Giuseppe Dari‐Mattiacci of Amsterdam Law School; Amsterdam Business School; and the Tinbergen Institute and Florencia Marotta-Wurgler of NYU have written Learning in Standard Form Contracts: Theory and Evidence. Here is the abstract: We explore learning and change in standard form contracts. We hypothesize that drafters (sellers) are more likely to revise the terms they offer when […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern Level Playing Field is reporting that companies include in their arbitration clauses provisions that AAA, their arbitration service, has informed them have to be waived, meaning AAA won't enforce them. The clauses in question may deter consumers, who don't know that they won't be enforced, from bringing the arbitration at all. For […]
Taylor A. Begley of Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis and Amiyatosh Purnanandam of Ross School of Business, University of Michigan have written Color and Credit: Race, Regulation, and the Quality of Financial Services. Here is the abstract: The incidence of mis-selling, fraud, and poor customer service by retail banks is significantly higher in markets […]
Here. Excerpt: “There hasn’t been a lot that has been methodical about this presidency, but I do think Trump is systematically dismantling consumer protections,” said Mark Totten, a Michigan State University law professor who studies the enforcement of consumer protection laws and a 2014 Democratic candidate for Michigan attorney general. The new direction affects agencies […]
David Horton of California, Davis has written Clause Construction: A Glimpse into Judicial and Arbitral Decision-Making, Duke Law Journal, Vol. 68, Forthcoming. Here is the abstract: For decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has insisted that forcing a plaintiff to arbitrate — rather than allowing her to litigate — does not affect the outcome of a dispute. […]
by Jeff Sovern The CFPB protects consumers in a number of ways. Perhaps the three most important things it does are enforce the law, supervise some financial institutions, and create rules. A less important mechanism, but still important, is maintaining its complaint database. All of these seem to be coming under attack under Interim director […]
David A. Hyman of Georgetown and William E. Kovacic of GW and , King's College London – The Dickson Poon School of Law have written Implementing Privacy Policy: Who Should Do What?. Here's the abstract: Academic scholarship on privacy has focused on the substantive rules and policies governing the protection of personal data. An extensive literature […]
Belinda Reeveand Roger Magnusson, both of The University of Sydney Law School have written Regulation of Food Advertising to Children in Six Jurisdictions: A Framework for Analyzing and Improving the Performance of Regulatory Instruments, 35 Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law (2018). Here is the abstract: Childhood obesity is a public health crisis, and globally, […]
by Jeff Sovern Many localities require restaurants to post their health department grades at their entrance so diners can decide whether the restaurant is safe to patronize. One of my students, Vasilios D. Lolis, saw the picture below on Instagram. Can you spot the grade? (I lack the technical know-how to eliminate the caption) This points […]
by Jeff Sovern Mr. Mulvaney has served as interim CFPB director since November 25, or three months and two days. The CFPB has yet to announce commencement of an enforcement action during that period, though it has dismissed an enforcement action. For comparison, during 2016, the Bureau brought 42 enforcement actions, meaning that if it […]