AdLife Marketing and Communications, a company specializing in photographs of food for use in grocery story advertisements, has a sorry history of abusive copyright infringement claims. In 2021, it moved from Rhode Island to Florida, changed its name to Prepared Food Photos, and began to be represented by Florida lawyer Daniel DeSouza, through a firm […]
A disturbing decision from a Texas court of appeals held last year that an anonymous person, who allegedly called several of the advertisers in D Magazine and accused the magazine of being “racist,” and who has been sue for defamation, could not file a motion to dismiss under the Texas anti-SLAPP law contending that the […]
In a major decision today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to use bankruptcy to strictly curtail its liability for claims that talc in its consumer products caused cancer. As the Court explained: With mounting payouts and litigation costs, [J&J’s] Old Consumer [entity], through a series of […]
The Fourth Circuit this week ruled in favor of Virginia residents in a RICO action challenging illegally high interest rates. The court explained: “The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Chippewa Indians purportedly created businesses under tribal law to make small-dollar, high-interest-rate loans to consumers via the internet. The Borrowers allege that the Tribe did so […]
Last month, a district court in the Sixth Circuit issued opinions in two related cases that refused to approve two class action settlements, taking class counsel to task for proposing $5,000 incentive awards to the class representatives, because the class members only received $248 each. Moeller v. The Week Publications, 1:22-cv-10666 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 15, 2022); Strano […]
At the Regulatory Review, Trevor Kirby discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to create a public registry of agency and court orders against these nonbank financial companies. The post is here.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a request for information seeking public feedback on how the consumer credit market is functioning as part of a biennial review of the industry. The CFPB is seeking more and current information on various aspects of the consumer experience with credit cards. Congress enacted the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility […]
In 2019, DOJ’s Antitrust Division opened an investigation into practices and policies of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) — the trade and lobbying group representing most of the nation’s real estate agents, brokers, and other professionals, and defendant in several earlier antitrust cases. Among the practices DOJ sought to investigate were NAR’s “clear cooperation […]
The Justice Department and eight states sued Google today, alleging that the company has a monopoly over the online advertising market that violates the antitrust laws. The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, aims to have Google’s dominance in the online ad marketplace broken up by having a court compel the company to […]
Gothamist reports: Restaurants and food delivery services will be barred from providing plastic knives, forks and condiment packets unless customers specifically request them, if a bill passed by the New York City Council Thursday goes into effect. The bill aims to curb single-use plastic waste that can’t be recycled. Approximately 1.1 million pounds of single-use […]