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Consumer Protection

  • July 21, 2025

    States, Territories Get The OK For $42B In Broadband Grants

    The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday that all 56 states and territories taking part in a $42.5 billion expansion of U.S. broadband service can now begin picking contractors to get the work done on the ground.

  • July 21, 2025

    Feds Want Early Out For Bank In $3M Redlining Case

    The government told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday that a bank it previously accused of discriminatory lending should be released from court oversight because it fulfilled the bulk of its obligations stemming from an approximately $3 million settlement.

  • July 21, 2025

    4th Circ. Reverses Portion Of Railroads' Broadband Suit

    The Fourth Circuit has ruled that the Association of American Railroads has standing to challenge a Virginia state law requiring railroads to allow for broadband crossings, reversing a trial court decision and dealing another blow to a law that the Virginia Supreme Court already gutted on state constitutional grounds in May.

  • July 21, 2025

    Not So Fast: ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Shelves Bid To Scrap State Notice Rules

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday withdrew a plan to repeal rules that regulate how state officials are supposed to alert it before suing companies under its federal enforcement authority, reversing course after industry groups lobbied to tighten, not toss, the requirements.

  • July 21, 2025

    Erie Insurance Blames BMW For $2M Mini Cooper Fire Loss

    An insurer for a Pittsburgh car dealership and car owner told a Pennsylvania state court that BMW's North American division owes nearly $2 million in coverage reimbursement for a Mini Cooper vehicle fire because of a faulty battery housing or related components.

  • July 21, 2025

    Ruger Says Colo. Shooting Suits Can't Lean On Conn. Ruling 

    Sturm Ruger & Co. on Monday asked a Connecticut state judge to strike lawsuits by the families of the victims of a Colorado mass shooting, saying litigation from the Sandy Hook massacre does not open the Constitution State's unfair trade practices statute to all advertising-based claims against gunmakers.

  • July 21, 2025

    Judge Won't Recuse Over Past Work With DraftKings Counsel

    A California federal judge presiding over a proposed class action against DraftKings regarding its fantasy sports games offerings rejected a request from the plaintiffs to recuse himself over concerns that an attorney for the defense has ties to the court.

  • July 21, 2025

    Capital One Board Ignored Account Scheme Risks, Suit Says

    The board and executives at Capital One left the bank exposed to legal and regulatory problems when it hid high-yield savings accounts from legacy customers to boost profits, an investor has alleged in a derivative lawsuit brought in Virginia federal court.

  • July 18, 2025

    Law360 Names 2025's Top Attorneys Under 40

    Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2025, our list of more than 150 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.

  • July 18, 2025

    Top 4 Texas Court Rulings Of 2025: Midyear Report

    Texas courts made several high-profile decisions in the first half of 2025, including backing a multibillion-dollar mattress merger, awarding more than $6 million to employees fired by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and granting the state a $1.4 billion data privacy settlement with Google. Here are four of the biggest court rulings in Texas so far this year.

  • July 18, 2025

    Judge Demands Layoff Plans From Trump Administration

    A California federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to hand over reorganization and reduction-in-force plans linked to an executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, finding that the government's privilege claim was outweighed by the plaintiffs' need for the information to pursue their claims under the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • July 18, 2025

    FCC Seeks To Change How It Handles Broadband Report

    The Federal Communications Commission got the ball rolling Friday on its annual inquiry into how available advanced telecommunications are to everyone in the country, only a few weeks before it will vote to change the way it evaluates how well broadband is being deployed.

  • July 18, 2025

    As Trump Signs Stablecoin Bill, Attorneys Talk Compliance

    President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a bill to regulate stablecoins, known as the Genius Act, and practitioners are now turning their attention to helping firms comply with both the provisions of the statute and the coming rulemakings from regulators.

  • July 18, 2025

    Judge Advised Against State AG Intervention In Sandoz Deal

    A special master on Friday advised a Pennsylvania federal court to deny a bid by California and other state attorneys general to intervene in a $275 million settlement resolving generic-drug price-fixing claims against Sandoz, finding they lacked standing to represent the interests of consumers.

