A company called “DoNotPay” operated an artificial intelligence service that it called “the world’s first robot lawyer,” which it claimed “would allow consumers to “sue for assault without a lawyer” and “generate perfectly valid legal documents in no time.” Not surprisingly, the product did not live up to its claims. In late September, the FTC […]
Category Archives: Unfair & Deceptive Acts & Practices (UDAP), including Discrimination
Tanya J. Monestier of Buffalo has written Amazon’s Dirty Little Secret, 69 Villanova Law Review 521 (2024). Here’s the abstract: You need new earbuds because one of yours just went missing. You log onto Amazon and scroll through the endless array of options. You finally select a pair “Sold by” Amazon and click “Buy Now.” […]
The Hill reports that Home Depot has agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle a civil complaint from multiple California district attorneys alleging the company took part in false advertising and unfair competition. The story is here.
Often, consumers are arguing that they cannot be bound to certain terms because they never saw them, or lacked a sufficient opportunity to review them, before entering into a relationship with a business. Today, the Eleventh Circuit addressed a different scenario — where a company was arguing that the terms and conditions it presented to […]
Finalizing a rulemaking began in November 2022, the FTC yesterday unanimously approved a rule that (1) prohibits fake or false consumer reviews and testimonials, including those generated by AI and influencers; (2) prohibiting businesses from paying consumers for reviews based on their expressing a particular sentiment; (3) requiring reviews and testimonials written by company insiders […]
In 2021, a group of consumers sued Amazon, alleging that Amazon violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act “by charging consumers grossly inflated and thus ‘unfair’ prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.” A federal district court certified to the Washington Supreme Court whether the state law’s “prohibition on “unfair” acts or practices comprehend a price gouging claim of the […]
Christopher Lewis Peterson of Utah and Jeffrey Paul Ehrlich of St. Thomas University and McGuireWoods LLP have written Corrupt Joint Ventures in the Market for Residential Real-Estate-Settlement Services. Here’s the abstract: Closing costs in residential-real-estate sales have long acted as a significant barrier to American home ownership. In the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 […]
FTC Sends Nearly $1.9 Million in Refunds to Customers Harmed by Hey Dude’s Violations of the Mail Order Rule (8/6) FTC Action Leads to Permanent Bans for Scammers Behind Sprawling Credit Repair Pyramid Scheme (8/5) FTC Investigation Leads to Lawsuit Against TikTok and ByteDance for Flagrantly Violating Children’s Privacy Law (8/2) FTC Submits Comment to […]
American consumers hate hidden airline fees. Unfortunately, siding with airlines, the Fifth Circuit yesterday held that DOT likely lacked authority to issue a rule that would require airlines to more clearly disclose fees associated with checked and carry-on baggage, and cancelling or changing flights. The order arose in a challenge to an April rule, discussed […]
A federal court this month issued an order, in a case filed by the Federal Trade Commission, to temporarily stop a predatory student loan relief scam that targeted Puerto Rican, Spanish-speaking borrowers. According to the FTC’s complaint against USA Student Debt Relief/Start Connecting SAS, operating out of Florida and Cali, Colombia, these entities falsely represented […]