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Consumer Protection

  • July 30, 2025

    Amazon Denied 'Mini-Trial' Against Shoppers' Proposed Class

    A Washington state federal judge summarily refused Wednesday to let Amazon interrogate the expert witness backing a bid for class action status covering tens of millions of consumers, finding that the proposal for evidentiary hearing, with cross-examination, is unneeded.

  • July 30, 2025

    Texas Senate Again Approves Ban On Hemp-Derived THC

    Texas state senators on Wednesday once again gave approval to a legislative proposal to ban products with THC derived from hemp. 

  • July 30, 2025

    Cable Industry Seeks Bar On Rate Regulation Under BEAD

    Independent cable providers are urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to guard against policies that could be construed as rate regulation as it continues a revamp of more than $42 billion in broadband funding to states and territories.

  • July 30, 2025

    Fla. AG Allowed To Drop Sandoz Generics Price-Fixing Claims

    After several months of wrangling over the terms of a $10 million generic drug price-fixing settlement, a Connecticut federal judge on Wednesday granted Florida's request to permanently drop its claims against Sandoz, finding that it would be an abuse of discretion to hold up the resolution any longer.

  • July 30, 2025

    RJR Gets New Trial, Undoing $8.1M Engle Progeny Verdict

    A Florida appeals panel on Wednesday upended an $8.1 million judgment against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in an Engle progeny case, finding the trial court abused its discretion by instructing the jury on the Engle case's fraudulent concealment and conspiracy findings when this case did not involve those claims.

  • July 30, 2025

    RealPage, Landlords Ask To Toss NJ's Antitrust Case

    RealPage and a group of building owners urged a New Jersey federal court to toss a case brought by state enforcers accusing them of scheming to use software to raise rents, calling it one in a series of "baseless" lawsuits that fails to allege there was any kind of conspiracy.

  • July 30, 2025

    Landlords Not Covered For Lead Exposure Suit, Insurer Says

    An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify property owners accused of negligently renting out an apartment with hazardous levels of lead that injured a child, the carrier told an Illinois federal court, saying the owners' policy bars coverage for bodily injury caused by lead.

  • July 30, 2025

    Apple Says DOJ Attacking Legitimate 'Design Choices'

    Apple leaned on a familiar playbook of privacy, security and independent choice in its Tuesday answer to the U.S. Department of Justice monopolization lawsuit in New Jersey federal court, arguing the government "fundamentally misunderstands" the restrictions it imposes on iMessage, smartwatch compatibility, mobile wallets, cloud gaming and more.

  • July 30, 2025

    Samourai Wallet Execs Cop To Money-Transmitting Charges

    Two Samourai Wallet executives told a Manhattan federal judge Wednesday that they facilitated bitcoin transfers derived from criminal activity, pleading guilty to scheming to use their crypto-mixer as an unlicensed money transmitter but avoiding a more serious money-laundering conspiracy count.

  • July 29, 2025

    ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Plans 'Accelerated' Push To Revamp Open Banking Rule

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday persuaded a Kentucky federal judge to stay a banking industry legal challenge to its Biden-era open banking rule, saying it now plans to rewrite the rule on an "accelerated" basis and expects to start next month.

  • July 29, 2025

    FCC Nixes Objection To Nonprofit's New Miami FM Station

    Three petitioners have been scrabbling before the Federal Communications Commission for the right to operate a new low-power station in a part of Miami that can only tolerate one station, and the agency has finally decided who gets it.

  • July 29, 2025

    8th Circ. Says Bankruptcy Sale Appeal Dead Without Stay

    The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a woman's bid to undo an order approving a sale in her Chapter 7 bankruptcy, saying she didn't get a stay of the sale and so her appeal had to be dismissed.

  • July 29, 2025

    Hawk Tuah Meme Coin Buyers Seek To Combine Their Suits

    Two groups of buyers of the viral "Hawk Tuah" meme-themed cryptocurrency on Monday asked a Brooklyn federal judge to combine their respective securities suits against the project's promoters and developers.

  • July 29, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Renew Suit Over Wash. Ban On 'DIY' Rape Kits

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday refused to revive a constitutional challenge to Washington state's ban on self-administered DNA evidence collection kits for sexual assault survivors, concluding that the plaintiff company failed to show the law illegally restricts commercial speech.

  • July 29, 2025

    Colo. Sues PetSmart Over Allegedly Illegal 'TRAP' Contracts

    PetSmart LLC is under fire from the state of Colorado, with the attorney general's office filing a complaint in state court on Tuesday claiming it tricked dog groomers into signing up for a "free" training program that included a "training repayment agreement provision" with fees of up to $5,500 if they left before working for two years.

  • July 29, 2025

    Airbnb Says Slim Odds Of Shooting Don't Create Tort 'Duty'

    The chances of being shot at one of Airbnb's short-term rentals are only slightly greater than the odds of being struck by lightning, so the company could not foresee or be held responsible for events like a 2022 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh rental, counsel for Airbnb told a Pennsylvania judge Tuesday during an oral argument.

  • July 29, 2025

    Tesla Expert Says No Tech Would've Stopped Reckless Driver

    No improved autopilot technology would have changed the reckless behavior of the Tesla driver who caused a fatal crash in the Florida Keys, an expert psychologist told federal jurors Tuesday in the trial over whether the car's autopilot software contributed to the crash.

