That's the name of this article by law professor Hiro Aragaki. Here's the abstract: Recent, game-changing Supreme Court decisions on arbitration such as American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 133 S. Ct. 2304 (2013), and AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011), have had far reaching implications for civil procedure and the future […]
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As the Wall Street Journal reports, "[r]egulators are proposing new rules on Internet traffic that would allow broadband providers to charge companies a premium for access to their fastest lanes." What does this mean? As Tim Wu at the New Yorker explains, it's a zero-sum game, so the big, rich content providers will win out […]
What happened to good ol' American free-market competition when it comes to cable and internet service? Why do the Brits have choices while most Americans are stuck with our single local provider, which accordingly has little incentive to improve price or service? In an illuminating podcast from earlier this month, including interviews with key U.S. […]
Daniel Colbert has published Operation Choke Point: Using an Old Tool in a New Way in the American Criminal Law Review. The piece discusses a program of the U.S. Department of Justice aimed, among other things, at stopping fraud by on-line payday lenders. Here's the piece: By Daniel Colbert, ACLR Featured Blogger Prosecuting financial […]
Seeking to protect California consumers from the type of "non-disparagement clause" infamously wielded against John and Jen Palmer in the KlearGear case, California Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez has introduced a bill to ban contractual fine print that restricts consumers' ability to share feedback about the companies with whom they do business. Good stuff. Meanwhile, […]
Worth reading, in Slate. An excerpt: A higher minimum wage helps reduce the structural advantages large corporations have over small businesses, and that in turn helps create a context where high-quality independent businesses can thrive by overdelivering compared to our better-capitalized, but mediocre, big competitors. . . . If the minimum wage were raised high […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau receives and reviews complaints about student-loan practices. Yesterday, it issued this mid-year update on those complaints. The biggest concern identified by the agency is borrowers complaining about "auto-default"– borrowers reporting that lenders demand immediate full repayment of the loan after the death or bankruptcy of their loan co-signer, even when […]
by Jeff Sovern Auto insurance rates vary depending on a multitude of factors. Many consumers probably expect and would not be troubled by the notion that those with a history of accidents or speeding tickets pay more than those with better driving records. But what about paying different rates because of your education or occupation? […]
That's the name of this article by Virginia Reno, Jasmine Tucker, and Elisa Walker of the National Academy of Social Insurance. That group has also produced the video Social Security: It Pays to Wait, which you can view here or by clicking on the emedded video below. The abstract for the Reno-Tucker-Walker piece appears below […]
Jeff told you on Friday about General Mills's audacious attempt to force its customers into arbitration by downloading its coupons (among other things). After intense backlash, General Mills has reversed itself, as explained in this article by Stephanie Strom. For other articles on the switcheroo, go here and here.