Irritating your customers may be bad corporate practice, but it’s not illegal and won’t earn you anything worse than a golden poo or two. Irritating your stockholders, on the other hand, can indeed earn you a trip to court. [More]
lawsuits
This Will Be Fun: $3,500 Fine For Bad Online Review Is Going To Court
By 12.18.13
The saga of the couple fined $3500 for writing a negative review of a company back in 2008 continues and now, it’s going to court. [More]
Walmart Not Responsible For Morons Who Say Racist Things Over Store Intercom
By 12.18.13
You probably remember the 16-year-old idiot from New Jersey who in 2010 commandeered the public address system at his local Walmart to announce, “Attention Walmart customers: All black people must leave the store.” The teen’s subsequent arrest was not the end of the story, as at least one shopper has tried to sue Walmart for damages related to the incident. But a federal judge has ruled that Walmart should not be held responsible for the actions of the teen. [More]
CashCall Tries To Collect On Illegal Payday Loans, CFPB Says “Nice Try”
By 12.17.13
Collecting a debt from people who owe money is one thing. Collecting a debt from people who don’t legally owe because those loans should never have been written in the first place? That’s another problem altogether, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is very upset with one company . [More]
How Does A $1,000 Loan Blow Up Into $40,000 Of Debt?
By 12.13.13
We’ll never advise that anyone take out a payday or installment loan with an interest rate of 240%, but if you do find yourself taking out one of these ridiculously high-interest loans, know that defaulting on the payments can land you in the courthouse, where you could end up buried beneath a mountain of debt from which you’ll never dig out. [More]
Aereo: It’s Fine By Us If The Networks Want To Take Us Before The Supreme Court
By 12.12.13
You know those arguments where you’re certain you’re right, so when the other person says “Well, let’s just go look up the answer,” you are more than happy to oblige? That appears to be the attitude of streaming video startup Aereo, which today said it will not try to stop the broadcast networks from taking their complaint to the Supreme Court. [More]
Cablevision: Broadcasters’ Attack On Aereo Doing More Damage Than Good
By 12.12.13
As you probably know, the broadcast networks have all been filing lawsuits against streaming video startup Aereo, which takes freely available over-the-air feeds and makes them available online to paying customers. While you’d expect a large cable operator like Cablevision to stand behind the networks in this fight, a new paper from the company expresses concern that the broadcasters are going too far and, if successful, may call into question the legality of all cloud-based technology. [More]
Walmart To Pay Out $25 Million Over Exploding Gas Cans
By 12.9.13
Even though Walmart does not manufacture plastic gasoline cans, it does sell more of the cans than any other retailer in the country and it has been named as a defendant in dozens of lawsuits regarding exploding cans. And so the retail giant has reportedly agreed to fork over $25 million to cover its portion of a $161 million settlement that would close the book on a number of unresolved claims. [More]
Court Orders For-Profit College To Pay $1,000/Day For Sidestepping Subpoena
By 12.4.13
For three years, the Kentucky Attorney General’s office has been trying to enforce a subpoena related to its investigation into the operators of the for-profit National College schools in the state. Today, a court ordered a $1,000/day civil penalty against the school, retroactive to July 31. [More]
Goldieblox Ends Beastie Boys Parody Dispute By Taking Down Ad
By 11.27.13
Everyone loved the online ad from GoldieBlox that used a parody version of the Beastie Boys song “Girls” to help make its point about encouraging girls to be interested in toys that are more science-y than princess-y. Even the Beastie Boys praised the ad…but that doesn’t mean they want their music used to sell a commercial product. [More]
Judge Shuts Down Part Of Stinky Sriracha Hot Sauce Plant
By 11.27.13
The sriracha saga continues, with a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruling yesterday that the Irwingdale, CA, plant where the “rooster sauce” is made must shut down plant operations that contribute to the smell that has been the cause of complaints from nearby residents. [More]
Flight Attendant Suing Jay Leno For On-Air Jokes About Her Close Relationship With A Pet Rat
By 11.19.13
Remember the American Airlines flight attendant who sued her employers over allegations that people claimed she smuggled her pet rat onboard in her underthings? She’s now claiming in a new lawsuit that the host of the Tonight Show, Jay Leno, and NBC defamed her by falsely accusing her of “engaging in bestiality and sexual misconduct with a rat.” So there’s that. [More]
$13 Billion JPMorgan Settlement Includes $4 Billion In Consumer Relief
By 11.19.13
Today, it’s expected that JPMorgan Chase and various federal agencies will announce a settlement worth a total of $13 billion to put to bed numerous bank-related investigations tied to mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. And about 30% of that money is reportedly earmarked for some form of consumer relief. [More]
Google Settles Multi-State Safari Ad-Tracking Complaint For $17 Million
By 11.18.13
Apple’s Safari browser has a default setting that blocks websites from setting third-party cookies that can be used to track users’ browsing behavior. But for about nine months in 2011-2012, Google’s DoubleClick ad serving service was able to get around that roadblock in order to provide user-specific ads to people with Apple computers and, more importantly, users of iPhones and iPads. Google has already been hit with a $22.5 million federal penalty, and today it has agreed to settle a multi-state claim for an additional $17 million. [More]
NFL, MLB Say They’ll Take Their Balls To Basic Cable If Aereo Wins In Court
By 11.18.13
CBS and FOX executives have already made the bold declaration that they will take their networks off the air and go cable-only if they are unsuccessful in their bid to crush streaming video service Aereo. Now two pro sports leagues have said they will leave the airwaves if Aereo can profit off of them without sharing. [More]
Starbucks Once Again Fails To Stop New Hampshire Company From Selling ‘Charbucks’ Coffee
By 11.15.13
It’s been a couple years since we last heard about the Starbucks v. Charbucks legal battle, pitting the Seattle coffee colossus against Black Bear Micro Roastery, a family-owned operation out of New Hampshire. At the time, a federal court had shot down Starbucks’ claim of trademark dilution, but that didn’t stop the company from appealing… only to lose in court again this week. [More]
Google Mocks Opacity Of National Security Requests While Feds Try To Hide Court Action From Public
By 11.14.13
For quite some time, Google and other Internet biggies have argued that they should be able to reveal relatively detailed data to the public about user-information requests from federal law enforcement agencies, and specifically those that fall under that black umbrella of national security. In its latest transparency report, Google uses a visual to show its distaste for this opacity. Meanwhile, the federal government is attempting to argue its case for the lack of transparency behind doors closed so tight that even the others involved in the request won’t be privy to what’s said. [More]
TV Pitchman Kevin Trudeau Found Guilty Of Making Misleading Weight-Loss Claims In Infomercials
By 11.13.13
We’ve been following the saga of former bestselling weight loss guru and TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau for about six years, since he was found in contempt of court for violating a 2004 FTC settlement banning him from misrepresenting the content of his books. The Trudeau tale is nearing a final chapter now that he faces possible jail time after being found guilty of criminal contempt for misleading statements in his infomercials. [More]
