Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Review of 2012 Class Actions Reported in Law360 Finds Benefits to Consumers

Gary E. Mason of Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP has written The Proper Measure Of The Value Of Class Actions for Law360.  Excerpt: Of the 118 cases initiated in 2012, 102 (or nearly 90 percent) had reached a final resolution by May 1, 2017, the date on which our study closed. Twenty-three of those cases (or […]

Lauren Willis Article on Ordering Firms to Eradicate Their Own Fraud

Lauren E. Willis of Loyola of Los Angeles has written Performance-Based Remedies: Ordering Firms to Eradicate Their Own Fraud, 80 Law and Contemporary Problems 7-41 (2017). Here is the abstract: In resolving cases of unfair, abusive, and deceptive acts and practices, consumer protection enforcement agencies often prospectively dictate—in great detail—the design of defendants’ marketing, websites, […]

Buckley Sandler Partners: Personnel Is Policy: Succession Possibilities At The CFPB

In Law360, by Andrew Sandler and Benjamin K. Olson  Here is an excerpt: It is not entirely clear whether the Dodd-Frank Act or the [Federal Vacancies Reform Act] controls in these circumstances. The one thing that is clear is that there will be real and significant differences in the operation of the CFPB depending on which […]

Marcus Article on the History of Class Actions 1981-1994

David Marcus of Arizona has written The History of the Modern Class Action, Part II: Litigation and Legitimacy, 1981-1994,  Fordham Law Review (forthcoming 2018). Here is the abstract: The first era of the modern class action began in 1966, with revisions to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It ended in 1980. […]

Mortgage Default Rate Reported to be at Lowest Level in Decade; Could the CFPB be the Cause?

by Jeff Sovern Here is a report on the mortgage default rate from Housing Wire. So we have a low mortgage default rate and record highs in consumer debt, as Brian reported earlier, half a dozen years after creation of the CFPB.  Yet conservatives want to eliminate or reduce the Bureau's power.   

CFP: Northeast Privacy Scholars Workshop

We received the following call for papers: The Innovation Center for Law and Technologyat New York Law School and The Center on Law and Information Policyat Fordham University School of Law are pleased to issue this Call for Papers for the inaugural Northeast Privacy Scholars Workshop, which will take place at New York Law School on October […]

Hoofnagle on FTC Regulation of Cybersecurity and Surveillance

Chris Jay Hoofnagle of Berkeley has written FTC Regulation of Cybersecurity and Surveillance, in The Cambridge Handbook of Surveillance Law (David Gray and Stephen Henderson, eds)(Cambridge University Press 2017). Here's the abstract: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the United States’ chief consumer protection agency. Through its mandate to prevent unfair and deceptive trade practices, […]

Edwards Article: Arbitration’s Dark Shadow

Benjamin P. Edwards of Nevada has written Arbitration's Dark Shadow, Nevada Law Journal, Forthcoming.  Here's the abstract: Arbitration has expanded broadly, removing disputes involving entire industries from judicial review. The absence of judicial review plunges these disputes and industries into shadow. This shadow causes the public to lose sight of vital information about industry practices […]

Paper on the Right to Be Forgotten in the US

Patrick O'Callaghan of University College Cork has written The Chance 'to Melt into the Shadows of Obscurity': Developing a Right to Be Forgotten in the United States, A. Cudd & M. Navin (eds) Privacy: Core Concepts and Contemporary Issues (New York: Springer, 2018) (Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: This chapter argues that there is some […]