Consumer Protection

  • May 14, 2024

    Ex-Wachovia Exec Owes $9M For Decade-Old Fraud, Feds Say

    A former senior trading executive-turned-Christian novelist still owes over $9 million in restitution on a 17-year-old conviction for a Ponzi-like scheme he ran while working for what was then Wachovia's investment banking unit, according to federal prosecutors.

  • May 14, 2024

    NC State Fights Cancer Patient's Presuit Building Access

    North Carolina State University is pressing the state appeals court to find it is insulated from an "unusual" order allowing a former graduate student worker diagnosed with cancer to inspect a campus building that tested high for levels of carcinogens.

  • May 14, 2024

    Mich. Biz Attys Back State's Securities Fraud Enforcement Bid

    Members of Michigan's state bar association have urged the state's highest court to adopt a U.S. Supreme Court test for determining whether promissory notes are securities, in support of an effort by the state securities regulator to bring an enforcement action against a condominium developer accused of failing to pay back investors. 

  • May 14, 2024

    Calif. City Sues Dow, Shell Over TCP-Tainted Water

    Dow Chemical and Shell USA are facing a negligence suit in California federal court by the city of Pomona, alleging the companies are responsible for manufacturing commercial products containing the toxic 1,2,3-trichloropropane that has migrated into the city's water supply and seeking to recoup costs over response efforts.

  • May 14, 2024

    RealPage, Landlords Look To Trim Ariz. Price-Fixing Case

    Rental algorithm company RealPage and several landlords have urged an Arizona state court to trim fraud claims from the attorney general's case accusing them of using software to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of renters, and they also asked to limit the time frame for enforcers' antitrust claims.

  • May 14, 2024

    Couple Attacks Chase's 'Pack Of Lies' In $20M Loss Case

    An elderly couple claiming they lost tens of millions through bad investments with JPMorgan Chase Bank NA said in a heated Massachusetts federal court hearing Tuesday that the big bank shouldn't pocket a pretrial win based on a magistrate judge's "extreme" analysis.

  • May 14, 2024

    Vein Tech Maker Faces Investor Suit Over DOJ Kickback Probe

    Vein disease device maker Inari Medical Inc. and three of its current and former executives face a proposed investor class action over claims that the company's share price fell after it disclosed an investigation into its compliance with federal anti-kickback laws.

  • May 14, 2024

    Telecoms Settle FCC Probe Into Undersea Cables For $2M

    Two telecoms will pay $1 million each to resolve a Federal Communications Commission probe into an undersea cable system that connected the U.S. with Colombia and Costa Rica without FCC approval.

  • May 14, 2024

    Chamber Cautions FCC Against Making Anti-Arbitration Rules

    Business leaders told the Federal Communications Commission that it cannot bar wireless providers from requiring arbitration clauses with customers to resolve disputes arising from cellphone SIM card and port-out fraud.

  • May 14, 2024

    FTC Cleared To Sue Texas Anesthesia Co., But Not PE Firm

    A Texas federal judge highlighted the limits of the Federal Trade Commission's ability to go after private equity firms accused of anti-competitive "roll-up" strategies, tossing antitrust claims against a private equity firm while preserving monopolization allegations against the anesthesia group the firm created.

  • May 14, 2024

    Data Co. Workers Had No Power Over Scam Clients, Jury Told

    Lawyers for two former Epsilon Data Management employees told a Colorado federal jury Tuesday they weren't responsible for selling consumer data to phony sweepstakes and other Epsilon clients, arguing they were just following orders from executives who made the deals.

  • May 14, 2024

    Judge Cuts Customer's Walmart Seafood Sustainability Claims

    An Illinois federal judge has cut several claims from a consumer's proposed class suit targeting allegedly deceptive sustainability representations Walmart makes about its seafood, but left the door open for her to amend her allegations before going forward.

  • May 14, 2024

    Mich. AG Says Eli Lilly 'Cherry-Picking' Enforcement Data

    Michigan's attorney general has hit back against Eli Lilly's arguments that recent consumer protection law recoveries show her office is not being hampered in its investigations, as she seeks subpoenas in a probe of the pharmaceutical giant's pricing for an insulin drug.

