by Jeff Sovern The CFPB Monitor blog has a post titled Industry trade groups urge OMB not to approve CFPB arbitration telephone survey about a filing by the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable. They "strongly recommend that OMB not approve the proposal because it will not produce information of practical utility […]
Category Archives: Class Actions
Co-blogger Paul Bland, the new Executive Director of Public Justice, was recently interviewed by Media Matters. In an engaging interview in his office Paul discusses his singular career as a champion for consumer rights, the importance of class actions as a means of challenging corporate wrondoing, and the pro-corporate bent of the Roberts Court. It's a […]
by Stephen Gardner The Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumer Advocates adopted the Third Edition of its Standards and Guidelines for Litigating and Settling Class Actions on May 13 (Download here), continuing a tradition of setting high standards for the ways consumer class actions are handled that began with the first Guidelines adopted in […]
Jay Tidmarsh of Notre Dame has written Auctioning Class Settlements, forthcoming in the William & Mary Law Review. Here's the abstract: Although they promise better deterrence at a lower cost, class actions are infected with problems that can keep them from delivering on this promise. One of these problems occurs when the agents for the […]
For years now, some have argued that if substantive due process prohibits disproportionately large punitive damages awards against major corporations, it also should stop courts from enforcing excessive contract damages against consumers. See Seana Valentine Shiffrin, Are Credit Card Late Fees Unconstitutional?, 15 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 457, 460 (2006). Two Ninth Circuit judges […]
I recently discussed the Ninth Circuit appeal in Cabral v. Supple, a fascinating case about consumer fraud class actions, infomercials, snake oil, the placebo effect, and behavioral economics. Our opening brief was filed last week. Yesterday, three organizations filed amicus briefs supporting us: AARP focused on the effect of marketing techniques aimed at making false health-benefit claims to […]
by Deepak Gupta Should a defendant in a consumer fraud class action be able to defeat certification through evidence that its customers say they are "satisfied," even when the the allegation is that the product is snake oil? Or would that transform the placebo effect into a defense to fraud? That's the question the Ninth […]
by Jeff Sovern Some of my students tell me they have received the following class action notice: IF YOU RECEIVED A CALL THROUGH THE USE OF AN AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE DIALING SYSTEM AND/OR A PRERECORDED VOICE FROM DISCOVER TO YOUR CELLULAR TELEPHONE BETWEEN NOVEMBER 30, 2007 AND SEPTEMBER 10, 2013, THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES YOUR RIGHTS IN […]
by Deepak Gupta In a much-anticipated decision, the Fifth Circuit held today that the National Labor Relations Board overstepped its authority when it ruled that an employer violated federal labor law by requiring its employees to sign an arbitration agreement containing a class-action ban. Judge Leslie Southwick, joined by Judge King, isssued the opinion for the court. Here's […]
by Deepak Gupta In a 70-page opinion by Justice Goodwin Liu, the California Supreme Court on Thursday issued its eagerly anticipated decision in Sonic-Calabasas v. Moreno. Addressing the impact of both AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion and American Express v. Italian Colors for the first time, the court makes clear that unconscionability — focused on whether […]