypto Council for Innovation gathered 60 industry signatories for a Friday letter to House leaders expressing support for an anticipated vote on a framework to regulate digital assets.
-
May 17, 2024
Feds Seek 10 Years In First Product Safety Conviction
The government is asking for a pair of 10-year prison sentences for two Gree USA Inc. executives convicted of failing to report defective humidifiers, after the two were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
-
May 17, 2024
Bettors Say 6th Circ. Erred In Ruling Over Doped Derby Horse
A group of gamblers who claim they had winning bets on the 2021 Kentucky Derby after officials stripped the lead horse of its title has petitioned the Sixth Circuit to rehear arguments after a panel of the court earlier this month affirmed the lower court's decision to toss the case.
-
May 17, 2024
Chicago Wants Climate Deception Claims Back In State Court
The city of Chicago says it should be in state court hashing out climate change deception claims against several of the nation's largest oil producers because the companies lodged "objectively baseless" arguments to remove its case to federal court.
-
May 17, 2024
Broadband Advocates Decry Delays On Senate Spectrum Bill
Broadband advocates who work on fixing the "digital divide" said they are dismayed the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee again delayed a markup Thursday to advance legislation renewing the soon-to-expire Affordable Connectivity Program.
-
May 17, 2024
Dolce & Gabbana Sued Over 'Worthless' Digital Outfit NFTs
Luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana has been hit with a shareholder class action in New York federal court, alleging it sold consumers "essentially worthless" non-fungible tokens that it misrepresented as high-value and abandoned the project while retaining over $25 million that was used to fund it.
-
May 17, 2024
Utilities Need More Airwaves To Drive Growth, FCC Hears
Utilities need more spectrum to keep their networks running smoothly as they move toward digitizing the electric grid, which is already under significant strain, a wireless service provider has told the Federal Communications Commission.
-
May 17, 2024
Google Says Payment Means No Need For DOJ Ad Tech Jury
Google is arguing in Virginia federal court the government has no right to a jury trial in a case accusing the company of monopolizing key digital advertising technology, especially after Google issued a check for the money enforcers could be awarded if they won.
-
May 17, 2024
$5M Candy Recall Coverage Dispute Moved To Texas Court
An insurer's lawsuit disclaiming coverage for a candy manufacturer over a near $5 million recall over metal fragments found in certain gummy candies belongs in Texas, a New York federal judge has ruled, finding that the action was "filed preemptively to deprive the natural plaintiff of its choice of forum."
-
May 17, 2024
Industry Emboldened After Justices Galvanize Agency Attacks
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court said "extraordinary" and "far-reaching" attacks on administrative enforcers can skip agency tribunals and go straight to federal district court, ambitious challenges to regulatory powers are rapidly gaining traction, and the high court is poised to put them on an even firmer footing.
-
May 17, 2024
Day After High Court Win, 'Full Strength' CFPB Sues Fintech
Fresh off its landmark victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday filed its first contested enforcement action in months while its director separately pledged to push full-speed ahead with the agency "firing on all cylinders."
-
May 16, 2024
Buckle Up: CFPB's High Court Win Will Thaw Frozen Docket
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is walking away from the U.S. Supreme Court with its funding and rulebook intact, a victory that caps off years of constitutional wrangling over how the agency was set up and will usher in a wave of activity that has financial services attorneys bracing for impact.
-
May 16, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Let Alexa Users Revive Voice Data Privacy Row
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to reinstate a proposed class action alleging Amazon's Alexa software illegally collects voice data to target users with advertisements, agreeing with the lower court that the e-commerce giant had clearly disclosed the practice and the plaintiffs hadn't shown they were harmed.
-
May 16, 2024
$2B Default Recommended For Making Fair Trial 'Impossible'
Years of lies should put a pair of Chinese electronics companies on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment, a special master told a California federal judge, adding that their yearslong no-show and disregard of U.S. counsel advice to retain documents have rendered a fair trial "impossible."
