The CFPB today announced a final rule that will require nonbank financial companies subject to Dodd-Frank to register and report if they have been subject to certain final orders from agencies or courts based on violations of certain consumer laws, and imposing injunctive or remedial relief. In the agency’s press release, it indicated it will […]
Author Archives: Adam Pulver
After several delays, the House today passed a five-year reauthorization bill for the FAA, which had previously passed the Senate. The bipartisan bill includes a number of consumer protection provisions, including provisions related to: refunds for cancellations and significant delays seating for travel with children and passengers with disabilities access to customer service agents The […]
The parties in consolidated class actions against GoDaddy brought under the TCPA negotiated a settlement, under which Go Daddy would provide up to $35 million to pay both class members’ claims and up to $10.5 million to their lawyers as attorney’s fees. The district court certified a settlement class. The day Rule 23(c)(2) notices were […]
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.” […]
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 […]