by Jeff Sovern As the American Banker's Kate Berry reported (behind a paywall but available on Lexis), the CFPB's Spring Regulatory Agenda has been posted to the OMB's web site, rather than, as has been the Bureau's practice, the CFPB web site. Here it is: Prerule stage – Consumer Access to Financial Records, 3170-AA78 Proposed […]
Category Archives: Arbitration
by Jeff Sovern I am grateful to Alan Kaplinsky for commenting on two of my earlier posts, Whither Arbitration Regulation? and Why the CFPB is right that it can act against discrimination using its unfairness power. One of Alan’s posts is titled Why the CFPB’s expansion of its UDAAP authority to target discrimination requires rulemaking. In the other […]
by Jeff Sovern Every six months, the CFPB director testifies before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. Each committee member gets five minutes to question the director, a process that collectively takes hours and this last time covered a wide variety of topics, including topics over which the CFPB lacks power, […]
by Jeff Sovern Probably my favorite podcast is Ballard Spahr's Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast. I learn a tremendous amount from it. Yes, it favors the industry view, as it is certainly entitled to do, but many episodes are devoted to interviewing consumer advocates as well. If you don't listen to it, and you like this […]
by Jeff Sovern The Chamber of Commerce has released a study about arbitration. I paste in immediately below the relevant portion of the press release, and then I identify some methodological issues with the study. A new study released today by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform found that consumers and employees […]
by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on consumer arbitration clauses. The consumer side was ably represented by Paul Bland, Myriam Gilles, and Remington Gregg. I want to say something about the arguments put forth at the hearing by Senator Toomey and Professor Todd Zywicki. Professor Toomey argued that […]
Amy J. Schmitz of Ohio State has written Will the United States Remain Exceptional in Enforcing Predispute Arbitration Clauses in Consumer Contexts? MARC. Revista de Medios Alternativos de Resolución de Conflictos, no 2, 34-39 (August 2021) at Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Here’s the abstract: American exceptionalism” has been used to reference the […]
by Jeff Sovern Bloomberg reports that the House will vote this month on the FAIR Act, a bill to bar arbitration clauses in consumer and employment contracts. The House last passed a similar bill in 2019. The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on arbitration Tuesday. The stumbling block to congressional action remains the […]
David Horton of California, Davis has written Forced Remote Arbitration, 108 Cornell Law Review (2022). Here’s the abstract: Courts responded to COVID-19 by going remote. In early 2020, as lockdown orders swept through the country, virtual hearings—which once were rare—became common. This shift generated fierce debate about how video trials differ from in-person proceedings. Now, […]
The effort was led by Berkeley's Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice and resulted in production of a series of short memoranda available here. Topics covered include discrimination, arbitration, income share agreements, BNPL, substitution effects of regulation, disclosures, overdraft protections, and more.