The law firm Edelson PC has filed a RICO suit against a bunch of lawyers and law firms that regularly represent objectors to class-action settlements. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Chicago, is worth a look. Basically, it alleges that the defendant lawyers and law firms are using frivolous objections (and frivolous appeals from trial-court approvals […]
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Here. An excerpt: To begin with, rather than facing punishment from President Trump, Carrier will garner a $7-million state tax break from Indiana over 10 years to keep 730 jobs in town, with no guarantee the jobs will even last that long. That’s a minuscule benefit for a company with a profit of $7.6 billion on […]
Click here or on the embedded video below to watch Prof. Christopher Yoo and federal transportation policy journalist Stephanie Beasley discuss the safety, cyber-security, and privacy of self-driving and other automated vehicles. Though there are few completely self-driving cars on the road, many cars today have some autonomous features and so pose some of the same safety, cyber-security, […]
by Paul Alan Levy The Michigan Court of Appeals issued a decision today on the standards for deciding whether a plaintiff claiming to have been wronged by anonymous (or pseudonymous) online speech may compel the host of that speech to provide information that could aid the plaintiff in identifying the speaker so that process could […]
The Consumerist has this disturbing story: According to a coalition of consumer-interest organizations, the makers of two “smart” kids toys — the My Friend Cayla doll and the i-Que Intelligent Robot — are allegedly violating laws in the U.S. and overseas by collecting this sort of voice data without obtaining consent. In a complaint [PDF] […]
Folks interested in my post earlier today about United's decision effectively to charge for using the overhead bin may also be interested in this: Until the late 1970's, the federal Civil Aeronautics Board pretty much set the routes and rates for commercial airlines and often directed the airlines how, if at all, to charge for amenities. […]
The New York Times reports that Wells Fargo "has sought to kill lawsuits that its customers have filed over the creation of as many as two million sham accounts by moving the cases into private arbitration." The full article is here.
United Airlines is charging consumers for putting a bag in the overhead bin. Oh, wait, United is not really charging extra, it's just creating a level of service called "Basic Economy," in which the consumer pays the lowest fare but can't put a bag in the overhead bin. (Oh, and by the way, in Basic Economy, […]
by Paul Alan Levy Now that both houses of Congress have passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act, which invalidates the inclusion of clauses barring consumer reviews in form contracts, and sent the bill to the President for his signature (this happened last Friday), we will be looking for situations in which to apply it. There […]
Here are recent announcements involving the Consumer Protection Branch of the Department of Justice. November 21, 2016 – Salesman Sentenced in Scheme to Defraud Consumers Through Debt Relief Firms November 14, 2016 – Four California Residents Sentenced in Scheme to Defraud Consumers Through Debt Relief Firms November 7, 2016 – Medical Device Maker Biocompatibles Pleads […]