Of course Comcast customers can connect to Comcast wifi at home. That’s the point. But Comcast wants Comcast customers to be able to connect to Comcast wifi no matter where they are. To that end, they’re building a massive nationwide network of hotspots for their Xfinity customers… by using their other Xfinity customers as a source. The service has been controversial since Comcast first announced it, and now that controversy has turned into legal trouble. [More]
lawsuits
Makers Of Slip-On iPhone Keyboard Sued By BlackBerry Release New Model
By 12.8.14
When the makers of a slip-on keyboard designed to give iPhone users the physical touch they craved were sued by BlackBerry over what the phone company claimed was a copy of its phones, they had to take the product off the market. Today the company — with Ryan “I Actually Look The Same In Real Life As I Do As A Character On The Simpsons” Seacrest as a major investor — says it has a new version of the keyboard that puts it in the clear, legally. [More]
For-Profit College Hired Exotic Dancers As Admissions Reps
By 12.5.14
The operators of a now-defunct for-profit college in Florida allegedly told its admissions directors to do whatever it took to sell the school to potential students. Among the tactics used by the school is one straight out of a wacky, low-budget, late-night college movie you might see on Cinemax. [More]
Chick Fil-A Customer Sues Chain Over Milkshake She Claims Led To A Heart Attack
By 12.5.14
How can a milkshake lead to a heart attack? Not through the arteries in the long run, but by way of a maraschino cherry, according to one Chick Fil-A customer’s new lawsuit. [More]
Authors Argue In Court That Google Books Scanning Project Is Bad For Book Sales
By 12.4.14
Is Google Books a useful tool for finding exactly the book that you need and driving sales, or a copyright infringement on a massive scale? That’s been the longtime argument (in court) between Google and some of the authors whose work appears in the search engine. At stake are billions of dollars that Google would owe the Authors Guild and individual authors who are parties to the suit. [More]
Customer Sues Domino’s Because Intestine-Piercing Wire Bristles Are Not A Pizza Topping
By 12.4.14
If you’ve ordered enough pizzas, you’ve probably come across a few with a stray topping that shouldn’t be there. In most cases, the worst that can happen is you eat some green pepper, sausage, or mushroom that you hadn’t intended on consuming. But one Washington state man claims he didn’t realize until it was too late — and he was having emergency surgery — that he’d eaten some Domino’s Pizza topped with wire bristles. [More]
Debt Collectors Paying To Use Prosecutors’ Letterheads To Get People To Pay
By 12.3.14
It’s one thing to get a letter from a debt collector that erroneously claims you owe money and have to pay up; it’s another to receive that same notice from your local prosecutor. But what if that latter letter is actually coming from a debt collector who is paying the district attorney’s office for the right to contact certain consumers? [More]
Actor Hired To Wear Donkey Kong Costume For Game Launch Sues Nintendo Over “Stressful” Experience
By 12.3.14
While getting the chance to get paid to play a beloved video game character all day might sound like a dream gig for some, one actor hired to climb into a Donkey Kong costume for the launch of a new Nintendo 3DS game is suing the company saying his time in the suit seriously stressed him out. [More]
Wells Fargo Sued In Illinois For Allegedly Pushing Mortgages On Borrowers Who Couldn’t Repay
By 12.1.14
Five years on from the nadir of the housing crisis and the lawsuits against the few remaining big banks continue to be filed. This time, it’s Wells Fargo being sued by prosecutors in Cook County, IL (home to Chicago), alleging that the bank deliberately issued “predatory” high-interest, subprime loans to borrowers — primarily minority — who may not have been able to pay back those loans. [More]
TGI Fridays Sued For Not Printing All Drink Prices On Menu
By 11.25.14
Given the vast number of available cocktails and beers available at most bars, it’s rare — if not impossible — to see a list of prices for everything you could drink. But in a recently filed class action suit, a man in New Jersey alleges that TGI Fridays is deliberately omitting drink prices to trick customers into paying more than they should. [More]
Home Depot Facing At Least 44 Civil Lawsuits So Far Over Recent Breach
By 11.25.14
There’s no ifs ands or buts about it — the fallout from the recent massive data breach at Home Depot is far from over. The company wrote in a filing today that it’s got the specter of state and federal investigations looming over it as well as at least 44 civil lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada. [More]
Southwest Airlines Sued Over “Early Bird” Fees That Don’t Guarantee Priority Boarding
By 11.21.14
When you pay a $25 fee to board a flight — especially one without assigned seats — ahead of other passengers, you might be ticked off to arrive at the gate and find out that not only aren’t you in the highest-priority boarding group, but that some of the people in front of you didn’t pay any additional money for their place in line. This is why a pair of Southwest passengers have filed a class-action suit against the airline, claiming the airline’s Early Bird Check-In program is “deceptive, fraudulent, and misleading.” [More]
Judge: $30K Penalty For Pirating Movies Is “Excessive Punishment”
By 11.20.14
If police catch you racing down the highway at 25 mph over the speed limit, you’ll probably have to pay a ticket in the low three-figure range, even though you were putting your life and the lives of others at risk. But get accused of illegally downloading a movie and you should have to pay $30,000? Not according to a federal judge in Washington state. [More]
Arizona Sues GM For $3B, Claiming Auto Maker Defrauded Consumers
By 11.20.14
So far this year General Motors has been party to a slew of lawsuits related to its massive ignition switch recall involving millions of vehicles with the potentially deadly defect. The latest case against GM was filed Wednesday by the State of Arizona, which alleges that the carmaker defrauded consumers out of an estimated $3 billion by knowingly selling defective vehicles. [More]
United Airlines, Orbitz Ask Court To Stop Site From Selling “Hidden City” Tickets
By 11.19.14
I live in Philadelphia and if I want to visit a friend in Chicago for a weekend, it will cost me several hundred dollars for a round-trip ticket on U.S. Airways. For significantly less money, I could book what’s known as a “hidden city” ticket from Philadelphia to Orlando via Chicago, and then just get off the plane when it stops in Chicago. Most airlines ban the practice, but there’s not much they can do to stop it. They can, however, sue to stop a website from promoting and booking these verboten fares. [More]
Jury Orders AutoZone To Pay Former Employee $185M For Pregnancy Discrimination
By 11.19.14
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Pregnancy Discrimination Act forbids companies from discriminating against employees based on pregnancy when it comes to any aspect of employment including hiring, firing, promotions and demotions. So when a former employee accused AutoZone of illegally demoting and then firing her after she became pregnant, the woman sued the company. And this week a California jury ruled in her favor, ordering the auto parts retailer to pay her $185 million. [More]
Former Freelancer Sues Google For Overtime, Pay Violations
By 11.14.14
It’s not uncommon for employees and contractors to bring lawsuits against their employers for unpaid wages. One such suit was filed earlier this week by a former freelance worker claiming that Google didn’t pay overtime, improperly classified him as an independent contractor and terminated his contract after he asked for more hours. [More]
Apple Will Go To Court After Judge Gives Disappearing iMessage Lawsuit The Green Light
By 11.12.14
The first of two lawsuits aimed at Apple over the issue of disappearing iMessages that don’t make it to the Android phones of former iPhone users has been given the go-ahead by a judge, which means Apple will have to respond to the allegations in court. [More]
