On Thursday, March 27, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced the launch of a new Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force to identify and eliminate anticompetitive state and federal laws and...more
A Massachusetts federal court recently granted summary judgment in favor of a motorcycle manufacturer and dismissed claims by a dealer who argued the manufacturer’s internet sales policy breached the dealer agreement between...more
3/11/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Breach of Contract ,
Competition ,
Contract Terms ,
Dealerships ,
Internet Retailers ,
Manufacturers ,
OEM ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Retail Market ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Last year’s Commercial Litigation Outlook was dominated by the promise and peril that AI poses to myriad industries. No doubt, the evolution of AI in the last year has been significant, and it is still a material...more
2/28/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Competition ,
Data Privacy ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Innovation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal Technology ,
Machine Learning ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Management ,
Securities Regulation ,
Technology Sector
More than four years after an industry trade association first filed its challenge to a November 2020 ballot initiative in Massachusetts, a federal judge issued an order in Alliance for Automotive Innovation v. Campbell...more
2/12/2025
/ Automotive Industry ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Manufacturers ,
Motor Vehicles ,
OEM ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Right-To-Access ,
Telematics ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On Friday, January 31, 2025, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (“Auto Innovators”), a trade association representing manufacturers in the auto industry, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Maine seeking to enjoin...more
2/4/2025
/ Automotive Industry ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Motor Vehicles ,
OEM ,
Preemption ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Right to Repair ,
State Attorneys General ,
Telematics
During a recent virtual workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), academics, trade association representatives, and two FTC commissioners advocated for change in the application of Section 2 of the Sherman Act to...more
1/14/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Section 2 ,
Sherman Act ,
Technology Sector ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Unfair Pricing
On January 10, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the 2025 threshold for applying the size-of-parties test of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act will increase from $119.5 million to $126.4 million. Deals that...more
1/14/2025
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Reporting Requirements
OEMs may finally get some clarity in the next couple of months about their obligations under Massachusetts and Maine right to repair laws requiring them to provide owners and independent repair facilities access to mechanical...more
1/10/2025
/ Automotive Industry ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Manufacturers ,
Motor Vehicles ,
New Legislation ,
NHTSA ,
Right to Repair ,
State Attorneys General ,
Telematics
On January 7, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with three crude oil producers in which those companies will pay a $5.6 million fine to resolve claims they engaged in unlawful premerger...more
1/9/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Oil & Gas ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Sherman Act
On Thursday, December 19, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Illinois Attorney General announced a massive $20 million settlement with Leader Automotive Group, the operator of 10 dealerships in and around...more
12/24/2024
/ Automotive Industry ,
Car Dealerships ,
CARS Rule ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FTC Act ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Section 5 ,
Settlement ,
Statutory Violations ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The Automotive Right to Repair Working Group convened by the Maine Attorney General will review proposed legislation that would substantially amend provisions of the Maine Right to Repair Law concerning access to mechanical...more
On Tuesday, November 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released a staff report examining the duration of software support commitments by manufacturers of 184 connected devices, ranging from “smart” phones to...more
12/5/2024
/ Automotive Industry ,
Connected Items ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Information Technology ,
Innovative Technology ,
Magnuson-Moss Act ,
Motor Vehicles ,
OEM ,
Section 5 ,
Smart Devices ,
Telematics ,
Warranties
Traditionally, Republican administrations have favored deregulation and a more lenient approach to antitrust enforcement that is grounded in economics over policy preferences. This environment often leads to an increase in...more
11/25/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
On November 12, 2024, the final rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) amending premerger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Act was published in the Federal Register. The HSR Act...more
11/13/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
New Rules ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Regulatory Requirements
On Wednesday, October 23, 2024, FCA US LLC, the manufacturer of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram vehicles, among others, put the final nail in the coffin of claims by consumers that “destination charges” for the delivery of...more
10/28/2024
/ Actual Delivery ,
Automotive Industry ,
Car Dealerships ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Federal Rule 12(b)(6) ,
Fees ,
Manufacturers ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motor Vehicles ,
OEM ,
Putative Class Actions
On October 4, 2024, Asbury Automotive Group, a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest automobile dealer groups in the United States, sued the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enjoin as unconstitutional the FTC’s...more
10/15/2024
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Article III ,
Automotive Industry ,
Car Dealerships ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
Due Diligence ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Jury Trial ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Standing
The Maine Attorney General’s Office recently announced that it has convened an 11-person working group of industry stakeholders to develop recommendations for legislation to establish an entity with rulemaking and enforcement...more
On October 10, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously to adopt new rules for the premerger notification form and reporting process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. The new rules expand the scope of...more
On September 4, 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law an amendment to New York’s warranty reimbursement statute, N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 465, requiring manufacturers to compensate dealers for labor using the...more
The administrative challenge brought by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and another trade association against the Combating Auto Retail Scams (“CARS”) Trade Regulation Rule, issued last year by the Federal...more
8/22/2024
/ Automotive Industry ,
Automotive Loans ,
Car Dealerships ,
CARS Rule ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FTC Act ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State Attorneys General ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On Thursday, August 15, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Arizona Attorney General announced a $2.6 million settlement to resolve claims that Coulter Motor Company used deceptive online advertising to lure...more
8/20/2024
/ Automotive Industry ,
Automotive Loans ,
Car Dealerships ,
CARS Rule ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
State Attorneys General ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
A federal court in Wisconsin recently granted a motion to dismiss all claims in a putative multi-district class action against motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson, asserting claims that the OEM’s warranty violated the...more
Trade associations representing independent repair facilities have become strong advocates for expanding right to repair laws to increase member access to vehicle telematics data. These efforts have created uncertainty for...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced on Thursday, May 23, that they are expanding their search for businesses using “roll up” strategies to consolidate...more
5/30/2024
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Popular ,
Public Comment ,
Public Health ,
Request For Information
On April 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced it had finalized changes to modernize the Health Breach Notification Rule (the “HBNR”) by clarifying its applicability to health and wellness apps and other...more
5/7/2024
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Digital Health ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI ,
Popular