Guest post by Stephen Raher Each year, over 12 million people are released from jails and prisons in the United States. When this happens, the correctional facility often owes money to the person being released. This could be money that the person earned while incarcerated, gifts from family, or perhaps funds that a person had they were […]
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Two interesting pieces on this ever-pressing subject, one short and one long. The short one is from Nate Silver's incisive fivethirtyeight.com, where an article invites you in its title to "Meet The 80 People Who Are As Rich As Half The World." More interesting than the people on the list (some of whom you've surely […]
In an encouraging sign that courts are taking health and safety seriously in the neighborhood context, the D.C. Superior Court has issued an injunction against a man whose smoking fills his neighbors’ home with smoke, which has woken them up at night coughing and subjects their 18-month-old daughter to secondhand smoke, according to the nuisance […]
In the Credit CARD Act of 2009 Congress sought to tame what it viewed as excesses of the credit-card industry. Go here to view the Act's basic reforms. Since the law went into effect about five years ago, commentators and researchers have tried to assess its effectiveness. Read our prior posts on the topic here, here, here, here, […]
The Huffington Post reports today: Facing the prospect of imminent oversight by a newly created government regulator, the much-reviled payday loan industry’s lobbying machine surged into action. The campaign to blunt the power of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau included the usual monetary contributions to key lawmakers and hiring of well-connected lobbyists. But one little-known […]
The New York Times reports today on financial companies' use of forced arbitration provisions to eliminate servicemembers' rights. Over the years, Congress has given service members a number of protections — some dating to the Civil War — from repossessions and foreclosures. Efforts to maintain that special status for service members has run into resistance […]
by Steve Gardner On Friday the 13th, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion roundly rejecting almost every defense food companies use to try to avoid getting to the truth of the matter, in Reid v. Johnson & Johnson. The summary by court staff sets up the facts well: McNeil declared on Benecol’s label that the […]
This multi-part series is well worth a read. Here's a flavor from the summary: Debt collection horror stories are nothing new. But there's a whole other side to the industry that no one’s talking about: collectors hired by government agencies to hunt down debtors…. [G]overnment debt collectors are rarely held to the same consumer protection […]
Fair Warning reports today on online website selling used cars by matching buyers with car owners. Claiming not to be car "dealers," the sites do not necessarily comply with consumer protection rules that apply to traditional used car dealers. Read "Used Car Startups Do a Wheelie Around Consumer Protection Rules." Used Car Startups Do a […]