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Consumer protection – Greenwashing – Cognizable injury
Where two plaintiffs have alleged that the defendant made misrepresentations in the marketing and sale of natural gas and related services to residential consumers as clean and safe for consumers and the environment, the complaint should be dismissed because the plaintiffs fail to allege sufficient facts to demonstrate a plausible basis to believe they have suffered an injury that would entitle th[...]
Consumer protection – Right-to-repair law – Preemption
Where plaintiff Alliance for Automotive Innovation has alleged that a right-to-repair law passed by ballot initiative is preempted by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Clean Air Act, the complaint should be dismissed because (1) the plaintiff lacks associational standing and (2) neither the MVSA nor the CAA preempts the state law.
Consumer protection – Apps – Video Privacy Protection Act
Where a plaintiff has brought a putative class action alleging that the defendant unlawfully disclosed his personally identifiable information — including a record of every video he had viewed on the defendant’s apps — to two third parties in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. §2710 (VPPA), the plaintiff’s motion for class certification should be denied because he ha[...]
Consumer protection – Collection calls – ‘Injury’
Where the plaintiff in a putative class action involving allegedly badgering phone calls made to debtors has moved to certify a question of law to the Supreme Judicial Court concerning whether there can be a per se violation of §2(a) of G.L.c. 93A by the initiation of more than two calls in a seven-day period, thereby constituting an “injury” under §9, that motion should be denied because th[...]
Consumer protection – New Hampshire Driver Privacy Act
Where (1) three plaintiffs shopped at the defendant retailers' stores, (2) when they subsequently sought to return items, the plaintiffs did not present receipts for their purchases, so the retailers required presentation of their driver's licenses, (3) the retailers then transmitted the driver's license information to a third party, and (4) the plaintiffs brought suit alleging violations of the N[...]
Consumer protection – Standing – ‘Spy pixel’
Where a plaintiff has filed a putative class action alleging violations of the Arizona Telephone, Utility and Communication Service Records Act, the complaint must be dismissed because the plaintiff has not alleged a concrete harm or a sufficient historical analog to confer standing.
Consumer protection – FCRA – Standing
Where a plaintiff has filed a putative class action alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act arising out of allegedly incorrect information on his consumer report, the plaintiff has plausibly alleged that the defendant credit reporting agency (CRA) prepared a consumer report that contained allegedly inaccurate information resulting in the denial of life insurance coverage, but a codefe[...]
Consumer protection – Discovery – Chapter 93A
Where plaintiffs alleging unlawful recording of conversations have moved for leave to conduct limited discovery regarding their G.L.c. 93A claims, that motion should be denied because there is little indication that the discovery requested will yield any information supporting the requisite commercial relationship between the plaintiffs and the defendants.
Consumer protection – Class certification – Predominance
Where class certification was granted in a suit against a defendant medical school, the class should be decertified because the laws of multiple jurisdictions apply to the putative worldwide class of consumers, resulting in the differences in state and national laws predominating over common issues.
Consumer protection – Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act
Where a putative class action has been brought alleging that the defendant shoe retailer violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), 15 U.S.C. §1681c(g), by failing to properly truncate consumers’ credit card numbers on receipts printed at their retail stores, the defendant’s motion to strike class allegations should be denied because the complaint pleads the existence of [...]
Consumer protection – Website browsing activities – Wiretap
Where a plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that the defendant hospitals violated the Massachusetts wiretap statute (G.L.c. 272, §99) by collecting and transmitting her browsing activities on the hospitals' websites, the complaint should have been dismissed because nothing in the text of the statute makes unambiguously clear that the Legislature intended to reach so far as to criminalize the sec[...]
Consumer protection – Telemarketing sales rule
Where a complaint has been filed under the telemarketing sales rule, 16 C.F.R. §310, the plaintiffs should be awarded summary judgment, as the defendants are subject to the advance-fee provision in the rule.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Injury during baby’s adenoidectomy leads to stroke
- Construction worker’s hand caught in cement mixer
- Worker trapped in freezer, dies during steam cleaning
- Pedestrian, 69, hit by motor vehicle while in crosswalk
- Four-vehicle pileup leaves driver with spinal cord injury
- Nursing home staff blamed for kidney-failure death
- Pharmacy’s late delivery blamed for patient’s death
- Man, 25, drowns after swimming lesson at fitness club
Opinion Digests
- Jurisdiction – Forum selection clause – Non-signatory
- Criminal – Responsibility
- Attorneys – Lien
- Landlord and tenant – Default judgment
- Zoning – Constructive grant – Comprehensive permit
- Fraud – False Claims Act – Settlement share
- Civil practice – Discovery – Cybersecurity
