The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulates unsolicited calls using “any automatic telephone dialing system [(ATDS)] or an artificial or prerecorded voice.” The statute defines an automatic telephone dialing system as “equipment which has the capacity…to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and…to dial such numbers.” […]
Author Archives: Adam Pulver
On Tuesday, the CFPB issued an order against Chime Financial, finding that it failed to timely refund consumers’ balances after they closed their accounts. Chime, a financial technology company, is not itself a bank, but partners with regional banks to provide certain mobile banking services. This model deprives consumers of many of the protections of […]
In 2015, consumers sued the manufacturers of KIND products –first over the company’s use of the word “healthy” in describing its products, and then over the “All Natural/Non-GMO” claim on product packaging. The class action included claims for violation of several state laws. After class certification and discovery, the district court excluded the testimony of […]
In 2021, New York enacted the Affordable Broadband Act (ABA), which requires internet service providers to offer broadband internet to low-income New Yorkers at reduced prices. Providers sued, arguing that the law was both field preempted by the Communications Act of 1934 (as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996), and conflict preempted by the […]
Today, the Department of Transportation published on its website a final rule regarding airline refunds, requiring (1) automatic (cash) refunds when flights are cancelled or significantly changed and customers do not accept alternatives offered, (2) refunds of checked bag fees for significantly delayed bags, (3) refunds for ancillary services fees (seating, etc.) that are paid […]
The period from 2001 through 2016 saw several major mergers amongst US passenger airlines. In recent years, though, efforts to merge or coordinate have faced opposition from courts and antitrust regulators. In December 2023, Alaska Airlines (which already has a huge Hawaiian presence) announced a deal to acquire Hawaiian Airlines. The immediate response from government […]
Over the past few years, there have been numerous stories of rental car company Hertz reporting customers as having stolen rental cars, when the cars were not stolen at all. In 2022, the company entered in a class action settlement covering 364 of these reported “thefts.” Today, the Eighth Circuit issued a decision in Wood […]
March 31 was this weekend, and, as is customary in the D.C. federal district court, that meant a huge number of decisions over the last two weeks so judges could avoid appearing on the dreaded CJRA “six-month” list. In one such long-awaited decision, Judge Leon granted PayPal summary judgment in its challenge to a 2016 […]
As many of us feared, those who support student loan debt have used the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s broad-based loan cancellation scheme to attack any debt relief offered by the Department of Education, regardless of statutory basis or how targeted it may be. Yesterday, in a rambling complaint including, for some reason, […]
In 2019, New Jersey amended its state fair credit reporting act to require national credit reporting agencies to provide, upon request, credit file disclosures to New Jersey consumers in certain languages other than English. An industry association sued, alleging the statute was preempted by the federal fair credit reporting act, and violated the First Amendment. […]