  • May 14, 2024

    Amazon Rips 'Misleading' Claims Execs Destroyed Evidence

    Amazon on Monday opposed the Federal Trade Commission's and state attorneys generals' allegations that founder Jeff Bezos and other executives used the encrypted app Signal to destroy evidence in their high-stakes Washington federal court antitrust fight, arguing that the executives' use of the app is legitimate and that the plaintiffs' motion is "misleading."

  • May 14, 2024

    Mother Sues American Airlines Over Son's In-Flight Death

    A mother has hit American Airlines with a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming its flight crew members were ill trained and poorly equipped to deal with a medical emergency her teenage son suffered during a flight, according to the complaint filed in Texas federal court.

  • May 14, 2024

    Pool Co. Pleads For Reprieve From Asset Freeze To Pay Attys

    A Chinese manufacturer of swimming pool products and its American subsidiary are seeking a temporary respite from a court-ordered asset freeze intended to ensure they pay a multimillion-dollar verdict, saying they need to pay legal fees and other trial costs in the interim.

  • May 13, 2024

    Bank Lobbies Rattle Sabers At Fed Over Debit Swipe Fees

    Some of the same banking industry groups that sued over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's credit card late fee rule have urged the Federal Reserve to refrain from lowering a separate cap on debit card swipe fees, signaling it could be the next bank fee regulation to face a legal challenge if finalized.

  • May 13, 2024

    11th Circ. Says Class Attys Self-Dealt In $35M TCPA Settlement

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday dismissed a proposed $35 million settlement of a class action alleging GoDaddy.com violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending unwanted marketing texts, saying the deal may have come by through nefarious means.

  • May 13, 2024

    Banking Groups Oppose FDIC Position On Interstate Lending

    Two banking associations have argued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to create a new regulation through its support of a Colorado state law aimed at reining in high-cost lending by claiming for the first time, in an amicus brief, that interstate loans are made in both the lender's and borrower's states.

  • May 13, 2024

    BofA Let 'Off The Hook' In ATM Fee Row, 9th Circ. Told

    An attorney for a proposed class alleging Bank of America wrongly charged them for out-of-network balance inquiries at ATMs told a Ninth Circuit panel Monday that the district court erred in tossing all the claims by applying arguments about a different defendant. 

  • May 13, 2024

    Chamber Asks Texas Judge To Stop FTC Noncompete Ban

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked a Texas federal judge to issue a court order stopping the Federal Trade Commission's new noncompete rule from going into effect while litigation challenging the ban plays out, arguing the rule's enforcement would irreparably harm businesses and their employees.

  • May 13, 2024

    Vt. On Brink Of Enacting Privacy Bill With Lawsuit Mechanism

    The Vermont legislature has sent to the governor's desk a comprehensive data privacy bill that would not only require companies to scale back their data collection efforts and ramp up safeguards for children, but also give consumers the rare opportunity to sue large businesses that violate the law in certain circumstances. 

  • May 13, 2024

    Whirlpool Service Plans Don't Guarantee Repairs, Suit Says

    Whirlpool Corp. violates Washington consumer protection laws by selling extended service plans that give the company the option to buy back broken appliances instead of fixing them, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court.

  • May 13, 2024

    Student Loan Servicer Faces Suit Over Tax Form Data Breach

    An education-focused subsidiary of payment processor Global Payments Inc. faces a proposed class action accusing it of negligence after it disclosed that part of its website allowed bad actors unfettered access to certain student tax documents for months at a time.

  • May 13, 2024

    SEC, FinCEN Propose Money Manager Customer ID Rule

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Monday proposed a rule that would require money managers such as hedge funds and private equity firms to document and maintain customer identification programs.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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

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    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

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    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.

  • 3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'

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    Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • The Epic Antitrust Cases And Challenges Of Injunctive Relief

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    The Epic cases against Apple and Google offer a window into the courts' considerable challenges in Big Tech litigation and establishing injunctive relief that enhances competition and benefits consumers, say Kelly Lear Nordby and Jon Tomlin at Ankura Consulting.

  • Banks Should Continue To Prep For CFPB Data Rule Rollout

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    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supervised banks should not expect industry pressure to delay the rollout of proposed Section 1033 open banking rules, which regulate how consumer financial information flows between financial institutions, and prepare their required data access portals and compliance procedures now, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 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.

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