by Jeff Sovern The Times published an article on medical debt earlier this week, Patients Mired in Costly Credit From Doctors. The gist of the article was that doctors establish relationships with lenders which then give credit to patients so that patients can obtain medical treatment. That sounds innocent, and even helpful, to patients who […]
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The Supreme Court has protected the right under the First Amendment to anonymous speech, except when it hasn't (as when it has upheld campaign contribution disclsoure laws, where the interest in anonymity was overriden by other important social goals). In Does 'The Freedom of the Press' Include a Right to Anonymity? The Original Understanding Robert Natelson […]
We have covered extensively (for instance, here, here, and here) the ban on the sale of large, sugary drinks by New York City's health department. A state-law-based challenge to the ban by merchants and others succeeded in a New York trial court and an intermediate court of appeals. Yesterday, however, New York's highest court (the […]
In a significant victory for plaintiffs, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled yesterday that a putative class of plaintiffs who work at Family Dollar Stores and allege disparate payment practices based on sex should be allowed to amend their complaint, and that they might be able to satisfy commonality under the […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's student loan ombudsman, Rohit Chopra, issued his annual report today. Here is the executive summary: * In the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress established an ombudsman for student loans within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB began accepting student loan complaints in March 2012. * This […]
We have covered the question whether raising the minimum wage will help or hurt workers and the "living wage" movement more generally (for instance, go here and here). Now, this article by Michael Fletcher discusses a cost of the low-wage econony: the outlay of public benefits for people whose wages are so low that they […]
In Madigan v. Levin, the Supreme Court granted cert to decide this significant question (stated from the petitioner's perspective): Whether the Seventh Circuit erred in holding, in an acknowledged departure from the rule in at least four other circuits, that state and local government employees may avoid the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act’s comprehensive […]
Last Thursday, Jon Sheldon posted about the National Consumer Law Center's comprehensive report on property exemption laws around the country. A testament to the value of NCLC's report is Chris Morran's lengthy and useful summary in The Consumerist, which notes that, in Vermont, debt collectors can’t seize your goats or bees, but your car may […]
That's the name of this article by Xiaoling Ang of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and law professor Dalie Jimenez. For many years, federally guaranteed student loans have been non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, unless the debtor can show "undue hardship" (which the courts have interpreted very narrowly). Congress later extended that non-dischargeability policy even to entirely […]
Although Facebook has been sued for the practice (the case is now headed to the Ninth Circuit on our appeal from settlement approval), Google announced late last week that it would soon begin using user images in advertisements. One silver lining: Google, unlike Facebook, will exempt users under 18, the New York Times reports. Facebook's […]