by Jeff Sovern One of my students told me about Tinder's new retroactive arbitration clause which, of course, includes a class action waiver. As with many such contracts, consumers accept it by using the service, regardless of whether they have read it or not–and we know few consumers actually read such things. The arbitration clause, […]
Category Archives: Class Actions
David Horton of California, Davis has written Clause Construction: A Glimpse into Judicial and Arbitral Decision-Making, Duke Law Journal, Vol. 68, Forthcoming. Here is the abstract: For decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has insisted that forcing a plaintiff to arbitrate — rather than allowing her to litigate — does not affect the outcome of a dispute. […]
by Jeff Sovern Some arbitration clauses permit consumers to opt out of arbitration and class action waivers provided the consumer acts within a stated period. For example, Asana provides in § 13.8 of its Terms of Service for a 30-day opt-out. Those wishing to opt out are instructed to send "written notice of your decision to opt […]
Here. The report is based on a statement by an unidentified White House aide. The signing is to take place tomorrow.
by Jeff Sovern . . . or it could come later in the week. Or not. My speculation is that the Senate leadership will call the vote if they think they have the votes to pass the resolution but otherwise they will let it go until closer to the deadline. So the real question is […]
by Jeff Sovern The article, by Kate Berry and Ian McKendry, is headlined Fight to kill CFPB arbitration rule could rest on whose data is right. Here's some of what the article says about the OCC claims, though the article has more than I can insert here. "The uncertainty of the OCC's estimate is very large, […]
by Jeff Sovern The story is headlined 'Plague on both your houses': Cordray, Noreika get scolding from statisticians. Excerpt: " * * * There isn’t strong evidence either way,” said Bruce Meyer, a professor at the University of Chicago. “There is weak evidence that says more than likely there is a positive effect on the cost […]
by Jeff Sovern The Wall Street Journal, in a story headlined Regulator Fight Flares Anew Over Arbitration Rule As GOP Gears Up To Vote, reports on the CFPB response to the Norieka op-ed I wrote about earlier: The CFPB countered Mr. Noreika’s attack by publishing a new report on the rule’s effect on consumers, arguing there […]
by Jeff Sovern Acting Comptroller of the Currency and former bank lawyer Keith Norieka has an op-ed in The Hill, Senate should vacate the harmful consumer banking arbitration rule, that is seriously flawed. I'm going to write about two of those flaws here. First, Norieka concludes by writing: Instead of mandating only one way to resolve […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Lots of irony in this one, as you can tell from the headline. A sample: Eighteen groups representing thousands of corporations and banks filed the lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last Friday in federal court in Dallas. Oddly, they did not attempt to individually resolve the dispute through an arbitration process, […]

