The arbitration firm JAMS posted a piece this week recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Indeed, Congress passed the FAA in Feb. 1925 to facilitate resolution of business to business disputes, validating the ability of commercial parties of relatively equal bargaining power to agree in their contracts to resolve their disputes […]
Author Archives: Christine Hines
The Federal Trade Commission this week began work to enforce its new rule on unfair and deceptive fees. The Commission sent a warning letter to ticket reseller StubHub alleging that the company may have already violated the rule which went into effect May 12. The rule, which specifically applies to live-event ticketing and short-term lodging, […]
The National Fair Housing Alliance, joined by fair housing, civil rights, and consumer protection organizations, filed an amicus brief last Friday in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Townstone, an enforcement action that the bureau previously had successfully settled but that it now seeks to reverse in favor of the corporate defendant. In the original case, […]
U.S. senators are on their way to approve of big banks burdening constituents with excessive overdraft fees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued a rule to limit overdraft fees charged by the largest banks to $5. But in a late-night move yesterday, the Senate voted to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution that would […]
Law professors who study, teach, and work on consumer protection matters, including this blog’s co-coordinator Prof. Jeff Sovern, sent a letter this week to Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “We urgently call upon the Trump administration to follow the rule of law and allow Bureau employees to return to their […]
In the wake of the chaotic shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the lawsuits filed to fight its apparent closure, 22 states and the District of Columbia filed two amicus briefs within days in support of the bureau and its statutory functions. On Feb. 19, the state attorneys general banded together in an […]
This week, ~1,000 people—employees and supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—stood in the cold at a rally to protest the attempted ransacking of the agency. In the middle of the supportive speeches, agency employees broke out into chants: “Let. Us. Work,” demanding that they be allowed to continue to protect the American public from […]
The notice arrived Saturday morning. Rohit Chopra’s tenure as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had ended — by the new administration — well short of the completion of his five-year term. The past week was filled with grumbling from various industry corners and inquiring journalists wondering why Chopra had not already been forced […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced its final rule requiring the removal of medical bills from credit reports and barring lenders from using consumers’ medical information in their lending decisions. The Fair Credit Reporting Act already limits a creditor’s ability to obtain or use a consumer’s medical information in connection with any determination of […]
The Federal Trade Commission today issued a final rule on junk fees. Under the rule, businesses that offer live-event tickets or short-term lodging must clearly and conspicuously disclose the total price at the time they offer, display, or advertise their tickets or stays. This removes the possibility of surprise fees and charges that ticket buyers […]