Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Senators Urge FTC To Examine Ad Fraud”

The Wall Street Journal reports: Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia and Chuck Schumer of New York plan to send a letter to the Federal Trade Commission [today] asking the regulatory body to examine the persistent challenge of fraudulent ads in online advertising. For the past several years, as the buying and selling of digital advertising […]

An Open Letter to John Oliver

Dear Mr Oliver: Your show, Last Week Tonight, has had several entertaining segments on consumer law issues, including debt buyers, credit reports, and student loans. But you're missing out on a consumer law subject that can be quite entertaining (unfortunately), even without your special touch. I refer to consumer disclosures.  Some of the aspects of […]

“More Than Ever, Banks Play the Role of Government Law-Enforcement Agents”

The Wall Street Journal reports that More than at any time in their history, banks are being asked to work hand-in-hand with the U.S. government, serving as deputized watchmen for suspicious activity. That has been happening to some extent since legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but banks’ responsibilities have steadily increased. […]

Federal government is exempt from TCPA ban on robocalls

The Hill reports: The entire federal government is exempt from consumer protection laws that limit unwanted robocalls, the Federal Communications Commission decided in a ruling issued Tuesday night.  While the Telephone Consumer Protection Act bars businesses from making numerous autodialed or prerecorded calls to a person’s cellphone—and similar telemarketing calls to a person’s home phone—the […]

NY Times reports on “onerous terms” used by state student loan program

by Julie Murray On Saturday the New York Times had this article about New Jersey’s student loan program, which has an outstanding loan portfolio of about $2 billion. Here’s an excerpt: The loans . . . carry higher interest rates than similar federal programs. Most significant, New Jersey’s loans come with a cudgel that even […]

Dayan’s Chain of Title

by Jeff Sovern I'm listening to the audio version of David Dayan's book Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud. A lot of it will be familiar to those who followed media reports of the foreclosure crisis and robo-signing, but having it all pulled together gives it considerable impact, and those who didn't […]

Feds issue emergency no-drive recommendation for some cars with defective Takata airbags

This National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) just said that some Hondas and Acuras equipped with defective Takata airbags are so dangerous that they shouldn't be driven until they are fixed. As this article explains: Federal regulators on Thursday issued an urgent warning to owners of more than 300,000 Hondas and Acuras, saying they should not drive their […]

Progress but not perfection in the Takata air bag recall

There's been a lot of publicity about the recalled defective Takata air bags, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been encouraging consumers to get their air bags fixed. (Under the law, recall repairs are free.) According to NHTSA, 8,867,284 Takata air bags have been fixed. That's a lot of air bags. And it's […]

107 Nobel prize winners slam Greenpeace for its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Why? Because the Nobel laureates believe that GMOs can advance human health and nutrition, and, they say, there's no evidence that GMOs hurt people. Read this article on the development by Joel Achenbach. Here are excerpts: More than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organismss. The letter asks Greenpeace to […]