A year after thousands of Wells Fargo employees were accused of opening unauthorized accounts in customers’ name in order to make sales goals, one bank teller has pleaded guilty to also opening an account without authorization, this time, in order to steal more than $185,000 from one customer. [More]
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$5 Billion In Private Student Loans Could Be Wiped Away Because Of Shoddy Record Keeping
By 7.18.17
Wiping away private student loans is a difficult, almost impossible task, for borrowers. But some debtors are finding their tabs zeroed out as the result of a long-running legal battle between former students and a group of student loan creditors attempting to collect on defaulted loans. In the end, the courts could forgive up to $5 billion in private education loans if the creditor continues to fail in providing critical paperwork. [More]
Judge Gives Preliminary Approval To $142M Wells Fargo Fake Account Settlement
By 7.10.17
Two months after a federal court judge tasked with reviewing the pending $142 million settlement for million of fake accounts opened in customers’ names warned he might reject the deal, he finally rubber-stamped the proposal, signaling yet another closed chapter in Wells Fargo’s fake account fiasco. [More]
Depakote Maker AbbVie Ordered To Pay $15M To Boy Born With Spina Bifida
By 6.9.17
Pharmaceuticals giant AbbVie must pay $15 million to the family of a 10-year-old boy who was born with spina bifida after an Illinois jury found the company failed to properly warn doctors about the risk of birth defects associated with Depakote, a prescription drug used to treat bipolar and seizure disorders. [More]
PayPal Mocks Pandora For “Blatantly Pirating” Logo
By 5.23.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
It apparently isn’t enough for PayPal to accuse Pandora of copying its logo, the online payment platform is attempting to humiliate the streaming music service and its business model. [More]
Spammers Must Pay $500K After Using Hacked Emails To Push Diet Pills
By 3.17.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Last summer, federal regulators charged the operators of an alleged spam scam of hijacking hacked email accounts to spread the word about a slew of unproven weight-loss products. Now, the three affiliate marketers have agreed to pay $500,000 to put the case behind them. [More]
Amazon Hasn’t Turned Over Echo Recordings Related To Murder Investigation
By 2.23.17
Nearly two months after police investigating a homicide in Arkansas served Amazon with search warrants, requesting any information that may have been stored on an Echo speaker located inside the suspect’s home. They wanted to know if the device’s “Alexa” virtual assistant had recorded any evidence of the murder, but Amazon has thus far refused to turn this information over to authorities. [More]
Court: CFPB Has Authority To Request Seven Years’ Worth Of Foreclosure Documents
By 2.17.17
Back in November, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against one of the nation’s largest providers of seller-financed homes after it failed to comply with a subpoena to turn over documents related to home foreclosures. This week, a judge upheld the Bureau’s authority to request the documents from Harbour Portfolio Advisors. [More]
A Supplement Company Sued Over Research It Didn’t Like… And Lost
By 2.8.17
Unlike FDA-approved medications, makers of dietary supplements are not required to demonstrate that their products are safe or effective. That shouldn’t stop independent researchers from doing their own tests to find out if a product works or is dangerous, but when one Harvard professor tried to do just that, supplement makers tried to shut him up.. [More]
Volkswagen Finalizing $15B Dieselgate Settlement, But Still No Fix In Sight
By 10.18.16
Back in June, Volkswagen reached a nearly $15 billion tentative agreement with the federal government to begin the long process of putting “dieselgate” in the rearview. Now, the carmaker is seeking to finalize that agreement, with one, rather large, modification: it still doesn’t have a process to fix the 500,000 vehicles that contain so-called “defeat devices” that skirt U.S. emissions standards. [More]
IKEA Taking Its Time Providing Records Related To Massive Dresser Recall
By 8.30.16
Two months after IKEA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission took the unprecedented step in recalling 29 million top-heavy Malm and other models of dressers and chests linked to the deaths of six children, the retailer has missed a deadline to hand over documents related to the recall. [More]
Maker Of Super-Powerful Desktop Magnets Must Recall Pieces, Provide Refunds
By 3.24.16
Nearly four years after federal regulators dealt a swift blow to the makers of super-powerful desktop magnetic toys Buckyballs, filing a lawsuit against the company and persuading retailers to stop selling the dangerous toys, a Colorado-based company has been ordered to recall similarly powerful magnets that can cause fatal injuries when swallowed. [More]
Safeway To Refund Customers $30.9M For Online Ordering Overcharges
By 9.1.15
Nearly nine months ago, a federal court in California ruled that Safeway must refund customers the amount of money they were overcharged when the company broke its own terms and conditions by marking up prices of items ordered online. We finally know how much the supermarket chain will hand over: about $30.9 million. [More]
Regulators Halt Alleged Energy Drink Pyramid Scheme That Targeted College Students, Other Young Adults
By 8.27.15
Federal regulators continued their crackdown on supposedly deceptive dietary supplement companies this week by temporarily shutting down an Arizona-based company that allegedly ran a pyramid scheme promising college students they would rake in the big bucks by selling energy drinks. [More]
Court Shuts Down Iowa Supplement Company Distribution Over Misbranding, Unfounded Safety Promises
By 8.17.15
There are about 200 fewer adulterated dietary supplements on the market today after a district court ordered an Iowa company and its owners to stop production of products over allegations the company sold potentially unsafe dietary supplements and falsely advertised them as treatments for diseases ranging from colds to cancer. [More]
Court Case Illustrates Just How Difficult It Is For Borrowers To Discharge Student Loans In Bankruptcy
By 6.22.15
Students being crushed under the weight of mounting student loan debt have few options when it comes to receiving forgiveness for their debts, and bankruptcy is often the least obtainable – thanks in part to the nearly impossible to meet “undue hardship” standard. To see just how difficult and seemingly arbitrary this guideline is, all one needs to do is hear about a recent federal court case out of Maryland that determined a woman couldn’t escape her debt obligation because she had failed to make a good faith effort in repaying the loans despite the fact she’s unemployed, disabled and living below the poverty line. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Two More Fake News Sites Pushing Weight-Loss Products
By 5.4.15
For years, the Federal Trade Commission has been combatting scammy marketers of weight-loss products who use fake news sites, fictional reporters, and bogus celebrity endorsements, but people keep trying to pull these cons on consumers. This morning, the FTC announced yet another takedown of a sketchy diet pill marketer using lookalike news sites to sell its products.
Court Says Drunken Driver Who Hit Pole Can Sue Power Company For Improperly Placing It
By 8.9.13
Despite the fact that a driver was allegedly drunk when she and her passenger crashed into a power pole in Washington, the state’s Supreme Court says she can go ahead and sue the power company responsible for that pole. All because the pole wasn’t in the exact right spot it should’ve been. [More]
