A judge has rejected Starbucks’ efforts to put the kibosh on a lawsuit filed by two customers who claim that the coffee chain routinely underfills lattes. [More]
lawsuits
Chipotle Shareholders Sue Company, Allege Recklessness And Insider Trading
By 6.20.16
Did the executives and the board of fast-casual Mexican chain Chipotle enrich themselves by inflating the company’s stock price, overpay themselves with shares of that over-valued stock, and let the chain’s potential food-safety problems slide? That’s what some shareholders claim in a lawsuit, saying that the company also misled its investors about food-safety practices that would eventually contribute to multiple outbreaks. [More]
Check Your Old E-Mail Addresses And Ticketmaster Account: You Might Have Free Tickets
By 6.19.16
Class action lawsuits are not a swift or lucrative route to consumer justice, but at least they force companies to pay for the ways they’ve wronged their customers over the years. For example, you may not have received an e-mail about it, but if you have a Ticketmaster account, you might have vouchers for free tickets waiting for you now. [More]
Private Healthcare Providers Are Making Big Bucks Contracting With Prisons
By 6.17.16
When you think of big business, you probably think of an industry like banking, but it turns out that one of the bigger businesses out there happens to be prisons — both private and federal. While we already know that financial institutions benefit from others, collecting tens of millions of dollars every year from inmates’ families in fees for basic financial services, the healthcare industry has also found a veritable goldmine by contracting services to prisons and jails across the country. [More]
FedEx To Finally Settle Decade-Old Employee Misclassification Lawsuits
By 6.16.16
Back in 2005, FedEx drivers filed the first of many misclassification lawsuits by drivers for that company. Now, as a whole new generation of employers is being accused of misclassifying their workers, the delivery company has proposed a settlement with its former independent contractor drivers. The lawsuits were combined in a single case in Indiana, and involved 12,000 drivers from 20 states. [More]
Court: Vimeo Not Liable Just Because Employees Watched Possibly Pirated Content
By 6.16.16
Streaming video platforms like Vimeo and YouTube host many more user-uploaded clips than could possibly ever be viewed and vetted for potential piracy by actual human beings, and federal law generally shields websites from liability of piracy they aren’t aware of. Yet, do these companies lose that protection if some employees have looked at content that was posted in violation of copyright? [More]
Google Fiber Copies Comcast, AT&T; Forces Users To Give Up Their Legal Right To Sue
By 6.16.16
Since its introduction in Kansas City, Google Fiber has presented itself as a disruptive force in the pay-TV and internet markets, offering high speeds for reasonable prices, and bringing new competition to markets generally dominated by a single provider. So it’s disappointing to learn that Fiber has decided to follow in the footsteps of AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and other reviled providers by quietly stripping its customers of their right to sue the company in a court of law. [More]
Home Depot Accuses Visa, MasterCard Of Colluding On “Defective” Credit Cards
By 6.15.16
While banks and credit card issuers are slowly rolling out new debit and credit cards containing microchips intended to make them less susceptible to fraud, Home Depot says in a recently filed lawsuit that the two largest card networks have colluded with the banks to produce cards that are not as secure as they should be. [More]
![AMC Uses Questionable Copyright Claim To Bully Spoiler Site Into Not Revealing That [Redacted] Dies](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/wheresdwayne.jpg?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
AMC Uses Questionable Copyright Claim To Bully Spoiler Site Into Not Revealing That [Redacted] Dies
By 6.15.16
As anyone who watches The Walking Dead knows, the most recent run of the lighthearted AMC romantic comedy ended abruptly with a poorly orchestrated cliffhanger. Since then, fans of the show have been theorizing about which character met his/her untimely end. Now, AMC is using a barbwire-wrapped cease-and-desist copyright demand to prevent one popular spoiler group from revealing that the newly deceased character was… [More]
Newegg Challenges Alabama Over Collection Of Online Sales Tax
By 6.14.16
For nearly 25 years, the general standard for whether a state could compel a mail-order or online retailer to collect sales tax from customers was that retailer’s physical presence (or lack thereof) in that state. More recently, some states have tweaked their laws so that total sales — and not physical connection — is the determining factor. Online tech store Newegg is the latest retailer to challenge these new rules, taking issue with Alabama’s determination that the company owes the state more than $185,000 in sales tax. [More]
Court Upholds FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules
By 6.14.16
More than two years after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with Verizon against the FCC over the original “net neutrality” rules, that same court today has ruled in favor of the FCC’s revised rules that regulate broadband internet access as a necessary utility, instead of as a luxury. [More]
Prosecutors: FedEx “Should Be Treated Just Like Any Other Drug Courier”
By 6.13.16
Two years after federal prosecutors charged FedEx with being criminally complicit in the transporting of illegal drugs from online pharmacies, the case is finally going to trial. In this morning’s opening statements, lawyers for the Justice Department urged the court to not be swayed by the famous brand name on the side of the planes. [More]
Uber Investigator Pretended To Be Reporter To Dig Up Dirt On Lawsuit Plaintiff
By 6.13.16
Two years ago, Uber was heavily criticized (by basically everyone except investor/sort-of actor Ashton Kutcher) when an executive suggested the company should probe the personal life of a reporter who criticized the ridesharing service. Now Uber has gone from trying to dig up dirt on reporters, to hiring investigators who pretend to be reporters to dig up dirt on a someone suing the company. [More]
Gawker Media Files For Bankruptcy; Ziff Davis Is Likely Buyer
By 6.10.16
Gawker Media — former home to Consumerist and former employer of two current Consumerist staffers — is filing for bankruptcy after being on the receiving end of a $140 million legal pile driver by wrestler/reality star Hulk Hogan. [More]
Citi Is Suing AT&T Over The Word “Thanks”
By 6.10.16
Last week, AT&T launched a new loyalty program dubbed AT&T Thanks, offering rewards to customers, especially those who bundle together wireless and pay-TV services from the company. This morning, Citi fired back at the Death Star, alleging that AT&T is stomping all over Citi’s “ThankYou” trademark. [More]
Court Slams Brakes On San Francisco’s Mandatory Warnings On Soda Ads
By 6.8.16
Only a few weeks ago, a federal court refused to halt a new San Francisco ordinance requiring soda companies to place warnings on all their ads in the city, but today that same court decided to grant a temporary injunction preventing the rule from kicking in while the beverage industry appeals its case. [More]
Payment Processor Ignored Red Flags, Allowed Clients To Withdraw Funds Illegally
By 6.6.16
If you’re in the business of processing payments, you have a certain obligation to look into any sort of signs that your clients may be abusing the system or illegally taking funds from customers’ bank accounts. Failing to do so can land you in some pretty hot water with federal regulators. [More]
Former Comcast Installers Say Contractor Erased Negative Reports, Conspired With Cable Company
By 6.6.16
Two former Comcast installation subcontractors are accusing the cable giant of using the promise of more work to trick them into spending more money on equipment, people, and real estate — all for the benefit of two larger subcontractors who were allegedly allowed to manipulate and erase negative service reports from customers. [More]
