Here. Excerpt: * * * Affected businesses are likely to sue (in court, ironically) to try to block [the CFPB arbitration proposal]. In a move that conjures up the famous scene from “Blazing Saddles” in which Cleavon Little takes himself hostage, the financial industry has threatened to abandon consumer arbitration altogether if the regulation takes […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Jane R. Bambauer, Jonathan D. Loe, and D. Alex Winkelman, all of Arizona have written A Bad Education, 2016 University of Illinois Law Review ___ (Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: Mandated disclosure laws achieve their regulatory goals by educating the public about latent attributes of a product or service. At their best, they improve the accuracy of […]
by Jeff Sovern Hensarling calls the bill the Financial Choice Act. Make America Great for Banks Act is closer to the truth. Based on a quick look, the bill would give bank lobbyists power over the CFPB by subjecting it to the appropriations process, increase the likelihood of deadlocks by turning the Bureau into a commission, […]
InsideArm.com reports that it "has learned from multiple industry sources" that the CFPB will hold a Small Business Regulatory Fairness Enforcement Act (SBREFA) proceeding the week of August 22 in connection with the Bureau's forthcoming debt collection regulations. The Bureau has to convene the SBREFA proceeding before proposing the new rules. Just to give a sense […]
Oren Bar-Gill of Harvard and Omri Ben-Shahar of Chicago have written Optimal Defaults in Consumer Markets. Here's the abstract: The design of default provisions in consumer contracts involves an aspect that does not normally arise in other contexts. Unlike commercial parties, consumers have only limited information about the content of the default rule and how […]
Amy Schmitz of Missouri has written Remedy Realities in Business-to-Consumer Contracting, 58 Arizona Law Review 213 (2016). Here is the abstract: Professor Jean Braucher greatly contributed to the exploration of consumer and contract law by questioning how the law operates in the real world and highlighting the importance of “law in action.” In recognition of that […]
Martha T. McCluskey of SUNY Buffalo, Thomas Owen McGarity of Texas, Sidney A. Shapiro of Wake Forest, and James Goodwin and Mollie Rosenzweig, both of the Center for Progressive Reform, have written Regulating Forced Arbitration in Consumer Financial Services: Re-Opening the Courthouse Doors to Victimized Consumers. Here's the abstract: Forced arbitration clauses have become almost unavoidable […]
Here (behind paywall). The CFPB is one of the agencies that House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling's bill would ubject to the appropriation process. Excerpt from the article: "There are many things to like about Chairman Hensarling's bill, particularly its tough capital requirements," [former FDCIC head Sheila] Bair said. "However, subjecting the banking agencies to congressional appropriations […]
Here. Excerpt: “[House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling would] gut Dodd-Frank and gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” said Deepak Gupta, a Washington lawyer who previously worked as senior counsel for the watchdog agency. “Jeb Hensarling is a wholly owned subsidiary of the financial services industry.” Too harsh? Not when you consider that, according […]
by Jeff Sovern As a member of the consumer law professor community, I have learned from Senator Elizabeth Warren's work, admire her, worked with her staff, and exchanged emails with her (though we have never actually met). Consequently, I don't like seeing her called names. If I were to compare her to a Disney character, the one I would pick […]