On February 7, Living Essentials LLC and Innovative Ventures LLC, the makers of 5-Hour Energy were ordered to pay nearly $4.3 million in penalties and attorneys’ fees and costs after a Washington State court found the makers deceived consumers with misleading claims regarding things like the effectiveness of the flavored energy shots.
Living Essentials
On February 6, the FTC and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General announced a $2.2 million settlement with Vizio, Inc. over allegations the TV manufacturer installed software on its TVs to collect viewing data on 11 million consumers without their knowledge or consent.
According to the complaint, Vizio manufactured smart
On January 18, Lukeroy Rose, owner of Phoenix-based Rose Marketing LLC, pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to charges of theft, unlawful telephone solicitations, and conspiracy to commit theft. Rose was arrested in December 2016 pursuant to the newly amended Arizona Telephone Solicitations statute, Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 44-1277, which makes it a Class
On January 9, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) entered a Consent Order against Works & Lentz, Inc., Works & Lentz of Tulsa, Inc., two medical debt collection law firms, and their president, Harry A. Lentz, Jr., for the defendants’ violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Furnisher Rule (Regulation
Late last year, TransUnion agreed to pay approximately $17 million as part of a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in connection with TransUnion’s advertising and marketing practices. The settlement stems from a civil investigative demand that addressed TransUnion’s common industry practices relating to the advertising, marketing, and sale of consumer reports, credit scores,
On February 3, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury Secretary to review the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Trump earlier characterized Dodd-Frank as “a disaster” and said that his administration would work to cut “a lot out of” the 2010 law.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.)
On January 31, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced a settlement with CashCall, Inc. over allegations that the company illegally deceived borrowers and collected interest in excess of legal rates.
According to the press release, the A.G.’s Office alleged that CashCall violated Virginia’s usury, lending, and licensure laws by entering into an arrangement in
On January 5, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against D-Link Corporation, a Taiwanese corporation, and D-Link Systems, Inc., a California corporation and a subsidiary of D-Link Corporation. D-Link sells Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices and software to support such devices. Specifically, D-Link sells routers which transfer data packets along a network and which
On January 26, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a settlement with Acer Service Corporation over an alleged data breach involving more than 35,000 credit card numbers, including the credit card information and other personal information of 2,250 New York residents. As part of the settlement, Acer agreed to pay $115,000 in penalties
On January 24, attorneys general for Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Illinois, New York, and the District of Columbia filed a motion to intervene in a case between the U.S. Department of Education and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (“ACICS”).
ACICS, which previously has come under federal scrutiny for its accreditation practices, filed the