Consumer Protection

April 17, 2024
Jury To Decide Fault Of Driver In Spray-Huffing DUI Death

A Minnesota federal judge on Wednesday said it's up to a jury to decide whether a driver acted intentionally or negligently when he allegedly huffed a compressed gas spray and killed a woman in a collision, in a trial against the spray's manufacturer over the death.
April 17, 2024
Liberty Mutual's Spyware Suit Halted Pending 3rd Circ. Appeal

A proposed class action accusing Liberty Mutual of using software to track customers' actions on its website without consent was put on hold Wednesday by a Pennsylvania federal judge pending guidance from the Third Circuit in a similar case.
April 17, 2024
Flagstar Bank Beats Overdraft 'Fee Maximization' Suit

A Michigan federal judge has shut down a proposed consumer class action that accused Flagstar Bank of unlawfully charging millions of dollars in surprise overdraft fees, ruling that the bank had provided clarifying disclosures that left no more room for surprise.
April 17, 2024
Lawmaker Says New Merger Guides Hurt Small Businesses

The head of the House Small Business Committee has sent letters to the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, contending enforcers did not fully consider how new merger guidelines will impact the small business community.
April 17, 2024
Geolocation Co. Seeks FCC Revamp Of Lower 900 MHz

Tech developer NextNav has asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconfigure the lower 900 megahertz spectrum band to allow for geolocation services that can back up the Global Positioning System.
April 17, 2024
Coding Bootcamp Fined $164K For Misleading Student Loans

A company that runs coding "bootcamps" has been permanently banned from consumer lending after U.S. regulators found it inflated its job placement rates to students and lied to them about a tuition financing program that turned out to be risky loans.
April 17, 2024
FDA Denies Marketing For 65 MNGO Disposable E-Cigarettes

The latest action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on e-cigarettes was to tell a Chinese company to take its range of 65 e-cigarette products in a variety of flavors from menthol to pink lemonade and watermelon off the market.
April 17, 2024
FDA Tells Justices It Has A Better Vape Case In Mind

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has told the U.S. Supreme Court that if it wants to address the agency's decision not to approve applications for flavored e-cigarettes, there is a better case in the pipeline than the appeal lodged by Lotus Vaping Technologies that the justices should choose instead.
April 17, 2024
States, Biz Groups Back Fight Over DOE Furnace Rules

Eighteen states and several business associations are backing gas utility groups' challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that the agency is unlawfully forcing a switch to new appliances.
April 17, 2024
ISP Frontier Inks $20M Internet Upgrade Deal For NC

Frontier is going to spend $20 million improving its internet speeds in North Carolina as part of a settlement with the state's Department of Justice after hundreds of customers complained that the internet service provider was advertising one speed while actually providing another.
April 17, 2024
Missouri Moves To Block Biden's Student Loan Relief Plan

A Missouri-led state alliance wants a federal court to block further student loan relief planned by the Biden administration, claiming the president's lending forgiveness scheme will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars and is doomed to fail under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
April 17, 2024
Compass Group Gets New Damages Trial In $8M Death Suit

A California state appeals court has rejected cross-appeals from food service giant Compass Group USA Inc. and a mother suing it for negligence in a wrongful death suit that ended in an $8 million verdict, sending the case back for a new trial on damages.
April 17, 2024
Bankman-Fried Appeal May Cite Unusual Preview Testimony

Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal of his conviction and 25-year prison sentence may cite a "rather unprecedented" trial procedure in which the FTX founder gave provisional testimony before officially taking the witness stand last year, one of his attorneys said Wednesday.
April 17, 2024
Judge Merges Axos Bank Suits But Won't Appoint Counsel Yet

A California federal judge has agreed to consolidate a pair of cases over how Axos handled interest rates on savings deposit accounts offered through an online banking division, but rejected its customers' bid to name three law firms as interim co-lead counsel, saying it is not necessary at this time since more consolidation could occur.
April 17, 2024
IBM Privacy Head Says AI Needs Transparency To Be Trusted

To combat artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes, disinformation and bias requires transparent, open-sourced AI models and swift regulations that protect elections, creators and the public, says IBM's Chief Privacy & Trust Officer Christina Montgomery.
April 17, 2024
American Urges 1st Circ. To Reject 'Radical' JetBlue Ruling

American Airlines has told the First Circuit that a judge's "radical vision of the antitrust laws" that blocked its Northeast Alliance joint venture with JetBlue shouldn't stand, arguing that federal enforcers are relying on misleading claims and outdated precedent to prop up the lower court's mistaken conclusion.
April 16, 2024
House Panel Takes Aim At Change Healthcare, FTC Over Hack

A House subcommittee exploring ways to boost cybersecurity in the healthcare industry on Tuesday blasted Change Healthcare for failing to take appropriate steps to block a damaging cyberattack that echoed another recent strike on critical infrastructure and the Federal Trade Commission for not stopping the provider from controlling such a large market share.
April 16, 2024
Split 5th Circ. Won't Rehear Case Over Agency Protections

A divided Fifth Circuit on Tuesday denied en banc rehearing of a panel decision that likely sets up a U.S. Supreme Court challenge of long-standing limits to the president's power to fire executive branch subordinates.
April 16, 2024
Eli Lilly's Insulin Price Cap Deal Collapses After Cert. Denial

Eli Lilly & Co. and insulin buyers have called off a proposed nationwide settlement that would've capped insulin prices and been worth up to $500 million over several years, a decision that was made after the buyers lost a class certification bid early this year, according to the buyers' counsel.
April 16, 2024
Cashed Check Kills VW Emissions Deal Appeal, 9th Circ. Says

