Category Archives: Arbitration

House Financial Services Committee Reported Set to Markup Financial Choice Act Next Week

by Jeff Sovern So CNNMoney reports here. The Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow; the witness list appears here.  Seems pretty rushed for a 600-page bill that would make major changes in financial regulation, including changing the structure of the CFPB, eliminating its power to prohibit unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices, abrogating its power to […]

Stephen Ware Article Takes On Current (Conservative) Arbitration Law

Stephen J. Ware of Kansas has written The Centrist Case Against Current (Conservative) Arbitration Law, 68 Florida Law Review  (2016). Here is the abstract: In The Politics of Arbitration Law and Centrist Proposals for Reform, I explained how issues surrounding consumer and other adhesive arbitration agreements became divisive along predictable political lines (progressives vs. conservatives) […]

Horton Article: Arbitration About Arbitration

David Horton of California, Davis has written Arbitration About Arbitration Stanford Law Review, Vol. 70, (2017 Forthcoming).  Here is the abstract: Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) has nearly eliminated consumer and employment class actions, sparking vigorous debate. Yet another important development in federal arbitration law has received less […]

Center for American Progress: Senators Must Ask Gorsuch If He Will Force Americans into Arbitration

Here.  The essay reviews Judge Gorsuch's arbitration decisions. Here's an excerpt: Senators must press Judge Gorsuch on arbitration during his hearing next week. If he does believe that limits on the FAA’s “heavy hand” exist [as Judge Gorsuch indicated in an opinion], he should be willing to define and describe them. Otherwise, more and more […]

NerdWallet Article Explores What CFPB Has Done to Help Consumers

Brad Wolverton's article, Your Wallet Will Suffer If This Agency Is Gutted, is an excellent roundup of the Bureau's accomplishments that cuts across a variety of areas, including student loans, credit cards, debt collection, mortgages, payday loans, credit reporting agencies, auto lending, consumer complaints, military protections, and arbitration. Excerpt: Collectively, for every $1 in federal spending on […]

Nehf Article on Arbitration’s Impact on the Common Law’s Regulation of Standard Terms in Consumer Contracts

James P. Nehf of Indiana has written The Impact of Mandatory Arbitration on the Common Law Regulation of Standard Terms in Consumer Contracts, 85 Geo. Wash. Law Review (2017). Here is the abstract: The focus of this paper is the regulation of standard terms in consumer contracts at common law, i.e., judges deciding cases in […]

Bloomberg’s Gregory Roberts: CFPB’s Assault on Arbitration Stuck Between Rock, Hard Place

Here.  Excerpt: Any move by the CFPB to adopt a final version of its rule would almost certainly prompt Republican lawmakers to overturn it, with a long-term chilling effect on future regulation of the clauses used by banks and other financial services providers. But if the CFPB does not put out a final rule before […]