By Stephen Gardner The Bayer case (for Bayer's widespread deceptions about One-A-Day vitamins), where I was lead counsel until I left private practice (to set up an expert consulting practice), is set for jury trial February 19. As far as I know, this is one of the few (if not the only) supplement fraud class […]
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Our readers might be interested in Excessive Drug Pricing as an Antitrust Violation by law prof Harry First. Here is the abstract: It is nearly four years since Martin Shkreli bought an off-patent drug named Daraprim and raised its price overnight by nearly 5500%. Public outcry was intense and Shkreli became the poster-child for excessive […]
The Wall Street Journal reports today that "[l]enders are turning to borrowers with harder-to-document finances, helping growth in the kind of home loans panned for role in housing meltdown." The article is here. (Subscription may be required.)
Reporter Sarah Kliff explains that "[u]nder Trump, the number of uninsured Americans has gone up by 7 million," while Gallup has found that the "U.S. Uninsured Rate Rises to Four-Year High," at least in part because of Trump Administration policy changes.
Today, 14 state attorneys general submitted a comment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in response to the FDIC's request for comment on small-dollar lending. The attorneys general urged the FDIC to ensure consumers are protected from high-interest predatory small dollar loans. The letter is here.
Politico reports that on the effects of the government shutdown on federal workers, some of whom are turning to installment loans, car title loans, and payday cash advances, which charge exorbitantly high interest. Others are making payments late, risking long-term damage to their credit scores. The article is here.
In a consent order with California's Department of Business Oversight, a payday lender called California Check Cashing Stores agreed to refund about $800,000 to consumers, to settle allegations that it steered borrowers into high-interest loans and engaged in other illegal practices. It also agreed to pay $105,000 in penalties and other costs. The settlement involves […]
The State of New York and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which is not shut down) yesterday settled claims against Sterling Jewelers, based on findings that that the company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by opening store credit-card accounts without customer consent; enrolling customers in payment-protection insurance without their consent; and misrepresenting […]
by Jeff Sovern The media has devoted considerable attention to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's joining the House Financial Services Committee. I'm glad she is on the committee–the more members who are not beholden to banks, the better–and I suspect few realize how intelligent Ocasio-Cortez is (taking second place in the Intel competition is an impressive accomplishment). […]
The Yes Men perpetrated (or perhaps only collaborated on) a parody of the Washington Post today, distributing tens of thousands of hard copy editions date-lined May 1, 2019 (making the parody too obvious), but also transmitting email from “send85-proxymailing@washingtonpost.com” domain, which in turn links to a fairly extensive parody web site located at my-washingtonpost.com. A […]