Michelle Boardman of George Mason has written Consent and Sensibility: A Review of Margaret Jane Radin's Book, 'Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law,' 127 Harvard Law Review 1967 (2014). Here is the abstract: In this book, Professor Margaret Radin offers a fresh look at the fit between boilerplate contracts and […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern The CFPB Monitor blog has a post titled Industry trade groups urge OMB not to approve CFPB arbitration telephone survey about a filing by the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable. They "strongly recommend that OMB not approve the proposal because it will not produce information of practical utility […]
Christopher R. Drahozal of Kansas has written AAA Consumer Arbitration, forthcoming in Beyond Elite Law: Access to Civil Justice for Americans of Average Means (Samuel Estreicher & Joy Radice eds. Cambridge University Press). Here's the abstract: This chapter has provided an overview of consumer arbitrations administered by the American Arbitration Association, the largest administrator of […]
by Jeff Sovern In its ongoing efforts to weaken the CFPB and consumer protection generally, the House Financial Services Comittee's Subcommittee on Financial institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing on May 21 on eleven bills. I will talk in this post about only one, the so-called ‘‘Preventing Regulatory Abuse Act of 2014, sponsored by Representative Barr. As regular […]
by Jeff Sovern Back in April, the American Tort Reform Association had a roundtable discussion about UDAP statutes with FTC Commissioner (and former George Mason professor) Joshua Wright, Joanna Shepherd-Bailey of Emory, Peter Holland of Maryland Law School, and Cary Silverman of Shook Hardy & Bacon. You can watch it here. Given the host, you […]
So says the Times. Not so much as before the Great Recession, and they're called non-qualified mortgages now, and maybe you can't get so-called "liar's loans" or negative amortization loans, but those with weak credit ratings can get mortgages again.
Christopher R. Drahozal of Kansas has written FAA Preemption after Concepcion, 35 Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law 153 (2014, Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion is an important case for its holding that the FAA preempts application of state unconscionability doctrine to invalidate an arbitration clause with a class […]
Here. A TV comic excursion into the law of supplements (HT: Charles Shafer).
Catherine M. Sharkey of NYU has written Agency Coordination in Consumer Protection, 2013 University of Chicago Legal Forum 329. Here's the abstract: The federalization of consumer protection has created thorny issues of agency coordination. When multiple federal agencies interpret and enforce the same statute, should a single agency’s interpretation be accorded Chevron deference? Should it […]
Tess Wilkinson‐Ryan of Penn has written A Psychological Account of Consent to Fine Print, 99 Iowa Law Review 1745 (2014). Wilkinson-Ryan has a Ph.D in psychology as well as a law degree, and so brings to bear a different perspective in evaluating consumer reactions to fine print. I found this article useful in the research I'm […]