-
May 16, 2024
Albertsons Sued Over 'Naturally Flavored' Fruit Bar Labels
Albertsons Cos. Inc. was hit with a proposed class action Wednesday in California federal court by a shopper who alleges the grocer falsely labels its breakfast cereal bars as containing natural flavors even though they're made with artificial ingredients derived from petrochemicals.
-
May 16, 2024
Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.
-
May 16, 2024
FCC Told Rural Aid Can't Lean Too Much On Broadband Maps
Wireless providers are calling out flaws in the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband map, telling the agency to require more certification from providers to verify that they can actually serve areas they say they can before allocating broadband deployment funding.
-
May 16, 2024
Bitcoin ATM Operator Ran Illegal Money Transmitter, Jury Says
A New York state jury has convicted the operator of a network of bitcoin kiosks that allegedly catered to criminal activity of operating an unlicensed money transmitter and tax fraud, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
-
2nd Circ. Baby Food Ruling Disregards FDA's Expertise
The Second Circuit's recent decision in White v. Beech-Nut Nutrition, refusing to defer litigation over heavy metals in baby food until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs in on the issue, provides no indication that courts will resolve the issue with greater efficiency than the FDA, say attorneys at Phillips Lytle.
-
Conn. Loan Law Tweaks May Have 3 Major Effects On Lenders
Recently proposed minor amendments to Connecticut’s consumer protection laws could nonetheless mean major and unexpected changes to state consumer financial services regulations that dictate how lenders and their customer-facing service providers handle fee payments, mortgage servicer licensing and private student loans, says Jonathan Joshua at Joshua Law Firm.
-
Past CCPA Enforcement Sets Path For Compliance Efforts
The California Privacy Protection Agency and the California Attorney General's Office haven't skipped a beat in investigating potential noncompliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act, and six broad issues will continue to dominate the enforcement landscape and inform compliance strategy, say attorneys at Reed Smith.
-
7 Takeaways From CFPB Circular On Digital Comparison Tools
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new guidance regarding digital comparison-shopping platforms for financial services products and services offers fresh insights into the bureau's interpretation of the abusiveness standard and expands on principles underlying its previous guidance on the topic, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
-
Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial
Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
How Policymakers Can Preserve The Promise Of Global Trade
Global trade faces increasing challenges but could experience a resurgence if long-held approaches adjust and the U.S. accounts for factors that undermine free trade's continuing viability, such as regional trading blocs and the increasing speed of technological advancement, says David Jividen at White & Case.
-
Opinion
Proposed MDL Management Rule Needs Refining
Proponents of the recently proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 believe it may enhance efficiency in multidistrict litigation proceedings if adopted, but there are serious concerns that it could actually hinder plaintiffs' access to justice through the courts — and there are fundamental flaws that deserve our attention, says Ashleigh Raso at Nigh Goldenberg.
-
Meta Data Scraping Case Has Lessons For Platforms, AI Cos.
The California federal court ruling that artificial intelligence company Bright Data's scraping of public data from Meta social media sites does not constitute a breach of contract signals that platforms should review their terms of service and AI companies could face broad implications for their training of algorithms, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
-
Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
-
2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.
The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
-
Legal Issues When Training AI On Previously Collected Data
Following the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance about the use of customer data to train artificial intelligence models, companies should carefully think through their terms of service and privacy policies and be cautious when changing them to permit new uses of previously collected data, says James Gatto at Sheppard Mullin.
-
Protested CFPB Supervisory Order Reveals Process, Priorities
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s order announcing its first use of special oversight power to place installment lender World Acceptance Corp. under supervision despite resistance from the company provides valuable insight into which products and practices may draw bureau scrutiny, and illuminates important nuances of the risk assessment procedures, say Josh Kotin and Michelle Rogers at Cooley.
-
Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
-
Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.
-
Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.