The blog of the Legal Times reports on the status of a lawsuit challenging the District of Columbia's sale of homes that are delinquent in paying taxes. "The case doesn’t contest the city’s ability to auction off a tax certificate if a property owner fails to pay taxes. Instead, the lawsuit claims that if the […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
Forbes last week had this article on class action cases. The article is surprising for its overall favorable treatment of the topic, given that, as the article states, "[t]hese sorts of lawsuits aren’t our cup of tea here at Forbes." An interview with Jonathan Selbin at the law firm Lieff Cabraser gave the reporter a […]
In more FTC news, the agency announced yesterday that online review site Yelp, Inc., and mobile app developer TinyCo, Inc., agreed to settle separate FTC charges "that they improperly collected children’s information in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, Rule." Under the settlements, Yelp will pay a $450,000 civil penalty, and […]
From the FTC's press release: At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, a U.S. district court in Missouri has temporarily halted an online payday lending scheme that allegedly bilked consumers out of tens of millions of dollars by trapping them into loans they never authorized and then using the supposed “loans” as a pretext to take […]
The CFPB announced yesterday that it is proposing to oversee larger non-bank auto finance companies, which would be a first at the federal level. At the same time, the CFPB released a report detailing auto-lending discrimination at banks. "The report highlights that the Bureau’s supervisory actions against banks will result in about $56 million in […]
The Department of Justice has announced a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America in connection with charges of financial fraud leading up to and during the financial crisis. According to the DOJ press statement, the settlement is "the largest civil settlement with a single entity in American history." The settlement will "resolve federal and […]
AP is reporting: "President Barack Obama is preparing to sign an executive order cracking down on labor violations by companies that contract with the federal government …. In a bid to allow potential victims to have their day in court, the president's order will also prohibit companies pursuing government contracts from requiring their workers to […]
In 2002 and again in 2008, Congress enacted legislation requiring country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on certain foods, including meats. The 2008 statute defines country of origin as meaning, at least, where the animal has been born, raised, and slaughtered—the three major production steps. After the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a regulation to implement the […]
From Food Safety News: Oregon, Washington and Vermont have filed lawsuits against the makers of the energy drink 5-Hour Energy for making “deceptive” marketing claims. More states are expected to follow. …. The suits take issue with claims about what 5-Hour Energy actually does, whether consumers experience a “crash,” whether it’s recommended by doctors and […]
Several years ago, an attorney named James Bormes paid a case filing fee via pay.gov, which the federal courts use to facilitate electronic payments. He received an email receipt that included both the last four digits of his credit card’s number and the card’s expiration date. Bormes sued seeking damages under the Fair Credit Reporting […]