Click here for the April 2024 Newsletter ..read more

Andrew Lustigman, Chair of Olshan's Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Brand Management & Protection Group, will speak on the panel “What It Really Means to be ‘Green’ in 2024: Mastering the Intricacies of Making and Substantiating Green Claims in Today’s Regulatory Landscape” as part of ACI’s 8th Annual Summit on Food Law – Regulation, Compliance and Litigation on May 1, 2024, at 1:15 p.m. at The Metropolitan Club, Chicago, IL. The panel will explore the new proposed changes to the Green Guides and the impact that FTC’s contemplated rulemaking could h ..read more

New Jersey Supreme Court Sides with Aéropostale in Consumer Class Action In a significant legal victory for New Jersey retailers, that state’s Supreme Court has ruled in a class-action lawsuit that advertising illusory discounts and phantom former prices does not necessarily cause consumers to sustain an ascertainable loss, and therefore dismissed the lawsuit despite the state’s generally very pro-consumer protection statute, the Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA ..read more

In the constantly changing and confusing world of consumer privacy laws, it is more important than ever for businesses to evaluate and reevaluate their collection and use of personal data. There is currently no comprehensive federal consumer privacy law, but as the first quarter of 2024 comes to a close, comprehensive state consumer privacy laws have gone into effect in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah. Three more states – Texas, Oregon and Montana – have enacted privacy laws that go into effect in 2024, and six states – Delaware, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee ..read more

Random sample method used to calculate damages In the case of Federal Trade Commission v. Jonathan Braun, decided on February 6, 2024 in the Southern District of New York after a jury trial, a federal court entered a judgment requiring merchant cash advance company owner Jonathan Braun to pay $20.3 million in monetary relief and civil penalties for misleading small businesses and unlawfully seizing their assets. Braun was found guilty of deceiving business owners about how much money he would advance to them and how much they would have to pay back ..read more

The war on drip pricing continues. New York’s new credit surcharge law is now in effect requiring business to provide important pricing disclosures. The law amends and clarifies New York’s existing credit card surcharge law, General Business Law Section 518. Key requirements are outlined below ..read more

Click here for the February 2024 Newsletter ..read more

Lawsuit dismissed for failure to allege a physical nexus A recent decision in the Western District of Pennsylvania has provided a rare defendant’s victory in an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) website accessibility lawsuit. In Murphy v. Spongelle LLC (decided on January 24, 2024), the plaintiff alleged that Spongelle’s website did not meet the ADA requirements for accessibility to visually impaired individuals. There have been thousands of similar lawsuits over the past decade, and the main reason for this proliferation is that there are still no clear guidelines for ADA compliance that ..read more

Andrew Lustigman, Chair of Olshan's Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Brand Management & Protection Group, and associate Morgan Spina published an article in New York Law Journal (subscription required) entitled “Regulation of Automatic Renewals Remains Key Issue for Lawmakers.” In the article, Andy and Morgan discuss the revision of statutes surrounding subscription renewal fees, specifically those that are relevant to the cancellation of automatic renewals ..read more

Andrew Lustigman, Chair of Olshan's Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Brand Management & Protection Group, published an article in Bloomberg Law (subscription required) entitled “New Laws, Consumer Actions Will Help Us Say Goodbye to Junk Fees.” In the article, Andy discusses the increasing significance of surcharges and undisclosed fees impacting consumer purchasing decisions ..read more