Attorney General Peterson today joined a bipartisan coalition of 38 attorneys general in suing Google LLC for anticompetitive conduct in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

Lincoln -- Attorney General Doug Peterson today joined a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Facebook Inc., alleging that the company has and continues to illegally stifle competition to protect its monopoly power

Attorney General Peterson has joined with 50 attorneys general and other federal and state agencies to reach an $86.3 million settlement with the country’s fourth-largest mortgage servicer, Nationstar Mortgage. 

Attorney General Doug Peterson today announced that his office, along with the Attorneys General of 45 other States and the District of Columbia, have obtained a $17.5 million-dollar settlement with The Home Depot, resolving a multistate investigation into a 2014 data breach impacting approximately 40 million Home Depot consumers nationwide.

Attorney General Doug Peterson, along with a coalition of 33 additional attorneys general, today announced a $113 million settlement with Apple, Inc. (Apple) regarding Apple’s 2016 decision to throttle consumers’ iPhone speeds in order to address unexpected shutdowns in some iPhones.  

Attorneys General from the states of Iowa, Colorado, Tennessee, New York, North Carolina, Utah and Nebraska released the following statement regarding today’s antitrust filing by U.S. Department of Justice and the multistate investigation into Google.

LINCOLN – Attorney General Peterson today announced a global settlement framework agreement between state attorneys general, local subdivisions, and the opioid manufacturer Mallinckrodt (MNK), its subsidiaries, and certain other affiliates. Under the settlement, MNK will pay $1.6 billion into a trust as described below. MNK is currently the largest generic opioid manufacturer in the United States and filed for bankruptcy yesterday.

Lincoln – Nebraska Attorney General Peterson today joined a coalition of 43 attorneys general in urging the creative community to take action to protect young viewers from tobacco imagery in streamed movies and programs.

LINCOLN – Attorney General Doug Peterson today announced that Nebraska has joined a $39.5 million settlement with Anthem stemming from a massive 2014 data breach that involved the personal information of 78.8 million Americans. Nebraska will receive $176,991 from the settlement.  

In February 2015, Anthem disclosed that cyber attackers had infiltrated its systems beginning in February 2014, using malware installed through a phishing email. The attackers were ultimately able to gain access to names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, healthcare identification numbers, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and employment information for millions of Americans. In Nebraska, 104,795 residents were affected by the breach. In the immediate wake of the breach, Anthem offered an initial two years of credit monitoring to all affected U.S. individuals.

In addition to the payment to the states, Anthem has agreed to a series of provisions designed to strengthen its security practices going forward. Those include:

• Implementation of a comprehensive information security program, incorporating principles of zero trust architecture, and including regular security reporting to the Board of Directors and prompt notice of significant security events to the CEO;
• Specific security requirements with respect to segmentation, logging and monitoring, anti-virus maintenance, access controls and two-factor authentication, encryption, risk assessments, penetration testing, and employee training, among other requirements; and
• Third-party security assessments and audits for three (3) years, as well as a requirement that Anthem make its risk assessments available to a third-party assessor during that term.

Joining Nebraska in this settlement were attorneys general from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

To obtain information about how to protect yourself as a consumer, file a consumer complaint, or report a scam, please visit the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division website at www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov or call (800) 727-6432.

Celebrity Homes, Inc. to pay $15,000 to settle Consumer Review Fairness Act claims

LINCOLN — Attorney General Doug Peterson announced today that his office has reached a settlement with Celebrity Homes, Inc. (“Celebrity Homes”), an Omaha homebuilder, to resolve allegations that the company violated the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and the Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA).  The CRFA is a federal statute which prohibits businesses from using form contract provisions to prohibit consumers from writing or posting negative reviews online, or threatening the consumers with legal action if they do.  According to the Attorney General, Celebrity Homes used non-disparagement provisions in their contracts to sell and construct custom homes for consumers.

“In today’s information age, it is increasingly common for consumers to rely on customer reviews and ratings to compare merchants, which makes it critically important that all consumers be allowed to share their honest opinions. This company used non-disparagement clauses in its form contracts to discourage their customers from posting honest but negative feedback online,” said Attorney General Peterson. “These contract provisions are illegal, and companies that use them will be held accountable.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Celebrity Homes is prohibited from using contract terms that violate the Consumer Review Fairness Act. In addition, the settlement requires the company to notify customers whose contracts contained these illegal clauses that the provisions are void and cannot be enforced. Those customers can publish honest reviews on any social media or internet platform, even if their comments are negative.

Finally, the company has agreed to pay $15,000 to the Attorney General’s Office.

Click here for a copy of the complaint and here for a copy of the settlement.

To obtain information about how to protect yourself as a consumer, file a consumer complaint, or report a scam, please visit the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division website at www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov or call (800) 727-6432.