CFPB issues proposed rule on forced arbitration clauses that ban class actions

The CFPB has just released its much-awaited proposed rule on forced arbitration clauses — arguably the single biggest step the Bureau can take to level the playing field for American consumers.  If adopted after notice-and-comment, the CFPB's new rule would prohibit forced arbitration clauses that prevent consumers from banding together to hold companies accountable in court, […]

The second part of the New York Times series on forced arbitration

The second installment of the blockbuster New York Times series on forced arbitration is here. The headline is "In Arbitration, a 'Privatization of the Justice System.'" Whereas the first installment was focused on the macro effects — how the Supreme Court's rulings have resulted in a massive suppression of claims by consumers and employees — this […]

New York Times does a deep dive into the rise of forced arbitration

Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times have a must-read story today, the first of several, on the rise of forced arbitration: "Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice." The piece weaves together the history of the silent legal coup achieved by the Chamber and the Roberts Court with stories of the […]

D.C. Circuit holds Texas bank has standing to challenge CFPB’s constitutionality

Just one day after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focusing on the constitutional challenge to the CFPB in State National Bank of Big Spring v. Lew, the D.C. Circuit has issued an opinion allowing that challenge to go forward on the merits and reversing the district court's dismissal on standing grounds. I testified in defense […]

Senate hearing on constitutionality of CFPB and Dodd-Frank

This afternoon (at 2pm), I'll be testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Dodd Frank Act. The title for today's hearing gives you a flavor of the sweeping (and fringe) legal theories being advanced by the CFPB's opponents: "The Administrative State v. The Constitution: Dodd-Frank […]

President Announces New Military Lending and Arbitration Rules at Event in Pittsburgh

Today is an important milestone week for federal consumer protection policy–the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank and the fourth anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Right now, President Obama, speaking at a VFW hall in Pittsburgh, is announcing another important milestone: new protections for servicemembers against the worst abuses by predatory lenders in the form […]

Scholars show support for Dodd-Frank’s too-big-to-fail authority

by Deepak Gupta One of the most important but under-appreciated features of the Dodd-Frank Act was its establishment of the Financial Stability Oversight Council—a new entity with a clear statutory mandate to identify and respond to systemic risks to the entire U.S. economy. The authority was inspired by the failures of entities like the insurance […]

Watch the CFPB’s Payday Lending Hearing

The CFPB's field hearing on payday lending is underway, and is being livestreamed at the Bureau's website. Watch it here.

Fitzpatrick article on “The End of Class Actions?”

Prolific class action scholar (and former Scalia clerk) Brian Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt Law has just posted to SSRN an interesting new paper foreseeing and lamenting the effects of his former boss's handiwork in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion and American Express v. Italian Colors (both cases in which I had the privilege of representing the losing […]