Public Citizen, along with the Center for Responsible Lending and several other consumer-advocacy groups, submitted a lengthy comment objecting to the CFPB's proposal to rescind many aspects of the agency's own payday lending rule, issued in 2017 to protect consumers from harmful payday lending practices. The comment is here. If you are not up for […]
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An investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times found that "[y]ou could be a great driver, but still have to pay more [for car insurance] because of reasons unrelated to driving," such as sex, where you live, and whether you rent or own your home. Read this Sun-Times article by Stephanie Zimmerman for more details.
Law profs Matthew Bruckner, Brook Gotberg, Dalie Jimenez, and Chrystin Ondersma have written A No-Contest Discharge for Uncollectable Student Loans. Here is the abstract (complete with a list of circumstances in which, the authors say, student-loan debt should be discharged in bankruptcy on a no-contest basis): Over 44 million Americans owe more than 1.4 trillion […]
In a letter responding to an inquiry from Senator Warren, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says that the Education Department is hampering the CFPB's efforts to protect borrowers by performing oversight of the student loan industry. The Senators' letter has asked whether the federal regulator had "abandoned its supervision and enforcement activities" […]
by Paul Alan Levy As reflected in an update to my blog post from yesterday, ALI has issued a blustery letter insisting that it did no wrong by trying to enforce its copyright against Adam Levitin's publicly posting of the Tentative Draft its Restatement, while at the same time publicly posting the Tentative Draft.
Yesterday, 23 state attorneys general wrote to all members of the American Law Institute urging them to reject the draft Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts, calling it "an abandonment of important principles of consumer protection in exchange for illusory benefits." Read the AGs' letter here. For our other recent coverage of the draft […]
by Paul Alan Levy The Proposed Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts has been discussed on this blog many times. It is exceptionally controversial: it has been opposed by a large coalition of consumer and civil rights advocacy groups (including Public Citizen) as well as attorneys general from roughly half the states. The US […]
For the second time this Supreme Court Term, Justice Gorsuch has dissented from a majority opinion by Justice Kavanaugh. Both times, the beneficiary of Kavanaugh's vote has been a plaintiff whose cause of action Kavanaugh would recognize but Gorsuch would not. In today's opinion, Apple, Inc. v. Pepper, the result is that consumers seeking to […]
On Friday, Connecticut and a coalition of 44 states sued the biggest generic drug manufacturers, accusing them of a systematic conspiracy to bilk consumers out of billions of dollars. Last night's 60 Minutes covered the story, here. The Connecticut Attorney General's press release is here.
by Paul Alan Levy Those who have been following the issue of copyright trolls for many years may remember that one of the prime features of the Righthaven technique for shaking down unwitting bloggers for payments was to concentrate its litigation campaign on those who made the mistake of failing to register with the Copyright […]