Today the Supreme Court granted cert. in Sheriff v. Gillie, an FDCPA case out of the Sixth Circuit. As described by the court of appeals: Plaintiffs brought this action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., alleging that Defendants utilized a deceptive, misleading, or false representation or means […]
Author Archives: Scott Michelman
A project of the Change to Win labor federation called "Calling Out T-Mobile," is doing just that in a new report and website. The focus, as explained on the site: The Un-Carrier marketing platform makes two central claims that are misleading: T-Mobile claims to offer service plans with “No Annual Contract”. T-Mobile say it pays consumers’ […]
Amidst the debate over the TPP, the WTO this week showed us how much power trade deals can confer on international bodies to interfere with national legislation. Specifically, the WTO has ruled that Canada and Mexico can impose $1 billion worth of tariffs because of a U.S. regulation, in place since 2009, requiring country-of-origin labels (COOL) […]
The NYT reports today on revelations by senior Volkswagen officials about when and why the company decided to design their cars to trick U.S. emissions tests. For a refresher, see our first discussion of the scandal here. Here's today's NYT piece.
Last week, the Ninth Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment to Ford in a class action seeking damages for a latent defect in the Ford Focus's rear suspension from 2005 to 2011. The defect allegedly causes "premature tire wear, which in turn leads to safety hazards such as decreased control in handling, steering, stability, and braking, […]
From our press release: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s postponement to July 2016 of a significant patient safety rule leaves open a safety gap for the millions of patients who take generic medications, Public Citizen said today. The agency proposed the rule in 2013 in response to a 2011 Public Citizen petition (PDF). […]
December 4, 2015 (Blog) Protecting Consumers from Bad Medicine December 1, 2015 Dietary Supplement Manufacturer Pleads Guilty to Criminal Contempt of Court
NBC News reported last week: Target Corp. has agreed to pay $39.4 million to resolve claims by banks and credit unions that said they lost money because of the retailer's late 2013 data breach. The preliminary settlement filed on Wednesday resolves class-action claims by lenders seeking to hold Target responsible for their costs to reimburse […]
NPR discusses what's at stake in the latest court battle over net neutrality, in which the D.C. Circuit heard argument Friday. Last Feburary, the FCC redefined its role in regulating the internet; this lawsuit is the telecom companies' challenge to the FCC's action. For our discussion of the last D.C. Circuit decision on net neutrality, go here.
An excellent story about the intersection of race and financial insecurity, and the ripple effects of widespread debt collection focused in a single community. Click here for the story (or the entire hour episode from last week, on various subjects, is great listening if you have the time).