Category Archives: Uncategorized

Recent announcements of DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch

February 2, 2017 – New York Salesman Sentenced to Prison for Fraudulently Selling Vending Machine Businesses February 1, 2017 – United States Files Enforcement Action Against Florida Company and Senior Managers to Stop the Adulteration and Misbranding of Medicated Animal Feeds January 31, 2017 – Three Individuals Arrested and Charged in South Dakota Fraudulent Medical […]

Public Interest Groups Sue FTC Over Unrepaired Recalls in Certified Cars

The petition for review, filed in the DC Circuit, is here. Press release here. Excerpt from the press release: “We’re optimistic that the Court will rein in the FTC’s dangerous and irresponsible abuse of its authority. Instead of protecting consumers, the FTC is protecting unscrupulous auto dealers who engage in false and deceptive advertising about […]

Paul Krugman on the “fiduciary rule”

In the New York Times today, Paul Krugman discusses the "fiduciary rule" that the President last week ordered the Department of Labor to "reconsider." Last week Mr. Trump released a memorandum calling on the Department of Labor to reconsider its new “fiduciary rule,” which requires financial advisers to act in their clients’ best interests — […]

What the FDA might look like under Donald Trump (and the new Congress)

This article by Melody Peterson explains that a Trump Administration, with the agreement of Congress, may expand a trend in which the Food and Drug Administration cares less about certain drugs' effectiveness than it used to. Here's an excerpt concerning the views of someone Trump is considering to lead the FDA: One of Trump’s possible selections […]

Key litigation docs in State of Washington v. Donald Trump

This blog is focused on consumer policy, but I figured that some of our readers may be interested in having ready access to the key litigation documents in Washington State's case against the president over the travel ban. So, here is the the State of Washington's complaint, the State of Washington's request for a temporary restraining […]

Ben-Shahar & Strahilevitz Propose that Contracts be Interpreted Based on Surveys

Omri Ben-Shahar and Lior Strahilevitz, both of Chicago, have written Interpreting Contracts via Surveys and Experiments.  Here's the abstract: Interpreting the language of contracts is the most common and least satisfactory task courts perform in contract disputes. This article proposes to take much of this task out of the hands of lawyers and judges, entrusting […]

Trump orders review of Dodd-Frank regulations

Read about it in this article by Jim Puzzanghera and Michael Memoli. An excerpt: At a White House meeting with top corporate chief executives, including Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan& Co., Trump said Friday that major reductions in financial regulations were coming. *** After the CEO meeting, Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury secretary to consult with regulators […]

Eighth Circuit limits appeal bonds in class action settlement appeals

In In re Target Corp Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, No. 15-3909 (Feb. 1, 2017), the Eighth Circuit reversed a district court's approval of a class-action settlement because of its unreasoned class certification, which the court of appeals said "was the product of summary conclusion rather than rigor." More importantly to my mind, the Eighth Circuit […]