Category Archives: Uncategorized

Pew Trust Mobile Payments Page Goes Live

Here, complete with a white paper from Mark Budnitz. Here are the first four paragraphs of that white paper: As the popularity of mobile payments grows, it becomes increasingly important to understand the legal framework in which these transactions take place. Consumers need to know their rights and responsibilities. They need to be alert to […]

Is the U.S. tradition of restaurant tipping fair (or unfair) to restaurant workers and consumers?

The issue has been getting attention recently and is the subject of The Case for Tipping and Unrestricted Tip-Pooling by law profs Samuel Estreicher and Jonathan Remy Nash. Here is the abstract: Going against the well-established tipping norm in the United States, a growing number of restaurant owners are moving to ban tipping, and instead raise prices, […]

A call for additional regulation, including federal regulation, of structured settlements

Alexander Ash has written It’s Your Money and We Want It Now: Regulation of the Structured Settlement Factoring Industry in the Era of Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here is the abstract: Calls for reform in the structured settlement factoring industry have recently grown louder across the nation. However, those calls ring hollow and […]

Delays on railroad safety

The Post reported last week: Three of the biggest freight railroads operating in the U.S. have told the government they won’t meet a 2018 deadline to start using safety technology intended to prevent accidents like the deadly derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia last May. Several other railroads are reporting the same. The technology […]

On the health of the unemployment system

From FiveThirtyEight, a fascinating look at the nation's unemployment system, here. Comparing the health of state unemployment systems now against their positions prior to the 2008 financial collapse, the article argues that these systems have not recovered adequately to meet the needs of the next recession. What will that mean? "[U]nderfunded unemployment systems can have […]

Unequal Justice Under The Law.

Gary Neustadter, of Santa Clara University School of Law, recently published an interesting empirical look at how similar legal proceedings are dealt with at the trial court level. “Randomly Distributed Trial Court Justice: A Case Study and Siren from the Consumer Bankruptcy World,” examines how virtually identical legal claims can result in randomly distributed justice. […]

Supreme Court puts EPA’s carbon reduction program on hold

The Post explains: The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a key part of President Obama’s ambitious proposal to limit carbon emissions and reduce global warming while the plan is challenged. . . . The court’s decision does not address the merits of the challenge but indicates justices think the states have raised serious questions. The […]

CFPB presses banks to offer small-dollar loans

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, preparing to roll out rules​aimed at reining in high-interest payday loans, is jawboning banks and credit unions to provide better alternatives for borrowers in need of small, short-term loans. Richard Cordray, director of the watchdog agency, said it is discussing ways to make it easier for […]

‘A very pro-consumer’ reform could make minimum sizes for airline seats a real thing

The Washington Post reports: Congress is considering a freeze on the airline industry’s shrinking coach seats, an unprecedented move that could lead to a more comfortable and humane flying experience. A proposed amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill would direct the federal government to set minimum seat-size standards for the first time, […]