Because the plaintiff failed to sufficiently allege contact or connection between the owner of a debt collection agency and her FDCPA claim in the Western District, the court lacked personal jurisdiction. Background Betty West alleges that Americas Processing Center, Inc. ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

Plaintiffs who applied for jobs with the U.S. Postal Service failed to allege facts showing they suffered the sort of harm Congress was seeking to prevent under the FCRA. Background Plaintiffs each applied for positions with USPS in October 2014 ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Judge M. Hannah Lauck U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A plaintiff is entitled to actual and statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and litigation costs arising from debt-collection calls she allegedly received from the defendant, who did not respond. Background Plaintiff Betty West’s lawsuit arises out of a series of interactions ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Consumer Protection Judge Joel Hoppe U.S. District Court - Western District

A recent U.S. Supreme Court case did not require dismissal of putative class claims that might arise from illegal prerecorded calls to class members outside Virginia. While that approach may be logical in the mass-tort context, it is unnecessary in ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Class Action Consumer Protection Federal Jurisdiction Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

In a suit alleging usurious loans, two online-lending companies created by Chippewa tribal leaders failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they were entitled to sovereign immunity as arms of the tribe. Background The Lac Vieux Desert ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Corporate Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A bond company under state investigation for consumer-protection violations has no basis to demand a confidentiality agreement before turning over its client information to the Commonwealth. Although the company said some disclosures might reveal clients’ immigration information and other personal ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Evidence Judge William R Marchant Virginia Circuit Courts

A plaintiff who said he contacted Dish merely to comparison shop for TV plans sufficiently alleged a consumer-protection claim against the company, arising from an inquiry that appeared on his credit report that the company failed to have removed. Background ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the Virginia Consumer Protection Act covers interment rights, a plaintiff suing a cemetery owner failed to offer evidence of the misrepresentation needed to prove her claim. She said she asked for plots right next to her parents’ plots, but ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Contract Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A foreign company could not establish common-law trademark rights in the United States for the domain “klumba.com” because no American citizens used the company’s service. Hosting Google AdSense on the company’s Ukrainian site also didn’t put its mark in U.S. ...

Tagged with: Business Law Consumer Protection Intellectual Property Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Even though discovery was still open at the trial level, class-action plaintiffs could not present evidence creating a triable dispute about whether security-system manufacturers were vicariously liable for retailers’ TCPA violations. Background Appellee UTC Fire & Security Americas Corp. sold ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Business Law Consumer Protection Contract Judge Allyson K. Duncan Telecommunications