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Consumer Protection
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November 25, 2024
Credit Bureaus Freed From VantageScore Antitrust Suit
An Illinois federal judge has ruled there is no evidence the three major credit bureaus conspired with the Fair Isaac Corporation to engage in a monopoly, reasoning there was no impetus for them to do so, but also found that credit score buyers sufficiently backed some of their antitrust claims against FICO.
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November 25, 2024
Colo. Law Could Imperil Dual Banking System, 10th Circ. Told
Texas, Utah and other Republican-led states have joined industry calls for the Tenth Circuit to affirm a court-ordered hold on a Colorado law targeting higher-cost online lending, warning the measure could lead to the unraveling of the dual banking system.
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November 25, 2024
Monsanto Attacks 'Frankenstein' Ruling In $185M PCB Verdict
Even though a lower state appellate court upended a $185 million jury verdict in a PCB tort brought by schoolteachers, Monsanto says Washington's high court should reject the part of the ruling that created a "Frankenstein's monster" that could let the teachers get around the state's ban on punitive damages in product liability cases by relying on Missouri law.
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November 25, 2024
Spectrum, Rip And Replace Are Top FCC Priorities, Carr Says
Congress needs to focus next year on restoring the Federal Communications Commission's authority to auction spectrum bands and figure out how to pay for adequate telecom cybersecurity, says Brendan Carr, the agency's upcoming Republican chair.
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November 25, 2024
Kalshi's Election Contracts Are Here To Stay, DC Circ. Told
Prediction market advocates and legal scholars have told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission stretched existing statutes too far in its bid to block KalshiEx's election wagering market, and now that the votes are in, the agency's concerns that the markets would threaten election integrity have not borne out.
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November 25, 2024
FCC To Bar Fla. Telecom From Aid After Fraud Conviction
The Federal Communications Commission is looking to block a Florida-based wireless service provider from participating in any universal service programs for at least three years after it was convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government through the agency's Lifeline Program for low-income phone users.
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November 25, 2024
Hemp Sellers Say Conn. Cannabis Laws Violate Constitution
A dozen Connecticut hemp retailers filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and attorney general challenging a number of state laws meant to regulate so-called high-THC hemp products, claiming the statutes are so vague they are unconstitutional.
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November 25, 2024
FTC's Antitrust Case Against Meta Gets April Trial Date
A D.C. federal court has set an April 14 trial date for the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case accusing Meta of monopolizing personal social networking through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
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November 25, 2024
TMX Moves For Emergency Block On $52M Pa. Fine Hearing
An affiliate of TMX Finance asked a Texas federal court to pause Pennsylvania regulators' efforts to enforce the state's anti-usury laws against it, claiming it faced a "Hobson's choice" of responding to an enforcement proceeding whose legality was being questioned, or waiving its arguments and facing a $52.7 million fine.
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November 25, 2024
Calif. Board Seeks Comment On AI Rules Amid Pushback
The California Privacy Protection Agency on Friday opened the public comment period for its latest rulemaking package proposing expansive draft rules regulating technologies fueled by artificial intelligence — including in the employment, education, healthcare, consumer protection, banking and insurance contexts — which business groups have already criticized as being overly broad and burdensome.
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November 25, 2024
Medical Info. Co. Beats Junk Fax Suit Over Free E-Book Offer
A medical information company has once again defeated a long-running Telephone Consumer Protection suit over unsolicited faxes it sent in 2013, with a West Virginia federal judge ruling the plaintiffs produced no evidence that the company got paid when recipients responded to their faxes.
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November 25, 2024
4th Circ. Stands By HELOC 'Offset' Ruling Against PNC
The full Fourth Circuit has declined to reconsider a panel decision that extended protections under the Truth In Lending Act by barring banks from dipping into a cardholder's deposit account to cover outstanding payments on a home equity line of credit without the borrower's consent.
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November 25, 2024
DOJ Says Realtor Commissions Deal Is No Antitrust Shield
The U.S. Department of Justice warned the National Association of Realtors that changes to broker commission rules agreed to in a settlement with home sellers do not shield the industry from government antitrust scrutiny.
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November 25, 2024
Jury Finds Natera Owes Guardant $292.5M In False Ad Suit
A California federal jury on Monday awarded $292.5 million in actual and punitive damages to medical test maker Guardant Health after finding that its rival Natera falsely advertised its colorectal cancer test Signatera as superior to Guardant's competing product Reveal.
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November 25, 2024
Housing Project Will Pollute Public Water, Conn. City Says
The construction of 16 houses in Ledyard, Connecticut, will contaminate the groundwater and endanger the drinking water supply for people living on the site, the city of Groton's water department said in an appeal of the project's approval to the state court.
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November 25, 2024
Trump 2.0 Expected To Maintain Tech Antitrust Cases
President-elect Donald Trump has promised dramatic changes with his pending second term, but antitrust practitioners are anticipating a return to normal after four years of an aggressive Biden administration that's seemed skeptical of big business on the whole, though they also don't expect enforcement to be lax.
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November 25, 2024
Solar Co. Ex-CEO Attys Say DQ Request 'Untethered To Facts'
Lawyers representing the former CEO of a now-defunct solar energy company against fraud and racketeering claims have told a Michigan federal judge that their previous in-house work for the company is not grounds to disqualify them from the suit, calling the plaintiffs' attempt to have them removed "untethered to facts" and improperly delayed.
