The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing it is holding an Identity Theft Awareness Week between February 1-5, 2021. The week will be comprised of a series of events providing consumers with helpful information to reduce their risk of identity theft and discussing concrete steps consumers can take to recover if identity

In Smith v. GC Servs. Ltd. P’ship, No. 19-3494 (7th Cir. Jan. 21, 2021), the Seventh Circuit affirmed a decision by the Southern District of Indiana finding that the plaintiff had not suffered any concrete injury and therefore, lacked standing to assert a claim under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.

The plaintiff, Franny Smith,

Last week, Judge Sue Myerscough declined to certify a class of employees whose personal information was disclosed when Driveline Retail Merchandising fell prey to a phishing scam. While nearly 16,000 employees were allegedly affected, “issues of causation and injury” were insufficiently common to satisfy the requirements for class certification.

The factual background will resonate with

In Ewing v. Med-1 Solutions, Judge Sweeney II of the District Court for the Southern District of Indiana granted summary judgment for the defendant, regarding the plaintiff’s allegation that the defendant violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by reporting her debt to TransUnion after the plaintiff disputed the debt. In its ruling, the

On January 21, Colorado Governor Jared S. Polis signed Senate Bill 21-002 into law. This bill modifies the limitations of certain debt collection actions enacted in Senate Bill 20-211, most notably extending the moratorium on extraordinary collection actions from February 1, 2021 to June 1, 2021.

In more detail, Senate Bill 21-002 states that

President Biden’s pattern of selecting strong consumer advocates for executive branch leadership positions continued last Thursday, when he appointed current Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to serve as acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Serving as a Democrat commissioner at the FCC for the past eight years, Rosenworcel is a staunch supporter of

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently announced priorities for his 2021 legislative agenda. These priorities include public safety and criminal justice reform, tribal treaty rights, and protecting consumers. With respect to the last priority on consumer protection, Attorney General Ferguson is supporting two bills in the Washington legislature:

  • Price Gouging – SB 5191. Currently

In Wengui v. Clark Hill, PLC, Judge Boasberg of the District Court for the District of Columbia, granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel the defendant to produce a report and additional materials associated with a cyberattack. In its ruling, the court emphasized that materials that would otherwise be created in the ordinary course of

On January 20, the White House announced the acting agency leadership in the next phase of the transition of government. As part of that transition, President Joe Biden appointed Dave Uejio to serve as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This news followed on the same day Director Kraninger, appointed by

On January 11, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it has settled with a California-based photo app developer involving allegations that it was building and using its users’ photos and videos to create facial recognition technology without their express consent.

Facial recognition software is typically comprised of three steps: detection, mapping, and identification. During the