Just after Thanksgiving last week, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion reversing a district court’s certification of a class in one of several actions brought by a consumer against Folgers and consolidated by the JPML. In the action on appeal, the consumer had alleged that representations on coffee containers featured misrepresentations about the number of […]
Author Archives: Adam Pulver
Reuters is reporting that Stuart Levenbach has been nominated to serve as the next Director of the CFPB. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Levenbach appears to have no experience in consumer protection or consumer finance whatsoever. According to a February 2025 release announcing his appointment to a position at OMB: Prior to OMB, Dr. Stuart Levenbach was the […]
The past week has seen the announcement of two proposals to weaken mechanisms for identifying and combatting discriminatory lending practices. Last week, the CFPB issued a proposal to amend Regulation B under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which would eliminate disparate impact claims, significantly narrow the prohibition on statements that would discourage applicants or potential […]
In 2023, New York adopted a law prohibiting the sale of over-the-counter diet pills or dietary supplements “for weight loss or muscle building” to anyone under age 18. It defined the covered supplements as those “labeled, marketed, or otherwise presented for the purpose of achieving weight loss or muscle building.” Under the name “Council for […]
In 2024, the CFPB issued a rule requiring financial institutions to share a consumer’s personal financial data with other providers at no cost, upon the consumer’s request. Members of the banking industry sued. After the change in administration, the CFPB informed the court it agreed with industry that the rule exceeded the agency’s authority, and […]
As previously discussed on this blog, in January 2025, the Fifth Circuit upheld the Department of Transportation’s authority to promulgate rules under 49 U.S.C. s. 41712, which authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to “order…air carrier[s]” to stop unfair or deceptive practices, or unfair methods of competition in air transportation. The Fifth Circuit granted a petition […]
In May 2025, the CFPB rescinded a 2022 interpretive rule, which had expressed the agency’s view that the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s preemption provision has “a narrow sweep,” which allows for substantial State regulation of consumer reports and consumer reporting agencies. Today, a new interpretive rule appeared for public inspection at the Federal Register, adopting a […]
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s TransUnion decision, courts have grappled with the question of when, if ever, victims of a data breach have suffered a sufficient injury-in-fact to meet Article III standing requirements. In a decision last week, Holmes v. Elephant Insurance, the Fourth Circuit held that some, but not all, of the […]
A Pennsylvania citizen sued Pennsylvania legislator Matthew Bradford under the TCPA, alleging that Bradford’s en masse automated phone calls sent to constituents violated the statute. A district court denied Bradford’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of Eleventh Amendment and/or qualified immunity. Yesterday, the Third Circuit reversed— going beyond the question of immunity and […]
In 2024, the Supreme Court decided Cantero v. Bank of America, unanimously vacating the Second Circuit’s decision finding a New York law on interest on escrow accounts for home mortgage loans preempted by the National Bank Act. At the same time, the Court granted, vacated, and remanded Kivett v. Flagstar Bank, a decision from the […]