On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the adoption of amendments to Regulation S-P that were proposed last year. The Final Amendments impose enhanced requirements on registered investment advisers, investment companies, broker dealers and transfer agents with respect to handling of consumer financial information. Read the full client alert here ..read more

Central District of California dismisses lawsuit alleging that a third-party’s interception of communications over a website’s live chat feature violated California’s wiretapping and eavesdropping prohibitions.   Important to the Court’s holding was its finding that the code used by the third party to acquire and transmit the contents of the chat communications was not necessarily used to intercept the communications while they were “in transit” but rather to store them after they were received. In recent years, the “live chat” feature often used on consumer-facing websites has bec ..read more

As part of our commitment to keeping you informed of new regulatory developments and their potential implications, we have highlighted recent statements by federal officials concerning loyalty programs, such as those involving airline miles and credit card points. These comments signal a potential shift in how these programs are viewed under consumer protection laws, and the plaintiffs’ bar is likely to take notice. Overview of Government Concerns In a recent NPR interview, Department of Transportation Secretary, Buttigieg expressed concern that loyalty points and miles are not merely perks bu ..read more

While French skincare company L’Occitane (the “Company”) successfully thwarted a mass arbitration effort by plaintiffs’ firm Zimmerman Reed and approximately 3,000 customers (the “Claimants”), the Southern District of California Court presiding over the matter indicated that the Company’s case against them was on the verge of dismissal. L’Occitane v. Zimmerman Reed, et al., No. 2:24-cv-01103 (C.D. Cal. April 15, 2024). The underlying dispute hinged on an influx of arbitration claims made by Zimmerman Reed in collaboration with the Claimants against L’Occitane, all of which alleged that the Com ..read more

While French skincare company L’Occitane (the “Company”) successfully thwarted a mass arbitration effort by plaintiffs’ firm Zimmerman Reed and approximately 3,000 customers (the “Claimants”), the Southern District of California Court presiding over the matter indicated that the Company’s case against them was on the verge of dismissal. L’Occitane v. Zimmerman Reed, et al., No. 2:24-cv-01103 (C.D. Cal. April 15, 2024). The underlying dispute hinged on an influx of arbitration claims made by Zimmerman Reed in collaboration with the Claimants against L’Occitane, all of which alleged that the Com ..read more

A federal judge in the Northern District of California delivered a blow to a potential class action lawsuit against Google over its ad auction practices. The lawsuit, which allegedly involved tens of millions of Google account holders, claimed Google’s practices in its real-time bidding (RTB) auctions violated users’ privacy rights. But U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers declined to certify the class of consumers, pointing to deficiencies in the plaintiffs’ proposed class definition.  According to plaintiffs, Google’s RTB auctions share highly specific personal information about i ..read more

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a strategy paper highlighting key aspects of its plan to revamp cybersecurity requirements in the healthcare industry. Citing a 93% increase in large data breaches in healthcare from 2018 to 2022 and a rapid increase in ransomware attacks against U.S. hospitals, HHS issued the strategy as part of a broad effort to implement the Biden Administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy. As a part of its strategy, HHS is focusing on four primary goals. Read the full post on Proskauer’s Health Care Law Brief blog ..read more

On June 27, 2023, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released its final rule (“Final Rule”) implementing penalties for information blocking. The Final Rule codifies the prohibition on “information blocking” introduced by the 21st Century Cures Act (“Act”), which was enacted on December 13, 2016. In the Act, “information blocking” was defined as any activity that, in part, is “likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage access, exchange, or use” of electronic health information (“EHI”).[1] The Final ..read more

Increasing oversight of tech companies, particularly in the realm of consumer privacy, has been a rare example of bipartisan agreement. Despite data privacy being a growing concern for consumers, however, there has been relatively little federal policymaking. To counteract this lack of action, some states have stepped in to fill this void—and have enacted policies that could have large impacts on how businesses operate. The rapid rate at which these laws are being enacted – eleven have been enacted– indicates states are taking an increasingly protective view of consumers’ d ..read more

On July 20, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”) announced that they had sent a warning letter to about 130 hospital systems and telehealth providers, alerting them about the risks and concerns of using online tracking technologies, such as the Meta/Facebook pixel and Google Analytics, which can track users’ online activities. In the letter, the FTC and OCR reiterated the risks posed by the unauthorized disclosure of an individuals’ personal health information—such as health conditions, d ..read more