Just two weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Biden, and the launch of a new executive administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (Taskforce) issued a nearly 900-page report making extensive recommendations for legislative and regulatory reform, enactment, and adoption of new initiatives. The Taskforce comprised five appointed members with more than 150 combined years of economic, legal and regulatory experience in federal consumer financial law. In…
With the Democrats in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, combined with the ongoing effect of COVID-19’s effect of consumer lending, we anticipate a heightened focus on consumer protection issues and financial services enforcement at every level in 2021.
President Biden recently appointed FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As we await Chopra’s Senate confirmation process, there is much to consider in terms of what…
Background
A recently decided Ninth Circuit case provides additional guidance for defendants looking to challenge standing in consumer class actions. In, McGee v. S-L Snacks National, Plaintiff brought a putative class action asserting claims of unfair competition, nuisance, and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability arising from her contention that her popcorn brand of choice, Pop Secret from Diamond Foods, contained trans-fat. Even though trans-fat was a listed ingredient, Plaintiff argued that it caused…
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York state legislature recently introduced a standalone biometric information privacy bill, AB 27, that mirrors Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS § 14/1 et seq., “BIPA”), which has spawned thousands of class actions in the Land of Lincoln. If enacted, The New York bill would become only the second biometric privacy act in the United States to provide a private right of action and plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees for successful…
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) generally restricts making certain non-emergency calls to cellular phones and landlines, among other things, without the called party’s consent. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has created a number of exemptions on which business have come to rely. A new FCC Order significantly limits those exemptions.
Background
The TCPA places different restrictions on making calls without the called-party’s consent, depending on the type of telephone line used. For instance,…
The United States Supreme Court has again granted a petition to examine standing in the context of class actions, specifically whether Article III of the Constitution permits members of a certified class to recover money damages when members of the certified class suffered no actual injury. This issue was presented to the Supreme Court after the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion and order in Ramirez v. TransUnion LLC, 951 F.3d 1008 (9th Cir. 2020), finding…
Greg Markel and Gina Ferrari wrote “Settling Securities Class Actions,” the cover article for the December issue of Practical Law magazine. You can view the article here.
We hope you find this article helpful and insightful.
In this article, Greg and Gina discuss the various tactical and strategic questions and concerns that can affect the success of reaching a good settlement in a securities class action case. The article includes details that are important…
Seyfarth attorneys Renée Appel, Tracee Davis, Tonya Esposito, Joe Orzano, Jeremy Schachter, John Tomaszewski, and Ken Wilton will present at the Association of National Advertisers’ Brand Activation Legal Committee meeting on December 17, 2020.
The team will present on the following topics:
Updates in false advertising litigation, including, consumer class actions, Lanham Act litigation, and cases at the National Advertising Division
Updates to the regulatory landscape, including the latest from the FTC and State AGs
Updates in…
On September 11, 2020, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision with two crucial holdings limiting the scope of California’s Automatic Renewal Law (ARL), Business and Professions Code sections 17600, et seq.
In Mayron v. Google LLC, No. H044592, 2020 WL 5494245 (Cal. Ct. App. Sept. 11, 2020), one of the first cases to put the State’s infamous ARL to the test, the Court of Appeal clarified that:
(1) there is no private right…
It is not atypical for class actions to be brought seeking damages that can be characterized as nominal in nature. An oftentimes powerful incentive for potential class representatives to put their names on a putative class action is the promise of an incentive payment or award, paid to the class representative out of a class settlement fund purportedly to compensate the named plaintiff for work done on behalf of a class and assumption of those…