Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affrimed a class-action judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in Matmaros v. Starbucks Corp., Nos. 12-1189 and 12-1207. The plaintiffs were Starbucks baristas who claimed that, under a Massachusetts wage law known as the Tips Act, they did not have to share the cash […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
Yes, according to Richard Posner. Posner says that people needing a kidney have to wait about six months on average. Meanwhile, they are often on expensive dialysis, which greatly diminishes the quality of their ilves. Here are some exceprts from Posner's piece: If kidneys were salable, the waiting time for a transplant would drop precipitately, […]
Many of the readers of this blog are advocates for consumers' welfare. Many of them are lawyers. But did they become financially literate in law school? Do they know enough about financial transcations to promote useful systemic reform? NYU law school has decided to require all of its students to take a course in financial […]
In the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 Congress expressly preempted some state laws and regulations that would set the economic rules for the commerical airline and trucking industries. Congress had partially deregulated those industries, and, to an extent, it didn't want the states to disturb the […]
The Supreme Court granted review on Friday in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant. Here is the question presented in the petition: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act permits courts, invoking the “federal substantive law of arbitrability,” to invalidate arbitration agreements on the ground that they do not permit class arbitration of a federal law […]
Appointment to the Senate Banking Committee is a plum usually reserved for Senators with more seniority than Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren — that is, Senators with at least some seniority — but it appears that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may make it happen because of Warren's expertise on banking and finance issues. Read about it […]
In September, we blogged concerning the California electoral initiative that would require labeling of genetically modified foods. (We should know the answer on the initiative sometime tomorrow night or early Wednesday morning.) We followed up with this post about genetically modified food labeling requirements across the globe. Now, Brad Plumer has posted this excellent piece on […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray gave two speeches last week in Seattle that shed light on the new agency's activities. In the first — remarks at a public hearing — Cordray talked about the agency's joint efforts with the FTC in regulating debt collection, principally under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. He noted, […]
Today, the Obama Administration issued final regulations for its new Pay As You Earn student loan repayment program. 77 Fed. Reg. 66088. The program enhances graduates’ (including law graduates') ability to repay their student loans, and it nudges graduates toward public service work. With minor exceptions, the program will apply to higher-education graduates who graduated […]
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued its Fall 2012 Supervisory Report discussing the degree to which financial institutions and service providers it regulates are complying with federal consumer financial laws. Part III of the report surveys significant legal violations detected by the CFPB and what the agency is doing to remedy those violatons and […]