Consumer Protection

The Recorder

Damages May Be Sought From Investors in Abortive Fyre Festival

By Todd Cunningham | July 11, 2017

With the finances of disgraced Fyre Festival concert promoter Billy McFarland very much in question, major investors in the concert-turned-fiasco are facing unexpected scrutiny and potential liability for the money lost.

The CFPB Wants to Create an Arbitration Database. Companies Will Hate That.

By C. Ryan Barber | July 11, 2017

When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expanded its public database to include narratives of negative customer experiences, banks such as…

National Law Journal

Latest TCPA Decision Eases Path to Court for Consumers, Deepens Circuit Split

By Amanda Bronstad | July 11, 2017

Solidifying a growing circuit split in the wake of "Spokeo v. Robins," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held on Monday that a single unsolicited call to a woman's cellphone was enough harm for her to sue under the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Litigation Daily

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Kills Arbitration—and It Feels Good

By Jenna Greene | July 10, 2017

In one of the more surreal actions to come out of Trump-era Washington, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday finalized a rule that bars banks, credit card issuers and the like from using arbitration clauses—the ones buried in the fine print of hundreds of millions of contracts—to block class actions.

National Law Journal

The CFPB Wants to Create an Arbitration Database. Companies Will Hate That.

By C. Ryan Barber | July 10, 2017

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's sweeping new run to curtail arbitration agreements contains a provision that would create a public online database showing arbitration documents and awards that are still permitted. Companies regularly raise reputational concerns about such databases. The CFPB noted that several industry commenters said the publication of arbitration records would lead "plaintiff's attorneys to bring more frivolous litigation generally."

National Law Journal

CFPB, Testing Trump and Republicans, Moves to Restrict Forced Arbitration

By C. Ryan Barber | July 10, 2017

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday finalized a sweeping new rule banning arbitration agreements that prevent class actions against banks and other financial institutions, setting the stage for parallel legal and political fights over a regulation that Republican lawmakers will seek to overturn before it sees the light of day.

New Jersey Law Journal

One Call Is All It Takes for TCPA Suit, Circuit Says

By P.J. D'Annunzio | July 10, 2017

Noreen Susinno didn't waste any time after she received an unwanted promotional voicemail from a New Jersey gym. After one call to her cellphone, she sued the gym in federal court for violating a law designed to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls.

New York Law Journal

Canale v. Colgate-Palmolive Co.

By newyorklawjournal | New York Law Journal | July 7, 2017

Court Defers Decision to FTC in Class Action Over Toothpaste Products' Whitening Claims

Connecticut Law Tribune

$28 Million Tobacco Verdict Upheld by Second Circuit

By MICHAEL MARCIANO | July 7, 2017

A Connecticut jury's damages award of more than $28 million in a suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit—and the sum stands to grow, as the court also remanded for reconsideration of punitive damages.

The Recorder

US Appeals Court Set to Eye Test of Cy Pres Doctrine in $5.5M Google Accord

By Amanda Bronstad | July 7, 2017

When class members are owed a few pennies from a settlement, how much should you bother trying to make sure they get paid? That's the question before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a petition to reverse a $5.5 million settlement with Google Inc. over privacy claims that gives money to the plaintiffs' attorneys and six nonprofit organizations but nothing to the class. On Wednesday, attorneys general from 11 states filed an amicus brief insisting that the Delaware judge who approved the settlement didn't go far enough in attempting to put class members above the use of cy pres, a controversial practice used to distributed unclaimed funds in a settlement to third parties.