Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued a decision in Fuentes v. Empire Nissan, in which it addressed how the “tiny and unreadable print” in which a contract (here, an arbitration agreement) is printed plays into a court’s unconscionability analysis. The court held “that a contract’s format generally is irrelevant to the substantive unconscionability analysis, which […]
Category Archives: Consumer Litigation
There are many decisions addressing whether website interactions constitute a valid and binding contract–frequently, one to arbitrate. Under California law, “scrollwrap” or “clickwrap” offers, which require a user to affirmatively agree to terms and conditions after being presented with them, are are generally held to create enforceable contracts. On the other hand, “browsewrap” offers, where […]
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibits “mak[ing] any call . . . using . . . an artificial or prerecorded voice . . . to any telephone number assigned to a . . . cellular telephone service,” or “initiat[ing] any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver […]
David Eliiot claims Humana called him numerous times despite not being a Humana customer, and after he informed Humana that it had the wrong number. He brought a class action alleging this violated the TCPA. Humana opposed class certification on the grounds that whether individuals had actually consented to repeated calls was not ascertainable on […]
The Seventh Circuit issued a decision in Milam v. Selene Finance today, an FDCPA case where the Court punted on the merits but addressed standing in a manner that may be notable for practitioners. Ramona Milam sued Selene Finance, the servicer of her home mortgage, after Selene sent her a letter threatening acceleration and foreclosure if […]
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 […]
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 […]
Several consumers filed California state law class actions against Kimberly-Clark in federal district court, alleging that they were misled into believing that Kleenex Germ Removal wet wipes contained germicides, not just soaps. The district court dismissed the non-California plaintiffs’ claims for lack of personal jurisdiction, and dismissed the remaining claims with prejudice on the grounds that […]
From the Third Circuit’s opinion today: J.P. Ward & Associates is a debt-defense law firm that handles many [FDCPA] §1692e(8) claims. To “scal[e]” up its practice and get more fees, named partner Joshua Ward and lawyer Travis Gordon hatched a scheme. If a client approached the firm to dispute a debt, the firm would get […]