Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship

Pomeranz Paper on Food Marketing

Jennifer L. Pomeranz of Temple's Department of Public Health has written Extending the Fantasy in the Supermarket: Where Unhealthy Food Promotions Meet Children and How the Government Can Intervene, 12 Indiana Health Law Review 117 (2012).  Here's the abstract: This paper summarizes research concerning the extent of in-store marketing of foods to children and the […]

Clarke & Zywicki Paper on Payday Lending and Bank Overdraft Protection

Robert L. Clarke of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP and Todd J. Zywicki of George Mason University (Zywicki notes in an "about the authors" that he is a former director of the FTC's Office of Policy Planning but omits his links to the industry) have written Payday Lending, Bank Overdraft Protection, and Fair Competition at the Consumer […]

Adam Levitin Article on Securitization and Title Issues

Adam J. Levitin of Georgetown has written The Paper Chase:  Securitization, Foreclosure, and the Uncertainty of Mortgage Title, 63 Duke Law Journal 637 (2013). Here is the abstract: The mortgage foreclosure crisis raises legal questions as important as its economic impact. Questions that were straightforward and uncontroversial a generation ago today threaten the stability of […]

Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy Issue on Consumer Protection

Here, with links to purchase the articles. The issue includes remarks from a program at the 2013 AALS Annual Meeting jointly sponsored by The Sections on Poverty Law and Clinical Legal Education, entitled  The Debt Crisis and the National Response: Big Changes or Tinkering at the Edges?  The list includes. The articles include: "Owner Finance! No Banks Needed!" […]

Cole Paper on the Federalization of Consumer Arbitration

Sarah Rudolph Cole of Ohio State haas written The Federalization of Consumer Arbitration: Possible Solutions.  Here is the abstract: Over the past fifteen to twenty years, businesses dramatically increased the use of arbitration clauses in contracts with consumers.  Although commentators criticize the use of arbitration to resolve consumer disputes because arbitration lacks the due process […]

Neil Sobol Article on Zombie-Debt Collectors

Neil L. Sobol of Texas A&M has written Protecting Consumers from Zombie-Debt Collectors, forthcoming in the New Mexico Law Review.  Here is the abstract: The debt-collection business is booming, led by a dramatic increase in the sale and collection of defaulted debts. Currently, debt buyers annually purchase more than $100 billion in the face value […]

Theresa Amato: Wrap Contracts Are Like Asbestos

On the Contracts Prof Blog, as part of a symposium on Nancy Kim's Wrap Contracts: Foundations and Ramifications (Oxford UP 2013). An excerpt: Like asbestos in its heyday, manufacturers and service providers use “wrap contracts” everywhere.  They have properties that facilitate commerce but that does not mean that they are not toxic and dangerous for those exposed to […]

James Cooper on the Meaning of Unfairness in the FTC Act

James C. Cooper of George Mason has written The Perils of Excessive Discretion: The Elusive Meaning of Unfairness in Section 5 of the FTC Act.  Here's the abstract: Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act gives the FTC an undefined mandate to prosecute "unfair methods of competition." For nearly 100 years, the Commission […]

Knapp Chapter on Unconscionability

Charles L. Knapp of Hastings has written Unconscionability in American Contract Law: A Twenty-First Century Survey.  Here's the abstract: The notion that a court tasked with enforcing a private agreement should be allowed  – or even, in some cases, required –  to withhold enforcement because of the unfairness of the agreement is not a new […]

Debate with Senator Vitter on the CFPB & Consumer Law in New Orleans

by Deepak Gupta If you'll be in New Orleans tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 15),  I hope you'll drop by the Hyatt French Quarter for the Louisiana Bar's consumer law seminar. Among other things, Professor Dalie Jimenez of the University of Connecticut (a former CFPB colleague) will discuss her research on debt buyers. At 4pm, you can watch […]