Aug 14, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Roomstogo.com & Alleged Illegal Telemarketing Calls to Consumers
On August 10, 2017 a class action complaint was filed in federal court in Florida to stop Roomstogo.com’s “practice of making illegal telemarketing calls to the telephones of consumers nationwide and to obtain redress for all persons injured by [the] conduct [of Roomstogo.com.]”
The complaint alleges that Florida-based Roomstogo.com “placed illegal telemarketing calls to residents of the United States registered on the National Do-Not-Call Registry” and that Roomstogo.com “willfully violated the [Telephone Consumer Protection Act] . . . by causing unsolicited calls to be made to Plaintiff’s and other class members’ cellular and residential telephones.”
According to the complaint:
[Roomstogo.com] made more than one unauthorized call to Plaintiff’s residential line for the purpose of marketing furniture deals to Plaintiff. Plaintiff did not have an existing business relationship with Plaintiff, Plaintiff did not seek information about [Roomstogo.com’s] products, Plaintiff never provided express written consent to be called by [Roomstogo.com], and the calls were an invasion of Plaintiff’s privacy. Indeed, Plaintiff has been a member of the National Do-Not-Call Registry, authorized by the TCPA, since March 7, 2009 to prevent persistent and harassing marketing calls to his telephone.
Roomstogo.com – Class Action Seeks Damages & Injunction
On behalf of the members of the class action, the Plaintiff, according to the complaint, seeks an injunction to require Roomstogo.com to stop all unsolicited telephone calling activities to consumers, $500 per violation under the TCPA in statutory damages to members of the class action, and treble damages (for knowing and/or willful violations).
Repeated Unwanted Telemarketing Calls to Consumers
According to the complaint:
[Roomstogo.com] is a large furniture store chain operating over 220 locations across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Puerto Rico. Unfortunately for consumers, [Roomstogo.com] utilized (and continues to utilize) a sophisticated telephone dialing system to call individuals en masse promoting its products. On information and belief, [Roomstogo.com] obtained these telephone numbers (i.e., leads) by purchasing marketing lists containing consumers’ telephone numbers. Indeed, Plaintiff himself has never provided [Roomstogo.com] his telephone number.
In Defendant’s overzealous attempt to market its products, it placed (and continues to place) phone calls to consumers who never provided consent to call and to consumers having no relationship with [Roomstogo.com]. Worse yet, [Roomstogo.com] placed (and continues to place) repeated and unwanted calls to consumers whose phone numbers are listed on the DNC. Consumers place their phone numbers on the DNC for the purpose of avoiding unwanted telemarketing calls like those alleged [in the complaint].
[Roomstogo.com] knowingly made (and continues to make) these telemarketing calls without the prior express written consent of the call recipients. As such, [Roomstogo.com] not only invaded the personal privacy of Plaintiff and members of the putative Class, but also intentionally and repeatedly violated the TCPA.
Received Unsolicited or Unwanted Telephone Calls?
If you received more than one telephone call made by Roomstogo.com within a 12-month period to a telephone number registered with the National Do Not Call Registry for at least 30 days and for which there is no record of consent to make such calls, your rights under federal law may have been violated. For more information, please complete the form to the right or contact either John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 8, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Viacom & Others – Alleged Violation of Privacy Protection Laws
On August 7, 2017, a class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court against Viacom Inc., Viacom International Inc., Upsight, Inc., and Unity Technologies SF
. . . by and on behalf parents of children[] who, while playing online games via smart phone apps, have had their personally identifying information exfiltrated by Viacom Inc. and its partners, for future commercial exploitation, in direct violation of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506. Plaintiffs bring claims under state laws to obtain an injunction to cease these practices, sequester illegally obtained information, and damages.
Viacom & Mobile Gaming Apps – Personal Identifying Information of Children Obtained Without Consent
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege that the defendants violated privacy protection laws by exporting the personally identifying information of children without parental consent required under federal and state law from, according to the class action complaint, Viacom’s “. . . child-focused gaming app Llama Spit Spit and numerous other games for children on mobile platforms. These apps are often operated by Nickelodeon, a business unit of Viacom Media Networks.”
Viacom Gaming Apps & “Software Development Kits”
The class action complaint alleges that the named software development entity defendants provided their own proprietary computer code, referred to as “software development kits,” to Viacom “for installation and use in Viacom’s gaming apps, including Llama Spit Spit.”
