Consumer Law

Job Seekers Complain to State AGs About Some Search Companies

Several state attorneys general have fielded complaints about job search companies that charge up-front fees for their services to vulnerable unemployed job hunters. Many companies do little more than revise resumés and cover letters, give advice on networking and help job hunters wade through public job listings, the New York…

Aug 17, 2009 6:12 PM CDT

N.J. Lawyer Plans Suit Over Best Buy’s $9.99 Price Flub; Law Prof Is Skeptical

Updated: Any consumers thinking about suing Best Buy for refusing to honor a listed price of $9.99 for a flat-screen TV should think again, according to one law professor. But a New Jersey consumer lawyer has already done some thinking, and he plans to file a lawsuit today. Best Buy’s…

Aug 13, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge Casts Cold Eye on Lawyer’s ‘Simply Ridiculous’ Shrimp Claim

When Marc Verzani purchased a 16-ounce shrimp platter at Costco in February, the New York lawyer noticed something seemingly a bit fishy. As further investigation confirmed, the platter—and others like it nationwide—allegedly contained less than one pound of the tasty crustaceans. So Verzani retained an attorney and filed a federal…

Aug 12, 2009 12:03 AM CDT

Woman Can Sue Sister Over Alleged Oral Pact to Split $500K Powerball Win

An 83-year-old woman can take her 87-year-old sister to trial over an alleged 1995 oral agreement that they would split the winnings if either one ever hit the jackpot, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled today. It upheld an intermediate appellate court decision that a trial judge erred in granting a…

Aug 11, 2009 7:14 PM CDT

Law Prof Aboard Plane Parked for 6 Hours Joins Airline Reform Advocates

A scheduled three-hour trip from Houston to Minneapolis on Friday took more than six additional hours when the ExpressJet regional flight operated by Continental Airlines got detoured by bad weather to Rochester, Minn. Worse, the small plane sat on the tarmac in Rochester from midnight to 6 a.m., fully loaded…

Aug 11, 2009 6:42 PM CDT

Coroner Investigating Death of Texas Solo, Mother of Saints QB

An Austin, Texas, solo practitioner with a famous son and a controversial business has died, and the coroner’s office is investigating the cause. Lawyer Mina Brees, a former president of the Austin Bar Association, died Friday in Grand County, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Her son is New Orleans Saints quarterback…

Aug 11, 2009 2:17 PM CDT

Extortion Conviction Upheld for Lawyer Who Threatened Hair-Cut Pricing Suit

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld the extortion conviction of a lawyer who threatened to sue a Concord hair salon for charging women more money for haircuts than men or children. Daniel Hynes is identified as a Manchester lawyer and a 2006 graduate of the Western New England College…

Aug 7, 2009 6:17 PM CDT

Wyeth Paid for Articles Promoting Use of Company’s Hormone-Replacement Drugs

Evidence unsealed last month in a complex federal case against a drug manufacturer shows that Wyeth paid for at least 40 ghostwritten articles in medical journals promoting the use of replacement hormones in menopausal women. The practice of publishing ghostwritten articles is controversial, because bioethicists say it obscures the connection…

Aug 6, 2009 10:25 PM CDT

Boston Lawyer’s Suit Over Unaffordable Loans Could Be a Model

A Boston lawyer’s suit targeting two large mortgage companies accused of making unaffordable loans could spur similar suits throughout the country. Gary Klein, of the law firm Roddy, Klein and Ryan, filed suit against Bank of America Home Mortgage and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in federal court in June and…

Aug 5, 2009 1:25 PM CDT

Online Fine Print Doesn’t Satisfy the FTC’s New Consumer Chief

The new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission wants to protect online consumers’ dignity as well as their pocketbooks. Consumer protection chief David Vladeck told the New York Times that some websites’ tracking of consumer data is “Orwellian.” He wants to change that with…

Aug 5, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

To Get iPod Refund, Apple Required Confidentiality Pact, Family Contends

A reported attempt by Apple to get a British family to sign a confidentiality agreement in exchange for getting a refund on an alleged exploding iPod music player has apparently backfired. Instead of signing, they told their story to the London Times. The newspaper wrote an article about the incident,…

Aug 3, 2009 10:18 PM CDT

Where the Work Is

Lawyers recommend these practice areas in recessionary times

Aug 2, 2009 3:39 AM CDT

Tenenbaum Must Pay $675K, Jury Says, But Judge Will Consider Reduction

A graduate student in physics who illegally—and willfully—downloaded 30 songs on the Internet must pay $675,000 in damages, a federal jury in Boston decided today. That amounts to $22,500 per song, notes Ars Technica. The maximum the jury could have awarded reportedly was $4.5 million. Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law…

Aug 1, 2009 12:20 AM CDT

Directed Verdict Against Tenenbaum; Jury to Decide Music Download Damages

A federal judge last night granted the directed verdict sought by the plaintiffs in a high-profile music downloading case against a Boston University physics graduate student. But the jury still has a role: It will determine whether the copyright violations Joel Tenenbaum admitted during his trial testimony yesterday were willful…

Jul 31, 2009 4:43 PM CDT

Tenenbaum Admits Music Downloading, RIAA Plaintiffs Move for Directed Verdict

After years of high-profile litigation, Joel Tenenbaum came clean today in his testimony in an ongoing federal trial over illegal music downloading. “I used the computer. I uploaded and downloaded music. This is how it is. I did it,” he told a packed courtroom. It included as spectators copyright scholars…

Jul 30, 2009 11:42 PM CDT