Federal Consumer Protection News: June 2021
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The CFPB issued rules designed to prevent avoidable foreclosures as homeowners exit COVID-19 hardship forbearances. The federal eviction moratorium ends June 30, 2021. The new rules go into effect August 31, 2021 and require servicers to meet temporary procedural safeguards before referring 120-day delinquent accounts for foreclosure. According to the Bureau,…
Federal Consumer Protection News and Other Items of Interest: May 2021
Federal Consumer Protection News President Biden issued an Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity following the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline which led to the pipeline shutting down and declarations of emergency and gasoline supply shortages in some states. The order declared that “the prevention, detection, assessment, and remediation of cyber incidents is a top…
Attorney General Consumer Protection News: May 2021
Multistate Actions Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, and Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan, a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general urged Facebook to abandon its launch of Instagram Kids, a social media platform for children under the age of 13. The…
Consumer Chief of the Month: Brandon Garod, New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office
As I have only been New Hampshire’s Consumer Chief for a little over two years, I have not yet had the opportunity to meet many of you. I am hoping that as life starts to return to normal, our ability to congregate and learn from shared experiences will return as well, and I will be…
Using UDAP in an Action Against the Manufacturers of the Antiplatelet Medication Plavix
In 2014, the State of Hawai‘i sued the manufacturers of the antiplatelet medication Plavix in state court for violating Hawaii’s unfair or deceptive trade practices act, chapter 480, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (“UDAP”). After a four-week, virtual, non-jury trial concluded in November 2020, the Hawai‘i trial court entered judgment awarding more than $834 million in civil…
Federal Consumer Protection News and Other Items of Interest: April 2021
The US Supreme Court ruled against the FTC in AMG Capital Management LLC v. FTC, holding that Section 13(b) of the FTC Act does not permit the FTC to seek and does not allow courts to award “equitable monetary relief such as restitution or disgorgement.” FTC Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter issued a statement criticizing…
Attorney General Consumer Protection News: April 2021
Multistate Actions Led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, and Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, a bipartisan coalition of 45 attorneys general called on Twitter, eBay, and Shopify and online mobile market place OfferUp to act immediately to prevent people from selling fraudulent CDC vaccination cards on…
Consumer Chief of the Month: Laura E. McFarlane, Assistant Attorney General, Deputy Director, Public Protection Unit, Wisconsin Department of Justice
I am honored to be featured as the NAGTRI Center for Consumer Protection’s Chief of the Month. I was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. While I realize now how lucky I was to be raised here, at the time I graduated from high school, I was very much ready to leave Wisconsin. After graduating…
Restitution: The Superior Remedy
In most consumer fraud cases, restitution is the optimal remedy, serving the two-fold purposes of restoring consumers and deterring businesses from engaging in unlawful acts and practices. State attorneys general may sometimes settle matters without obtaining restitution for a variety of reasons, some of which are addressed below. However, prioritizing restitution begets important recoveries for…
Federal Consumer Protection News and Other Items of Interest: March 2021
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) sued payment processor BrightSpeed Solutions Inc. and its former CEO Kevin Howard for supporting Internet-based tech-support scams. The CFPB alleges the defendants knowingly processed more than $71 million in payments for clients who tricked consumers, often older Americans, into purchasing expensive and unnecessary…
