Attorney General Consumer Protection News: June 2021
Multistate Actions Led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and New York Attorney General Letitia James, a bipartisan coalition of 28 attorneys general wrote Congress, urging it to restore the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) authority to obtain consumer restitution in actions filed under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in…
Supporting Charities in the Time of COVID: The View From the New York Office of the Attorney General
We know all too well that the past year has seen unprecedented challenges for people throughout our nation and all over the world. In my state of New York, the pandemic’s impact on the nonprofit sector, which in normal times employs 1.25 million people (18% of New York’s workforce) has been enormous. We continue to…
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,…
Attorney General Office Approaches to Staff Members’ Return to the Workplace: Legal and HR Considerations
This forum is hosted by the NAGTRI Center for Leadership Development. Tuesday, July 13, 2021 at 2:00 to 3:30 P.M. ET This forum will discuss the public health and legal issues (e.g., constitutional issues, statutes, case law, vaccine requirements, incentives, remote work policies) surrounding COVID-19 as attorney general offices look at returning employees to the…
Bankruptcy 101: An Introduction to Dealing with Parties Who Just Can’t/Won’t Pay
You may never have thought of yourself as needing to learn bankruptcy law, but if you work on any issue that involves making someone do something they don’t want to do or pay money they don’t want to pay, you need to know about bankruptcy law. This includes: Enforcing consumer or environmental protection laws. Collecting…
National Association of Attorneys General Announces Release of Anticorruption Manual for State and Local Prosecutors
Washington, D.C. — Today, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) announced the upcoming release of The Anticorruption Manual: A Guide for State Prosecutors. The book, which provides an overview of prosecuting corruption in the United States, is the first publication in 30 years dedicated to guiding prosecutors who investigate and charge public corruption crime. It is…
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…