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November 25, 2024
High Court Refuses To Review FDA Cigarette Warning Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said that it won't take up a challenge to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule requiring larger warnings on cigarette boxes, in a suit brought by tobacco companies.
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November 22, 2024
Del Monte's 'Fruit Naturals' Label Not Deceptive, 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to revive a California woman's proposed class action accusing Del Monte Foods of falsely advertising fruit cups as being "natural" despite containing synthetic preservatives, saying a reasonable consumer would know to read the products' back label to confirm the ingredients.
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November 22, 2024
Trump Makes Picks For FDA, CDC And Surgeon General
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday revealed his nominations for several health agencies, picking Johns Hopkins surgeon and professor Dr. Marty Makary for Food and Drug Administration commissioner, former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, and Fox News contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general.
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November 22, 2024
Ill. Judge Bucks Colleague In Limiting BIPA Change's Reach
An Illinois federal judge held Friday that a legislative amendment limiting damages under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act doesn't apply to lawsuits filed before the change took effect, refusing to side with a recent ruling from another judge in the same court that reached the opposite conclusion.
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November 22, 2024
Natera's Conduct 'Despicable,' Guardant Says As Trial Wraps
Guardant urged a California federal jury at the close of its false advertising trial Friday to make rival Natera pay it hundreds of millions of dollars, saying the competitor's misrepresentation of the companies' competing cancer detection tests was "despicable," while Natera countered it was Guardant that used deceptive marketing.
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November 22, 2024
Pam Bondi's 'Greatest Hits' As Florida Attorney General
In her eight years as attorney general of Florida, Pam Bondi — who has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general — took on pill mills and telemarketing scams targeting the state's large elderly population, while also leading GOP state efforts to battle the Obama administration.
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November 22, 2024
Sirius XM Cancellation Policies Flout Federal Law, Judge Says
A New York state judge held that Sirius XM Radio Inc.'s account cancellation policies, while not fraudulent, violate federal law by forcing consumers to call customer service and listen to drawn-out discount pitches before they're able to unsubscribe.
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November 22, 2024
Target Can't Shake Shoppers' Biometric Privacy Suit
An Illinois federal judge has refused to toss a putative class action accusing Target Corp. of deploying surveillance systems that unlawfully gathered shoppers' biometric data, finding that news reports and other sources cited by the plaintiffs were enough to create a "plausible inference" that the retailer engaged in the alleged conduct.
Expert Analysis
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Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures
Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.
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Harris Unlikely To Shelve Biden Admin's Food Antitrust Stance
A look at Vice President Kamala Harris' past record, including her actions as California attorney general, shows why practitioners should prepare for continued aggressive antitrust enforcement, particularly in the food and grocery industries, if Harris wins the presidential election, says Steve Vieux at Bartko.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to alter Regulation X mortgage servicing procedures to broadly construe requests for assistance, and stay foreclosure proceedings during loss mitigation review, will, if finalized, require mortgage servicers to make notable procedural changes to comply, says Louis Manetti at Locke Lord.
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A Look At 5 States' New Data Privacy Laws
With new data privacy laws in Utah, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Montana recently in effect or coming into force this year, state-level enforcement of data privacy creates significant challenges and risks for how businesses interact with employees and consumers, and for companies that provide and use technologies in multiple jurisdictions, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Antitrust In Retail: Why FTC Is Studying 'Surveillance Pricing'
The Federal Trade Commission's decision to study targeted "surveillance pricing" should provide greater clarity into the nature of the data aggregation industry, but also raises several issues, including whether these practices are in fact illegal under any established interpretations of U.S. antitrust law, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping
As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In the third quarter of the year, California continued to be at the forefront of banking regulation as it enacted legislation on unfair banking practices and junk fees, and the state Department of Financial Protection and Innovation notably initiated enforcement actions focused on crypto-assets and student loan debt relief, say Stuart Richter and Eric Hail at Katten.
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Opinion
FTC's Report Criticizing Drug Middlemen Is Flawed
The Federal Trade Commission's July report, which claims that pharmacy benefit managers are inflating drug costs, does not offer a credible analysis of PBMs, and its methodology lacks rigor, says Jay Ezrielev at Elevecon.
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2 High Court Securities Cases Could Clarify Pleading Rules
In granting certiorari in a pair of securities fraud cases against Facebook and Nvidia, respectively, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its intention to align interpretations of the heightened pleading standard under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act amid its uneven application among the circuit courts, say attorneys at V&E.
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What 2 Key Rulings Mean For Solicitation Under TCPA
Two recent rulings from federal district courts in New York and California — each of which came to a different conclusion — bring to light courts' continued focus on and analysis of when an alleged communication constitutes a solicitation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, say Felix Shipkevich and Jessica Livingston at Shipkevich.
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Series
NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In a relatively light few months for banking legal updates in New York, the state Department of Financial Services previewed its views on banking sector artificial intelligence use via insurer guidance, and an anti-money laundering enforcement action underscored the importance of international monitoring processes, say Eric McLaughlin and Dana Bayersdorfer at Davis Polk.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.