Current Status of COVID-19 Vaccines Rollout Nationwide: February 2022 Update for the Attorney General Community
On February 18, the U.S. reached 252.5 million persons (76.1% of the total U.S. population) having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 214.5 million persons (64.6% of the total U.S. population) being fully vaccinated (i.e., having received either one shot of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine or two shots of either…
Attorney General Consumer Protection News: February 2022
Multistate Actions The $26 billion national opioid agreement was confirmed by the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen – and Johnson & Johnson. Fifty-two states and territories have signed onto the agreement. Following successful state sign-on and subdivision sign-on periods, the defendants have committed to the deal and will start releasing…
Federal Consumer Protection News: February 2022
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a series of bulletins in February providing guidance regarding the Bureau’s interpretation of legal requirements related to a range of financial services. Bulletins included guidance for student loan servicers handling of accounts of borrowers eligible for public service loan forgiveness, providers of…
Consumer Chief of the Month, Sean P. Neafsey, New Jersey Attorney General’s Office
I joined the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs in April 2020 (at the start of the pandemic) after practicing law for nearly a decade in New Jersey and New York. I currently serve as the Acting Director of the division. From the moment I arrived, the division has worked tirelessly to help our professional…
How the State Center Supports the Antitrust and Consumer Protection Efforts of the Attorney General Community
Originally published on Jan. 20, 2022 As former attorneys general from Colorado and Indiana, we are proud to serve on the board of the Center for State Enforcement of Antitrust and Consumer Protection Laws, Inc. (State Center). This organization was first formed in early 2004 by a dedicated group of former state deputy attorneys general…
Recent Decisions on the Common Interest Doctrine and Multistate Cases
State courts in Minnesota and Vermont have reached different conclusions about whether documents produced and exchanged by state attorneys general, working together on investigations, are protected by the common interest doctrine from release under state public records acts. In each case, Energy Policy Advocates (EPA) made requests under the Minnesota and Vermont public records statutes…
49 Attorneys General Urge Federal Trade Commission to Create Robust Rule Outlawing Impersonation Scams
Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to adopt a national rule to target impersonation scams. A comment letter from 49 attorneys general raises concerns about the plethora of impersonation scams targeting consumers and the current lack of a national rule to outlaw these fraudulent…
NAAG Urges FTC to Create Robust Rule Outlawing Impersonation Scams
The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) sent a letter signed by 49 attorneys general in response to a request for comments by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on a federal rule to combat impersonation scams. The letter raises concerns about the plethora of impersonation scams targeting consumers and the current lack of a national rule…
Discussing Privacy: More Fallacies, and Why Context Matters
Part 2 in an Ongoing Series Data is the oil of the modern economy. That analogy, although it has become a cliché, seems even more apt when you dig deeper. A century ago, we were building our economy around the suddenly ubiquitous flow of oil. We didn’t assign much weight to the externalities in our…
Tennessee Attorney General Use of Investigative Demands Approved
A recent decision in Tennessee reaffirmed that attorney general’s civil investigative authority and upheld sanctions against a company who failed to produce the requested material. In In re Investigation of Wall and Assocs. 2021 Tenn. App. LEXIS 449 (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 12. 2021), the defendant was a provider of taxpayer services. The Tennessee attorney…
