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Consumer Protection

  • July 10, 2025

    Mass. Man Agrees To $10K Fine For Pirate Radio Stations

    The Federal Communications Commission slapped a $10,000 fine on a Massachusetts man in a consent decree for operating pirate radio stations from three locations, though it was a reduction from the nearly $598,000 fine the FCC initially proposed.

  • July 10, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Geico Win In COVID Auto Rebate Class Action

    The Ninth Circuit affirmed Geico's victory in a certified class action alleging it owed additional refunds to drivers who overpaid their auto insurance premiums during COVID-19 stay-home orders, ruling on Wednesday that Geico charged rates that were previously approved by California's insurance commissioner, which bars the plaintiff's state Unfair Competition Law claim.

  • July 10, 2025

    Groups Ask 9th Circ. To Sink EPA Pesticide Seed Exemption

    Green groups on Wednesday asked the Ninth Circuit to revive their lawsuit alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is violating federal law by failing to regulate pesticide-coated crop seeds.

  • July 10, 2025

    $4.4B T-Mobile, UScellular Deal Gets DOJ OK, With A Warning

    The U.S. Department of Justice gave its all-clear Thursday to T-Mobile's plan to take over most of UScellular's wireless operations, finding that T-Mobile's commitments to bolster the flagging company outweigh, at least for now, worries over the disappearance of UScellular's underdog offerings.

  • July 10, 2025

    Texas Cop's Estate Can't Redo Trial Over Accidental Evidence

    A Texas federal judge turned down a new trial bid from the estate of a Texas police officer who alleged he suffered carbon monoxide poisoning because of a defect in his Ford-made patrol vehicle, saying the inadvertent admission of a chart into evidence toward the close of trial is not enough to show prejudice.

  • July 10, 2025

    Broadcast Groups Want Status Quo On AM Band Licenses

    AM broadcasters urged the Federal Communications Commission to allow them to continue dual operations in both the expanded and standard AM bands, telling the commission in a new filing that it should go ahead and shut down two AM-related dockets if it means that the status quo is maintained.

  • July 10, 2025

    Navigation Co. Says Study 'Validates' GPS Backup Plan

    Geolocation company NextNav Inc. told the Federal Communications Commission in a letter Wednesday that detractors of its proposal to use the lower 900 MHz spectrum to deploy an Earth-based backstop for the Global Positioning System have raised unfounded concerns and mischaracterized an engineering study supporting its proposal.

  • July 10, 2025

    Texas Judge Partially Voids DOL's ERISA Rollover Rule

    A Texas federal judge partially invalidated an investment advice regulation from President Donald Trump's first administration involving employee retirement savings and rollover transactions, ruling the U.S. Department of Labor exceeded its authority when it handed down a new interpretation of federal benefits law.

  • July 10, 2025

    Bettors Fight To Keep Suit Over DraftKings Promos Afloat

    DraftKings customers alleging the online betting giant's advertisements fuel gambling addiction are pushing to keep their proposed class action against the company alive, throwing water on its effort to escape the lawsuit by leaning on its extensive disclaimers and fine print.

  • July 09, 2025

    Uber Gets Some Driver Sex Assault Bellwether Claims Tossed

    The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation accusing Uber Technologies Inc. of failing to prevent drivers from sexually assaulting passengers has partially granted the ride-share company's bid to dismiss 20 bellwether cases.

  • July 09, 2025

    OpenAI Must Give Musk Info On Altman Firing In Fraud Suit

    A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in Elon Musk's lawsuit challenging OpenAI's plans to change its corporate structure ordered the artificial intelligence company to hand over documents related to CEO Sam Altman's brief firing by OpenAI's board, agreeing the information is "relevant" to Musk's charitable trust and fraud claims.

