Amy Schmitz of Colorado has written Secret Consumer Scores and Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' from 'Have-Nots', Michigan State Law Review, p. 1411 (2014). Here is the abstract: “Big Data” is big business. Data brokers profit by tracking consumers’ information and behavior both on- and offline and using this collected data to assign consumers evaluative scores […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Ahmed E. Taha of Pepperdine has written Selling the Outlier, forthcoming in the Journal of Corporation Law. Here is the abstract: Advertisements for products ranging from weight-loss programs to mutual funds regularly feature the results of people who have used the product. However, these advertisements often present the results only of people who had an atypically […]
Rena I. Steinzor of Maryland and the Center for Progressive Reform has written (Still) 'Unsafe at Any Speed': Why Not Jail for Auto Executives? Harvard Law & Policy Review (Forthcoming). Here's the abstract: Americans can be forgiven for wondering what has gone so drastically wrong with the companies that sell automobiles. In 2014, 64 million, […]
by Jeff Sovern CFPB Monitor is reporting: [T]he House Appropriations Committee has approved an amendment to the FY 2016 Financial Services Appropriations bill that would impose new requirements on the CFPB before it can issue a rule governing arbitration agreements. The amendment, which was introduced by Republican Representatives Steve Womack and Tom Graves, reportedly would […]
. . . in the Southwestern Law Review, as reported with links to pdfs by the ContractsProfBlog.
David Horton and Andrea Cann Chandrasekher both of California, Davis, have written After the Revolution: An Empirical Study of Consumer Arbitration, 104 Georgetown Law Journal (Forthcoming 2015). Here's the abstract: For decades, mandatory consumer arbitration has been ground zero in the war between the business community and the plaintiffs’ bar. Some courts, scholars, and interest […]
William J. Woodward Jr.of Santa Clara has written Contraps, 66 Hastings Law Journal (2015). Here is the abstract: Forms that purport to govern consumer transactions are a central component of our modern consumer economy. They are routinely enforced because consumers are said to “manifest assent” to them, despite the fact that they are not read […]
by Jeff Sovern In Mohamed v. Uber, the federal district court for the Northern District of California said no. Opt-out clauses appear in contracts and give the contracting parties the right to opt-out of arbitration to resolve disputes within a certain period of time after entering into the contract, often thirty or sixty days (which […]
by Jeff Sovern I am working on a survey designed to determine consumer awareness of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act validation notice. The plan is to show respondents a debt collection letter that includes a standard validation notice, and then ask questions to see how aware they are of the notice and how they […]
Here. (HT: Matt Bruckner). Excerpt: After studying overdraft fees for more than three years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is leaning against subjecting banks to tough new rules that would cap the size of charges or limit how frequently they can be imposed on consumers, said two people briefed on the agency’s work. More likely, […]