The COVID-19 pandemic has changed most aspects of the economy. The world of consumer products is no exception to this trend.
Continue Reading Recall Roundup: March 2020
Is Your Smart Home Too Smart? Hunton Partner Featured in ABA Podcast on Privacy and Smart Speakers
Listen as Phyllis H. Marcus, partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth and Co-Chair of the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Privacy and Information Security Committee, speaks about the privacy concerns over using smart devices on the ABA’s Our Curious Amalgam podcast, Is Your Assistant Spying on You? Understanding the Privacy Law Issues Involving In-Home Assistants.
Continue Reading Is Your Smart Home Too Smart? Hunton Partner Featured in ABA Podcast on Privacy and Smart Speakers
Recall Roundup: February 2020
This month’s Recall Roundup starts with the wish that the coronavirus could be recalled. Perhaps the would-be CPSC commissioner who could deliver that recall would be unanimously approved.
Continue Reading Recall Roundup: February 2020
Recall Roundup: January
The new year ushered in a series of warnings from the CPSC about inclined infant sleepers posing suffocation risks and dressers posing tip-over risks to consumers. Both products have been under scrutiny by the CPSC over the past year.
Continue Reading Recall Roundup: January
SHARE Information Act Could Increase Companies’ Product Liability Litigation Risk
A new bill introduced in Congress earlier this month could increase litigation risk for the retail industry by leaving companies unable to prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from disclosing inaccurate or premature information about potential product hazards. The Safety Hazard and Recall Efficiency (SHARE) Information Act, introduced on January 9, 2020, by U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), would also increase the maximum civil penalty for violations of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) from $15 million to $50 million. Largely seen as a response to public criticism over the perceived delays in the CPSC’s disclosure of hazards associated with infant inclined sleepers over the last year, the SHARE Information Act would allow the CPSC to tell the public that a product may pose a safety issue before the hazard has been confirmed.
Continue Reading SHARE Information Act Could Increase Companies’ Product Liability Litigation Risk
2019 Retail Industry Year in Review
Innovation and developments in technology bring both opportunities and challenges for retailers, and Hunton Andrews Kurth has a sophisticated understanding of these issues and how they affect retailers. On January 23, 2020, our cross-disciplinary retail team, composed of over 200 lawyers, released our annual Retail Industry Year in Review.
Continue Reading 2019 Retail Industry Year in Review
Recall Roundup: December
The theme for this Recall Roundup is effectiveness of recalls. In October, the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation released an investigative report criticizing the CPSC’s data-handling breaches from the spring. This month, the Office of Oversight and Investigations Minority Staff from the same US Senate committee released a report criticizing the CPSC’s handling of three “high-profile failures to effectively recall dangerous products” last year.
Continue Reading Recall Roundup: December
“Diet” Soda Doesn’t Have to Lead to Weight Loss, Court Rules
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a consumer-fraud class action lawsuit against Diet Dr Pepper maker Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., holding that use of the word “diet” in the product’s name was not false or deceptive advertising in the proper context of the soft drink market.
Continue Reading “Diet” Soda Doesn’t Have to Lead to Weight Loss, Court Rules
Recall Roundup: November
Last month, the CPSC and three affiliated retailers issued a joint warning to consumers after the retailers discovered they sold nearly 1,200 units of 19 previously recalled consumer products between 2014 and 2019. The range of products at issue varied, including infant sleepers, scarves, portable speakers, barstools, children’s cardigan sets, hoverboards, beer mugs, coffee presses and infant rattles. It remains to be seen whether any further CPSC action, such as a civil penalty or a requirement to implement stronger recall systems and protocols, will be taken with respect to these three retailers.
Continue Reading Recall Roundup: November
Recall Roundup: October
This month, our recall roundup includes an update on the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s investigation into the CPSC’s data breach; guidance on the use of inclined infant sleep products; a warning about liquid nicotine; and information on 18 product recalls.
Continue Reading Recall Roundup: October