  • July 09, 2025

    Google Notches Deal With Flo Users Ahead Of Privacy Trial

    Google and users of the menstrual cycle tracking app Flo have reached a deal to resolve claims that the tech giant used a data analytics tool to unlawfully retrieve their sensitive health data, releasing the company from a July 21 trial that's still scheduled to proceed with respect to similar privacy claims being pressed against the app maker and Meta.

  • July 09, 2025

    Senate Confirms Airline Executive To Lead FAA

    The U.S. Senate Wednesday largely voted along party lines to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration.

  • July 09, 2025

    Amazon Customer Grilled On Whole Foods Ad Suit At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared critical on Wednesday of a consumer's claim that Amazon duped Prime members by pulling its free Whole Foods grocery delivery perk, as the judges pointed to subscriber terms allowing the e-commerce giant to change the benefits package.

  • July 09, 2025

    Senators Weigh Principles To Guide Crypto Market Rules

    Senate Democrats and a former chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission homed in on the importance of preserving the strength of existing securities laws during a Wednesday hearing where senators and industry experts previewed their priorities for the chamber’s coming crypto market structure proposal.

  • July 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Backs Convictions For $150M 'Psychic' Fraud

    The Second Circuit upheld Wednesday a Canadian man's 10-year prison sentence and fraud convictions stemming from a decades-long $150 million direct mailing psychic scheme that defrauded elderly victims, ruling there was sufficient evidence he intended to harm his customers who received something different from what was advertised. 

  • July 09, 2025

    Linqto Users Say Founder Flouted Securities Laws

    Customers of recently bankrupt private investment platform Linqto sued its founder and former CEO in New York federal court on Wednesday, alleging in a proposed class action that he disregarded securities laws and oversaw aggressive and misleading marketing to lure investors.

  • July 09, 2025

    Costco Says Insurer Owes Defense In Heavy Box Injury Suit

    A Hartford unit violated Washington state's Insurance Fair Conduct Act by unreasonably denying additional insured coverage for a man's lawsuit alleging he suffered severe injuries when moving a product at Costco, the retail giant alleged in a lawsuit recently removed to Washington federal court.

  • July 09, 2025

    FCC Targets Older Regulations On Phone Service 'Slamming'

    The Federal Communications Commission will take a close look during its July meeting at whether to consolidate or even scrap a bevy of rules against "slamming," or the unauthorized switching of phone services to a new provider.

  • July 09, 2025

    7th Circ. Nixes Rail Sharing Order Power For Subpar Service

    Federal regulators can't give themselves power to order rail carriers to share shipments with their rivals unless the incumbent railroad's service is "inadequate," a Seventh Circuit panel said in striking a Surface Transportation Board rule designed to empower such mandates when service merely fails certain reliability metrics.

  • July 09, 2025

    EPA Sued Over Oil Refineries' Hydrogen Fluoride Use

    A group of environmental advocates has hauled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into California federal court to stop the use of hydrogen fluoride in domestic oil manufacturing refineries, arguing it's endangering the public and the Toxic Substances Control Act requires that the agency eliminate those risks through regulations.

  • July 09, 2025

    Insurer Rejects Coverage For Ind. Federal Antitrust Suit

    An insurer for a digging and pipe services company told an Indiana federal court it should owe no coverage for a civil antitrust lawsuit, pointing in part to an exclusion barring coverage for "personal and advertising injury" arising from the "access or disclosure of confidential or personal information."

  • July 09, 2025

    J&J Seeks To Toss 'Nowhere Close' Band-Aid PFAS Suit In NJ

    Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue Inc. are urging a New Jersey federal court to toss a proposed class action alleging that the companies have not disclosed to the public that PFAS "forever chemicals" are present in unsafe amounts in Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages, arguing that the plaintiffs come "nowhere close" to stating a plausible claim.

