Last week, the Federal Trade Commission sued Gerber Products Co. in federal district court in New Jersey, alleging that the company deceptively advertised that feeding infants Good Start Gentle formula would prevent or reduce the risk that the babies would develop allergies. The complaint also alleges that Gerber falsely advertised Good Start Gentle’s health claims […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
A study released today reports on class actions that have "helped victims of corporate law-breaking and led to changes in corporate behavior that protect us all from many types of illegal conduct." Prepared by the Center for Justice and Democracy, the study looks at more than 150 class actions that have been litigated since 2005 […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced yesterday action against M&T Bank for deceptively advertising free checking accounts. As explained in the CFPB press release: The CFPB found that M&T lured in consumers with promises of “no strings attached” free checking, without disclosing key eligibility requirements. When consumers failed to meet the requirements, M&T automatically […]
Blogging for The Wall Street Journal, Ed Silverman reported yesterday: In response to recent reports that the cost of some generic drugs has been unexpectedly rising at a rapid clip, two members of Congress have launched an investigation and asked 14 generic drug makers to providing data about what the lawmakers called the “escalating prices they […]
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 […]
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 […]