Consumer Protection

  • 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.

  • May 16, 2024

    FTC Can't Make Albertsons, Kroger Produce Divestiture Docs

    An administrative law judge on Thursday denied the Federal Trade Commission's "premature" bid to compel Kroger and Albertsons to fork over documents related to negotiations for the companies' expanded divestiture plan amid the commission's in-house challenge to the grocers' merger.

  • May 16, 2024

    BofA Customers Get Final OK For $8M Deal In ACH Fee Suit

    A North Carolina federal judge has granted final approval to an $8 million settlement for Bank of America customers who claim they were unfairly charged fees for Automated Clearing House transfers.

  • May 16, 2024

    BIC Hit With Class Action Over PFAS-Containing Razors

    The makers of BIC razors intentionally use so-called forever chemicals in several of their products but failed to mention that to customers, who say they wouldn't have bought the razors if they'd known they were exposing themselves to toxic chemicals.

  • May 16, 2024

    Judge Questions Colo.'s Power Over Out-Of-State Banks

    A Colorado federal judge on Thursday asked U.S. banking regulators why the state should be able to cap interest rates for loans made to residents by out-of-state financial institutions, questioning why it was "consistent with federalism" to let an individual state have that far of a reach.

  • May 16, 2024

    Stubhub, Attys Face Sanctions Bid Over 'Strategy Of Evasion'

    Counsel for consumers seeking StubHub refunds for events canceled or rescheduled due to COVID-19 urged a California federal magistrate judge Thursday to sanction the online ticket platform and its lawyers, saying they've "engaged in a strategy of evasion, denial and distortion" to avoid producing hyperlinked documents despite a court order.

  • May 16, 2024

    EPA Doctor Not A Whistleblower For Slamming Lead Plan

    A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pediatrician and epidemiologist who publicly criticized the EPA's plan to reduce lead in drinking water as inadequate is not protected by federal whistleblower law, the Federal Circuit said Thursday.

  • May 16, 2024

    FCC To Pull Phone Co.'s Authorization To Operate In US

    The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it plans to revoke a telecom company's authorization to operate in the U.S. after the business failed to comply with an agreement with federal agencies stemming from a security review.

  • May 16, 2024

    Apple Exec Must Produce All Docs On 27% App Fee Decision

    A California federal judge presiding over a high-stakes antitrust hearing over Apple's compliance with a court-ordered ban on App Store anti-steering rules ordered a company executive Thursday to hand over all of his communications and notes on Apple's decision to impose a new 27% fee after her injunction.

  • May 16, 2024

    Senate Passes Bill To Block SEC Crypto Accounting Guidance

    The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to send a bill overturning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto accounting guidance to the president's desk, though without the necessary votes to override the White House's planned veto.

  • May 16, 2024

    FDIC's Gruenberg Scolded By Senators Over Agency Culture

    Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg on Thursday faced a second round of congressional reprimand from both sides of the political aisle over his agency's workplace misconduct scandal, but Senate Democrats seemed ready to let Gruenberg clean up the mess himself and continue his tenure.

  • May 16, 2024

    Gilead, Teva Want 17 HIV Drug Antitrust Appeals Consolidated

    Gilead Sciences Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals are asking the Ninth Circuit to consolidate 17 appeals contesting their win in a case alleging they delayed generic versions of HIV medications, saying the three groups of buyers are raising largely the same issues but refuse to commit to combining their briefs.

  • May 16, 2024

    SEC Adopts Rules For Uncovering, Reporting Data Breaches

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the adoption of cybersecurity rules Thursday that will require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place for detecting data breaches and for notifying customers when their personal information may have been compromised.

  • May 16, 2024

    GM, LG Ink $150M Deal To End Chevy Bolt Battery Defect Suit

    A proposed class of Chevrolet Bolt owners asked a Michigan federal court on Thursday to give the go-ahead for a $150 million deal to end claims against General Motors LLC and LG units over alleged battery defects they say make the cars prone to overheating and fires.

  • May 16, 2024

    Conn. Justices Snatch Debt Collection Practice Of Law Case

    The Connecticut Supreme Court has opted to hear a case that questions whether the state's banking commissioner or its judicial branch has the power to regulate debt collection activities that occur under the purview of law firms, leapfrogging the case over the state's intermediate appellate court and into the state's highest court.

  • May 16, 2024

    Burger King Franchisee Seeks BIPA Coverage Quick Win

    A Burger King franchisee asked an Illinois federal court to rule that due to precedent and policy ambiguities, its umbrella insurer must defend it in a class action claiming it violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act by nonconsensually collecting fingerprint data.

  • May 16, 2024

    DC Judge Mulls Dominion's DQ Bid For Pro-Trump Mich. Atty

    Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems pursuing defamation claims against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne fought Thursday to disqualify the Michigan attorney representing him, insisting to a D.C. federal judge that disqualification is the most appropriate remedy for the lawyer's leak of Dominion's confidential discovery documents.

  • May 16, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs Win For Big Banks In Forex-Rigging Suit

    The Second Circuit on Thursday backed a ruling in favor of a group of large banks accused of conspiring to manipulate the foreign currency exchange market in euros and dollars, agreeing with a lower court that the plaintiffs hadn't made qualifying transactions or shown how prices were distorted.

  • May 16, 2024

    Weighted Baby Swaddle 'Inherently Dangerous,' Suit Alleges

    A Massachusetts company has been hit with a proposed class action over its allegedly "inherently dangerous" weighted baby blankets and swaddling wraps, a product category suspected in multiple infant deaths and under investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

  • May 16, 2024

    Top Linklaters Attys See PE Rebound In Run-Up To Elections

    After a subtle uptick in private equity deal values in the first quarter, the global chair of Linklaters LLP's corporate department in New York, George Casey, and one of its top PE dealmakers in London, Alex Woodward, believe the pace of transactions is picking up and the market is primed for a comeback.

  • May 16, 2024

    Justices Say CFPB Is Constitutionally Funded

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutionally funded, rejecting a payday lender-backed challenge that threatened to incapacitate the agency and throw a wrench in the Biden administration's financial regulatory agenda.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 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.

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