Joanna C. Schwartz of UCLA has written The Cost of Suing Business, forthcoming in the DePaul Law Review. Here's the abstract: To listen to the Chamber of Commerce, one would think that class actions are the most significant scourge on business ever conjured up by man. In brief after brief to the Supreme Court, the […]
Here. Excerpt: The ominous letter from the prosecutor's office was addressed to her grandfather, Albert Lachowicz, but it came to Jennifer Paczan because she was handling his finances.* * * The letter was signed by Beaver County District Attorney Anthony J. Berosh, and was on the D.A.'s letterhead. It said Berosh's office had received reports […]
The California Department of Business Oversight announced this week that it has launched an initiative with Bing, Yahoo and Google to halt advertising by unlicensed payday lenders. When the DBO identifies unlicensed online payday lenders, it issues cease and desist orders against them. Under the protocol, when those orders become final, the DBO will notify […]
The FTC's press release explains: The Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office have obtained a court order temporarily halting a fake debt collection scam located in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. The defendants are charged with illegally using threats and intimidation tactics to coerce consumers to pay payday loan debts […]
By Steve Gardner In Astaina v. Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (download here), and just two days after a district court’s decision in Anderson v. Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (discussed here), the Ninth Circuit dealt Hain another blow to its efforts to trick consumers into buying products falsely called “natural,” this time involving cosmetics, not food. […]
by Steve Gardner Earlier this week, in Anderson v Hain (highlights added), Judge Edward J. Davila of the Northern District of California issued an opinion on a motion to dismiss that is a good example of the trend to accept consumer pleadings of deception in food labeling. The Northern District judges have considered food deception issues repeatedly […]
A Washington Post op-ed by Dana Milbank this week catalogues the disturbing rise of welfare-benefit restrictions around the country that seem designed not to prevent abuse but to cut welfare beneficiaries off from a range of common, everyday activities (like swimming pools) and foods (like tuna fish) that many Americans enjoy. Another set of laws, […]
… is the thrust of a piece in today's Washington Post, which observes: Studies show that young people who graduate in states that mandate personal finance education are better with money as adults. They have higher credit scores and are less likely to default on credit cards. Yet, most states don’t require the classes. Read […]
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals this week reversed the dismissal of a class-action case alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by Bank of America and a law firm. The plaintiff alleged that the bank and firm, when they initiated foreclosure proceedings, assessed fees that had not yet been incurred. The court […]
Reuters explains: The ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses more than $800,000 in damages from R.J. Reynolds and Altria Group Inc unit Philip Morris USA Inc awarded in 2013 to Earl Graham, whose wife Faye, a longtime smoker, died in 1993 of lung cancer. More broadly, the court said smokers who, […]