Tribute to Andy Spanogle, 1934-2020. By Dee Pridgen, Professor Emeritus, University of Wyoming College of Law I was very saddened to learn the news that my dear friend, and coauthor, Andy (John A.) Spanogle, had passed away in December of last year. He was a towering figure in the law, especially in the fields of […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern Obituary here. Andy was one of the original co-authors of our casebook and I met him when I worked on the third edition of the book. Andy was larger than life, so filled with bonhomie that you almost didn't realize how brilliant he was. One way Andy will live on is through […]
by Jeff Sovern The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Representative Katie Porter may be dropped from the House Financial Services Committee. As someone who has regularly listened to House Financial Services Committee hearings on consumer matters for years, I believe that would be a huge loss. I cannot think of anyone who has been […]
by Jeff Sovern The report is here. I played hooky from the AALS Financial Serices & Consumer Financial Services program to listen to the Bureau's simultaneous event to release the report (don't tell Rory Van Loo). I haven't read the voluminous report but some comments on the remarks at the event: I learned that when […]
Claudia Polsky of Berkeley and Megan Schwarzman of Berkeley's School of Public Health have written The Hidden Success of a Conspicuous Law: Proposition 65 and the Reduction of Toxic Chemical Exposures, 47 Ecology Law Quarterly, (Forthcoming 2021). Here is the abstract: Newcomers to California could be forgiven for thinking they have crossed into treacherous terrain. By virtue […]
by Jeff Sovern The CFPB has posted to its website an announcement that it will hold an event on January 5 to announce the "findings, analyses, and recommendations" of its Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. Regular blog readers will recall that the Taskforce is not very diverse in a variety of ways. Earlier this […]
Shmuel I. Becher of Victoria University of Wellington and Anne-Lise Sibony of UCLouvain; TILEC have written In Search of a Lasting Lightbulb Moment: The Law and Policy of Product Obsolescence. Here's the abstract: Firms frequently employ various strategies that make products obsolete after a relatively short time or limited usage (“product obsolescence”). Early product obsolescence harms […]
The issue as framed by the petitioner, TransUnion, is whether "either Article III or Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 permits a damages class action when the vast majority of the class suffered no actual injury, let alone an injury anything like what the class representative suffered." More at SCOTUSblog.
Here. Excerpt: One reason there may have been so few consumer lawsuits is that it is difficult to prove exactly where and how a person got COVID, especially during a pandemic. And even in the rare case that a consumer can summon the needed proof, he or she would still have to show that the business did […]