Civil Remedies › Communications & Media Law › Consumer Protection

Facebook v. Typosquatters: Damages and Domains Awarded Under Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act

On April 30, 2013, Magistrate Judge Westmore recommended that the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California award Facebook $2.8 million in damages from typosquatters under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection...more

What’s That Charge on My Mobile Phone Bill? The FTC Wants to Know

“Cramming” – while it sounds like the experience of being in the middle row of a cross-country flight – actually refers to unauthorized charges on phone bills. Residential and business telecommunications customers have...more

Advertising Law - Apr 25, 2013

- Marc Roth Invited to Present on Privacy Issues in Marketing at NYC Bar CLE Program: On May 3, 2013, the New York City Bar Center for CLE and the Brand Activation Association (formerly the Promotion Marketing...more

Michigan District Court Holds State Prohibition On Class Actions Does Not Preclude TCPA Class In Federal Court

Pending before the court was Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s TCPA claim contending Defendant sent unsolicited faxes in violation of the law. Also pending before the court was Defendant’s Motion to Strike class...more

Illinois Supreme Court Debates the Insurability of TCPA Federal Junk Fax Penalties

Earlier this month, on the final day of arguments for the March term, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral argument in Standard Mutual Insurance Co. v. Lay. Lay presents the question of whether the penalty imposed by Federal...more

Consumer Products Settlements Containing Cy Pres Distributions Receiving Increased Scrutiny

In a recent decision, In re Baby Products Antitrust Litigation, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3379 (3d Cir. Feb. 19, 2013), the Third Circuit vacated the district court’s order approving a $35.5 million class action settlement which...more

New FTC Advertising Guidelines Are Worth a Review

In a recent post, I discussed how a company could be liable for referencing a third-party’s unbiased endorsement if, unbeknownst to that company, the basis for the endorsement turned out to be unjustified. In another...more

Privacy Class Actions: Year-in-Review

During 2012, privacy class actions continued to trend toward two major categories: 1) actions that arose out of a data breach event and 2) actions brought to prosecute an alleged consumer privacy right....more

Making Meyer Lemonade Out Of Meyer Lemons: Ninth Circuit Affirms Provisional Class Certification and Injunction in TCPA Case

In Meyer v. Portfolio Recovery Associates (Oct. 12, 2012), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the Southern District of California’s decision to provisionally certify a class and grant a preliminary injunction against Portfolio...more

“All Natural” False Advertising Class Certified in Arizona Iced Tea Case

A federal judge in the Northern District of California has certified a California class of Arizona Iced Tea purchasers. What is striking is that the court only certified a class for declaratory and injunctive relief and...more

Case Studies: The Real World Impact of Class Actions for Technical Violations of Consumer Protection Statutes

Mama Mia, a Florida restaurant, accepts credit cards as payment for meals. A customer provides his credit card to pay for his meal and receives a receipt from the restaurant. The receipt displays the customer’s credit card...more

Georgia Supreme Court Holds Faxes Need Simply Be Sent, Not Received In Order To State TCPA Claim in $459 Million TCPA Case

In 2002 and 2003, Defendant, a siding, window and gutter installation company, contracted with a third party to send a total of 318 unsolicited advertisements to various fax machines in the Atlanta, Georgia area. A class...more

FTC and States Target “Cardholder Services” Robocalls

On November 1, the FTC announced that courts have granted temporary restraining orders in five cases in which the FTC alleged that the defendants placed automated calls to consumers to make allegedly deceptive “no-risk”...more

US Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit Affirms Class Certification, Order Granting Preliminary Injunction to Stop Calls and Holds...

Meyer v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, No. 11-56600, 2012 WL 4840814 (9th Cir. Oct. 12, 2012) Pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was the district court’s: (1) Provisional certification...more

Are Federal Junk Fax Damages Insurable in Illinois?

In the final days of its September term, the Illinois Supreme Court allowed a petition for review in Standard Mutual Insurance Co. v. Lay. In Lay, the Court will decide whether the Federal statutory penalty for sending junk...more

The TCPA - West Virginia District Court Holds Defendant Not Liable For Calls Made On Its Behalf

Mey v. Pinnacle Security, LLC, No. 5:11-cv-47, 2012 WL 4009718 (N.D. W.Va. Sept. 12, 2012) Plaintiff filed a purported class action lawsuit relating to a call from an unidentified party, advertising Defendant’s goods and...more

The TCPA- Recoverable Damages

Private party litigants can seek the following relief under the TCPA: (1) Injunctive relief; (2) Actual damages or $500 for each violation of the Act (whichever is greater); or (3) Both Injunctive relief and damages (47...more

The TCPA - A Summary Introduction

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (TCPA) is a federal statute that was enacted in 1991 to address concerns relating to telemarketing/solicitation practices. It amended the Communications Act of 1934, and...more

Advertising Law -- August 24, 2012

In This issue: Long-Running False Advertising Class Action Resolved with $3.3 Million Payment; FTC Issues Record Fine Against Google; Jiffy Lube Agrees to $47M Tune-Up in Spam Text Suit; Coppertone’s Claims Burned...more

"Stop" Texting To Prevent Unwanted Lawsuits

In March of this year, Taco Bell Corp. joined the ranks of companies that have been sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), not for sending an unsolicited text message to a consumer in the first instance,...more

Ninth Circuit rejects class action settlement, clarifies standards for cy pres remedies and plaintiff counsel's attorneys' fees

In the recently published decision Dennis v. Kellogg Company, No. 11-55674, 2012 WL 2870128 (9th Cir. July 13, 2012), the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s approval of a purported $10.64 million settlement between...more

Amerigas Propane, L.P. v. Opinion Corp. d/b/a PissedConsumer.com

Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Jury Demand

See the affirmative defenses. From BusinessInsider.com: "Propane giant AmeriGas recently sued online complaints forum Pissed Consumer for trademark infringement. "Gas company executives were presumably upset with how...more

Advertising Law -- May 31, 2012

In This Issue: Chris Cole Invited to Speak at The NLJ’s 2012 Complex Litigation Breakfast Series; Federal Judge Prevents Class Counsel Feast on Domino’s Pizza Third-Party Robocalls; FTC Obtains Court Order Enjoining...more

Text Message Complaint Against Sports Team Highlights Risks Associated with Using New Media to Interact with Fans

Most major sports teams invite fans to receive text message alerts about breaking news, player trades, scores, etc. Teams often use these services to collect information about their fans and to promote products and events....more

Advertising News & Analysis - May 31, 2012

In this issue: - FDA Rejects “Corn Sugar” Rebranding for High - Fructose Corn Syrup - RealNetworks’ “Free Trial” Charges Result in $2.4 Million Washington AG Settlement - CFPB Launches Nonbank Supervision...more