  • July 18, 2025

    Boeing Urges 4th Circ. To Decertify 737 Max Investor Class

    Boeing told the Fourth Circuit on Friday that a Virginia district court flouted U.S. Supreme Court precedent by certifying a class of investors alleging the company misrepresented the safety of its 737 Max 9 fleet after a door plug blowout, saying there's zero evidence backing the plaintiffs' damages theories.

  • July 18, 2025

    Hyatt, Hilton Beat Room Price-Fixing Antitrust Suit, For Now

    Hyatt, Hilton, Wyndham and other hotels beat a proposed antitrust class action, for now, alleging that they shared confidential occupancy data and prices through IDeaS's revenue management software to inflate room rates, after a California federal judge said Friday the suit doesn't plausibly allege a horizontal agreement or parallel conduct among them.

  • July 18, 2025

    Plaintiffs' Expert Says Tesla Deleted Data From Crashed Car

    A vehicle accident reconstruction expert told jurors Thursday that data from the Tesla Model S involved in a fatal Florida Keys crash had been deleted after the crash by the automaker, which is defending its autopilot system at a trial in Miami.

  • July 18, 2025

    Social Media MDL Judge Could Bifurcate Bellwether Trials

    A California federal judge presiding over multidistrict litigation by school districts and personal injury plaintiffs claiming social media is addictive said Friday she'll likely bifurcate bellwether trials into two phases, with the judge presiding over the second phase, if plaintiffs seek any relief "that may be injunctive in nature."

  • July 18, 2025

    EU Says Vivendi Controlled Lagardère During Deal Review

    European enforcers have accused French media conglomerate Vivendi of exercising control over Lagardère's editorial operations and personnel decisions before and during a review of its acquisition.

  • July 18, 2025

    Safeway Can't Arbitrate False Ad Wine Discount Suit

    Safeway can't force customers to arbitrate their proposed false advertising class action alleging it markets bogus, limited-time offers of discounts on wine for its rewards members, after a California federal judge ruled that there's no evidence they agreed to arbitrate their disputes or had notice of Safeway's arbitration terms. 

  • July 18, 2025

    T-Mobile Wants Wash. AG's Data Breach Claims Tossed

    T-Mobile is calling its promises to protect its subscribers' privacy "puffery" in a bid to get out of a Washington state lawsuit over a 2021 cyberattack, saying its commitments to "safeguards" and to "do the right thing" with users' data couldn't have misled consumers because they were completely unspecific.

  • July 18, 2025

    Colo. Sues Businessman Over Small Biz Fee Scheme

    The state of Colorado sued a Florida businessman and his two companies Thursday in state court, saying they spent years running a scheme targeting small business owners, sending nearly 200,000 forms trying to solicit large fees for services that are actually free.

  • July 18, 2025

    FTC Nixes Exxon-Pioneer, Chevron-Hess Board Ban Deals

    The Biden-era Federal Trade Commission settlements clearing Exxon's purchase of Pioneer and Chevron's acquisition of Hess are no more, after the now Republican-controlled agency said there was no need to condition acquisition approvals on banning the CEOs of Pioneer and Hess from the boards of the combined companies.

  • July 18, 2025

    Albertsons Spam Text Plaintiff Gets Chance To Revise Suit

    A Washington federal judge on Friday threw out a proposed class action accusing Albertsons of sending consumers unsolicited text advertisements, yet she gave the plaintiff a shot at filing a new version of the lawsuit with a screenshot and more specifics to back his claims.

  • July 18, 2025

    Tread Carefully On Truth-In-Billing Rules, FCC Told

    The Federal Communications Commission says its slamming and truth-in-billing rules are outdated and has targeted them for cuts, but consumer and civil rights groups are urging the agency to be cautious in order to "ensure these changes do not come at the expense of core consumer protections."

Expert Analysis

  • Tips To Avoid Consumer Tracking Tech Class Actions

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    Recent class actions alleging Trade Desk illegally tracked millions of consumers through its advertising platform highlight growing data privacy compliance concerns over digital tracking practices, but there are disclosure best practices businesses can take to reduce litigation risk, says David Wheeler at Neal Gerber.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Supporting A Trial Team

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    While students often practice as lead trial attorneys in law school, such an opportunity likely won’t arise until a few years into practice, so junior associates should focus on honing skills that are essential to supporting a trial team, including organization, adaptability and humility, says Lucy Zelina at Tucker Ellis.

