The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently told Takata Corp. to expand its regional defective-airbag recall (in states that have high "absolute" humidity) to vehicles in the entire country. Takata just said no. Most recalls are voluntary — that is, the manufacturer agrees to do what the agency demands. Here, however, NHTSA will have to […]
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Yesterday, I received an email from the Consumer Protection Branch at the U.S. Department of Justice with links to recent announcements from that office. Here is what DOJ's consumer lawyers were up to in November: November 21, 2014 – United States Files Enforcement Action Against Michigan Sandwich Company and Co-Owner to Stop Distribution of Adulterated […]
"Remember the robo-signers, those mortgage loan automatons who authenticated thousands of foreclosure documents over the years without verifying the information they were swearing to? Well, they’re back, in a manner of speaking," reports the Times. Read on.
We mentioned last week that fracking will be permitted in a national forest in Virginia, near the Potomac's headwaters. Now the outgoing governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley, says that he will open up lands in the western portion of that state to fracking, although he touts the stringent regulations he intends to impose. The Washington […]
This week, the former CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he violated mine safety rules and hindered federal safety enforcement in connection with the April 2010 explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, in which 29 miners died. Despite the intense public interest in the case — which […]
The Arizona attorney general sued GM today saying just that. Read about the suit here. An excerpt: Arizona's attorney general has sued General Motors Co. for failing to recall millions of cars and trucks with safety defects the auto giant did not disclose for years. The lawsuit seeks potentially billions of dollars in fines. Attorney […]
I have found the discussions of the arbitration study, ‘Whimsy Little Contracts' with Unexpected Consequences: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Understanding of Arbitration Agreements,interesting, see, e.g., here, here and here.I wonder, however, whether everyone is missing a major point about forced consumer arbitration. Whether consumers are better off, worse-off or the same, and regardless of […]
In a letter today to the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 15 state attorneys general asked the agency to adopt rules to protect consumers from mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts. "The letter, which was organized by Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, […]
Previously on the blog, we've covered a fracking ban in New York, litigation against a fracking protestor in Pennsylvania, and state oversight (or lack thereof) also in Pennsylvania. Now the issue is coming uncomfortably close to the city many coordinators and contributors to this blog call home. Under a new federal agency plan, fracking will […]