The Federal Trade Commission announced its annual summary of activity enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: Over the past year, the Federal Trade Commission has continued its vigorous work on behalf of U.S. consumers suffering from unlawful debt collection practices, including bringing law enforcement actions against abusive and fraudulent operations, conducting education and public […]
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Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released "a report highlighting the top complaints for reverse mortgages. According to the report, consumers are frustrated with their loan terms, servicer runarounds, and foreclosure problems. To help consumers who already have a reverse mortgage, the CFPB [also issued] an advisory with tips on how to plan ahead to […]
A beer enthusiast blog carries a great open letter from a small microbrew company called Old Ox Brewery, responding to a trademark opposition claiming that because an ox and a bull are both bovines, indeed an ox is a castrated bull, consumers could be confused about whether Red Bull is somehow associated with Old Ox. […]
Two weeks ago, we told you about a lawsuit challenging a Georgia county's practice of imprisoning individuals who could not pay court fees. Now, another lawsuit has been filed in the same vein. The location happens to be Ferguson, Mo., which in 2013 "collected $2.6 million in court fines and fees, mainly on traffic violations […]
Yesterday, a federal court in Arkansas issued an opinion that misinterprets federal food labeling law, preemption law, and the use of logic. The case is Craig v. Twinings North America, Inc. Download Opinion Craig v. Twinings Doc 29. Twinings claimed that its tea was a “natural source” of antioxidants. The plaintiff alleged (but I have […]
by Jeff Sovern So MSNBC reports here. Here's a quote: Tillis replied: “I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of [the hand-washing] policy as long as they post a sign that says ‘We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom.’” Instead, Tillis believes that […]
Business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce are pushing the Federal Communications Commission to loosen standards under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — the law that bars unwanted telemarketing calls and junk faxes. If the groups are successful, the result, say consumer advocates, would be more robocalls calls coupled with more difficultly suing for […]
The Washington Post has two articles today about regulation (or lack of regulation) of sharing services like Uber and Airbnb. In an article entitled "Uber might actually want regulation. Here’s why," the Post reports: Though they are loath to admit it, ridesharing outfits like Uber and Lyft have profited in no small part from dodging […]
When Congress, as part of a government-funding deal during the lame-duck session in 2014, repealed a key provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill, it removed an important protection against the consolidation of power in too-big-to-fail financial entities. What, precisely, did it do? Professor Mark Roe of Harvard Law (who, incidentally, taught my […]
Today, major credit rating agency Standard and Poor's agreed to pay almost $1.4 billion to settle a suit filed by the Justice Department accusing the agency of giving inaccurately high credit ratings for risky financial products in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Read more about it here. You can also read a DOJ […]