Today’s decision from the Third Circuit as to waiver of arbitration reflects some of the dangers raised by protracted delays in litigation. In 2014, Dawn Valli commenced a putative class action against Avis related to its practices related to fines and penalties incurred by car rental consumers. There were amendments and motions to dismiss over […]
After New York City enacted minimum pay rate laws for food delivery workers, DoorDash and Uber Eats changed the way tipping options appeared on its app — making it so tipping was not available until after a customer checks out. DoorDash claimed this would somehow “balance the impact” of new fees that it was charging […]
Kaitlin Ainsworth Caruso of Maine has written Back to the Drawing Board? Overdraft fees, the Congressional Review Act, and the CFPB’s Path Back to Consumer Protection. Here’s the abstract: In late 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau adopted a rule aimed at a longtime pain point for consumers: high, sometimes unpredictable, overdraft fees. The CFPB […]
The Congressional Research Service, the research and analysis arm of Congress, last Friday released an updated summary to its report on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s budget. This update includes discussion on the budget reconciliation (P.L. 119-21) passed in July that drastically reduces the CFPB’s funding that it receives from the Federal Reserve. The agency’s […]
Just after Thanksgiving last week, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion reversing a district court’s certification of a class in one of several actions brought by a consumer against Folgers and consolidated by the JPML. In the action on appeal, the consumer had alleged that representations on coffee containers featured misrepresentations about the number of […]
Is this cartoon, originally posted to the satirical Facebook page Benito Beet Beat, a true threat that is outside the protection of the First Amendment? That is what the County of San Benito California contends. The county sheriff proclaimed to the press that he was investigating the cartoon as a potential crime; even though the […]
The news this week is the ongoing Big Tech campaign seeking a federal law to preempt state regulations on artificial intelligence. As reported, some members of Congress are attempting to push an AI preemption provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a must-pass federal bill. The provision would block state laws from regulating the […]
Reuters is reporting that Stuart Levenbach has been nominated to serve as the next Director of the CFPB. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Levenbach appears to have no experience in consumer protection or consumer finance whatsoever. According to a February 2025 release announcing his appointment to a position at OMB: Prior to OMB, Dr. Stuart Levenbach was the […]
The past week has seen the announcement of two proposals to weaken mechanisms for identifying and combatting discriminatory lending practices. Last week, the CFPB issued a proposal to amend Regulation B under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which would eliminate disparate impact claims, significantly narrow the prohibition on statements that would discourage applicants or potential […]
On November 17 at 3:00 Eastern, former Steiger Fellows will take questions about the Steiger fellowship, a paid summer fellowship on consumer law and antitrust in attorney general offices for rising 2Ls and 3Ls. To register, please go to ambar.org/steigerwebinar. Please tell interested students.