Articles Posted in Consumer Law

Last week, a New Hampshire judge ordered Amazon to turn over an Echo smart speaker’s recordings that may have captured key evidence in a double homicide that occurred last year in Farmington. Investigators believe that the recordings may provide information that could help convict the murderer. The question arises: how much data can tech companies collect, store, and use, and what does that mean for privacy?

California and the federal government have reached an agreement whereby the state will halt plans to implement its new net neutrality law on January 1, and the Department of Justice will withdraw its motions seeking to block implementation until the conclusion of ongoing litigation regarding state net neutrality rules. 

Navient has been sued by members of the American Federation of Teachers over its alleged practices directing borrowers into student loan repayment programs and various types of forbearance which are not eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. 

Plaintiff Lenora Rice recently filed a class action lawsuit against National Beverage Corp., the makers of LaCroix, in an Illinois state court alleging that their popular sparkling water is not “100% Natural” as it is advertised. Rice claims that LaCroix beverages actually contain ingredients such as ethyl butanoate, limonene, linalool, and linalool propionate, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies as synthetic.

Last Friday, the law firm Hagens Berman filed a lawsuit in California federal court on behalf of Allen Lee who is suing both Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, for “unlawful and unfair business practices” that have “unjustly enriched” the ticket-seller at the expense of live events fans.

In the wake of the FCC's efforts to undo net neutrality protections under the Trump administration, California recently passed a law implementing net neutrality rules that are even stronger than the Obama-era regulations that have been rolled back at the federal level. Governor Jerry Brown signed the new law on September 30, which represents the strongest set of net neutrality protections in the country. The Department of Justice immediately filed a lawsuit in federal court, stating that California's law constitutes an impermissible burden on the federal government's efforts to deregulate the internet.

Last week, Match Group and its parent company IAC were sued by current and former employees of Tinder, among whom are co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen. The lawsuit includes allegations that the parent company withheld information about Tinder's potential growth to avoid paying billions of dollars to the start-up team.

A lawsuit seeking class action status has recently been filed against Google after the tech company admitted to tracking the location history of even users who have turned off location services.

Last week a San Francisco jury awarded former school groundskeeper Dewayne Lee Johnson more than $289 million in his lawsuit against agrochemical giant Monsanto for failing to warn consumers that exposure to Roundup weed killer causes cancer.

On Friday, June 29, 2018, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra brought suit in California Superior Court for the County of San Francisco against student loan servicer Navient Corp. and two of its subsidiaries, Pioneer and General Revenue Corp.