Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship

Klonoff: A Respite from the Decline in Class Actions

Robert H. Klonoff of Lewis & Clark has written Class Actions Part II: A Respite from the Decline.  Here is the abstract: In a 2013 article, I explained that the Supreme Court and federal circuits had cut back significantly on plaintiffs' ability to bring class actions. As I explain in the present article, that trend […]

Joshua Wright: Federalism and the Rise of State Consumer Protection Laws

Former FTC Commissioner Joshua D. Wright of George Mason has written Federalism and the Rise of State Consumer Protection Law in the United States, in The Law and Economics of Federalism, Jonathan Klick, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, Forthcoming. Here's the abstract: Starting in the 1960s, individual states began to adopt and enforce Consumer Protection Acts […]

Paul Bland: The Swamp on Steroids: Trump’s Plan to Repeal Dodd-Frank Will Enable Corruption

Here.  The whole piece is worth reading, but here's an excerpt: Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign was filled with a lot of bold talk about “draining the swamp” and fighting against lobbyists. He attacked Hillary Clinton for her supposed cozy relationship with banks, and talked about how he’d stand up to Wall Street on behalf of the […]

Kathleen Engel Article: Local Governments and Risky Home Loans

Just in time for the Supreme Court's oral argument on Tuesday in Wells Fargo v. Miami, Suffolk's Kathleen Engel, an important thinker on consumer law, has written Local Governments and Risky Home Loans, 69 Southern Methodist University Law Review 609.  Here is the abstract: Municipalities from the Central Valley in California to Upstate New York bear the […]

Sebok Article: The Unwritten Federal Arbitration Act

Anthony J. Sebok of Cardozo has written The Unwritten Federal Arbitration Act, 65 DePaul Law Review (2016).  Here's the abstract: Justice Scalia’s opinion in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion presented a new challenge to lawyers and scholars concerned with the unbridled growth of mandatory consumer arbitration. Not only did the decision continue to expand the scope […]

Odinet & White Paper on the CFPB’s Proposed Debt Collection Rules

Christopher K. Odinet and Roederick C. White Sr., both of the Southern University Law Center, have written Regulating Debt Collection, Review of Banking and Financial Law, 2017 (Forthcoming).  Here is the abstract: Debt collection. It often starts as a late night call carrying threats of being thrown in prison, ruin at the workplace, and trouble […]

Richard Marcus Article: Optimism about Class Actions in the 21st Century

Richard Marcus of Hastings has written Bending in the Breeze: American Class Actions in the Twenty-First Century, 65 DePaul Law Review (2016). Here's the abstract:: It is always better to have the breeze at your back, but that surely has not recently been the case for class action proponents. At the risk of overstating, there is […]

Jim Hawkins Article: Exploiting Advertising

Jim Hawkins of Houston has written Exploiting Advertising, Law and Contemporary Problems, Forthcoming.  Here's the abstract: Advertising’s goal, we all know, is to cause people to spend more money. Often, it exploits bad decision-making to accomplish it. This Article hopes to turn the tables and offer a way for policymakers to exploit the information presented […]

Study Explores Consumer Confusion About Native Advertising

David A. Hyman of Illinois, David J. Franklyn of San Francisco, Calla E. Yee, and Mohammad Hossein Rahmati of Sharif University of Technology have written Going Native: Can Consumers Recognize Native Advertising? Does it Matter?  Here's the abstract: Native advertising, which matches the look and feel of unpaid news and editorials, has exploded online. The Federal […]

Newman Paper: Free Things Aren’t

John M. Newman of Memphis has written The Myth of Free.  Here's the abstract: Myths matter. This Article is the first to squarely confront a powerful myth that pervades modern economic, technological, and legal discourse: the Myth of Free. The prevailing view is that consumers capture massive welfare surplus from an ever-rising flood of innovative […]