Category Archives: Uncategorized

Some personal news: I have joined the faculty at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

I am thrilled to report that I have been named the Michael Millemann Professor of Consumer Protection Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Michael Millemann is a long time Maryland faculty member who has been a leader in many areas of the law, including consumer law, and it’s an […]

CFPB, FTC riders in U.S. House appropriations bills

The U.S. Congress is considering FY24 funding for the entire government, and normally it should involve just that, funding. Yet the U.S. House Appropriations Committee recently dropped its Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) bill, which includes proposals that would impact consumer protection policy. These riders take aim at the substantive work of a number […]

President to nominate Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson to be FTC commissioners

Here. According to Bloomberg,”Holyoak is currently solicitor general with the Utah Attorney General’s Office; Ferguson, a former aide to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, is Virginia’s solicitor general.” The FTC is currently operating with only three of its five commissioners, all Democrats. It is not permitted to have more than three commissioners from the same […]

“Greenwashing” is “concerning,” but not deceptive, holds Ninth Circuit

A customer brought a consumer class action against Procter & Gamble over its use of the phrase “Nature Fusion,” along with a picture of an avocado, on certain products’ bottles, claiming it was an unfair and deceptive business practice and false advertising under California law, misleading consumers into thinking the product was natural. A Ninth […]

DC Court Rejects Constitutional Challenges to FINRA by Broker-Dealer that Charged Unlawful Fees

In March 2022, a FINRA panel found that Alpine, a securities broker-dealer, “converted and misused customer funds and securities, engaged in unauthorized trading, charged and paid  customers unfair prices in securities transactions, charged customers unreasonable and discriminatory fees, and made an unauthorized capital withdrawal.” FINRA then found that Alpine violated its cease-and-desist order 35,000 times, […]

Maybe Amazon’s prices are not so low

Read Amazon’s Pricing Paradox by Rory Van Loo and Nikita Aggarwal. Here’s the abstract: Amidst contentious debates about whether Amazon wields excess market power to harm competitors, one of the few things that most parties have agreed upon is that Amazon offers low prices. This Article challenges that assumption by demonstrating that Amazon charges higher prices […]