Guest Post: Courts will Require Airlines to Provide Refunds Instead of Vouchers For Covid Related Cancellations, if the Contract Permits Such an Interpretation

By Dash Radosti As consumer-related COVID-19 litigation continues, the courts are sending airlines an important reminder: vouchers are not the same as refunds. However, there is a catch – courts are limiting this holding to the plain text of the contract between flyers and carriers.  Two recent federal cases reiterated this principle: Ide v. British Airways […]

McDonald & Rojc Survey Auto Financing Legal Developments

Kevin M. McDonald of VW Credit, Inc. and Washington University School of Law and Kenneth Rojc of Nisen & Elliott, LLC have written Auto Finance Regulators Not Falling Asleep at the Wheel., 76 BUS. LAW. 705 (2021). Here is the abstract: This is the annual survey of major legal and regulatory developments affecting the automobile […]

Former CFPD-director Cordray going to the Department of Education

The U.S. Department of Education announced today that Richard Cordray will be its Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid. Cordray is the former Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the former Attorney General of Ohio. Federal Student Aid is responsible for managing the student financial assistance programs authorized under Title IV of […]

CFP: Global Forum for Financial Consumers

We received the following call for papers: The 2021 Global Forum for Financial Consumers (GFFC) Organized by International Academy of Financial Consumers (IAFICO) Call for Papers (1st) August 6th ~ 7th, 2021Format: Online & onsite webinarOnsite venue: Seoul National Univ., Seoul, KoreaTheme: Financial Consumer ProtectionLinking Theories & Evidences to Policy Practices The 2021 Global Forum for Financial […]

25 state attorneys general support rescinding “rent-a-bank” rule

In October 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, one of the federal agencies that regulates banks, issued a rule that determines what national bank or federal savings association is considered the “true lender” in circumstances where a bank and a third party have a role in the loan. Many consumer advocates expressed […]

Craig Cowie article takes CFPB to task for not bringing COVID enforcement cases

Craig Cowie of Montana has written Is the CFPB Still on the Beat? The CFPB'S (Non)Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, 82 Mont. L. Rev. 41 (2021). Here's the conclusion: More than ten months into a historic pandemic that has wreaked economic devastation, the CFPB—the primary Federal consumer financial protection regulator that was created in response […]

Are we going to see UDAAP statutes used against discrimination? The Student Borower Protection Center hopes so

The SBPC issued a report, DISCRIMINATION IS "UNFAIR": Interpreting UDA(A)P to Prohibit Discrimination. Here's the Executive Summary: This Article explores a theory that discrimination is a type of “unfair” practice covered by federal and state laws prohibiting unfair, deceptive (and sometimes abusive) acts and practices (“UDA(A)Ps”). An “unfair” practice is defined by statute as something […]

READ ABOUT THIS: Objecting lawyers allege that Monsanto is paying a tort plaintiff to appeal a trial-court judgment *favorable* to Monsanto! Yes, you read that right.

Some lawyers (I'll call them "objecting lawyers") say that they got wind of an effort by Monsanto to pay a tort plaintiff to appeal a claim that the plaintiff lost in federal district court. Why? According to the objecting lawyers, because Monsanto wants to keep the case alive to try to obtain a Monsanto-favorable federal-preemption […]

Supreme Court holds that monetary relief is unavailable under Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act

The first paragraph of the Court's unanimous opinion in AMG Capital Management v. FTC sums it up: Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes the Commission to obtain, “in proper cases,” a “permanent injunction” in federal court against “any person, partnership, or corporation” that it believes “is violating, or is about to violate, […]