| Volume 135 Number 7 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
A “lifetime warranty” is usually for the lifetime of the company. Carefully check out any company offering a lifetime warranty before you purchase. Click here for more.
Court order shuts down 11 debt settlement companies
Florida and the FTC have obtained a court order bringing to a halt the debt settlement marketing of 11 companies controlled by the same three individuals. The complaint says the companies persuaded consumers they could relieve them of the burden of having to pay off thousands of dollars in credit card balances. The consumers were instructed to send the debt settlement companies money each month and the companies would eventually strike a deal the credit card companies would be happy to accept. Sounded good, but Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says it was all a scam. She says that after making payments of hundreds, even thousands of dollars each month, the consumers found their debts had not been paid, their accounts were in default, and credit scores nearly annihilated. Bondi says some of the debt settlement customers were even forced into bankruptcy and some faced lawsuits.
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Your Money
T-Mobile promotion offers to pay off Verizon customers' devices if they switch carriers. In a promotion starting on May 31, the company announced that it will pay off any remaining balance that Verizon customers have on their current device if they make the switch to T-Mobile. However, there is a catch: according to the deal, customers will have to pay off their phones first, but T-Mobile says that it will send a prepaid digital MasterCard within 15 days that reimburses the amount. “This limited time offer works whether you owe $1 or $1,000 on your phone – and gets you on T-Mobile ONE with device protection. With no more phone payments to make, that could mean thousands of dollars right back in your pocket,” the company said. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
District Court in New York dismissed a class action accusing a retailer of violating the “FACTA, which requires that no more than the final five digits of credit cards be printed on receipts. The plaintiff allegedly received receipts exposing 10 digits. The court found that the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Spokeo. Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016) made clear that a statutory violation, without more, was insufficient to confer standing: [T]he substantive “truncation right” alleged by Plaintiff is irreconcilable with Spokeo’s holding that not all statutory violations confer Article III standing. Moreover, there is no evidence that Congress, in enacting FACTA, intended to create for consumers a substantive right to receive a redacted copy of their credit card receipt; rather, the truncation requirement is a means to the end goal of identity theft prevention . . . . Plaintiff does not allege any facts showing that he experienced the Congressionally-proscribed harm: identity theft. He has not established a present injury in fact . . . . Yehuda Katz v. Donna Karan (S.D. N.Y. 2017). Click here for more.