Doing good just got a little more complicated for companies that run charitable campaigns in California. In January 2023, we posted that California had passed a new law governing certain types of charitable campaigns. Although the law partially went into effect last year, the state delayed enforcing several provisions until the California Registry of Charities and Fundraisers could issue regulations. After more than a year of waiting (and maybe hoping this would go away), companies now have the regulations. The most notable requirement is that companies will now be required to register as a “C ..read more

The Federal Trade Commission will hold the most important meeting of this administration at 2 PM EDT Tuesday April 23, 2024. Commissioners will decide whether to issue a rule that declares most noncompete clauses in employment contracts unfair methods of competition. Kelley Drye published my backgrounder on the proposal here. The deliberation and decision will be streamed live from www.FTC.gov. We will be watching and posting updates on LinkedIn and (Twitter)X. It has been fifty years since the FTC issued a competition rule, and then only as an adjunct to a conventional consumer-protection mea ..read more

Two consumers walked into supermarkets on a mission to find “nutritious, healthy snacks” that “would not likely increase [their] risk of disease” and later walked out with Fruit Bowls in Gel, Fruit Bowls in Juice, Canned Fruit in Juice, Canned Fruit in Heavy Syrup, Canned Fruit in Light Syrup, and Canned Fruit Juice. Perhaps those wouldn’t be your first choices, given that mission statement, but the consumers were swayed, in part, by Dole’s “promise to provide everyone, everywhere with good nutrition.” The consumers later learned – perhaps after consulting with their nutritionists or their leg ..read more

The governor of Maine recently signed an amendment to the state’s telephone solicitation law that will make it mandatory for telephone solicitors to check against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) reassigned number database “to verify that a consumer’s telephone number has not been reassigned prior to initiating a telephone sales call to that consumer.” Callers will also be required to demonstrate that they check against the database in order to avail themselves of the state’s existing safe harbor for telemarketing violations. The amendment, which will become effective on July 16 ..read more

Crème Fatale is a drag artist who is famous for her baby-doll looks and pastel-colored skin. See the picture below. I tend to go for a more natural look myself, so I can’t imagine how long it takes to apply that makeup or how long it takes to remove it, but I bet the numbers are high on both sides of the project. Luckily, Fenty Skin makes a product that makes the removal phase a little easier. Ms. Fatale posted a video on Instagram demonstrating how the product works and used the platform’s “Paid Partnership” tool, along with “#ad” and “#sponsored,” to indicate that she was working with Fenty ..read more

Website accessibility lawsuits continue to be big business for plaintiffs’ attorneys, with thousands of lawsuits filed every year. Part of the problem is the lack of clear guidance from the government in this area, given that neither the Americans with Disabilities Act nor related state laws specifically address website accessibility or what (if anything) companies need to do when they code their websites. In a statement issued last year, the Department of Justice stated that ​“existing technical standards provide helpful guidance concerning how to ensure accessibility of website features.” Am ..read more

I Dig Texas and Creager Services both sell construction equipment called skid steer attachments. I Dig Texas urged customers to buy its products instead of Creager Services’ products by appealing to their sense of patriotism. I Dig Texas claimed that its products are “American Made” while its competitor’s products are “110% Made in China.” Creager Services didn’t dig those claims and filed a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that the “American Made” claims were literally false. (It missed an opportunity to argue that a product can’t be “110%” made in any location.) According to undisputed ..read more

Federal courts and NAD are coming to different conclusions on whether disclosures on the back of packages can effectively qualify claims that appear on the fronts of the packages. Some courts – such as courts in the Ninth Circuit – have held that disclosures on the back of a package can help to qualify a claim on the front, as long as that claim is ambiguous, as opposed to false. NAD, on the other hand, tends to think those disclosures are too far-removed to be effective. Last year, for example, a California federal court ruled on a case in which a plaintiff claimed that the term “fruit natura ..read more

What trends are shaping consumer protection in 2024? From kids on social media to fake reviews and junk fees, state AGs are working across state (and partisan) lines on initiatives that promise to mold the consumer protection landscape for years to come. In this post, we reflect on our conversation with Todd Leatherman, who works at the forefront of these issues as Director of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Center for Consumer Protection. Trend 1 – Protecting America’s Online Youth For state enforcers, children are top-of-mind, especially when it comes to social media. A ..read more

Breaded fish fillets were the latest target of an ESG class action lawsuit examining sustainable certifications, traceability claims, and broad environmental benefit claims for ConAgra’s fish fillets and similar seafood products. The Northern District of Illinois decided on a motion to dismiss that although “certified sustainable seafood” claims may be permissible in this case, general “good for the environment” claims require further review and so the Court partially denied ConAgra’s motion to dismiss. The fisheries from which ConAgra purchases its fish are certified by the Marine Stewardship ..read more