| Volume 129 Number 11 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Heading to the outlet mall looking for deals? You might want to shop around to make sure that the “great” deal is really great. Lawsuits against major outlet stores reveal that the “former prices” listed on some “sale” items were a sham to make the “sales” price look better. Just because you’re shopping at an outlet store, don’t assume that you are always getting the best price. Click here for more.
Department Stores Shift Away from Big Sales
Fashion companies are putting more pressure on department stores, such as Macy's, to stop offering huge discounts on their goods. Brands, such as Michael Kors, Coach Inc. and Levi Strauss & Co., want to be excluded from storewide promotions. Many of these brands would prefer to control pricing through their own stores. However, this is creating problems for consumers and department stores. “Discounting becomes a drug that is hard to get off, and it creates this basis for the consumer to not trust regular prices,” said Uri Minkoff, the chief executive of Rebecca Minkoff, the apparel and accessories brand. Click here for more.
Your Money
When it comes to people you know personally, you may want to do your research before you follow their financial advice. People tend to take bad financial advice from their friends and family "because hearsay is easier than reality," said certified financial planner Vid Ponnapalli, founder of Unique Financial Advisors. "People get carried away [about it] more than anything else," Ponnapalli added. "The emotional nature of it overrides logic." There is no fact-checking of financial advice given at social functions. Therefore, don't believe what you hear just because the information came from someone you know. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
App Developer Not Liable Under TCPA for User Initiated Texts. A U.S. District Judge determined the defendant app developer not be held liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for a text initiated by a user of the app’s messaging and location application. The key disagreement between the parties was whether the developer or its user was responsible for "initiating" the invitational text message sent to the plaintiff. Relying on guidance from the Federal Communications Commission's July 2015 declaratory ruling, the court ruled that the user initiated the text to plaintiff, and thus the developer could not be held liable. The Court reasoned that the app’s users have to affirmatively choose which of their contacts will receive an invitation and then press the "Invite" button to actually send the invitations. The app, however, does not inform its users how or when those invitations will be transmitted,. Given the TCPA's purpose of preventing invasions of privacy, "the person who chooses to send an unwanted invitation is responsible for invading the recipient's privacy even if that person does not know how the invitation will be sent." Cour v. Life360, Inc., (ND Calif. 2016). Click here for more.