Way back in 2011, we told you about a dental patient who said his dentist had gone too far with a “privacy agreement” that preempted patients from publicly complaining about the doctor and claimed copyright on patients’ reviews. After nearly four years of legal wrangling, the dentist has finally been ordered to pay the patient nearly $5,000 in damages, though he may never get it. [More]
lawsuits
Feds & NY Attorney General Team Up To Sue Abusive Debt Collectors
By 2.26.15
Just like one of those action movies where a federal agent gets paired up with a small-town sheriff who knows all the bad guys in the area, the Federal Trade Commission has brought its crackdown on abusive debt collectors to New York and partnered with the Empire State’s attorney general to shut down a pair of unsavory operators. [More]
Macy’s Tries Again To Win Back Trademarks From Man Who Resurrected Astro Pops And Hydrox
By 2.26.15
When Macy’s Inc. swallowed up a slew of department stores across the land — from Marshall Field’s to Filene’s, Abraham & Straus to Jordan Marsh — it rebranded many of them, turning the formerly regional chains into Macy’s stores. But in a new lawsuit brought by the company that echoes a suit from 2011 that was slated to come to trial soon, Macy’s says the California company behind the resurrection of Hydrox and Astro Pops is infringing on trademarks it held for many of those recognizable brand names. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Thousands Of Dogs Became Ill Or Died After Eating Purina’s Beneful Kibble
By 2.25.15
A recently filed lawsuit claims that instead of containing nutrient-rich, high-quality ingredients, Nestle Purina PetCare Company’s most popular brand of dog food includes toxins that have led to serious illness or death for thousands of dogs. [More]
Tobacco Giants To Pay $100 Million To Settle Hundreds Of Lawsuits In Florida
By 2.25.15
After more than two decades of a legal roller-coaster that at one point had the tobacco industry hit with $145 billion in damages, hundreds of federal lawsuits in Florida are close to being settled after three tobacco giants reached a deal to pay a total of $100 million. [More]
FTC Files Lawsuit To Shut Down Deceptive Payday Loan Debt Relief Operation
By 2.24.15
It’s probably safe to assume that consumers stuck in the payday loan debt-trap have enough financial issues without being deceived by a company promising to make their debts disappear. There may be one less unsavory debt relief company around after the Federal Trade Commission sued to stop an operation that targeted millions of consumers. [More]
LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit Over Poor Password Protection For About $1/Person
By 2.23.15
Back in 2012, hackers posted a stash of stolen passwords for several million LinkedIn accounts and was quickly sued for failing to protect its users’ information. Now the career-focused networking site has agreed to settle with 800,000 of its premium subscribers, for as little as around one dollar each. [More]
GM Ignition Switch Death Toll Increases To 57 Nearly A Month After Claims Deadline
By 2.23.15
Nearly a month after the deadline to file death and injury compensation claims related to General Motors’ ignition recall, the number of fatalities tied to the long-ignored defect continues to increase.
Lawsuit Against Jim Beam Challenges Bourbon’s “Handcrafted” Claim
By 2.19.15
When it comes to making a name for a brand, the words companies use to describe their products are chosen very carefully for maximum appeal. But the thing is, those words have to be true. Jim Beam is the latest liquor maker to face challenges over its claims that its bourbon is actually “handcrafted.” [More]
American Express Loses Antitrust Lawsuit Over Merchant Rules
By 2.19.15
After nearly five years of legal battles, a federal court has ruled that American Express’s merchant agreements violate antitrust laws and has resulted in higher costs for consumers. [More]
Will The FDA Ever Get Around To New Warning Labels For Cigarettes?
By 2.18.15
In June 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act became law, directing the Food and Drug Administration to not only create larger health warnings, but to include graphic images in the labels. And when the U.S. Supreme Court shot down a tobacco-industry fight against these labels in April 2013, it was supposed to get the ball rolling again on these new warnings. But in the years since, there’s been no apparent movement on the matter and the FDA won’t say when, or even if, these Congressionally mandated labels will become a reality. [More]
Some Debt Collectors Get Away With Shady Behavior When Collecting Debt For Government
By 2.18.15
Federal and state regulators are continually trying to crack down on debt collectors who use unsavory, illegal tactics to make consumers pay up. But some ethically questionable collectors are operating under the regulatory radar because they collect debts for the government. [More]
Barefoot Contessa Suing California Company Over Unauthorized “Contessa Chef Inspired” Frozen Dinners
By 2.18.15
Having a famous brand might sound pretty awesome, but with a name everyone recognizes comes the hassle of trying to protect that name from others out there trying to make a buck off it. Food Network host Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa, is preparing to do battle to keep her brand her own, suing a California company for selling what she calls unauthorized look-alikes of her frozen dinners. [More]
Yelp Sues Websites Promising “All Positive Reviews” For Businesses
By 2.18.15
While Yelp may be within its legal rights to re-order and filter its user-submitted reviews, the company is taking legal action against the operator of multiple websites promising “all positive reviews for your business.” [More]
Hobbyist Photo-Sharing Site Defends Itself Against Company With A Patent On Online Voting
By 2.17.15
Patents are intended to protect the developers of specific concepts. That’s why you don’t see a patent for “thing that can treat diseases,” but for individual medicines and devices. Last summer, the Supreme Court confirmed you can’t simply patent a generic idea just because you apply it to a computer. But a small photo-sharing site is being sued for infringing on a patent that arguably covers a vast range of vote-for-your-favorite competitions. [More]
BlackBerry Suing Makers Of Slip-On iPhone Keyboard Again, Claiming New Version Is Infringement
By 2.17.15
BlackBerry has a bone to pick with Typo, the makers of a slip-on iPhone keyboard that the mobile phone company already sued once with claims that the case infringes on its patents, and it’s not ready to let that bone go anytime soon. A new lawsuit against Typo is now on the books, this time aimed at the company’s second iteration of slip-on accessories [More]
Philip Morris Does Horrible Job Of Defending Itself After John Oliver Mocking
By 2.17.15
On Sunday night, John Oliver called out the tobacco industry, and particularly Philip Morris, for the practice of threatening small and poor countries with complicated, expensive international trade lawsuits if they try to strictly regulate cigarette marketing. But while Big Tobacco has the coffers to pay for costly legal battles, it does a really poor job of trying to defend its actions. [More]
Death Toll From GM Ignition Defect Reaches 56
By 2.16.15
A year after General Motors first announced the long-delayed recall of the Chevy Cobalt, Saturn Ion and several other vehicles for an ignition problem that both the carmaker and regulators had ignored, the fund responsible for vetting death and injury claims related to the recall is now acknowledging at least 56 fatalities. [More]
