In its latest foray into the poorly drafted provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Supreme Court unanimously decided today in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP that entities who engage in nonjudicial foreclosure either regularly or as their principal business are not (for that reason) "debt collectors" within the meaning of the […]
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The online journal FairWarning this week reported on how lobbyists from the law firm Bracewell LLP have "specialized in helping product makers thwart rulemaking by the Consumer Product Safety Commission." One after another, industries have turned to Bracewell to fight unwanted federal standards, and they have not been disappointed. Along with the [recreational off-highway vehicle] […]
In The Conversation. Excerpt: Compared with 1962, when President Kennedy put consumer concerns on the national agenda, ordinary Americans now have far more robust rights to safety, to information, to choice and to a fair hearing. But consumer rights do not enforce themselves. Public enforcement requires funding and willing leaders. Private enforcement requires legal devices […]
Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner Robert Adler and law prof Andrew Popper have written The Misuse of Product Misuse: Victim Blaming at Its Worst. Here is the abstract: This paper addresses the legal consequences that surface when a consumer uses a product in a manner not specifically intended by that product's designer or manufacturer. If […]
In the first Consumer Financial Protection Bureau oversight hearing of 2019, "Democrats repeatedly hammered Director Kathy Kraninger and GOP lawmakers for supporting recent changes at the agency." Rollcall has the story, here.
by Jeff Sovern There's been a lot of talk among law professors about the US News plan to measure faculty scholarly impact in part by citations to faculty scholarship (see here for a blog post citing to commentary). While for now US News says it will not incorporate the citation rankings into its general law […]
Here is the opening of the New York Times article on Gottlieb's resignation: Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, known for his aggressive efforts to regulate the tobacco and e-cigarette industries, said on Tuesday that he would resign at the end of the month.The reason he gave was family and his […]
This article by Stuart Singer discussed how one company has a program to help students pay off their student loans. According to the Federal Reserve, outstanding student-loan debt was $1.57 trillion in 2018, more than triple the $487 billion in 2006.
Electric scooters have simply showed up on the streets, placed there by profit-seeking companies, largely or entirely unregulated. Read this story by Sharon Jayson concerning an investigation into the large number of injuries caused by e-scooters currently underway at the Centers for Disease Control.
Bryan Casey has written Robot Ipsa Loquitur. Here is the abstract: Accidents are becoming automated. From self-driving cars to self-flying drones, robots are increasingly colliding with the world. And one of the most pressing questions raised by these technologies — indeed, one of the great regulatory challenges of the coming era — is how the law […]