| Volume 144 Number 1 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
When you tell the FTC about frauds, scams, and other kinds of bad business practices, you’re helping the FTC and our law enforcement partners spot and stop scams. To make it easier, the FTC just launched ReportFraud.ftc.gov — a new version of the FTC’s consumer reporting website. Click here for more.
CDC changes the definition of ‘close contact’ with the coronavirus
The coronavirus (COVID-19) is so new that health experts continue to learn about it and redefine measures for people to take to protect themselves.
In the latest revision, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has redefined what it means to be in “close contact” with someone who has the virus.
Until now, close contact was defined as someone who spent at least 15 minutes within six feet of a person with a confirmed case. The CDC now says a close contact is someone who has been within six feet of an infected person for a total of at least 15 minutes over a 24-hour period.
The distinction may seem minor but is important. If you have come within six feet of someone who is infected for a few minutes in the morning, a longer period at mid-day, and for a time in the afternoon -- as long as it adds up to at least 15 minutes -- then you have been in close contact and need to quarantine and be tested for the virus.
Click here for more.
Your Money
Health care is an unaffordable necessity for many Americans. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, people grappled with the cost of adequate care. With a second wave of the virus looming, U.S. News polled nearly 1,500 consumers about how they manage medical costs and whether they've found themselves saddled with medical debts. Serious medical debt for some can lead to bankruptcy or delayed treatments or prescriptions when money dries up. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Consumer bound to terms of 2014 arbitration agreement. The Ninth Circuit held that a former Experian subscriber must arbitrate her false advertising claims against the consumer credit reporting company. The court found that her single visit to the Experian website in 2018 does not allow her to invoke the company's updated arbitration terms, which are more lenient than the ones she agreed to when she bought its services years earlier in 2014. "Stover assented only once to the terms of a single contract that Experian later modified without providing notice," the court said. "Stover had no obligation to investigate whether Experian issued new terms without providing notice to her that it had done so. Indeed, the opposite rule would lead to absurd results: contract drafters who included a change-of-terms provision would be permitted to bind individuals daily, or even hourly, to subsequent changes in the terms." Rachel Stover v. Experian Holdings, Inc. et al., case number 19-55204, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Click here for more.