That's the name of this article by Thomas Stipanowich and J. Ryan Lamare. Here's the abstract (with my italics added on the reference to consumer and products-liability arbitration): As attorneys for the world’s most visible clients, corporate counsel played a key role in the transformation of American conflict resolution in the late Twentieth Century. In […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
That's the title of this new report about car-title loans authored by the Center for Responsible Lending and the Consumer Federation of America. Car-title loans are small loans secured by the title to the borrower's car. According to the report, each year, consumers pay $3.6 billion in interest on these loans for only $1.6 billion […]
That's the topic of this Dealbook article, which explains that banks have foreclosed on members of the military in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Here's an excerpt: The nation’s biggest banks wrongfully foreclosed on more than 700 military members during the housing crisis and seized homes from roughly two dozen other borrowers who […]
by Brian Wolfman Despite the view among some consumers that the airlines are gouging consumers with fees, a recent study shows that fees are a very small part of the overall cost of flying. That may change. This article by Jim Martin explains that the airlines are introducing new fees. Here are some excerpts: Among […]
We've posted many times about the D.C. Circuit's Noel Canning decision, which held that three putative recess appointments made by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board were not proper recess appointments. Therefore, the court ruled, the appointments were invalid because they did not go through the Constitution's normal appointments process — presidential nomination and […]
The Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) has created Sequestration Central, a website devoted to providing comprehensive and up-to-date information on the federal government budget sequestration that went into effect today.
by Brian Wolfman The Big Spring suit filed in federal district court in D.C. challenges various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall St. reform law, including the legality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on separation-of-powers grounds. That suit includes a challenge to Richard Cordray's appointment as CFPB director as an impermissible (non-)recess appointment. We last posted […]
by Brian Wolfman Last month, we posted about a likely settlement between federal regulators and 13 major mortgage servicers — including some of the world's biggerst banks — that would make direct cash distributions to homeowners who lost their homes or went underwater during the financial crisis, in whole or in part because of improper […]
We posted recently on the revolving door between industry and congressional staffs. Now, we've been provided more detail with this joint review by Remapping Debate and the Center for Responsive Politics. The review looked at the chiefs of staff and legislative directors of the new members of the 113th Congress to detemine who previously worked […]
The Fourth Circuit has held, in Noohi v. Toll Brothers, that an arbitration clause in a contract between home buyers and a real estate development company is unenforceable because the clause lacked mutuality of consideration under governing Maryland law. (The clause lacked mutuality because it forced the home buyers but not the development company to […]