by Jeff Sovern My co-author, Dee Pridgen of Wyoming, has written an important and disturbing account of attempts by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to dismantle a fundamental device to protect consumers: the private UDAP claim. Readers of this blog will find her article, Wrecking Ball Disguised as Law Reform: ALEC's Model Act on […]
Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship
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 […]
Timothy E. Goldsmith of New Mexico's Psychology Department and Nathalie Martin at New Mexico's Law School have written Interest Rate Caps, State Legislation, and Public Opinion: Does the Law Reflect the Public's Desires? 89 Chicago-Kent Law Review (2014). Here's the abstract: In scholarly circles, debates about the benefits and burdens of high-costs lending are prevalent, […]
Paul Harrison, Marta Massi & Kathryn Chalmers have written Beyond Door-to-Door: The Implications of Invited In-Home Selling, 48 J. Consumer Affairs 195 (2014). Here is the abstract: Over the past 20 years, consumer groups and policymakers have expressed concerns about the high-pressure selling techniques used during in-home selling, often highlighting the distinction between typical door-to-door […]
J Michael Collins has written Protecting Mortgage Borrowers through Risk Awareness: Evidence from Variations in State Laws, 48 J. Consumer Affairs 124 (2014). Here is the abstract: In the wake of historic levels of mortgage defaults, regulators have debated how to regulate certain high-risk loans because of the risks of foreclosure involved. This study examines […]
by Jeff Sovern The Journal of Consumer Affairs published my paper, Fixing Consumer Protection Laws So Borrowers Understand Their Payment Obligations, 48 Journal Consumer Affairs 17 (2014). Here is the abstract: The millions of consumers who defaulted on their mortgages in recent years should all have received disclosures mandated by the federal Truth in Lending […]
Larry Kirsch, Roert N. Mayer and Norman I. Silber of Hofstra have authored, The CFPB and Payday Lending: New Agency/Old Problem, 48 Journal of Consumer Affairs 1 (2014). Here's the abstract: The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 brings nonbank payday lenders under federal regulation for the first time. The question of precisely how to regulate the payday […]
Joshua Mitts of Sullivan & Cromwell has written How Effective is Mandatory Disclosure? Here's the abstract: Mandatory disclosure lies at the cornerstone of consumer protection law but its efficacy is unclear. I conduct one of the first online experiments on mandatory disclosure by evaluating a recent proposal to warn consumers of unexpected, unfavorable terms. To […]
Bruce Wardhaugh of the School of Law–Queen's University Belfast haas written Unveiling Fairness for the Consumer: The Law, Economics and Justice of Expanded Arbitration, forthcoming in the Loyola Consumer Law Review. Here is the abstract: In recent years, the US Supreme Court has rather controversially extended the ambit of the Federal Arbitration Act to extend […]
Peter A. Holland of Maryland has written Junk Justice: A Statistical Analysis of 4,400 Lawsuits Filed by Debt Buyers, 26 Loyola Consumer Law Reporter 179 (2014). Here's the abstract: Debt buyers have flooded courts nationwide with collection lawsuits against consumers. This article reports the findings from the broadest in-depth study of debt buyer litigation outcomes […]