To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
Each week, Crowell & Moring’s State Attorneys General
team highlights significant actions that State AGs have taken. Here
are this week’s updates.
Multistate
- A bipartisan coalition of 35 state attorneys general, joined by
the District of Columbia, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, sent Congress a letter urging it to allow
attorneys general to enforce state and federal consumer protections
for airline travelers. The state attorneys general make this
request after receiving thousands of complaints from passengers
claiming airlines have failed in their service responsibilities.
Federal law places responsibility for addressing violations of
airlines consumer protection with the U.S. Department of
Transportation and state attorneys general have limited authority
to hold airline companies accountable. The letter urges Congress to
pass legislation that would repeal the federal bar on state
attorneys general from enforcing the same state and federal
consumer protection laws that apply to other industries.
- A bipartisan coalition of 51 state attorneys general sent a letter to the Federal Communications
Commission urging it to require telephone providers that route
calls across the United States telephone network to implement more
rigorous measures to prevent illegal and fraudulent robocalls.
According to the coalition, illegal robocalls cost consumers, law
enforcement and the telecommunications industry approximately $13.5
billion every year. The letter expresses support for the FCC’s
proposal to extend the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, a caller ID
authentication technology that helps prevent spoofed calls, to all
“intermediate” phone providers in the United States.
Further, the letter urges the FCC to require providers to adopt
additional measure to cut down on illegal and fraudulent
robocalls.
- A coalition of 24 state attorneys general, led by Montana
Attorney General Knudsen and Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti,
sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officers
of three major credit card companies, American
Express, Mastercard and
Visa, alerting each that the recent
creation of a Merchant Category Code for the processing of firearm
purchases is potentially a violation of consumer protection and
antitrust laws. The letter stated the monitoring and tracking of
firearms purchases will create a “list of gun buyers,”
which will generate risk that consumers’ information will be
obtained and misused by those opposing Second Amendment rights. The
letter asserts that the new Merchant Category Code is the result of
transnational collusion between large corporations leveraging their
market power to further desired social outcomes.
California
- California Attorney General Bonta and California Assemblymember
Brian Maienschein introduced legislation establishing various
new protections for car buyers in Assembly Bill 2311. On September
14, California Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2311. The bill
addresses the sale and administration of guaranteed asset
protection (GAP) insurance, an add-on product often sold by car
dealers along with auto loans that allegedly offers little to no
value to consumers. The bill will require creditors to
automatically refund the unearned portion of a GAP waiver if a
consumer pays off or otherwise terminates their auto loan
early.
- California Attorney General Bonta, alongside five district
attorneys, announced an $8 million settlement with
Safeway resolving allegations that the
company violated state environmental laws while operating
underground storage tank systems at 71 gas stations across
California. An investigation into Safeway’s gas stations found
a recurring failure to install, implement and operate various spill
prevention and safety measures since at least March 2015. Safeway
allegedly violated state laws regulating the operation of
underground storage tanks and the handling of hazardous waste. The
settlement includes injunctive requirements to improve operational
safety and compliance with state laws to avoid potential
contamination to soil and groundwater.
Connecticut
- Connecticut Attorney General Tong and Connecticut Department of
Consumer Protection Commissioner Seagull announced an investigation into unfair and
deceptive sales practices of Solar Wolf Energy,
Inc., an Auburn, Massachusetts-based solar company,
over failure to complete promised residential work. Solar Wolf in
violation of the Connecticut Home Improvement Act and Connecticut
Unfair Trade Practices Act allegedly charged high-priced deposits
and failed to complete the contracted work, and failed to return
those deposits to consumers for incomplete work. Solar Wolf failed
to respond to an investigative demand, which led to a Superior
Court order blocking Solar Wolf from selling, advertising,
offering, or marketing goods or services in Connecticut until
permission form the court is obtained.
Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Attorney General Healey filed a lawsuit against a Haverhill,
Massachusetts car dealership, Jaffarian’s Service
Inc., d/b/a Jaffarian Volvo
Toyota, for engaging in unfair, deceptive and
discriminatory pricing practices against Black and Hispanic
customers by illegally charging them hundreds of dollars more for
“add-on” products when purchasing a car, such as paint
protection, GAP insurance and remote starters. The complaint
alleges the dealership gave staff full discretion to markup the
prices of add-on products, and the sales history of Jaffarian
suggest that Black and Hispanic customers were charged more on
average. The alleged discriminatory sales practices resulted in
more than $170,000 in improper profits for the car dealership in a
two-year period.
- Massachusetts Attorney General Healy announced a $12 million settlement with a
national debt collection company and its subsidiaries for allegedly
engaging in unfair and deceptive debt buying and collection in
violation of state laws and the Attorney General’s Debt
Collection Regulations. The assurance of discontinuance alleges
that Encore Capital Group, Inc. and its
three subsidiaries were collecting debts without sufficient proof
that the debts were valid and accurate, using misleading collection
tactics to obtain payments from consumers, harassing consumers and
attempting to collect debts that were beyond the statute of
limitations, among other allegations. The $12 million settlement
includes $4.5 million in restitution to consumers and Encore
Capital Group will cease collection on over 4,200 debts, totaling
approximately $7.5 million.
Ohio
- Ohio Attorney General Yost filed a lawsuit against Thrifty
Propane, a Medina, Ohio propane supplier, for failing
to deliver its products, not refunding consumers’ money and
violating two prior consent judgments. Thrifty Propane was the
subject of more than one hundred consumer complaints to the
Attorney General’s office in 2022 alone. The lawsuit cites six
violations of the Consumer Sales Practice Act for various deceptive
business practices and seeks $25,000 for each violation as well as
reimbursement to the damaged consumers.
Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania Attorney General Shapiro obtained a court order for more than $1.7
million in restitution against Omega Vehicle Services,
LLC d/b/a Delta Auto Protect
for violating consumer protection laws. Delta Auto Protect
contracted with consumers nationwide for coverage of any necessary
repairs, but when consumers attempted to obtain reimbursement for
repairs, Delta Auto Protect would deny the claims and fail to honor
their contracts. The court order prevents Delta Auto from operating
in Pennsylvania or selling these types of contracts to
Pennsylvanian customers, as well as provides for more than $2.5
million in restitution for customers, business restitution and
civil penalties for each violation of consumer protection
laws.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Government, Public Sector from United States
