Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Perzanowski & Hoofnagle Article on What Consumers “Buy” When They Buy Digital Media

Aaron Perzanowski of Case Western Reserve and Chris Jay Hoofnagle of Berkeley have written What We Buy When We 'Buy Now', 165 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (Forthcoming 2017), Here's the abstract: Retailers such as Apple and Amazon market digital media to consumers using the familiar language of product ownership, including phrases like “buy now,” […]

Bagchi: Standard Terms in Consumer Contracts in Comparative Contract Law

Aditi Bagchi of Fordham has written At the Limits of Adjudication: Standard Terms in Consumer Contracts in Comparative Contract Law  (eds. DiMatteo & Hogg, (UP, 2015).  Here is the abstract: This chapter first identifies three features of standard form contracts that challenge the classical theory of contract: standard terms lack of salience, consumers lack practical […]

Sheriff and the FDCPA’s Materiality Requirement

by Jeff Sovern Yesterday the Supreme Court decided the Sheriff case.  One oddity about the case has to do with whether immaterial misrepresentations give rise to liability under the FDCPA.  Several circuits have held that misrepresentations have to be material to generate FDCPA liability.  See, e.g., Donohue v. Quick Collect, Inc., 562 F.3d 1027 (9th […]

More Witnesses for House Arbitration Hearing Announced

The added witnesses are Jason S. Johnston of Virginia School of Law and Dong Hong, VP and Regulatory Counsel, Consumer Bankers Association. A link to Johnston's article on class actions is included in the post just below this one.  Johnston has previously criticized the Bureau's arbitration report and the Dodd-Frank mortgage restrictions. Neither witness seems likely to […]

Three Articles on Arbitration and Class Actions

Sarah Rudolph Cole has written The Federalization of Consumer Arbitration: Possible Solutions, University of Chicago Legal Forum No. 271. Here's the abstract: Over the past fifteen to twenty years, businesses dramatically increased the use of arbitration clauses in contracts with consumers. Although commentators criticize the use of arbitration to resolve consumer disputes because arbitration lacks the […]

House Financial Services Committee to Hold Hearing on CFPB Arbitration Rule

The title of the hearing is "Examining the CFPB’s Proposed Rulemaking on Arbitration: Is it in the Public Interest and for the Protection of Consumers?"  It will take place Wednesday, May 18. The witnesses seem not to have been announced, but given the composition of the Committee, I think we can anticipate the majority answering […]