| Volume 142 Number 12 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Food delivery services can be a convenience for people with busy lives. Free trial offers and online reviews can help people decide which service they want to use. But when reviews are deliberately skewed and subscription terms are hidden, that’s not just unhelpful. It’s against the law. Click here for more.
Federal regulators finally decide to investigate Kia and Hyundai fires
Federal regulators are opening a probe into whether 2.9 million Kia and Hyundai cars have a disproportionately high risk of randomly catching fire, and it only took ten months, 3,000 complaints, and an alleged 100 injuries and one death to make it happen. The models under investigation are the 2011-2014 Kia Optima and Sorento, the 2010-2015 Kia Soul, and the 2011-2014 Hyundai Sonata and Sante Fe. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it counted a total of 1,181 complaints about non-crash fires in Hyundai cars and 1,784 in Kias. Drivers reported 100 injuries as a result of the fires, and one woman in Ohio says she watched her son burn to death in a Kia Soul in 2017. Click here for more.
Your Money
The topic of debt can trigger strong emotions. Some are adamant that debt should be avoided at all cost, while others scoff at the idea of paying upfront when low- or no-interest financing options are available. But many finance experts urge a more moderate approach. That means understanding why and when it makes sense to go into debt. To make smarter decisions about your money, brush up on the basics of debt – and learn how to avoid paying high interest rates – with this primer. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
DTPA failure to disclose claim requires a duty to disclose. A Texas appellate court stated: in the absence of a duty to disclose that the Property was not platted, the Carlins failure to do so does not constitute a misrepresentation that could give rise to a claim under the DTPA. The trial court properly granted summary judgment in the Carlins' favor on this claim. Although section 17.46(b)24 requires intent it does not require a duty to disclose. This section states that the following act is a false misleading or deceptive practice : failing to disclose information concerning goods or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed; Morales v. Carlin, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 2398 (Tex. App.—Austin 2019, no pet. h.). Click here for more.