Law and legal issues

American Express prevailed Monday in an eight-year antitrust battle with the government. Here’s a look at how other card networks, banks, retailers and consumers will be affected.

The El Segundo, Calif. company is selling $100 million of bonds backed by a revolving pool of loans secured by precious metals as well as some of its own inventory of cash and gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

While the result is anticlimactic, the court’s observations are more interesting; they tend to reinforce doubts about the usefulness of this alternative bankruptcy proofing mechanism.

Auto lenders would be well advised to keep up their guard as states — particularly blue ones — take steps of their own to crack down on what they see as abusive practices.

The class-action lawsuit filed by investors alleged that bank executives deliberately failed to disclose the full nature of its cross-selling practices to shareholders.

The Federal Trade Commission alleges in a lawsuit that the company's "no-hidden-fee" pledge is deceptive. LendingClub says the claims are unwarranted.

A class action filed last week alleges that Renovate America and Renew Financial failed to provide consumer protections promised to L.A. County, that this constitutes elder abuse, and the county is complicit.

"Golden" shares with veto power over bankruptcy filings are commonly used as a backup measure for special purpose vehicles, but there are several issues to be addressed as case law develops.

The subprime auto lender paid $2.9 million to Connecticut consumers and a $100,000 fine for miscalculating balances owed on repossessed cars and for charging improper fees. It says the settlement is part of an effort to clean up "legacy issues."

The Supreme Court dealt hedge funds and other big investors a blow Tuesday by refusing to revive core parts of lawsuits that challenged the federal government’s capture of billions of dollars in profits generated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.