The period from 2001 through 2016 saw several major mergers amongst US passenger airlines. In recent years, though, efforts to merge or coordinate have faced opposition from courts and antitrust regulators. In December 2023, Alaska Airlines (which already has a huge Hawaiian presence) announced a deal to acquire Hawaiian Airlines. The immediate response from government […]
Category Archives: Consumer Litigation
Over the past few years, there have been numerous stories of rental car company Hertz reporting customers as having stolen rental cars, when the cars were not stolen at all. In 2022, the company entered in a class action settlement covering 364 of these reported “thefts.” Today, the Eighth Circuit issued a decision in Wood […]
Texas federal courts (and the Fifth Circuit) have become the go-to venues for industry groups to file legal challenges against recently released federal regulations. But yesterday, the District Court for the Northern District of Texas transferred Chamber of Commerce v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau – a case where the Chamber and others are contesting the […]
Available here, the article explains the history of additional fees added by D.C. restaurants, the rationales given by supporters and defenders, and the status of enforcement and litigation efforts.
Paulette Barclift sued Keystone Credit Services after Keystone shared certain personal information with a mailing vendor that it hired to mail her a collection notice. Barclift never authorized Keystone to share that information with third parties, and thus sued for violating the FDCPA’s provisions on unauthorized communications. The district court held that Barclift had not […]
Many companies have started to put automated chatbots on their website to answer customer service questions. Air Canada is one of them. Its chatbot told a customer that he could retroactively seek a bereavement discount for a flight he needed to purchase. When the customer submitted the paperwork he was told by the bot to […]
In recent years, home sellers around the country have filed lawsuits against regional multiple listing services and affiliated realtors, generally alleging that by requiring sellers to agree to a single, set offer of compensation to any broker who found a buyer for their home in order to have their listing included (the “Buyer-Broker Commission Rule”), […]
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday in favor of consumer interests in Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. Kirtz, a case argued by Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney Nandan Joshi. The case concerned the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which allows consumers to sue creditors for failing to correct inaccurate credit information that […]
An interview with Travelers United’s lawyer, explaining their legal theories and the kinds of fees they are challenging under DC consumer protection law, is available here.
The TCPA prohibits “send[ing], to a telephone facsimile machine, an unsolicited advertisement.” 47 U.S.C. s. 227(b)(1)(c). After receiving such an unsolicited advertisement on its fax machine from AmeriFactors Financial Group, plaintiff Career Counseling, Inc. brought a putative class action in South Carolina. While that litigation was pending, AmeriFactors obtained a declaratory ruling from the FCC, […]