Ninth Circuit Takes the Con Out of ConAgra

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 […]

CFPB orders tech giants to turn over information on their payment systems

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 […]

Robert F Kennedy Jr. Sues to Identify Blogger Who Pointed Out That He Spoke at Rally Connected to Neo-Nazis

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, […]

Traitor Joe – another big company with no sense of humor making IP threats

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 […]

An open letter to Rohit Chopra: Don’t forget arbitration

Dear Rohit: Congratulations on your confirmation to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau! You are an excellent choice for many reasons, not least because you bring to the CFPB helm the experience of having served as an FTC Commissioner as well as having been at the CFPB in its earliest days. Much […]

Are the Authors of Consumer Reviews Protected by Anti-SLAPP Laws?

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 […]

CFPB report on consumer complaints finds variations by race and wealth

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 […]