Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

CEI: CEI Objects to Facebook Class Action Settlement that Pays Lawyers Nearly $4 Million While Consumers Get 22 Words of Nothing

by Jeff Sovern Here.  The 22 words consists of the following statement, to appear on Facebook's help page: “We use tools to identify and store links shared in messages, including a count of the number of times links are shared.” As a general matter, I am skeptical of settlements that provide only a disclosure on […]

A Few More Thoughts On Henson v. Santander

by Jeff Sovern As we reported a couple weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Henson v. Santander that debt buyers are not automatically debt collectors under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.   However, debt buyers which have debt collection as the principal purpose of their business should still qualify as debt collectors under the statute (the […]

Skiba & Xiao Article on Consumer Litigation Funding

Paige Marta Skiba and Jean Xiao of Vanderbilt have written Consumer Litigation Funding: Just Another Form of Payday Lending? 80 Law and Contemporary Problems (2017).  Here is the abstract: This article provides a side-by-side comparison of payday lending and consumer litigation funding in order to aid policymakers. Funding has similarities with payday lending because they are […]

LA City Attorney: Why we can’t lose the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

by Jeff Sovern Some congressional Republicans have said that the CFPB was asleep at the switch when it came to the Wells Fargo unauthorized account scandal, and that it just piggy-backed on the LA City Attorney, which was the first governmental office to bring a case against Wells for the accounts.  But now the LA […]

Second Circuit: Under TCPA, Consumer Can’t Revoke Consent That is Term in Prior Contract

The case is Reyes v. Lincoln Autmotive Financial Service, and it conflicts with decisions of the Third and Eleventh Circuits.  The TCPA has come in for increasing attention lately, with a recent hearing in Congress discussing possible amendments to the statute.  (HT: Gregory Gauthier) 

Alan Kaplinsky Reports Rumor that CFPB to Issue Arbitration Rule By July 31 and Cordray to Step Down This Year

Here, in the Consumer Finance Monitor.  Alan also notes that the rule can be blocked by congressional invocation of the Congressional Review Act, litigation, or, if Cordray does indeed step down, by a new Trump-appointed director.

Articles Praising/Explaining Debt Collection

by Jeff Sovern Our consumer law casebook strives to present a balanced approach, so I am always on the lookout for writings that present debt collectors favorably. In that regard, The Economist recently published In praise of America’s third-party debt collectors.  Here's an excerpt: A provocative new paper by Julia Fonseca, of Princeton University, and Katherine Strair and Basit Zafar, […]