Here. Deepak Gupta is counsel. Here's the Introduction and Summary of the Argument: The Constitution requires public accountability for government agencies but does not prescribe how it must be achieved. It can be achieved in a variety of ways through agency design, and indeed, there is tremendous variation in agency structure. Public accountability can also […]
Category Archives: Consumer Litigation
Here. More than half the class members have submitted claims. Claimants are expected to recoup 80% of what they spent. The article attributes the high participation rate to the publicity the case garnered as well as the amounts individual claimants have at issue, as much as $20,000.
by Jeff Sovern The Department of Justice has now filed its brief in PHH, arguing that the CFPB as created by the Dodd-Frank Act was unconstitutional because the statute did not give the president the power to fire the Bureau's director without cause, and that the appropriate remedy is the one selected by the original […]
At SCOTUS blog. The headline: Justices appear divided over treatment of stale claims in consumer bankruptcies
Todd J. Zywicki of George Mason, and Geoffrey A. Manne and Kristian Stout, both of the International Center for Law and Economics, have written Behavioral Law & Economics Goes to Court: The Fundamental Flaws in the Behavioral Law & Economics Arguments Against No-Surcharge Laws. Here is the abstract: During the past decade, academics — predominantly […]
by Jeff Sovern Tomorrow, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the Wells Fargo unauthorized accounts fiasco. The first witness will be Wells' Chairman and CEO, John G. Stumpf. I hope some Senator asks Mr. Stumpf about the Wells Fargo arbitration clause. Some class actions have already been filed against Wells, and Wells' […]
SCOTUSBLOG coverage here and here. Reuters reports here. The Reuters lead reads: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether Miami can pursue lawsuits accusing major banks of predatory mortgage lending to black and Hispanic home buyers resulting in loan defaults that drove down city tax revenues and property values." HousingWire has more […]
Elizabeth Chamblee Burch of Georgia and Margaret S. Williams of the Federal Judicial Center have written Repeat Players in Multidistrict Litigation: The Social Network. Here's the abstract: To promote pretrial efficiency, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has transferred 36 percent of the entire federal courts’ civil caseload to transferee judges for coordinated handling. Transferee […]
The second installment of the blockbuster New York Times series on forced arbitration is here. The headline is "In Arbitration, a 'Privatization of the Justice System.'" Whereas the first installment was focused on the macro effects — how the Supreme Court's rulings have resulted in a massive suppression of claims by consumers and employees — this […]
by Deepak Gupta One of the most important but under-appreciated features of the Dodd-Frank Act was its establishment of the Financial Stability Oversight Council—a new entity with a clear statutory mandate to identify and respond to systemic risks to the entire U.S. economy. The authority was inspired by the failures of entities like the insurance […]