The Center for Justice & Democracy has issued Civil Justice Skewed: The Groups and the Billions Spent Advocating for “Tort Reform.” The study provides “a comprehensive overview of the organizations working in 2026 to limit the legal rights of injured parties, updating [CJ&D’s] prior research in a field that has expanded considerably in recent years.” […]
Yesterday, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) wrote to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, calling on the bank to immediately remove its recently added forced arbitration agreement, hamstringing consumers’ legal rights and denying them the ability to hold corporations accountable. “The new forced arbitration provision will […]
At Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Finance Monitor podcast. From the episode description: Amelia advances a bold thesis in her article: that consumer protection law, and particularly consumer financial protection law, may be the most impactful body of law in the United States. She further argues that the strength of consumer protection laws may serve as a […]
The ALI is working on a new project, Principles of the Law, Civil Liability for Artificial Intelligence. NYU Professor Mark Geistfeld is the reporter. Alan Kaplinsky interviewed him for Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Finance Monitor podcast about the project and some of AI’s implications for consumer law.
Regular Amazon users probably know that if they agree to subscribe to certain products and receive deliveries at regular intervals, Amazon charges less than if they buy the items one at a time. But now some plaintiffs have brought a would-be class action in which they claim that Amazon raises the price after someone subscribes, […]
State class actions in Virginia are not happening yet. This week, Va. Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed SB229/HB449, a bill that finally would have established a state-level class action process. Although Va. consumers can participate in federal class actions, the bill would have filled a gap for them to band together to pursue claims that are […]
As reported by Bloomberg’s Evan Weinberger, the CFPB has removed from its website all public statements made before February 2025. That includes reports like the Bureau’s extensive arbitration study. Somehow, I am not surprised.
Barney Frank, whose name graces the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB and enacted multiple consumer protections, has died at the age of 86. As long as the CFPB protects consumers (it will rise again!), the CFPB and the Consumer Financial Protection Act stand as a memorial to Frank’s important work to protect Americans.
Kate Elengold of UNC and Sophie Laing Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Inc. have written Offsetting Justice: Using Government Power To Collect Private Debts, 175 Penn. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2027). Here’s the abstract: Private creditors regularly hire third-party debt collectors to recoup debt on their behalf by contacting, coercing, and suing consumer debtors. Scholars, advocates, and policymakers […]
Here. Remember how the Trump CFPB rescinded numerous Biden CFPB initiatives? Democrats plan to seek a vote under the Congressional Review Act on the withdrawal of many of the initiatives. The CRA resolutions are not expected to pass.