Here. Excerpt: Wells Fargo’s opening of millions of phony accounts using the names of its customers was perhaps the most significant bank scandal to come to light since the financial crisis. But Hensarling’s Financial Choice Act, which passed the House Financial Services Committee, would have weakened federal regulators’ ability to publicize the scandal and punish […]
Category Archives: Arbitration
Here. The story reports that AT&T has nearly 150 million customers and that the eighteen claims were filed in the last two years. UPDATE: See comment by Gregory Gauthier below.
by Jeff Sovern It's for an arbitration symposium at Rutgers and is available for download here. I would love to hear comments! Here's the abstract: In September 2016, regulators charged Wells Fargo with opening millions of unauthorized accounts on behalf of its customers. When some of those customers filed class actions against Wells, the bank initially […]
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 […]
Here. The LA Times reports on the study in this story, headlined, Here's why Wells Fargo forces its customers into arbitration: It wins most of the time.
by Jeff Sovern More here. One panel is on the CFPB proposed arbitration rule (I'm on that one) and consumer arbitration; another is on FAA preemption and nursing home arbitration; a third is on ADR in practice.
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) […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]