Consumer Law

Online retailer sued by couple it fined $3,500 over disparaging review

An online retailer is being sued for fining a Utah couple over a negative review and damaging their credit rating when they refused to pay the fine. The suit, which seeks at least $75,000 in damages, accuses KlearGear.com of defaming customers John and Jen Palmer and violating the federal Fair…

Dec 18, 2013 9:08 PM CST

Calif. again tops ‘judicial hellholes’ list

For the second year in a row, California tops the American Tort Reform Foundation’s “Judicial Hellholes” list. The Golden State took top honors for the “welcoming stance” its courts take toward consumer class actions and its “rampant lawsuits” targeting small businesses over disability access claims, Forbes reports. The list (PDF),…

Dec 17, 2013 9:00 PM CST

Search warrants served on law firm in loan-modification probe; lawyer faces marijuana charge

A California lawyer, Stephen Siringoringo, and his wife were taken into custody and face a marijuana charge after law enforcement officials say they found 445 grams of the drug, packaged for sale, in his law office during a search Wednesday. The search of the Siringoringo Law Office was for a…

Dec 12, 2013 10:40 PM CST

Facing loss of health coverage, 2 lawyers turn to ‘Problem Solver’ for help proving their marriage

Philip and Nancy Hablutzel have been married for more than three decades. When required to prove that they are still husband and wife by an administrator for a state health insurance system, however, the two Illinois lawyers found themselves stymied. Nancy Hablutzel, a state retiree, operates her own law firm…

Dec 6, 2013 9:55 PM CST

Restaurant ejects diner who insisted on wearing Google Glass

A Seattle restaurant has joined a growing number of business establishments that already ban or are expected to ban Google Glass because of concerns about privacy, piracy and/or the loss of confidential material. A Facebook post explains that the Lost Lake Cafe asked a “rude” patron who wouldn’t take off…

Dec 4, 2013 6:10 PM CST

Thalidomide plaintiffs agree to $80M settlement in Australian case; discovery continues in US

Decades after women were given Thalidomide to combat morning sickness during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s and wound up delivering babies with missing or deformed limbs and other birth defects, survivors are still seeking compensation. Litigation continues in the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain, but more than…

Dec 4, 2013 12:00 AM CST

Do retailers offer phantom discounts? Suits target pricing

Are those Black Friday discounts for real? The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) says retailers often set starting retail prices so high that the discounted price will give them the profit margins they want. The strategy isn’t deceptive, according to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, if the higher price “was offered…

Nov 26, 2013 3:31 PM CST

Electric-car owner Alex Kozinski offers ‘scathing’ objection in class action

Alex Kozinski, the chief judge of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, isn’t mincing words in his role as an objector to a proposed settlement in a class action alleging defects in batteries for the Nissan Leaf, an all-electric car. Kozinski and his wife, Marcy Tiffany, filed…

Nov 21, 2013 11:45 AM CST

Carriers nix proposed ‘kill switch’ solution to problem of rampant smartphone thefts

Throughout the United States, almost one in every three robberies involves the theft of a telephone, often a pricey smartphone. Yet the industry has rejected a proposal by the biggest cellphone maker, Samsung Electronics, to equip mobile phones with “kill switch” software that would allow the devices to be shut…

Nov 20, 2013 7:05 PM CST

Customer zapped with $3.5K charge for critique of Web retailer; its terms of use ban ‘disparagement’

Updated: A Web retailer has ignited an Internet firestorm by adding an anti-disparagement provision to its terms of use—and enforcing it. Customer Jen Palmer says she was caught between a rock and a hard place when Kleargear.com threatened to impose a $3,500 fine if she didn’t take down the criticism…

Nov 20, 2013 5:15 PM CST

John Edwards returns to law practice, says it’s ‘what I was born to do’

John Edwards is returning to law practice after his political career ended with a sex scandal and campaign finance charges. Edwards, 60, says he’s not worried that his past will hamper his law practice because he has faith in juries, report the National Law Journal, the New York Times DealBook…

Nov 19, 2013 1:36 PM CST

Law limiting autodial cellphone calls spurs ‘litigation boom’

Joshua Swigart is among the consumer-protection lawyers who are using the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to sue companies that violate limits on cellphone calls. Swigart was among the first lawyers to use the 1991 law against a debt collector, obtaining up to $950,000 in a suit on behalf of consumers…

Nov 19, 2013 11:50 AM CST

Trans fats would likely be banned under FDA proposal

Artery-clogging trans fats would likely be banned under a proposal by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is proposing that partially hydrogenated oils no longer be “generally recognized as safe,” report the New York Times, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News. The proposal, which will be open for comment…

Nov 7, 2013 2:47 PM CST

Is it illegal to implant a remote-control device in a cockroach? PETA asks AG to nix RoboRoach kit

It may be legal to crush, poison or trap and release a cockroach you find in your home. But that doesn’t mean you should be allowed to implant electrodes into the insect’s brain so that its movements can be controlled with the help of a smartphone application, an animal rights…

Nov 6, 2013 8:25 PM CST

Psychics convicted in two separate cases; what is the line between fraud and free speech?

Psychics who charged large sums for their services were recently convicted in separate trials in Florida and New York, raising questions about the line between free speech and fraud. The Associated Press reports on the two trials and on state laws aimed at curbing abuses. In one trial, psychic Rose…

Nov 4, 2013 3:34 PM CST