Unwanted calls and texts are the number one consumer complaint to the FCC. Now, the FCC has announced a "proposal to protect Americans from unwanted robocalls, spam text messages, and telemarketing calls. The proposal addresses two dozen petitions that sought clarity on how the Commission enforces the Telephone Consumer Protection Act." The FCC says that […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
A federal district court in New York has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of for-profit colleges challenging regulations issued by the Department of Education to limit student debt. The Department adopted the “Gainful Employment” rule in 2014 to address overwhelming evidence that some postsecondary career training programs, particularly at for-profit institutions, were failing […]
According to the Federal Trade Commission, federal courts in New York and Georgia, acting on an FTC motion, have temporarily halted three debt collection operations that the FTC alleges have violated federal law by threatening and deceiving consumers via text messages, emails, and phone calls. The FTC's press release explains: [T]he defendants used text messages, […]
Credit reporting agencies Experian, Equifax and TransUnion have agreed to pay $6 million to resolve an investigation by the attorney generals of 31 states into customer disputes over errors in their credit reports, fraud and identity theft. The three companies agreed to limit their marketing, wait longer before adding medical debt to a credit record, […]
The Hill reports that two senators are calling on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to take action against companies selling illegal drugs masquerading as dietary supplements. In a joint letter to Lynch on Tuesday, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) asked the Department of Justice to enforce the dietary supplements rules and take punitive […]
In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case called Ashcroft v. Iqbal. The issue before the Court was the adequacy of the complaint filed in the case, and the Court held that the case should be dismissed, prior to discovery, because the allegations in the complaint were too conclusory and not plausible. Although the […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is collecting information about problems experienced with student loan servicing. According to the CFPB's blog: Over 40 million Americans are repaying more than $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. Significant debt can have a domino effect on the major choices you make in your life: whether to take a […]
The California Supreme Court has revived a series of antitrust suits against drug manufacturers Bayer and Barr Laboratories. The cases stem from an agreement between brand-name manufacturer Bayer and generic manufacturer Barr, under which Bayer agreed to pay Barr $398.1 million in exchange for Barr postponing the sale of the generic version of Bayer’s antibiotic […]
Ruling in a case brought by the nation’s largest flight attendant union, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled on Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration acted within its authority when it decided, in 2013, to allow airline passengers to use cellphone and other electronics during takeoffs and landings. The Association of […]
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion on Friday holding that private attorneys under contract with the Ohio attorney general’s office to collect debts owed to the state improperly used the office’s letterhead to scare debtors into paying. The court held that use of the letterhead of the Ohio attorney general’s office was […]