Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

NerdWallet Story on IRS’s Use of Private Debt Collectors

Here.  Excerpt: Debt collectors will be required to comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which is designed to curtail abusive or deceptive behavior. * * * Critics say collection agencies have been known to call delinquent debtors six or more times a week, give inaccurate information and use dubious methods to force payment. […]

Predictions Abound: Cordray Stays; House Takes Up Dodd-Frank in the Summer or Later; Will Changes to the CFPB Go the Way of Trumpcare?

by Jeff Sovern First, Cordray.  Here's what Politico's Morning Money reported: CORDRAY IS … STILL THERE – Compass Point's Isaac Boltansky and Lukas Davaz: "With a decision in the PHH case review unlikely until next year, and the path for a legislative compromise on the Bureau's governance structure becoming hazier by the day, all indications […]

Emily Bazelon’s and Eric Posner’s Disturbing Op-Ed on What Gorsuch Could Mean for Consumer Protection, Among Other Things

It's titled The Government Gorsuch Wants to Undo.  All of it is worth reading, but here's an excerpt: Judge Gorsuch embraces a judicial philosophy that would do nothing less than undermine the structure of modern government — including the rules that keep our water clean, regulate the financial markets and protect workers and consumers. In […]

Article on Agencies Seeking Admissions of Guilt in Settlements

Verity Winship and Jennifer K. Robbennolt of Illinois have written Admissions of Guilt in Civil Enforcement, Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 101 (Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: Should agencies require admissions of guilt from the targets of civil enforcement? Administrative agencies rely heavily on settlement as a key enforcement tool. Admissions of guilt – or, more […]

Stephen Ware Article Takes On Current (Conservative) Arbitration Law

Stephen J. Ware of Kansas has written The Centrist Case Against Current (Conservative) Arbitration Law, 68 Florida Law Review  (2016). Here is the abstract: In The Politics of Arbitration Law and Centrist Proposals for Reform, I explained how issues surrounding consumer and other adhesive arbitration agreements became divisive along predictable political lines (progressives vs. conservatives) […]

Financial Regulation Scholars Amicus Brief in PHH Case

Here.  Deepak Gupta is counsel. Here's the Introduction and Summary of the Argument: The Constitution requires public accountability for government agencies but does not prescribe how it must be achieved. It can be achieved in a variety of ways through agency design, and indeed, there is tremendous variation in agency structure. Public accountability can also […]