Because the Sixth and Seventh Amendments of the U.S. Constitution are apparently less important than making sure that banks, credit card companies, student loan companies, and other financial services be allowed to behave badly with impunity, the House of Representatives has voted to overturn a new federal regulation that would have helped American consumers hold these companies accountable through the legal system. [More]
lawsuits
House Votes To Strip Bank & Credit Card Customers Of Constitutional Right To A Day In Court
By 7.25.17
11 States Accuse Trump Administration Of Illegally Delaying Safety Regulations For Chemical Plants
By 7.24.17
The Environmental Protection Agency recently decided to put a nearly two-year delay on new rules intended to reduce the number and damage resulting from accidents at U.S. chemical plants that can result in deadly explosions, fires, and the release of poisonous gas. But the attorneys general for 11 states say the Trump administration has overstepped its authority with this decision. [More]
Student Loan Company With Allegedly Shoddy Recordkeeping Under Investigation
By 7.20.17
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office has opened an inquiry into the business practices of National Collegiate Student Loan Trust following reports that the company often files collection lawsuits against defaulted borrowers without proper or correct paper. [More]
Whistleblowers Will Receive $3.6M For Reporting Healthcare Company’s False Medicare Claims
By 7.18.17
Less than a week after federal authorities conducted a massive crackdown on medical fraud, arresting more than 400 individuals, the Department of Justice announced that three Ohio-based healthcare companies and their executives would pay $19.5 million to resolve allegations they falsified Medicare claims for unnecessary services that allegedly harmed patients. [More]
Someone Sued Because ‘Natural’ Nature Valley Granola Bars Contain Common Pesticide
By 7.18.17
Although the term “natural” is not defined by the federal government — allowing basically any food company to slap it on a product’s label — a judge has decided that General Mills’ use of the term to describe granola bars that contain herbicide is not deceptive. [More]
Debt Collector Allegedly Threatened Lawsuits, Arrests Against People Who Didn’t Owe Anything
By 7.17.17
Once again, federal regulators are cracking down on companies running “phantom” debt collection schemes that go after individuals for money they did not actually owe. This time, the Federal Trade Commission shut down an operation that collected more than $690,000 in fake debts by threatening consumers with lawsuits or arrests. [More]
Federal Court Says Uber Minimum Wage Lawsuit Can Go Ahead, Add More Plaintiffs
By 7.13.17
There’s been a tiny bit of progress for Uber drivers seeking “employee” status along with reimbursement of vehicle expenses and back pay. While other cases have simply settled for large cash payments, one lawsuit that could cover multiple drivers is working its way through the federal court system in North Carolina, and a judge is letting the case go forward as a conditional action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. [More]
DraftKings, FanDuel Throwing In The Merger Towel After Feds Oppose The Deal
By 7.13.17
Weeks after the Federal Trade Commission went to court to block the merger of daily fantasy sports mega-sites DraftKings and FanDuel, the companies are throwing in the towel rather than fight the government. [More]
Appeals Court: Sorry, Still No Soda Tax For You, Chicago
By 7.11.17
Cook County, which encompasses the city of Chicago and a bunch of its suburbs, passed a $.01 per ounce tax on sweetened beverages last year. The tax was supposed to go into effect on July 1, but a state judge put a temporary restraining order in place that keeps the tax from going into effect, though certain McDonald’s restaurants didn’t get the memo. Now a state appeals court has upheld the decision, leaving drinks untaxed for now. [More]
If The Deal Never Ends, Is It Really A Deal?
By 7.10.17
The thing about getting a good deal on something? It only feels special if it’s limited in some way — whether that means only a certain set of customers has access to it, or it’s only available for a window in time. To that end, some LensCrafters customers claim proffered discounts on prescription eyewear are bogus, accusing the chain of faking a regular/original price and then offering a so-called discount. [More]
States Say Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Broke Law By Delaying Protections For Student Loan Borrowers
By 7.6.17
Following Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ decision to “reset” new regulations put in place to protect students at for-profit colleges, two separate lawsuits now accuse the Secretary of breaking federal law by running roughshod over the regulatory process when she delayed the so-called Borrower Defense rule, which would have made it easier for defrauded students to get out from under their student loan burdens. [More]
Court Halts Chicago Soda Tax, But Some McDonald’s Restaurants Didn’t Get The Message
By 7.5.17
Only hours before a new tax on sweetened beverages was set to kick in, an Illinois judge issued a temporary injunction keeping it from going into effect. However, not everyone got that message and some McDonald’s customers in the Chicago area were charged a tax they shouldn’t have paid. [More]
Dunkin’ Donuts Customer Says “Angus Steak” Sandwiches Aren’t Actually Steak
By and 6.30.17 — Updated: 7.5.17
Yes, the meat in Dunkin’ Donuts’ Angus Steak breakfast sandwiches may look more like a sausage patty than a porterhouse or a ribeye, but does that mean it’s not actually “steak”? One customer says the sandwich doesn’t meet a federal definition for that term. But there’s a big bird-shaped problem with that definition. [More]
RadioShack Creditors Sue Sprint, Accuse It Of Destroying 6,000 Jobs
By 6.30.17
Just over two years ago, venerable but bankrupt electronics chain RadioShack cut a deal with mobile carrier Sprint to save thousands of jobs and keep 1,740 stores that were formerly part of RadioShack open. Only the unsecured creditors in RadioShack’s second bankruptcy now accuse its pal Sprint of using information from the contract to open hundreds of stores near the strongest RadioShack locations, dooming the reborn RadioShack.. [More]
Phone Sex Operators Say They Are Making Less Than Minimum Wage
By 6.29.17
No matter what field you work in, we all have the right to make at least minimum wage. But phone-sex operators working for a Florida-based company claim in a lawsuit that they’re being paid far less for their intimate chat time. [More]
ABC News Settles ‘Pink Slime’ Defamation Case With Beef Company
By 6.28.17
Well, that was quick: Just a few weeks after Beef Products Inc. and ABC News squared off in the opening arguments of the trial over the broadcaster’s use of the phrase “pink slime” to describe an ingredient in some ground beef, the two sides have agreed to put the whole thing to rest. [More]
Home Depot, Menards Customers Cry False Advertising When They Learn “4x4s” Aren’t Actually 4×4
By 6.22.17
Talk to any contractor or carpenter — or most people who are reasonably familiar with home construction and repair — and they’ll tell you that a “4×4” piece of lumber is not actually four inches by four inches, and that it hasn’t been that way in any of our lifetimes. Yet some Home Depot and Menards customers are — literally — making a federal case out of this discrepancy, accusing the retailers of false advertising. [More]
Small Cable Company Accuses Comcast Of Destroying Its Cable Lines After It Said No To Sale
By 6.21.17
A former local cable and broadband provider in Texas alleges that after it turned down Comcast’s offer to acquire the company’s customers, Comcast contractors repeatedly severed the smaller business’s cable lines, ultimately driving it out of business. [More]
