NYC is sued over new salt-warning rule

New York City is being sued over a new rule requiring chain restaurants to put salt-shaker icons on menu items that contain high levels of salt. The National Restaurant Association suit, filed Thursday in state court in Manhattan, contends that city health regulators overstepped their legal bounds by enacting the…

Dec 4, 2015 5:05 PM CST

Craft brew fans sue to block planned merger of world’s biggest beer-makers

Nearly two dozen beer drinkers in Oregon, California and Washington state have banded together in a lawsuit seeking to block the planned merger of the two biggest beer-makers in the world on antitrust grounds. Allowing Anheuser-Busch InBev NV/SA and SABMiller PLC to form one company manufacturing nearly one-third of the…

Dec 3, 2015 2:30 PM CST

Little-known hospital billing practice can nix Medicare coverage of later nursing-home stay

Under rules implementing the Affordable Care Act, hospitals can be penalized if too many patients return for further treatment within 30 days of being discharged. So, to avoid the penalty, a number of hospitals are admitting return patients under “observation status” to keep them out of the readmission statistics. Although…

Dec 3, 2015 12:30 PM CST

Lawyer who crusaded against trans fats turns his attention to fighting distracted driving

The California lawyer who turned the tide against trans fats wants to put the brakes on distracted driving. Stephen Joseph is a self-described public interest lawyer and campaigner who uses the pressure created by filing lawsuits to change public policy and perception:

Dec 1, 2015 2:20 AM CST

Lawsuits say Vizio smart TV tracking violates federal video-rental statute

Unbeknownst to many consumers who purchase Vizio smart televisions, the TVs are collecting data on their household viewing habits unless buyers actively opt out. Since the software also collects information about other devices linked into the home’s computer system, it may not be difficult for third parties to which Vizio…

Nov 18, 2015 11:15 AM CST

Top state court says litigation funding is subject to consumer lending law

A litigation finance company has lost its bid to persuade the Colorado Supreme Court that providing interim funding to allow a tort lawsuit to proceed is more like making an investment than making a loan. In a Monday decision (PDF), the state’s top court declined to issue a declaratory judgment…

Nov 17, 2015 4:50 PM CST

$59M settlement in ‘sewer service’ debt-collection suit; 190,000 default judgments may be vacated

A $59 million settlement has been reached in a federal class-action lawsuit over debt-collection tactics that included alleged fraudulent affidavits and “sewer service” of complaints that alleged debtors never received. In addition to a now-defunct New York law firm and a process server, a debt-buying agency that sent collection matters…

Nov 16, 2015 3:20 PM CST

Left with bill and arrested after blind date exits mid-meal, woman sees most of civil suit dismissed

Arrested for theft after her blind date exited during dinner and left her with a restaurant bill of $127.86 three years ago, an Ohio woman sued both the restaurant and the city of Wooster after she won the criminal case. But a federal judge last week dismissed most of the…

Nov 16, 2015 11:45 AM CST

Volkswagen makes $1K no-strings offer to diesel vehicle owners in emissions scandal

Beset by a barrage of litigation over software that turns on emission controls in diesel vehicles only when they are about to be tested, Volkswagen has announced a no-strings compensation offer for some 482,000 owners of such Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in the U.S. They will receive a $500 gift…

Nov 9, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Law firm criticizes a Nissan ad which featured a race with school bus, urges people to sign petition

Update: A New York personal injury law firm is seeking to take a leading role in a public campaign over a Nissan Altima ad that they are calling irresponsible. “In this commercial, Nissan is promoting unsafe driving habits,” says Brindisi Murad Brindisi & Pearlman in a Thursday blog post. The…

Nov 6, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Exxon Mobil disclosures about climate-change risks are probed by New York AG

Exxon Mobil is being investigated by the New York attorney general’s office to determine whether the company lied to consumers about climate change risks or lied to investors about how those risks could affect its oil business. News of the probe was reported Thursday by the New York Times, which…

Nov 5, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Suit claims Peet’s Coffee misrepresents French press serving size

A would-be class action lawsuit filed last Friday alleges Peet’s Coffee & Tea is misrepresenting its French press serving size. The suit was filed in Cook County, Illinois, on behalf of customer Robert Garrett, report the Chicago Tribune, Nation’s Restaurant News and the Am Law Litigation Daily. According to the…

Nov 5, 2015 12:10 PM CST

Arbitration clauses effectively eliminate consumer rights for many, New York Times reports

Once virtually unheard-of, clauses requiring individuals to arbitrate consumer and employment disputes are now ubiquitous in documents ranging from applications for cable television service, a credit card or a bed in a nursing home to job-related paperwork. Additionally, many such agreements also bar individuals from bringing class actions. The result…

Nov 2, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Debt-buying industry and lax court review are burying defendants in defaults

After more than four decades as a commercial litigator, Ward Benshoof was shocked at what he learned two years ago while handling a post-judgment debt-collection case. What had been accepted as evidence seemed to have no more substance than the shadow of smoke. And as he later learned, it also…

Nov 1, 2015 4:20 AM CST

Supreme Court weighs the right to sue an Internet data site

Nov 1, 2015 2:40 AM CST