David Horton and Andrea Cann Chandrasekher both of California, Davis, have written After the Revolution: An Empirical Study of Consumer Arbitration, 104 Georgetown Law Journal (Forthcoming 2015). Here's the abstract: For decades, mandatory consumer arbitration has been ground zero in the war between the business community and the plaintiffs’ bar. Some courts, scholars, and interest […]
Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship
William J. Woodward Jr.of Santa Clara has written Contraps, 66 Hastings Law Journal (2015). Here is the abstract: Forms that purport to govern consumer transactions are a central component of our modern consumer economy. They are routinely enforced because consumers are said to “manifest assent” to them, despite the fact that they are not read […]
by Jeff Sovern Some years ago, I wrote an article in which I speculated that disclosing to consumers that consumers rarely redeem rebates might cause consumers to disregard rebate offers. Better-known scholars, like Ian Ayres and Oren Bar-Gill, have expressed similar thoughts. Well, a new study suggests that the contrary is true. Molly Mercer of DePaul's […]
Lauren E. Willis of Loyola Los Angeles has written what looks like another important article, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Quest for Consumer Comprehension. Here is the abstract: To ensure that consumers “understand [financial products’] costs, benefits, and risks,” the CFPB has been redesigning mandated disclosures, primarily through iterative lab testing. But no […]
Dennis D. Hirsch of Capital has written That's Unfair! Or Is It? Big Data, Discrimination and the FTC's Unfairness Authority, 103 Kentucky Law Journal (2015). Here is the abstract: Big data and data analytics (“big data”) can produce many social and economic benefits. But they can also generate privacy injuries and harmful discrimination. The governance of […]
Jason Scott Johnston of Virginia has written Do Product Bans Help Consumers? Questioning the Economic Foundations of Dodd-Frank Mortgage Regulation. Here is the abstract: The system of residential mortgage contact regulation enacted by the 2010 Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 has been justified as necessary to prevent lenders from […]
Jim Hawkins of Houston has asked me to post the following: The AALS Section on Commercial and Related Consumer Law is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for its program co-sponsored by the Section on Women in Legal Education during the AALS 2016 Annual Meeting. The papers from the program will be published in […]
Joanna C. Schwartz of UCLA has written The Cost of Suing Business, forthcoming in the DePaul Law Review. Here's the abstract: To listen to the Chamber of Commerce, one would think that class actions are the most significant scourge on business ever conjured up by man. In brief after brief to the Supreme Court, the […]
Nathalie Martin of New Mexico has written Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: What We Can Learn from the Banking and Credit Habits of Undocumented Immigrants. Here's the abstract: Undocumented immigrants currently make up more than 5% of the U.S. labor force and 7% of school-age children. Numbering over eleven million, undocumented immigrants unquestionably comprise […]
Shauhin A. Talesh of Irvine has written Institutional and Political Sources of Legislative Change: Explaining How Private Organizations Influence the Form and Content of Consumer Protection Legislation, 39 Law and Social Inquiry 973 (2014 ). Here's the abstract: This article explores how private organizations influence the content and meaning of consumer protection legislation. I examine […]