by Brian Wolfman In recent years, July 1 has been the crisis date for the federal program that subsidizes student loans. The loans are subsidized in a number of ways, principally by having below-market interest rates. Unless Congress acts, on July 1, the current 3.4% interest rate will double to 6.8%. A reform idea would […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
As explained in this New Republic essay by Si Lazarus, a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act is nearly as threatening to its viability as the now-rejected challenge to its constitutionality. Here's an excerpt: After the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act last June, Senator Jim DeMint and Representative Michele Bachmann wrote Republican […]
That's the name of this article by law professor Linda Mullenix. Here's the abstract: Professor Redish has both anchored the modern class action in American political and constitutional theory, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of this procedural device for resolving aggregate claims. Professor Redish’s major insight is his argument that the courts and litigants […]
That's the name of this article by law professors Myriam Gilles and Anthony Sebok. Here's the abstract: Class actions are in decline, while arbitration is ascendant. This raises the question: will plaintiffs’ lawyers skilled in bringing small-value, large-scale litigation – the typical consumer, employment, and antitrust claims that have made up the bulk of class […]
[Note: This item was posted a few minutes after the another posting on the case. It contains some additional information on the case. HT on the overlap to Andrew Kaufman.] The Supreme Court yesterday granted cert in Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg, a case about whether the Airline Deregulation Act's preemption provision, 49 U.S.C. 41713(b), preempts […]
by Brian Wolfman For a long time, the case law under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) has been bad for plaintiffs who want to be in court rather than in arbitration. And it's been getting worse in recent years. Class-action bans laundered through adhesive arbitration clauses are strictly enforced, even when they are unconscionable under […]
by Brian Wolfman Last Friday's Third Circuit ruling in Abraham v. St. Croix Rennaisance Group considered whether the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) provides federal "mass action" jurisdiction over a suit against a plant that continuously exposed nearby residents to toxic chemicals over an extended period. First, some background. CAFA provides jurisdiction in federal district […]
We have covered extensively the large mortgage fraud settlements brokered by the federal government under which major mortgage servicers were, among other things, supposed to pay money directly to consumers harmed in the mortgage meltdown. Go, for instance, here, here, here, and here. Now, Danielle Douglas, reports that it's taking a long time for the […]
That's the topic of "Compelled Disclosures," a new article by law professor Caroline Corbin. Here is the abtract: Courts have faced a wave of compelled disclosure cases recently. By government mandate, tobacco manufacturers must include graphic warnings on their cigarette packages, doctors must show and describe ultrasound images of fetuses to women seeking to abort […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a Spanish-language website. (To read its English-language homepage go here.)