Economic recovery? AP reporter Hope Yen has issued this report, based on data sometimes overlooked by the government, which maintains that the likelihood that someone in the U.S. will live in poverty in his or her lifetime is on the rise. Some excerpts: Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
The protesting workers want to earn $15 per hour. Read about it here. The fast-food companies — KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, etc. — claim that they cannot afford to pay more. The National Employment Law Project seeks to rebut that claim — and illustrate the plight of fast-food workers — in a new report entitled […]
Go here and learn that, though the bill passed 81 to 19 and has President Obama's support, Senators Sanders and Warren are against it, believing that it will increase the costs of higher education for those who can least afford it. Some basic terms: The compromise will fix undergraduate loans to the interest rate on […]
This story by Jim Puzzanghera explains that The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday sued Castle & Cooke Mortgage, accusing it of paying illegal bonuses to employees who steered home buyers toward higher-interest loans. The suit marks the first time a company has been targeted under new federal loan-origination compensation rules adopted after a mountain […]
Last November, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed this class-action complaint claiming that the maker of 7-UP was violating California consumer protection laws by adding vitamin E to its product and implying that the product was healthy because it contained antioxidants. The complaint quoted this claim from 7-UP's website: “There’s never […]
That's the topic of this article by law professor Natalie Pedersen. Here's the abstract: In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the U.S. Supreme Court not only reversed the grant of class certification to one of the largest employment discrimination classes ever, but also indelibly altered the substance of employment discrimination law. While many scholars have […]
The New York Times has published what it calls a debate on how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should (or should not) exercise its power. It's actually six essays by . . . New York AG Eric Schneiderman [Reforms in mortgage abuse can become regulations. Action on debt and credit can be expanded. Financial literacy can […]
As explained in this National Law Journal article by Zoe Tillman, In the latest constitutional challenge against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency was accused today of overstepping its authority by attempting to regulate the practice of law and collect personal financial data. A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District […]
by Brian Wolfman Last week, in Mortensen v. Bresnan Communications, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit compelled arbitration in a consumer class action.The consumer's take-it-or-leave-it contract with the defendant Internet service provider contained a requirement to arbitrate disputes. (The clause also banned class arbitration. See footnote 4 of the court's opinion.) The […]
Consumer advocates often want government-held information and use the federal Freedom of Information Act (or state open government laws) to get that information. Check out the FOIA machine, a new on-line tool sponsored by the Center for Investigative Reporting. What is it? Here's what the FOIA machine says: What is the FOIA Machine? FOIA Machine […]