Category Archives: Uncategorized

Pennsylvania Bill Aimed at Speech by a Hated Convict Instead Shows Its Advocates’ Ignorance

by Paul Alan Levy                    In the short space of a few days, the House and Senate of the Pennsylvania legislature have passed a bill allowing judges to issue injunctions, or grant any other “appropriate relief” if there is “conduct” by a criminal “offender” that “perpetuates the continuing effect of the crime […]

Jake Halpern, author of “Bad Paper,” on Fresh Air

We've recommended before the insightful investigative journalism of Jake Halpern on the debt collection industry (see here for a post earlier this month and here for a story from 2010). Last week, Halpern appeared on Fresh Air to discuss his new book, Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld. Eye opening and […]

Forced arbitration as a campaign issue

Yesterday, the Washington Post endorsed Brian Frosh for Attorney General of Maryland. Among his opponents' weaknesses, according to the Post, is that he "wants to promote arbitration as an alternative to consumers suing businesses." On the other side of the issue, a congressional candidate in Virginia (running for an open seat in the D.C. suburb […]

M&T Bank Agrees to Refund $2.9 Million After Deceptive Advertising

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced yesterday action against M&T Bank for deceptively advertising free checking accounts. As explained in the CFPB press release: The CFPB found that M&T lured in consumers with promises of “no strings attached” free checking, without disclosing key eligibility requirements. When consumers failed to meet the requirements, M&T automatically […]

Does multi-district litigation violate the due-process rights of plaintiffs swept into it?

Law professor Martin Redish and law student Jullie Karaba think so, as they explain in One Size Doesn't Fit All: Multidistrict Litigation, Due Process, and the Dangers of Procedural Collectivism. Here is the abstract: Panel of federal judges regularly transfers cases which may share no more than one common issue from federal districts all over […]

Judge refuses Apple’s request to seal documents in antitrust case

In defending against federal and state antitrust claims that it monopolized the digital music market, Apple sought to file under seal a variety of information, including its prices, names of other companies, and expert analysis. In a victory for court transparency, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California late last week refused, […]