Synopsis: Last month, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion, affirming broad Article III standing and holding that, for permissible-purpose claims, a consumer-plaintiff need allege only that his/her credit report was obtained for a purpose not authorized by the statute to survive a motion to dismiss, regardless of whether the report is published or otherwise
Seyfarth Synopsis: FTC publishes proposed consent order with cosmetic company that posted fake customer reviews but some FTC commissioners place doubt on its effectiveness because there is no financial penalty.
Earlier this year, we reported that fake news consumer reviews was on the federal regulators’ radar, especially with the passage of the Consumer Review Fairness
We are pleased to announce the webinar “Hot Topics and Trends in California Consumer Class Actions” is now available as a webinar recording.
On Wednesday, August 7, 2019, Seyfarth partners Robert Milligan and Joseph Escarez reviewed the latest consumer class action law developments affecting companies that do business in California. It is no secret
On Thursday, July 11, 2019, a diverse group of trade associations spanning numerous industries, including retail, telecom, manufacturing, and food and beverage, urged Congress to enact a consumer privacy law. In a letter to the Senate and House commerce committees, the coalition of 27 industry groups asked Congress “to act quickly to adopt a robust
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) bars consumer reporting agencies from reporting civil suits, civil judgments, records of arrest, and other “adverse items” more than seven years after they occur. In a recent decision in Moran v. The Screening Pros, the Ninth Circuit held that the later dismissal of criminal indictments or charges was
Executive Summary and Takeaway. User agreements for websites and apps have become increasingly prevalent in recent years, and courts have had to adapt traditional rules of contract interpretation to the new digital frontier. On June 25, 2018, the First Circuit reversed a district court decision enforcing an arbitration clause contained in the terms of service for the defendant’s smartphone app, finding that those terms were not sufficiently “conspicuous” for a user to know that he or she had agreed to be bound by them. The First Circuit’s decision continues a trend of judicial hostility to arbitration clauses, and is notable for its scrutiny of the record below: the court studied in minute detail the design and content of the registration screen containing a hyperlink to the terms of service—including the size, shape, color, font, and location of the hyperlink—and concluded that the link to the terms of service failed “to grab the user’s attention.” Businesses with similar user agreements governed by Massachusetts law or that could potentially apply to Massachusetts consumers should review their websites and/or apps to ensure that their platforms disclose any terms of use in a clear and conspicuous manner in relation to the rest of the content on the screen.
Additional Background. To use the services provided by the defendant company (the “Company”) via its smartphone app, a customer must first register with the Company by creating an account. As part of the registration process, users are shown a screen that requests their payment information and notifies them that by creating an account they are agreeing to the Company’s Terms of Service and its Privacy Policy:
The words “Terms of Service & Privacy Policy” are in a clickable box that includes a hyperlink. Upon clicking on that hyperlink, the user is directed to a screen with two other links: one to the Terms of Service, and the other to the Privacy Policy. The user can view either document by clicking on the appropriate link.Continue Reading First Circuit Invalidates Arbitration Clause in Mobil App User Agreement
On March 16, 2018, the D.C Circuit issued a decision invalidating portions of the FCC’s 2015 TCPA Omnibus Declaratory Ruling and Order. Notably, the decision overturns as “arbitrary and capricious” the FCC’s definition of an automated telephone dialing system (“ATDS”) and the one-call safe harbor for calling a phone number that has been reassigned
Since its enactment a decade ago, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has seen a recent spike in attention from employees and consumers alike. This is due, in large part, to the technological advancements that businesses use to service consumers and keep track of employee time.
What Is The BIPA?
Intending to protect consumers,
The Third Circuit recently ruled in Grandalski v. Quest Diagnostics, Inc., that the common law claims in a nationwide class action were not appropriate for class treatment because the court would be required to conduct an individual analysis and application of each state’s law and therefore common questions of law did not predominate. 767
The Illinois Supreme Court recently granted a Petition for Leave to Appeal in Price v. Phillip Morris, Inc., after the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fifth District effectively reinstated a $10 Billion verdict against Philip Morris from 2003. 9 N.E.3d 599 (5th Dist. 2014). The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to once again weigh in