In 2021, a group of consumers sued Amazon, alleging that Amazon violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act “by charging consumers grossly inflated and thus ‘unfair’ prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.” A federal district court certified to the Washington Supreme Court whether the state law’s “prohibition on “unfair” acts or practices comprehend a price gouging claim of the […]
Category Archives: Unfair & Deceptive Acts & Practices (UDAP), including Discrimination
Christopher Lewis Peterson of Utah and Jeffrey Paul Ehrlich of St. Thomas University and McGuireWoods LLP have written Corrupt Joint Ventures in the Market for Residential Real-Estate-Settlement Services. Here’s the abstract: Closing costs in residential-real-estate sales have long acted as a significant barrier to American home ownership. In the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 […]
FTC Sends Nearly $1.9 Million in Refunds to Customers Harmed by Hey Dude’s Violations of the Mail Order Rule (8/6) FTC Action Leads to Permanent Bans for Scammers Behind Sprawling Credit Repair Pyramid Scheme (8/5) FTC Investigation Leads to Lawsuit Against TikTok and ByteDance for Flagrantly Violating Children’s Privacy Law (8/2) FTC Submits Comment to […]
American consumers hate hidden airline fees. Unfortunately, siding with airlines, the Fifth Circuit yesterday held that DOT likely lacked authority to issue a rule that would require airlines to more clearly disclose fees associated with checked and carry-on baggage, and cancelling or changing flights. The order arose in a challenge to an April rule, discussed […]
A federal court this month issued an order, in a case filed by the Federal Trade Commission, to temporarily stop a predatory student loan relief scam that targeted Puerto Rican, Spanish-speaking borrowers. According to the FTC’s complaint against USA Student Debt Relief/Start Connecting SAS, operating out of Florida and Cali, Colombia, these entities falsely represented […]
The essay, by Mark Rivett, who both attended a for-profit college and taught at one, is titled I was Trapped in For-Profit College Hell (behind paywall). It’s subtitle is “Predatory schools tricked students like me into assuming huge debt for worthless credit.” Here’s the beginning: “If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject […]
Adam blogged earlier about Townstone but I wanted to say a bit more about what the case tells us about the CFPB’s authority concerning TILA and ECOA. As Adam noted, the Seventh Circuit cited Loper Bright and stated in note 15 that it approached the case “as presenting a question of statutory interpretation subject to […]
The Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation B implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and prohibits creditors from discouraging, on a prohibited basis, applicants or prospective applicants from making or pursuing an application for credit. In 2020, the CFPB, who now enforces the regulation, brought an enforcement action alleging a lender “discouraged black prospective applicants from applying […]
In order to state a claim for deceptive practices, many state consumer protection laws require plaintiffs to prove that the challenged acts or practices are “likely to deceive reasonable consumers.” In an opinion issued today, the Seventh Circuit grappled with the question of what exactly that means. The opinion comes in a class action brought […]
Two new actions by the Federal Trade Commission today: FTC Takes Action Against Online Used Car Dealer Vroom for Deceiving Customers, Failing to Deliver on Time and Provide Required Disclosures FTC Takes Action Against Gig Work Company Arise Virtual Solutions for Deceiving Consumers About Pay in Marketing Its Business Opportunity