Stories by Michael Carroll on Legal Newsline

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - An appeal scheduled for oral arguments this month before the U.S. Supreme Court will decide how broadly the federal False Claims Act applies to government contractors and whether more of them will face the prospect of heavy penalties and greater scrutiny for breaching regulations.

Though initially heralded as a consumer voice that would restrain deceptive and abusive business practices, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has come under increasing fire from critics, with one George Mason University law professor concluding that the bureau’s complaint database serves no coherent regulatory purpose.

NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) — New York’s mayor and City Council see recently passed legislation such as the Grocery Worker Retention Act as a way to help hard-working employees deal with economic instability, but many employers see the new laws as a reflexive government overreach into private industry.

Attorney General Kamala Harris last month issued a report detailing 20 points businesses should address in order to protect customer data. One legal expert cautioned that failure to comply with the suggestions in the points may trigger an enforcement action following a data breach.

Employment law experts say employees need to think about how their employers might react to their social media posts, while employers should have clear social media policies on the books.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (Legal Newsline) - CVS continues to stand behind both its store brands and its efforts to comply with health and safety regulations in the wake of a class action lawsuit filed over a supplement the pharmacy chain manufactures and sells as a memory-enhancer.

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A recent Federal Trade Commission settlement with a company that allegedly made deceptive claims about the encryption in its software demonstrates how regulatory agencies are going after a wider pool of defendants in data security cases, a San Francisco attorney says.

SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Don’t expect a settlement in a closely watched lawsuit against the ridesharing company Uber that contends drivers should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, a New York attorney says.

MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - A Minnesota federal court recently dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging grocery store customers were harmed when hackers stole personal data, but the jury may still be out on how courts will handle similar data breach cases in the future.