According to the complaint, “[e]ach of the [software development kit] [d]efendants . . . embedded their respective [software development kits] in Viacom’s gaming apps, causing the transmittal of app users’ personally identifying information to the [software development kit] [d]efendants to facilitate subsequent behavioral advertising.”
Llama Spit Spit & Other Gaming Apps Track Their Users
According to the class action complaint:
In addition to Llama Spit Spit, Viacom has developed and marketed other gaming apps which, like Llama Spit Spit, track their users, including: Ballarina – a GAME SHAKERS App, PAW Patrol Pups to the Rescue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Portal Power, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Brothers Unite, PAW Patrol Rescue Run, Bubble Guppies: A Grumpfish Tale, PAW Patrol Air and Sea Adventures, SpongeBob Bubble Party, Dora Appisode: Perrito’s Big Surprise, Dora Appisode: Check-Up Day!, Dora Appisode: Catch That Shape Train . . .. Viacom offers the Games Tracking Apps for download from Apple’s App Store, Google Play Store, and/or Amazon.
Viacom Collects & Maintains Personal Information
The complaint further alleges that
Viacom collects and maintains personal information about the users of the Game Tracking Apps, including users under the age of 13, and permits the [software development kit] [d]efendants to embed their advertising [software development kits] to collect those users’ personal information and use that information to track those users over time and across different websites and online services.
. . .
Each [software development kit] [d]efendant has a[] [software development kit] placed in Llama Spit Spit which collects persistent identifiers to track children app users over time and across the internet. In addition to Llama Spit Spit, the other Game Tracking Apps contain [software development kits] that surreptitiously track child users for behavioral advertising, analytics, or both. Llama Spit Spit and the other Game Tracking Apps contain multiple [software development kits], each operating independently from and in concert with one another.
Do You Suspect Child Privacy Violations Associated With Viacom Mobile Gaming Apps?
If your child uses a Viacom mobile gaming app, such as Llama Spit Spit, Ballarina – a GAME SHAKERS App, PAW Patrol Pups to the Rescue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Portal Power, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Brothers Unite, PAW Patrol Rescue Run, Bubble Guppies: A Grumpfish Tale, PAW Patrol Air and Sea Adventures, SpongeBob Bubble Party, Dora Appisode: Perrito’s Big Surprise, Dora Appisode: Check-Up Day!, and Dora Appisode: Catch That Shape Train, and you suspect your child’s personal information may have been improperly or illegally acquired or used, please complete the form to the right or contact either John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 8, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Disney Mobile Apps & Software Companies – Alleged Unauthorized Collection of Personal Information of Children
Philly.com reported (“These Disney apps are spying on your kids, lawsuit claims”) about the class action lawsuit recently filed in California against The Walt Disney Company and software companies for allegedly embedding trackers in mobile apps which secretly collect the personal information of children under the age of 13 and share that data illegally with advertisers without parental consent.
Philly.com reported that
[t]he class-action suit targets Disney and three other software companies – Upsight, Unity and Kochava – alleging that the mobile apps they built together violate the law by gathering insights about app users across the Internet, including those under the age of 13, in ways that facilitate “commercial exploitation.”
. . .
The lawsuit alleges that Disney allowed the software companies to embed trackers in apps such as “Disney Princess Palace Pets” and “Where’s My Water? 2.” Once installed, tracking software can then “exfiltrate that information off the smart device for advertising and other commercial purposes,” according to the suit.
Disney should not be using those software development companies, said Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “These are heavy-duty technologies, industrial-strength data and analytic companies whose role is to track and monetize individuals,” Chester said. “These should not be in little children’s apps.”
Further, Philly.com’s story reported that
[t]his is not the first time Disney has faced litigation over alleged COPPA violations. In 2011, the FTC penalized a company subsidiary, Playdom, $3 million after Playdom was found to have registered about 1.2 million users, most of them children, for online games. The FTC’s lawsuit said Disney collected children’s email addresses and ages, and allowed them to volunteer information such as their full names, instant messenger handles and physical locations as part of their online profiles.
