Consumer Protection

  • May 24, 2024

    Insurer Owes Coverage For School Defect Claim, Builder Says

    A general contractor told a Washington federal court it is entitled to coverage under a subcontractor's commercial general liability policy with a Liberty Mutual unit for defects and damage that a school district alleges was caused by the subcontractor while working on a school expansion project.

  • May 24, 2024

    DOJ's Live Nation-Ticketmaster Suit: What You Should Know

    The U.S. Department of Justice and a slew of state attorneys general filed a suit challenging the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Here, catch up on Law360's coverage of the deal and those who have challenged it along the way – Taylor Swift fans, investors and regulators.

  • May 23, 2024

    CFPB's 1st Try At BNPL Regulation Could Set Stage For More

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new guidance that treats buy-now, pay-later firms more like credit card companies is drawing industry grumbles about "apples to oranges" comparisons, but consumer advocates say that applying additional credit card-esque rules would be the cherry on top.

  • May 23, 2024

    FTC Blasts Amazon's 'Unbelievable' Claims About Signal Use

    The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday again pressed a Washington federal court to force Amazon to hand over documents regarding the company's communication preservation practices, calling Amazon's claims that executives never used the encrypted app Signal to discuss business practices relevant to the antitrust fight "unbelievable."

  • May 23, 2024

    Bungie Cheat Code Sellers Dinged At Trial For Deleting Docs

    A Seattle federal judge overseeing a trial of Bungie's copyright claims against a group of cheat code sellers instructed jurors Thursday that the defendants intentionally destroyed evidence by deleting records they had a duty to preserve once they were aware of the game studio's claims.

  • May 23, 2024

    Latham, Cravath Rep Live Nation In DOJ Ticketmaster Battle

    In the battle against the U.S. Department of Justice's push to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the concert promotion and ticketing company has called upon a team of attorneys at Cravath Swaine & Moore and Latham & Watkins to go up against a large roster of highly experienced government antitrust attorneys.

  • May 23, 2024

    TikTok, YouTube Must Produce European Privacy Data In MDL

    A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in multidistrict litigation over whether social media platforms' design is addictive ordered TikTok and YouTube on Thursday to give American personal injury plaintiffs certain technical documents regarding the companies' safety features implemented in Europe and Australia, which have tougher consumer privacy laws.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Bank CEO Cops To Embezzling $47M To Pay Crypto Scam

    Heartland Tri-State Bank's former chief executive pled guilty Thursday in Kansas federal court to embezzling $47 million that he wired to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by fraudsters after falling victim to a "pig butchering" scam, which led to the bank's collapse and subsequent shutdown last summer.

  • May 23, 2024

    FCC Defends Nielsen Data In Low-Power TV Licensing Suit

    The Federal Communications Commission is defending its use of Nielsen statistics to determine if a low-power TV station should receive protections provided under a 2022 law aimed at safeguarding local and rural broadcasting.

  • May 23, 2024

    House Panel Moves Data Privacy Bill, While Vowing Revisions

    A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday advanced a bipartisan proposal to create a nationwide framework for how companies use and share consumers' personal information, despite lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledging that more work needs to be done to further refine the measure.

  • May 23, 2024

    SEC Opens Gate To Ether ETFs, But Firms Await Green Light

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started the process of bringing exchange-traded funds holding the cryptocurrency ether to market on Thursday when it approved a series of filings permitting national securities exchanges to list the products, leaving firms to wait for the next step before trading can begin.

  • May 23, 2024

    NC Top Court Finds Credit Union's Arbitration Add-On Is Valid

    The North Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday said a credit union can enforce an arbitration clause tacked on to a customer's contract at a later date, confirming a ruling by a lower appellate panel and requiring the customer suing the nonprofit over allegedly illegal overdraft fees to arbitrate her claims.

  • May 23, 2024

    AdTech Co. Faces Suit As Google's Cookie Support Crumbles

    Advertising company Direct Digital Holdings Inc. faces a proposed investor class action alleging it mismanaged its response to an impending major technological change affecting how digital advertisers can target consumers.

  • May 23, 2024

    DOJ Has A Long Set To Play Against Live Nation-Ticketmaster

    The U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit announced Thursday against Live Nation and Ticketmaster's dominance over performing artists, venues and tickets may have been 14 years in the making, but it still has a long road ahead in New York federal court.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 15 Quick Tips For Uncovering And Mitigating Juror Biases

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    As highlighted by the recent jury selection process in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, juror bias presents formidable challenges for defendants, and attorneys must employ proactive strategies — both new and old — to blunt its impact, say Monica Delgado and Jonathan Harris at Harris St. Laurent.

  • Colo. Lending Law Could Empower State-Chartered Banks

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    Lending programs that rely on rate exportation by state banks should pay close attention to legislative activity and ongoing litigation surrounding Colorado's decision to opt out of rate exportation, which could set a precedent that state-chartered banks have power on par with national banks, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Tiny Tweaks To Bank Merger Forms May Have Big Impact

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    The impact of proposed changes to the Federal Reserve Board's and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s bank merger review forms would be significant, resulting in hundreds of additional burden hours for bank merger applicants and signaling a further shift by the prudential bank regulators toward more rigorous scrutiny of mergers, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • How CFPB Credit Card Rules Slot Into Broader Considerations

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    Swirling legal challenges against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rulemaking concerning credit card late fees raise questions about how regulated entities should respond to the bureau's rules — and how quickly they should act, say Caitlin Mandel and Elizabeth Ireland at Winston & Strawn.

  • Car Apps, Abuse Survivor Safety And The FCC: Key Questions

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    A recent request for comment from the Federal Communications Commission, concerning how to protect the privacy of domestic violence survivors who use connected car services, raises key questions, including whether the FCC has the legal authority to limit access to a vehicle's connected features to survivors only, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule's Impact On Healthcare Nonprofits

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    Healthcare entities that are nonprofit or tax-exempt and thus outside of the pending Federal Trade Commission noncompete rule's reach should evaluate a number of potential risk factors and impacts, starting by assessing their own status, say Ben Shook and Tania Archer at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

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    When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Devil's In The Details On FDCPA, Article III Standing

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    The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Barclift v. Keystone Credit Services concerning the alleged harm needed to support a class action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is in line with other circuits' interpretations of Article III of the Constitution, notwithstanding disagreement over the minutiae of a proper Article III analysis, says Nick Agnello at Burr & Forman.

  • Leveraging Insurance Amid Microplastics Concerns

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    A pending microplastics lawsuit — New York v. PepsiCo Inc. — may be a harbinger of what is to come for companies whose products are exposed to the environment, so any company considering how to address microplastics liability should include a careful assessment of the potential for insurance coverage in its due diligence, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Airlines Must Prepare For State AG Investigations

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    A recent agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation and 18 states and territories will allow attorneys general to investigate consumer complaints against commercial passenger airlines — so carriers must be ready for heightened scrutiny and possibly inconsistent enforcement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

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