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday threw out an attempt to unravel an $80 million deal resolving consolidated consumer litigation alleging Volkswagen and Porsche manipulated emissions and fuel-economy tests for nearly 500,000 gas-powered vehicles, saying the objector has already cashed his portion of the settlement.
April 16, 2024
'Wide As The Ocean': Apple Judge Pans Investor Deal Release

A California federal judge declined Monday to preliminarily approve Apple's nonmonetary settlement in a derivative-shareholder suit over claims it secretly slowed iPhones, criticizing the deal's release of claims that "relate" to the case as overbroad and noting that, "in practice, lawyers argue that 'relate' is as wide as the ocean."
April 16, 2024
Justices Asked To Review Texas' Online Porn Age Check Law

Texas' law requiring all visitors to adult-oriented websites to prove their age before accessing the content is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, a trade group for the pornography industry told the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a split Fifth Circuit decision that allowed the age-verification requirement to go into effect.
April 16, 2024
BofA Draws Scorn From Republican AGs Over 'De-Banking'

Republican state attorneys general are calling out Bank of America over what they claim has been its discriminatory account closures of Christian religious groups and hostile treatment of conservative customers, allegations the banking giant strongly denies.
April 16, 2024
NC Treasurer Backs FTC On Hospital Merger Challenge

North Carolina's treasurer agreed Monday that Novant Health's $320 million plan to pick up a pair of hospitals is a bad idea, throwing its weight behind the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to the deal in federal court.
April 16, 2024
Tai Sidesteps As GOP Reps Try To Pin Down Trade Timeline

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee castigated U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Tuesday for the administration's vague agenda regarding future trade deals and a long-awaited tariff review that she described as "optimistic" and "coming soon."

Expert Analysis

CFPB As Pay App Watchdog May Invite More Fintech Regs

While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to enhance federal oversight of the biggest consumer payment applications would impose no new regulatory obligations, the rulemaking could provoke heightened scrutiny for all participants in the digital payments market, say attorneys at Steptoe.
Emerging Risks Affecting The Tech Legal Landscape

The tech industry has become a battleground for various legal challenges shaped by geopolitical events, partisan politics, regulatory initiatives, patent disputes and class action trends, but companies can adopt several proactive legal strategies to safeguard their interests, say Natasha Allen and Louis Lehot at Foley & Lardner.
5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024

Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come

The legal landscape of consumer reporting is evolving as courts, federal regulators and state legislatures continue to weigh in — and while last year may have seen a slight downtick in the overall volume of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, 2024 is set to be a watershed year for this area of the law, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
Breaking Down The New FCC Lead Generation Rules

The Federal Communications Commission's new rules to close the so-called lead generator robocall and robotexts loophole herald a transformative halt to the traditional lead generation industry, necessitating the development of entirely new marketplace solutions to align with the impending compliance requirements, says Alexis Buese at Bradley Arant.
What To Know About FCA Cybersecurity Enforcement

Now is a good time for practitioners, government contractors and potential relators to review recent developments in cybersecurity-related False Claims Act enforcement, and consider best practices for navigating this space in the new year, say Ellen London at London & Stout, and Li Yu and Molly Knobler at DiCello Levitt.
8 Privacy Law Predictions For 2024

As the new year begins, looking back to several of last year's privacy law developments may help companies forecast what to focus on when updating their privacy programs, including children's privacy, so-called dark patterns and the collection of data by connected cars, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
What One Litigator Learned Serving On A Jury

Kilpatrick attorney April Isaacson shares insights for trial lawyers from her recent experience serving on a jury for the first time, including lessons about the impact of frequent sidebars, considerations for using demonstratives, the importance of clear jury instructions, and the unconscious habits that can drive jurors mad.
Series

Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

As 2023 came to an end, we continued to see developments in California that are certain to have an impact on the financial services industry in 2024, including the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's request for comments on the state's new digital asset law and the state's continued enforcement actions against debt collectors, say Jennifer Olivestone and Juan Azel at Winston & Strawn.
4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year

As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.
FTC Rite Aid Order Holds Biometrics And AI Compliance Tips

The Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement action against Rite Aid over its use of facial biometric technology on customers provides lessons that can be leveraged to reduce and manage the risk of regulatory scrutiny of biometrics and artificial intelligence, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.
What Brands Need To Know About Consumer Reviews In 2024

Testimonials, endorsements and consumer reviews have been on the Federal Trade Commission's radar for years — and since this evolving area will continue to be an enforcement priority in 2024, now is the time to ensure your house is in order, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
Series

In The CFPB Playbook: Rulemaking Rush Before Election Year

In this quarterly Consumer Financial Protection Bureau activity recap by former bureau personnel, attorneys at McGuireWoods explain the regulator's recent push to finalize new rules about data aggregators, digital payment apps and more before the election-year Congressional Review Act window opens.
Ill. BIPA Ruling May Spark Violation-Of-Law Exclusion Fight

An Illinois appeals court's recent holding in National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak that a violation-of-law exclusion didn't preclude coverage for an underlying Biometric Information Privacy Act suit contradicts an earlier Seventh Circuit decision that aligns with long-standing insurance law principles — which may lead the state's high court to weigh in, says Tae Andrews at Pasich.
Securities Question Stands After Contradicting Crypto Rulings

The debate about the regulation of crypto-assets came to a head in 2023 when two New York federal judges came to opposite conclusions about whether crypto-assets were securities by using the Howey test, highlighting the uncertainty facing the crypto industry as it seeks to resolve definitional questions, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.