Bayer supplement class action headed for jury trial in under a month

By Stephen Gardner The Bayer case (for Bayer's widespread deceptions about One-A-Day vitamins), where I was lead counsel until I left private practice (to set up an expert consulting practice), is set for jury trial February 19. As far as I know, this is one of the few (if not the only) supplement fraud class […]

Benoliel & Becher Paper on the Unreadability of Web Site Sign-In Wrap Contracts

Uri Benoliel of the College of Law and Business – Ramat Gan Law School and Shmuel I. Becher of the Victoria University of Wellington have written The Duty to Read the Unreadable. Here's the abstract: The duty to read doctrine is a well-recognized building block of U.S. contract law. Under this doctrine, contracting parties are held […]

Do really high prescription drug prices violate the antitrust laws?

Our readers might be interested in Excessive Drug Pricing as an Antitrust Violation by law prof Harry First. Here is the abstract: It is nearly four years since Martin Shkreli bought an off-patent drug named Daraprim and raised its price overnight by nearly 5500%. Public outcry was intense and Shkreli became the poster-child for excessive […]

State attorneys general urge FDIC to protect consumers from predatory loans

Today, 14 state attorneys general submitted a comment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in response to the FDIC's request for comment on small-dollar lending. The attorneys general urged the FDIC to ensure consumers are protected from high-interest predatory small dollar loans. The letter is here.

California payday lender settles predatory lending allegations

In a consent order with California's Department of Business Oversight, a payday lender called California Check Cashing Stores agreed to refund about $800,000 to consumers, to settle allegations that it steered borrowers into high-interest loans and engaged in other illegal practices. It also agreed to pay $105,000 in penalties and other costs. The settlement involves […]

CNN.com Op-Ed:Congress should follow California’s lead in protecting consumers

by Jeff Sovern My latest, here. The conclusion: When it comes to these varied privacy problems, Congress has somehow managed to be both comatose and angry. Given its inability to respond nimbly in the rapidly shifting privacy arena, Congress should avoid hamstringing those who can. Any federal privacy law should preserve the power of states to […]

Holding Facebook Accountable

According to a recent story from Tony Romm and Elizabeth Dwoskin at the Washington Post, “U.S. regulators have met to discuss imposing a record-setting fine against Facebook” for violating a 2011 consent decree that settled charges that Facebook deceived consumers with regard to its privacy policies and practices. In March 2018, the Federal Trade Commission […]