Disney’s Mobile Apps
Philly.com reported the list of affected mobile apps stated in the complaint includes:
AvengersNet; Beauty and the Beast; Perfect Match; Cars Lightning League; Club Penguin Island; Color by Disney; Disney Color and Play; Disney Crossy Road; Disney Dream Treats
Disney Emoji Blitz; Disney Gif; Disney Jigsaw Puzzle!; Disney LOL; Disney Princess: Story Theater; Disney Store Become; Disney Story Central; Disney’s Magic Timer by Oral-B; Disney Princess: Charmed Adventures; Dodo Pop; Disney Build It Frozen; DuckTales: Remastered
Frozen Free Fall; Frozen Free Fall: Icy Shot; Good Dinosaur Storybook Deluxe; Inside Out Thought Bubbles; Maleficent Free Fall; Miles from Tomorrowland: Missions; Moana Island Life; Olaf’s Adventures; Palace Pets in Whisker Haven
Sofia the First Color and Play; Sofia the First Secret Library; Star Wars: Puzzle DroidsTM; Star WarsTM: Commander; Temple Run: Oz; Temple Run: Brave; The Lion Guard; Toy Story: Story Theater; Where’s My Water?; Where’s My Mickey?; Where’s My Water? 2; Where’s My Water? Lite/Where’s My Water? Free; Zootopia Crime Files: Hidden Object
Do You Suspect Child Privacy Violations Associated With Disney Mobile Apps?
If your child uses any of the relevant Internet-based Disney mobile apps, and you suspect your child’s personal information may have been improperly or illegally acquired or used, please complete the form to the right or contact either John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 7, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Disney Mobile Games – Apps Software & Collection of Children’s Personal Information Without Required Parental Consent
A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., Disney Electronic Content, Inc., Upsight, Inc., Unity Technologies SF, and Kochava, Inc. for allegedly violating privacy protection laws by exporting children’s personal information from mobile games aimed at children to advertising networks without the parental consent required by federal and state law.
Gizmodo reported (“Lawsuit Claims Disney Spied on Kids Playing Mobile Games and Sold Info To Advertisers”) that
The Walt Disney Company is facing a lawsuit alleging it violated federal law aimed at protecting children’s online privacy. The company allegedly allowed ad tech companies to embed software in its apps, enabling the collection of children’s personal information.
The class-action suit claims that children playing Disney’s mobile games have been personally identified by Disney and that their data was scooped up for the purpose of future “commercial exploitation.” The complaint . . . was filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Ad tech companies Upsight, Unity, and Kochava were also accused in the complaint as being responsible for embedding software in Disney’s games—including “Disney Princess Palace Pets”—aimed at tracking, collecting, and exporting children’s personal information. That data, the lawsuit alleges, is being sold to third-party party companies for the purpose of tracking individual children’s behavior “across multiple apps and devices.”
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act – Allegedly Violated
Gizmodo also reported that
. . . Disney and its ad partners are accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a Federal Trade Commission regulation placing restrictions and requirements on websites and online services directed at children under 13 years of age.
The [class action] complaint notes that Disney has been accused of violating COPPA in the past, including in 2011 when subsidiary Playdom Inc. paid a penalty for allegedly collecting and disclosing the personal information of hundreds of thousands of children without parental consent.
The ad tech Disney is said to have embedded in its gaming apps—known as “software development kits” or SDK—is described as having secretly collected the personal information of children using Disney’s apps for tracking their online behavior to “facilitate behavioral advertising or marketing analysis.” These “robust online profiles” include details such as a child’s geographical location, browsing history, and app usage, the suit alleges.
QR Code Press reported (“Disney mobile game lawsuit filed over data collection from children”) that “[t]he [class action] lawsuit states that Disney violated the FTC’s regulations because the company allegedly used advertising technology that allegedly exposed kids’ private information to other parties. The company’s mobile game apps collect personally identifying information about the children who play the games.”
Additionally, QR Code Press reported that the class action lawsuit “. . . was focused on the mobile game app called Disney Princess Palace Pets.” However, according to QR Code Press, “. . . since the original focus, a number of other popular titles have also been included in the accusation. Among the titles also includes Disney Crossy Road, Club Penguin Island and Where’s the Water. The mobile games all allegedly use the same type of mobile ad tracking practices revealing kids’ data to third parties.”
Do You Suspect Child Privacy Violations Associated With Mobile Games & Apps?