  • July 09, 2025

    Water Co. Can't Charge Customers $42M, Conn. Justices Say

    State regulators lawfully rejected Eversource subsidiary Aquarion Water Co. of Connecticut's 2022 request to increase rates by $42 million to pay for plant additions, but they wrongly scuttled the utility's $1.5 million bid to recover conservation expenses, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

  • July 09, 2025

    Judge Says Founder Should Escape Logan Paul Crypto Suit

    A Texas magistrate judge has recommended that a former assistant of influencer Logan Paul be released from a "rug pull" cryptocurrency suit.

Expert Analysis

  • The Future Of Privacy Enforcement Under Ferguson's FTC

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    Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson's early actions indicate a marked shift toward a more traditional approach to privacy enforcement, so companies should expect the commission to maintain a strong focus on enforcing Section 5 of the FTC Act in the privacy area, says Kandi Parsons at ZwillGen.

  • AT&T Decision May Establish Framework To Block FCC Fines

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in AT&T v. FCC upends the commission's authority to impose certain civil penalties, reinforcing constitutional safeguards against administrative overreach, and opening avenues for telecommunications and technology providers to challenge forfeiture orders, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Reassessing Corporate Separateness After Explosion Of LLCs

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    Following the dramatic increase of limited liability companies in the U.S., the Corporate Transparency Act's enactment and the Trump administration's subsequent narrowing of that law, it's worth revisiting the underlying legal principles that govern shell companies in order to remedy the problems that initially motivated the CTA, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.

  • What Banks Should Note As Regulators Plan To Nix CRA Rule

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    While federal bank regulators’ recently announced intent to rescind a Biden-era Community Reinvestment Act final rule will loosen the framework for evaluating banks’ lending, service and investing activities, the decision means industry innovations and changes will remain unaddressed, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Playing Guitar Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a lawyer not only requires logic and hard work, but also belief, emotion, situational awareness and lots of natural energy — playing guitar enhances all of these qualities, increasing my capacity to do my best work, says Kosta Stojilkovic at Wilkinson Stekloff.

  • Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook

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    The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.

  • High Court's Ruling May Not Stop Ghost Gun Makers

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    In Bondi v. VanDerStok, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Gun Control Act applies to untraceable "ghost gun" kits under certain circumstances — but companies that produce these kits may still be able to use creative regulatory workarounds to evade government oversight, says Samuel Bassett at Minton Bassett.

  • Justices' Labcorp Questions Explore Class Cert. Tensions

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    At the recent oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Davis, the justices' questioning highlighted a fundamental tension between constitutional standing requirements, the procedural framework of Rule 23, and the practical challenges of managing large, diverse classes in complex litigation, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • 4 Ways To Leverage A Jury's Underdog Perceptions

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    Counsel should consider how common factors that speak to their client's size, power, past challenges and alignment with jurors can be presented to try and paint their client as a sympathetic underdog, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Vacatur Bid Sheds Light On Agency Decision-Making

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    While the ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ's joint motion to vacate the settlement it reached with Townstone Financial last year won't affect precedent on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's scope, it serves as a road map to ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ decisional processes and provides insight into how other regulators make similar decisions, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

  • Why Hiring Former Jurors As Consultants Can Be Risky

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    The defense team's decision to hire former juror Victoria George in the high-profile retrial of Karen Read shines a spotlight on this controversial strategy, which raises important legal, ethical and tactical questions despite not being explicitly prohibited, says Nikoleta Despodova at ND Litigation.

  • The Potential Efficiencies, Risks Of Folding PCAOB Into SEC

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    Integrating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission offers the potential for regulatory efficiencies, as well as a more streamlined and consistent enforcement approach, but it also presents constitutional and operational uncertainties, say attorneys at Hilgers Graben.

  • Tips For Companies Crafting Tariff Surcharge Disclosures

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    As the Trump administration imposes tariffs on imports, retail businesses considering itemizing tariff-related costs separately for consumers must ensure that any disclosures are both accurate and defensible to avoid regulatory enforcement or private suits, says Christopher Cole at Katten.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw

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    While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.

  • Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them

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    Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.

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