by Paul Alan Levy In releasing documents electronically pursuant to a public records request, a local government body in New Jersey made a rookie error: using software (presumably Word) to perform redactions in a manner that was easily undone when the requester opened the provided PDF documents using his own device. The documents revealed some […]
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by Steve Gardner Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit issued an excellent opinion on the issue of preemption of state law claims for deception involving foods regulated by USDA. Cohen v. ConAgra Brands, Inc. Robert Cohen sued ConAgra for violations of California consumer laws. As the Court noted: Cohen began purchasing various frozen chicken products such as […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square to turn over information on their payment system plans. The orders look like this. The agency's press release begins this way: Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a series of orders to collect information on the business practices of […]
by Paul Alan Levy Our latest effort to defend the right to speak anonymously about issues of public concern brings us up against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last summer, Kennedy spoke at an August 29 rally convened by the German far right to protest government restrictions aimed at corralling the COVID pandemic. Kennedy was, apparently, […]
The great consumer-justice lawyers at the National Consumer Law Center are hiring a lawyer to work on predatory lending and banking issues. The job announcement is here.
by Paul Alan Levy I recently had the pleasure of representing Dan McCall again — author of such wicked parodies as NSA – the Only Part of Government That Actually Listens (we got to sue the NSA for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement); Ready for Oligarchy (over which we came with hours of filing suit […]
by Paul Alan Levy Today we entered an important case that will determine whether New York’s new and improved anti-SLAPP law protects the authors of consumer reviews against being sued for defamation when they reveal publicly that they were less than thrilled with a business’s services or products. The case arose from the horrible experience […]
An Atlanta-based debt collection company and its owners will be permanently banned from the debt collection industry under the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC's press release is here.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report analyzing, by U.S. Census tract, patterns in the consumer complaints submitted to the CFPB between 2018 and 2020. The report finds that the complaints from wealthier communities and communities with higher percentages of white, non-Hispanic residents were more frequently about loan origination and performing servicing, while […]