Category Archives: Consumer Litigation

Empirical Study of Third Party Consumer Litigation Funding

Ronen Avraham of Tel Aviv University – Tel Aviv University, Buchmann Faculty of Law and Texas and Anthony J. Sebok of Cardozo have written An Empirical Investigation of Third Party Consumer Litigation Funding, 104 Cornell Law Review __ (2018).  Here is the abstract: This is the first large-scale empirical study of consumer third-party litigation funding in the […]

A Comment on the Second Circuit’s Arias FDCPA Decision

by Jeff Sovern I am very late to this particular party, but back in November, the Second Circuit decided ARIAS v. GUTMAN, MINTZ, BAKER & SONNENFELDT LLP, an important FDCPA case dealing with a collector-law firm's attempt to collect funds that were exempt from collection. After the firm froze the money in the consumer's bank account, the […]

LA Times Report on Hearing on PI Motion in English v. Mulvaney, the CFPB Leadership Case

The story is headlined Trump's Wells Fargo tweet cited in court hearing as reason to remove Mulvaney as CFPB acting chief.  The tweet said Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo Bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped, as has incorrectly been reported, but will be pursued and, if anything, […]

District Court Hearing on Friday on English PI Motion for Control of CFPB as White House and Treasury are Said to Fight Over the Bureau’s Role

The American Banker''s Kate Berry has a report on the hearing here; it is not optimistic about English's chances. Meanwhile, the WSJ has a story headlined The Internal Divide Behind Trump’s Takeover of Consumer Watchdog about how White House conservatives want to dismantle the Bureau while the Treasury sees a role for the Bureau. Mulvaney's appointment is seen […]

Ninth Circuit affirms cy pres-only settlement in In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation

Before jumping into my first post, I wanted to quickly introduce myself. I'm Mike Landis, Litigation Director for U.S. PIRG. (Obligatory disclaimer: my posts express my individual views only and not those of U.S. PIRG.) I've been a reader of this blog for sometime, and I'm excited to now participate as a contributor. My goal […]

Review of 2012 Class Actions Reported in Law360 Finds Benefits to Consumers

Gary E. Mason of Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP has written The Proper Measure Of The Value Of Class Actions for Law360.  Excerpt: Of the 118 cases initiated in 2012, 102 (or nearly 90 percent) had reached a final resolution by May 1, 2017, the date on which our study closed. Twenty-three of those cases (or […]

Arbel Article Proposes that Administrative Agencies Sanction Filing of Baseless Claims Filed Against Consumers

Yonathan A. Arbel of Alabama has written Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts, Vanderbilt Law Review, Forthcoming.  Here's the abstract: Large companies and debt collectors frequently file unmeritorious claims against consumers. Recent high-profile actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against JP Morgan, Citibank, and large debt collectors illustrate the breadth and importance of this phenomenon. Due to […]

Want to Know How Many Enforcement Actions the CFPB Has Brought in a Particular State or of a Particular Type?

by Jeff Sovern Then take a look at the Consumer Bureau Action Tracker created by Allied Progress.  For example, the CFPB has brought 95 enforcement actions affecting Texas, home state of CFPB critic and House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling. Or if you want to know how many debt collection enforcement actions the Bureau has brought, […]