Benjamin Moore’s Natura paint is billed as an eco-friendly, odorless paint with no volatile organic compounds that doesn’t stink up your house while it dries. Some consumers love it, and some don’t. Bu some consumers really don’t like it, and one woman has initiated a class-action suit claiming that Natura wouldn’t dry and stunk up her house so badly that she couldn’t stay in her home. [More]
Government Policy
Supreme Court Rules That Companies Can Block Customers' Class-Action Suits
By 4.27.11
In a huge blow to peeved consumers, the Supreme Court ruled earlier today that companies can block customers from joining together in a class-action suit by forcing each complaint into arbitration.
California AG Asks Judge To Throw Tax Lady Roni Deutch In Jail
By 4.26.11
Last summer, the California Attorney General filed a $34 million lawsuit against daytime TV mainstay “Tax Lady” Roni Deutch, alleging that her firm defrauded customers out of millions each year. Now, the AG’s office has asked that Deutch be thrown in jail for allegedly destroying important documents and for not refunding money to customers. [More]
Proposed NYC Law Could Send Buyers Of Knockoff Handbags To Jail
By 4.26.11
The sidewalks of lower Manhattan, especially Chinatown, are filled with vendors selling genuine faux Louis Vuitton bags “Ugggs” boots and Ronex watches. One city councilwoman from that neighborhood is so fed up of trying to fight the problem from the supply side that she’s introducing new legislation that would attempt to curb demand by making it illegal to purchase counterfeit merchandise. [More]
State Department Proposal Would Make It Tougher For Some To Get Passports
By 4.26.11
Quick — name off every address at which you’ve resided. Finished? Now let’s hear the addresses, phone numbers and names of supervisors at every job you’ve ever had. And when you’re finished with that, cough up your mom’s address at wherever she was living a year before you were born. [More]
Judge Unlocks NFL, But League Will Push To Quickly Lock Back Down
By 4.26.11
The NFL’s ugly labor dispute took a promising turn for fans hoping they don’t miss football this year on Monday, when a U.S. District judge ended the owners’ lockout. [More]
Nissan Recalls 196,000 Older SUVs Over Possible Steering Loss Problems
By 4.25.11
If you’ve got a 10-year-old Nissan Pathfinder or Infinit QX4 sitting in your driveway, you might want to pay attention. Nissan has recalled nearly 200,000 of these vehicles over concerns that accumulated road salt and water could cause a loss of steering. [More]
Illinois Attorney General Taking Aim At Pabst's Colorful Malt Beverage
By 4.25.11
When we hear the word “Pabst” the word “blasted” comes into mind, so it’s no surprise that Woodbridge, Ill.-based Pabst Brewing Co. is having some trouble with its new, highly-alcoholic, colorful malt beverage, Blast. [More]
Supreme Court Won't Hear Health Care Law Arguments Until Lower Courts Have Had Their Chance
By 4.25.11
Earlier this year, those fighting the Constitutionality of the national healthcare reform legislation asked for permission to skip the appeals process and bring their arguments straight to the Supreme Court. Earlier today, the Supremes denied that request. [More]
Polls: Most Americans Think Rich Folk Aren't Paying Enough Taxes
By 4.22.11
While the absolute wealthiest Americans are now paying less federal income tax than they were two decades ago, two new polls show that most people support raising taxes on those earning over $250,000 a year. [More]
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Talks Mergers With Consumerist
By 4.22.11
Of the commissioners on the FCC, Michael Copps is easily the most outspoken in his opinion on media consolidation. In January, he was the only commissioner to vote against the sale of NBC to Comcast, saying that the deal “grievously fails the public interest.” More recently, he’s expressed his skepticism about how smoothly the AT&T purchase of T-Mobile USA will go. And he’s also a cool enough guy to sit down for a chat with Consumerist. [More]
Samsung, Sued By Apple For Copying iStuff, Sues Apple For Copying Samsung Stuff
By 4.22.11
Samsung and Apple are now officially entangled in a messy legal slapfight. After Apple sued Samsung for allegedly violating iPhone and iPad patents, Samsung has responded in kind, alleging Apple violated several of its patents. [More]
Google Ordered To Pay Computer Firm $5 Million For Patent Violation
By 4.22.11
A small Texas computer company won a $5 million district court judgment against Google, which a jury found in violation of a Linux-related patent due to proprietary code for storing and retrieving information that was found in Google software. [More]
Attorney General Forms Team To Look Into Oil Price Manipulation
By 4.21.11
Someone at the Attorney General’s office must have finally looked at how high gasoline prices are right now and thought, “Maybe there’s something more than meets the eye here,” because President Obama announced earlier today that the AG is gathering his forces to see what, if any, behind-the-scenes shenanigans are going on to keep prices so high. [More]
Toyota Recalls Over 200,000 RAV4 & 90,000 Highlander Vehicles Over Airbag Concerns
By 4.21.11
The Toyota recall parade continues with the announcement of a recall of approximately 214,000 of its 2007 and 2008 model year RAV4 and 94,000 of its 2008 model year Highlander and Highlander Hybrid vehicles due to faulty roll-over sensors in their side airbag systems. [More]
DHS Ditches Color-Coded Terror Alert System, Joins The Facebook & Twitter Crowd
By 4.21.11
I know all of you have gotten used to checking to see if it was an orange, yellow, or red day according to the Department of Homeland Security’s color-coded terror alert system. But now that’s all gone, and you can check Facebook or Twitter to see whether or not the world is going to blow up today. [More]
Sen. Franken Demands Answers From Apple About iPhone Tracking
By 4.21.11
Yesterday, it was revealed that Apple iPhones and 3G-enabled iPads have been, unbeknownst to their users, recording their locations with corresponding time stamps in a file named “consolidated.db.” This discovery did not please Al Franken, the U.S. Senator from Minnesota, who has fired off a letter to Apple bigwig Steve Jobs. [More]
Feds Crack Down On Restaurant Owners For Allegedly Employing Illegal Immigrants
By 4.21.11
Apparently some restaurants are in the habit of hiring undocumented workers to do grunt work, paying them in cash to avoid taxes. The feds are onto this brazen scheme, and put the smackdown on two owners of a restaurant chain based in Arizona and California, as well as their accountant. [More]