If your child uses an Internet-based mobile game, such as Disney Princess Palace Pets, Disney Crossy Road, Club Penguin Island or Where’s the Water, and you suspect your child’s personal information may have been improperly or illegally acquired or used, please complete the form to the right or contact either John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 6, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Wells Fargo Customers Allegedly Forced To Pay For Unnecessary Auto Insurance
On July 31, 2017, Bloomberg reported that customers of Wells Fargo & Co.
. . . accused the bank in a lawsuit of forcing them to pay for unnecessary auto insurance that drove some of them so far into a financial spiral that their vehicles were repossessed.
The complaint comes after a year of handwringing and internal changes brought on by an earlier snafu at Wells Fargo. Bank workers opened up possibly 2.1 million checking and credit-card accounts without customers’ permission over about half a decade, and the bank paid $185 million to regulators to settle.
Now, the bank is accused of bilking millions of dollars from “unsuspecting customers who were forced to pay for auto insurance they did not need or want,’’ pushing almost 250,000 of them into delinquency and resulting in almost 25,000 vehicle repossessions, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Sunday in San Francisco federal court.
Further, Bloomberg reported that
[w]hen customers took out Wells Fargo loans to purchase vehicles, the bank and the insurance company either didn’t check whether clients already had coverage or ignored the information, according to the complaint. Collateral protection insurance policies were created for customers, and Wells Fargo then would add premium charges to customers’ auto loan bills, often without notifying them, according to the lawsuit.
Wells Fargo last week said it may have pushed thousands of car buyers into loan defaults and repossessions by charging them for the unwanted insurance. The bank said an internal review of its auto lending found more than 500,000 clients may have unwittingly paid for protection against vehicle loss or damage while making monthly loan payments, even though many drivers already had their own policies. The firm said it may pay as much as $80 million to affected clients — with extra money for as many as 20,000 who lost cars, “as an expression of our regret.”
Additionally, according to the Bloomberg story:
Wells Fargo last week said it would start sending letters and refund checks next month to customers with policies placed from 2012 to 2017 that it determines were harmed, and expects the process will be complete by the end of the year. The lender also promised to work with credit bureaus to amend customers’ credit records.
Did You Have A Wells Fargo Auto Loan and/or Auto Insurance Policy (2012-2017)?
If so, your rights under federal law may have been violated. If you would like to speak privately with an attorney to contribute to or learn more about the investigation, please complete the form to the right or contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
Aug 6, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Daimler, BMW & Volkswagen To Upgrade Millions of Diesels
Automobilemag.com reported that
[a]t a conference with regulators this week, German automakers BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen agreed to offer upgrades on nearly 5 million diesel models in an attempt to reduce nitrous oxide emissions by at least 25 percent. They will also offer trade-in deals to customers who own older diesel vehicles. By doing this, they hope to avoid driving bans that have been threatened in several cities around Europe.
Automobilemag.com also reported that “Volkswagen will reportedly recall 3.8 million vehicles for upgrades, while Daimler will recall 900,000, and BMW will recall 300,000.”
Daimler, BMW & Volkswagen – Promise to Introduce Measures to Reduce Emissions
The Irish Times reported that
[t]his week’s stage-managed “diesel summit” in Berlin did little to clean up the tarnished image of the German auto giants. Choreographed presentations from the bosses of BMW, Daimler and VW Group promised to introduce measures to reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), the byproduct of diesel most harmful to human health. More than five million vehicles on the roads of Europe are likely receive a software “update” or fix.
Details of how the software will work, what knock-on effect it may have on the vehicle’s reliability, or whether it will pass the required tests, are still unclear. Many are understandably s[k]eptical.
Daimler, BMW & Volkswagen Diesel Software Updates – $593 Million
Reuters reported that
Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW are facing costs of at least 500 million euros ($593 million) to update the engine software of diesel cars in Germany to curb emissions, the VDA auto industry lobby said.
In addition, the costs of paying car owners incentives for trading in their older diesel cars for new models will far exceed 500 million euros for the three carmakers, VDA President Matthias Wissmann said . . . at a news conference.
Did You Purchase or Lease A BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche or Mercedes-Benz?
If so, your rights under federal law may have been violated. If you would like to speak privately with an attorney to contribute to or learn more about the investigation, please complete the form to the right or contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.
