Uber Agrees To Settle DA Suits Over Safety Practices
by Jason Doiy, The Recorder
Uber Technologies Inc. will pay up to $25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys’ offices over how it has touted safety measures. … Uber agreed to change the way it describes its driver checks and safety practices and to cooperate with the Division of Measurement Standards to certify that ride charges are accurate and fair. [The complaint claimed] the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company misled consumers by advertising the “safest rides on the road,” coupled with “industry leading background checks.” Read More ›
Wells Fargo Must Pay $203M To Customers After Supreme Court Rejection
by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist
In 2010, the judge in the case ordered the bank to pay the $203 million to customers of Wells Fargo who were affected by the overdraft policy between Nov. 2004 and June 2008. … At issue in the appeal to the Supreme Court was whether or not previous courts were right to certify the class action even though the class included individuals who were not harmed by the company’s conduct — in this case Wells Fargo allegedly making misleading statements to checking account customers about how their transactions would be posted and the likelihood that an overdraft would result. Read More ›
Consumer Federation Of California Applauds FCC Move To Protect Broadband Privacy
SACRAMENTO – Consumer Federation of California (CFC) welcomed today’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop regulations protecting the privacy of personal information of broadband Internet consumers. “Today’s vote is a significant advance for privacy protection. Consumers should decide whether their online activities and other … Read More ›
CFC Applauds FCC Move To Protect Broadband Privacy
“Today’s vote is a significant advance for privacy protection. Consumers should decide whether their online activities and other personal data are shared with third-party strangers,” CFC Executive Director Richard Holober said. “It is essential that any final FCC rule prohibits broadband carriers from charging extra for privacy. Privacy is a right that should not be available only to the wealthy.” Read More ›
Wells Fargo To Pay $8.5 Million In Privacy Case, None To Victims
by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle
[Penal Code sections 632 and 632.7] make it illegal to record phone conversations without the consent of all parties. Violators can be fined up to $2,500 per call or imprisoned in a county jail. … “This is very different from the kinds of settlements I have seen brought by private attorneys representing consumers” in class-action cases alleging violations of California’s eavesdropping law, said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California. “In those kinds of lawsuits, individual class members typically can receive hundreds or thousands of dollars if they submit a claim. This involves zero recovery by individual class members.” Read More ›
California Insurance Commissioner Expresses Skepticism Over Anthem-Cigna Merger
by Ana B. Ibarra, KQED
“We are not aware of any peer-reviewed studies that have found that higher insurer market concentration has led to lower health insurance premiums,” [one expert] said. … Consumer advocates said the acquisition would make existing problems with health insurance worse. Anthem, they claimed, has already struggled with inaccuracies in provider directories, low quality ratings and poor management of grievances. Read More ›
Broadband Industry: It’s Unfair If Facebook Can Collect Your Data, But AT&T Can’t
by Kate Cox, Consumerist
Later this week, the Federal Communications Commission will be voting on a proposal intended to protect some of your personal data from being shared by your Internet service provider, by requiring that the ISP first get your permission. … ISPs are the conduit for everything you do online, meaning they have access to a lot of potentially sensitive information about you … data about what sites you visit. When. For how long … Read More ›
CFC Sponsors SB 899 (Hueso) To End Gender Bias In Retail Prices
6/30 update: Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) dropped SB 899 today after it became apparent that a majority of the Assembly Judiciary Committee would not support the bill unless he accepted amendments proposed by the committee’s leadership that would have eviscerated the bill. Women shouldn’t be charged … Read More ›
Corinthian Colleges Students Unlikely To See $1.2 Billion Judgment
by Roxana Kopetman and Mark Muckenfuss, Orange County Register
Experts said recovery of the judgment is unlikely. And some students and their advocates said they haven’t yet gotten what they really need: release from school-loan debts. In California, 13,000 students were attending Corinthian schools when the doors shut. … The bankrupt Corinthian closed its for-profit schools last year amid accusations that the chain falsified grades, attendance and job-placement rates. Students complained of deceitful practices that often targeted low-income students by promising a lot but offering very little. Read More ›
Got A Health Care Grievance? There’s A Place To Complain
by Claudia Buck, Sacramento Bee
[MyPatientRights.org is] intended to provide an easy link to the state Department of Managed Health Care, which handles consumer complaints with the state’s 122 licensed health plans. … Last year, the help center received more than 102,000 requests for assistance. … Requests for help jumped by 60 percent compared with 2013, largely because of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to the department. Read More ›
Lyft Drivers, If Employees, Owed Millions More – Court Documents
by Dan Levine and Heather Somerville, Reuters
Drivers who worked for ride-hailing service Lyft in California during the past four years would have been entitled to an estimated $126 million in expense reimbursements had they been employees rather than contractors, court documents show. … The judge asked for the estimates as part of his oversight of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed by California drivers. … Lyft agreed to settle the class-action lawsuit in January. Under the proposed deal, Lyft would pay $12.25 million, with drivers receiving an average of $56 each after attorneys’ fees and other expenses, documents show. Read More ›
Employee Surveillance: Business Efficiency Vs. Worker Privacy
by Thomas Claburn, Information Week
“Now, with the advent of almost ubiquitous network records, browser history retention, phone apps, electronic sensors, wearable fitness trackers, thermal sensors, and facial recognition systems, there truly could be limitless worker surveillance,” [a forthcoming California Law Review paper] says. … The authors argue that workplace surveillance has moved beyond a legitimate interest in productivity to shaping individual behavior. As examples of this trend, they cite productivity apps and corporate wellness programs. Read More ›
Garcetti Pushes Fingerprint-Based Background Checks For Uber And Lyft Drivers
by Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times
Last year, The Times reported that four Uber drivers ticketed by [Los Angeles] airport police had criminal histories that would have barred them from becoming city taxi drivers. Last year, the top prosecutors for Los Angeles and San Francisco identified 25 Uber drivers with convictions for murder, assault, driving under the influence and other offenses. That information emerged as part of a lawsuit filed by the cities that alleges Uber misled consumers over background checks. Read More ›