  • July 29, 2025

    SpaceX Backs 'Light Licensing Framework' In 37 GHz

    As the Federal Communications Commission looks into revamping the lower 37 gigahertz band, SpaceX is pushing the agency to consider a "light licensing framework" like the one it has deployed in several other satellite bands.

  • July 29, 2025

    Next-Gen TV Can Deliver Localized Emergency Info, FCC Told

    A public safety trade group called on the Federal Communications Commission to cement the next-generation TV standard into government rules, emphasizing the public interest benefits of quickly conveying advanced emergency information such as geotargeted alerts.

  • July 29, 2025

    Crypto Mixer Execs To Change Plea In Samourai Wallet Case

    The two co-founders of crypto mixer Samourai Wallet told a New York federal judge on Tuesday that they intend to change their not guilty pleas after initially fighting charges that they facilitated over $2 billion in unlawful transactions.

  • July 29, 2025

    RFK Jr. Slams Vaccine Injury Program: 3 Things To Know

    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taking aim at the national program that compensates people for vaccine injuries, calling it a "heartless" system that he intends to fix.

  • July 29, 2025

    Hershey Tries To Sink Suit Over Spicy Chip Blamed For Death

    The Hershey Company has asked a Massachusetts federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the family of a teen who died after participating in a viral social media trend dubbed the "One Chip Challenge," which involved consuming an extremely spicy tortilla chip, saying the product is legal and includes "prominent warning labels."

  • July 29, 2025

    Senate Dem Presses Musk On Starlink Use In Scams

    Elon Musk is facing questions from a Democratic U.S. senator concerning the possible use of Starlink by South Asian criminal organizations to run sweeping scams against Americans.

  • July 29, 2025

    FDA Recommends Federal Restrictions On Kratom Extract

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it recommends placing federal restrictions on 7-Hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, an opioid-like alkaloid compound derived from the kratom leaf that the agency said had a strong potential for abuse.

  • July 29, 2025

    DOJ Drops Challenge Of Amex GBT's $570M Deal For CWT

    The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that enforcers have agreed to drop their case challenging American Express Global Business Travel Inc.'s planned $570 million purchase of corporate travel management rival CWT Holdings LLC.

Expert Analysis

  • Compliance Changes On Deck For Banks Under Texas AI Law

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    Financial services companies, including banks and fintechs, should evaluate their artificial intelligence usage to prepare for Texas' newly passed law regulating AI governance, noting that the enforcement provisions provide for an affirmative defense to liability, say attorneys at Mitchell Sandler.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • 23andMe Fine Signals ICO's New GDPR Enforcement Focus

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    Many of the cybersecurity failures identified by the Information Commissioner’s Office in its investigation of 23andMe, recently resulting in a £2.3 million fine, were basic lapses, but the ICO's focus on several new U.K. General Data Protection Regulation considerations will likely carry into the future, say lawyers at Womble Bond.

  • How Courts Are Addressing The Use Of AI In Discovery

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    In recent months, several courts have issued opinions on handling discovery issues involving artificial intelligence, which collectively offer useful insights on integrating AI into discovery and protecting work product in connection with AI prompts and outputs, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • Midyear Rewind: How Courts Are Reshaping VPPA Standards

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    The first half of 2025 saw a series of cases interpreting the Video Privacy Protection Act as applied to website tracking technologies, including three appellate rulings deepening circuit splits on what qualifies as personally identifiable information and who qualifies as a consumer under the statute, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Tips For Crypto AI Agent Developers Under SEC Watch

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    With agents powered by artificial intelligence increasingly making decisions in the cryptocurrency world, there's a chance the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could use the Investment Advisers Act to regulate this technology in financial services, but there are ways developers can mitigate regulatory risks, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • What's Next For ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ After 'Big Beautiful' Funding Cuts

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    While the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's funding cuts to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are unlikely to have an independent effect in the short run, they could exacerbate the existing issue of wide regulatory fluctuations in successive administrations in the longer run, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • 4 In-Flux Employment Law Issues Banks Should Note

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    Attorneys at Ogletree provide a midyear update on employment law changes that could significantly affect banks and other financial service institutions — including federal diversity equity and inclusion updates, and new and developing state and local artificial intelligence laws.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Influencer Marketing Partnerships Face Rising Litigation Risk

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    In light of recent class actions claiming that brands and influencers are misleading consumers with deceptive marketing practices — largely premised on the Federal Trade Commission's endorsements guidance — proactive compliance measures are becoming more important, say attorneys at Olshan Frome.

  • 5 Consumer Protection Compliance Issues In NY State Budget

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    Companies that engage with New York consumers should promptly familiarize themselves with new state budget provisions that require finance and retail companies to make certain business practices more transparent and easier for customers to execute, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • High Court Cert Spotlights Varying Tests For Federal Removal

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    A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case involving the federal officer removal statute, highlights three other recent circuit court decisions raising federal removal questions, and serves as a reminder that defendants are the masters of removal actions, says Varun Aery at Hollingsworth.

  • Open Banking Is On Ice As ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Seeks To Toss Its Own Rule

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    Even as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's efforts to toss its open banking rule play out in Kentucky federal court, it remains statutorily required to effectuate consumer access to data, raising questions about how it would replace the previously finalized standard, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Opinion

    DOJ's HPE-Juniper Settlement Will Help US Compete

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    The U.S. Department of Justice settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise clears the purchase of Juniper Networks in a deal that positions the U.S. as a leader in secure, scalable networking and critical digital infrastructure by requiring the divestiture of a WiFi network business geared toward small firms, says John Shu at Taipei Medical University.

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