  • Opinion

    Address Nationwide Injunction Issues With Random Venues

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    Many of the qualms about individual district court judges' authority to issue nationwide injunctions could be solved with a simple legislative solution: handling multiple complaints about the same agency action filed in different district courts by assigning a venue via random selection, says Harvey Reiter at Stinson.

  • ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Industry Impact Uncertain Amid Priority Shift, Staff Cuts

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    A recent enforcement memo outlines how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's regulatory agenda diverges from that of the previous administration, but, given the bureau's planned reduction in force, it is uncertain whether the agency will be able to enforce these new priorities, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Lessons From FTC Action On Dark Patterns In User Interfaces

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent complaint against Uber for its billing and cancellation practices comes amid other actions addressing consumer confusion and deception, so it is paramount to deploy tools that assess customers' cognitive states of mind to separate lawful marketing from misconduct, says Ceren Canal Aruoba at Berkeley Research Group.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Attorney To BigLaw

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    When I transitioned to private practice after government service — most recently as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — I learned there are more similarities between the two jobs than many realize, with both disciplines requiring resourcefulness, zealous advocacy and foresight, says Zach Terwilliger at V&E.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling Warns Parties To Follow Arbitral Rules

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Merritt Island Woodwerx v. Space Coast is important for companies utilizing arbitration clauses because it clearly demonstrates the court's intent to hold noncompliant parties responsible in federal court — regardless of subsequent efforts to cure, says Ed Mullins at Reed Smith.

  • How The DOJ Is Redesigning Its Approach To Digital Assets

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    Two key digital asset enforcement policy pronouncements narrow the Justice Department's focus on threats like fraud, terrorism, trafficking and sanctions evasion and dial back so-called regulation by prosecution, but institutions prioritizing compliance must remember that the underlying statutory framework hasn't changed, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • 2nd Circ. Limits VPPA Liability, But Caveats Remain

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    The Second Circuit's narrowed scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act in Solomon v. Flipps Media, in which the court adopted the ordinary person standard, will help shield businesses from VPPA liability, but the decision hardly provides a free pass to streamers and digital media companies utilizing website pixels, say attorneys at Frankfurt Kurnit.

  • Measuring The Impact Of Attorney Gender On Trial Outcomes

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    Preliminary findings from our recent study on how attorney gender might affect case outcomes support the conclusion that there is little in the way of a clear, universal bias against attorneys of a given gender, say Jill Leibold, Olivia Goodman and Alexa Hiley at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • The Ins And Outs Of Consensual Judicial References

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    As parties consider the possibility of judicial reference to resolve complex disputes, it is critical to understand how the process works, why it's gaining traction, and why carefully crafted agreements make all the difference, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    The BigLaw Settlements Are About Risk, Not Profit

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    The nine Am Law 100 firms that settled with the Trump administration likely did so because of the personal risk faced by equity partners in today's billion‑dollar national practices, enabled by an ethics rule primed for modernization, says Adam Forest at Scale.

  • Current Antitrust Zeitgeist May Transcend Political Parties

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    The Trump administration's "America First" antitrust policy initially suggests a different approach than the Biden administration's, but closer examination reveals key parallels, including a broad focus on anticompetitive harm beyond consumer welfare and aggressive enforcement of existing laws, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Neb.'s Cannabis Regulatory Void Poses Operational Risks

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    With the Nebraska Legislature recently declining to advance any cannabis legislation, leaving the state without a regulatory framework for voter-passed initiatives, the risks of operating without clear rules will likely affect patients, providers and caregivers, says John Cartier at Omnus Law.

  • Fla. Bill May Curb Suits Over Late-Night Collections Emails

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    A recently passed Florida bill exempting email communications from the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act's quiet hours ban may significantly reduce frivolous lawsuits aimed at creditors and debt collectors who use email communications to collect outstanding balances from consumers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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