Loeb & Loeb’s Consumer Action and Regulatory Defense Practice focuses on defending companies and their owners, officers and directors that are the subject of government enforcement actions, regulatory investigations, and private lawsuits alleging violations of consumer protection and unfair competition laws. We represent a broad array of consumer-facing businesses regarding consumer privacy claims, marketing and advertising misrepresentation claims, economic product defect claims, and consumer finance-related claims. Our clients span a diverse range of industries, and we have substantial experience in the automotive, financial services, health, wellness and beauty, telemarketing and Internet marketing sectors, all of which are under intense scrutiny from regulators and class action attorneys.
We have also defended claims involving California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, CAN-SPAM Act, Proposition 65, Weights and Measures, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971, and California’s Proraters Law. We also have extensive experience defending claims brought under federal and state Telephone Consumer Protection Act laws, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Federal Truth in Lending Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Regulatory Defense Capabilities
Our attorneys also regularly defend consumer protection actions and investigations brought by the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and various states attorneys general and enforcement agencies across the country.
We understand the interrelationships between civil enforcement actions and the consumer class action lawsuits that often follow. We know that strategic defense decisions cannot be made in a vacuum – consideration must be given as to how a litigation move in one context may affect an outcome in another action (perhaps one that has not even been filed yet). Our team successfully resolves cases in both of these arenas, and we use this background to achieve the best possible results for our clients.
Lanham Act and NAD Capabilities
In today’s business environment, companies are not only faced with strict governmental oversight and consumer attack but also must deal with competitor challenges to their advertising. Loeb & Loeb offers the expertise to handle competitor challenges before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council for Better Business Bureaus, as well as in federal (Lanham Act) and state (e.g., California B&P Code 17500) false advertising disputes.
"Litigation Readiness" Counseling
Having systems in place to defend litigation before it happens saves a company time, money and potential reputational impact if and when a class or enforcement action arises. From our perspective as trial lawyers, our counseling services include reviewing advertising, marketing materials and consumer agreements; developing policies and procedures regarding due diligence, marketing substantiation, data preservation, consumer privacy, and staff and affiliate training; and implementing customer satisfaction monitoring and complaint response. Through these measures, we strive to keep our clients “off the radar” while helping them structure their business operations to enable immediate access to evidence needed to quickly and effectively respond to potential inquiries from regulators or defend consumer protection–related litigation.
