Consumer Law

Maternity Leaves are Derailing Otherwise A-OK Mortgage Applications

By law, at least as the real estate industry understands the rules, a mortgage lender can’t ask a woman if she’s pregnant. But it can inquire whether her income is about to change, and if that change is for a three-month maternity leave a growing number of lenders will refuse…

Jul 19, 2010 11:42 PM CDT

New Florida Bar Web Rules Ignite Firestorm; ACLU, Law Firms, Even FTC All Object

Stringent new Florida Bar rules on attorney online advertising have ignited a firestorm, attracting criticism from a sweeping array of groups including not only law firms that do business in the state but the American Civil Liberties Union and even the Federal Trade Commission. A common theme is that the…

Jul 8, 2010 7:14 PM CDT

Facebook Faces Litigation from Canada, Germany Over Privacy Issues

Remember those photos you posted on Facebook years ago? They may have been private then, but they could be public now, according to a pending lawsuit against the super-popular social networking site. In the wake of worldwide concern over Google’s admitted interception of personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi portals in…

Jul 8, 2010 5:57 PM CDT

Lead Attorney in Microsoft Case Hogged Lion’s Share of $75M Legal Fee, Suit Says

A lead lawyer in a $179.5 million class action antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp. shared the $75 million legal fee with attorney Richard Hagstrom and the Minneapolis-based Zelle Hoffmann law firm, the Associated Press reports. But Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, Iowa, didn’t honor an agreement to pay 20 percent…

Jul 6, 2010 10:09 PM CDT

Legal Bills in 5-Year Divorce Battle Allegedly Top $36M

An unidentified woman, presumably rich, is seeking court intervention concerning the $10.5 million legal fees she says she has been charged in a hard-fought five-year divorce battle. Her husband has allegedly spent $26 million in legal fees, so far, in the case, which is Australia’s most expensive divorce, reports the…

Jul 6, 2010 4:53 PM CDT

Debt Collection Law Firm Quietly Shuts Down, Faces Suits Claiming Withheld Funds

Chicago debt collection law firm Friedman & Wexler has apparently shut down as its fights lawsuits claiming it withheld money from clients. Calls to the law firm’s main number aren’t being answered, and an e-mail sent to one of its employees says the firm is winding down, the Chicago Tribune…

Jul 6, 2010 12:16 PM CDT

Pacific Law Center to Close; My Dream Became a Nightmare, Controlling Lawyer Says

Kerry Steigerwalt had a dream that he could turn the troubled Pacific Law Center around. But today the veteran defense attorney announced that he is closing the San Diego-based consumer law firm he purchased a little over two years ago, describing it as a “management nightmare,” according to NBC San…

Jun 30, 2010 7:53 PM CDT

Fannie Mae to Punish Borrowers Who Strategically Opt to Walk Away from Mortgages

Amidst news that an apparently unprecedented number of mortgage borrowers are opting to walk away from expensive loans on homes whose fair-market value in the devastated real estate market is considerably less than the amount the borrowers owe, Fannie Mae is planning to punish those who opt not to pay…

Jun 24, 2010 8:39 PM CDT

Google Scores Summary Judgment Victory in Landmark $1B YouTube Copyright Case

Google is off the hook, at least for now, in a $1 billion copyright infringement case brought by Viacom over unauthorized uploads by YouTube users of copyrighted material from television shows and movies. In an opinion and order (PDF) today, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton granted a motion the Internet…

Jun 23, 2010 9:25 PM CDT

Judge Posner Admits He Didn’t Read Boilerplate for Home Equity Loan

Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals does a lot of reading—but he apparently hates boilerplate as much as the next person. Appearing at a recent American Constitution Society conference, Posner recalled his encounter with hundreds of pages of documentation for his home equity loan,…

Jun 23, 2010 1:37 PM CDT

Up to 30 State AGs Plan Joint Probe of Google Street View Data Intercepts

The top law enforcement officers for more than 30 states are considering a cooperative investigation of possible privacy and wiretap law violations by Google as its workers were driving around collecting photos and data for its Street View search engine feature. Led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the group…

Jun 22, 2010 1:32 AM CDT

Chaos Continues at Debt Collection Law Firm Now in Receivership

The checks are still coming into Mann Bracken, often from wage garnishments won by the Maryland-based national law firm before it shuttered its doors earlier this year. But a receiver is still struggling to figure out how the debtor payments should be handled. The Montgomery County Circuit Court dismissed tens…

Jun 21, 2010 10:23 PM CDT

Many Wince at Above the Law Blogger’s Chilling Account of Online ‘Stalk’

Law blogger Kashmir Hill thought she had few illusions about Internet privacy, according to her biography page for a True/Slant blog about privacy, technology and the law. But the online research that resulted in the Above the Law editor’s chilling Assembly article about the enormous amount of detailed personal information…

Jun 16, 2010 12:15 AM CDT

Law Firm Spammed Our Investors, Contends Ex-Client in Fee Dispute

Without the permission of its then-client, Skyworks Ventures Inc., a New York law firm sent spam e-mail to the video game company’s investors seeking to perform legal work, contends the New Jersey-based company in an ongoing case. Sued by Scarola Ellis over a disputed bill, Skyworks contends that Scarola Ellis…

Jun 14, 2010 7:57 PM CDT

Insurer to Pay $72.5M to Settle Alleged Structured Settlement Fraud in Earlier Cases

A federal judge in Connecticut has given a preliminary thumbs-up to an insurer’s agreement to pay $72.5 million to settle a class action over the structured settlements it provided to plaintiffs in earlier workers’ compensation and accident cases. A spokesman for the Hartford still says the company did nothing wrong…

Jun 11, 2010 4:36 PM CDT