| Volume 135 Number 3 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Even if you do not pay rent, a landlord may not simply lock you out. A landlord may change the locks on your door but must make a key available for you to come and go 24 hours a day. To get you out, the landlord must file eviction proceedings in court Click here for more.
Six companies fined $4.19 million for using bots to buy tickets to New York shows
There’s nothing quite like a good Broadway show or tickets to a live concert, but consumers have found it difficult to secure online tickets recently because of ticket bots – software used by scalpers and resellers to grab large numbers of available tickets as quickly as possible. The problem became so bad that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law last November that increased the penalty for knowingly reselling tickets obtained by a ticket bot to a class A misdemeanor. The change guaranteed harsher penalties than the previously mandated civil penalties, something that six companies now know full. Yesterday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that these 6 companies well be fined a total of $4.19 million for using ticket bots to procure and resell tickets in the state. “Unscrupulous ticket resellers who break the rules and take advantage of ordinary consumers are one of the major reasons why ticketing remains a rigged system,” Schneiderman said.
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Your Money
How much can I spend each month? NerdWallet advocates the 50/30/20 budget. With this formula, you aim to devote 50% of your take-home pay to needs like rent and insurance, 30% to wants like gym memberships and vacations and 20% to debt repayment and savings. Start with the 20%. Pay yourself first by setting aside money for an emergency fund and retirement. Then turn to debt. If you have outstanding credit card debt, for instance, work on knocking that down. Next, subtract your regular bills. If your monthly take-home pay is $5,000, shoot to spend no more than half of that, or $2,500, on essentials such as rent and utilities. You’ve now burned through a substantial chunk of your income, but it’s crucial to give yourself room to breathe. Saving for the future is important, but just like a restrictive diet, trying to hold to a budget that doesn’t allow for fun in the moment isn’t realistic. That’s where the 30% of “want” spending comes in. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Consent to texting cannot be narrowly construed. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), an effective consent to automated calls is one that relates to the same subject matter covered by the challenged messages. The Seventh Circuit held that a consumer’s agreement to receive texts “providing you with exclusive information or special offers” was broad enough to include ”mass marketing texts.” The court found the consumer’s attempt to parse her consent to accept some promotional information while rejecting “mass marketing” texts construed “consent” too narrowly. Blow v. Bijora, Inc. (7th Cir. 2017). Click here for more.