Chris Odinet Article: Predatory Fintech and the Politics of Banking

Christopher K. Odinet of Iowa has written Predatory Fintech and the Politics of Banking, Iowa Law Review (2021 Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: With American families living on the financial edge and seeking out high cost loans even before COVID-19, the term financial technology or “fintech” has been used like an incantation aimed at remedying everything that’s […]

CFP on Racial Capitalism

We've received the following Call for Papers, which overlaps with consumer law issues: Racial Capitalism: An Elaboration in Legal Scholarship As a journal dedicated to social, racial, and economic justice, the Journal of Civil Rights & Economic Development (JCRED) is soliciting articles for Racial Capitalism, an Elaboration in Legal Scholarship, our forthcoming symposium issue. This issue will explore the […]

Why “the FDA just had the worst day in its history.”

LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik explains why "the FDA just had the worst day in its history." Hiltzik says: During a White House event Sunday, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn stood by silently in the face of an unsupported attack on his agency from the worst threat to public health in the U.S. today, President Trump. The […]

New 9th circuit arbitration decision

Last Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit issued a 2-to-1 decision in Rittman v. Amazon, holding that Amazon "last-mile" delivery drivers are transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce under 9 U.S.C. § 1 and, therefore, are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act's enforcement provisions. As law prof Adam Steinman explains here, Rittman follows a recent decision from the […]

States challenge FDIC rule that allows lenders to bypass state interest-rate caps

Eight state attorneys general today filed a lawsuit challenging a new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation rule that creates a loophole allowing predatory lenders to evade state laws that forbid excessive interest-rate charges. From the California attorney general's press release: "These caps on interest rates play a critical role in regulating payday loans and other high-cost […]

Choi & Spier on the economics of class action waivers

Albert H. Choi of Michigan and Kathryn E. Spier of Harvard have written The Economics of Class Action Waivers. Here is the abstract: Many firms require consumers, employees, and suppliers to sign class action waivers as a condition of doing business with the firm, and three recent US Supreme Court cases, Concepcion, Italian Colors, and Epic […]

Online Program: The Racial Wealth Gap: Lending, Credit, and Other Disparities

Cheryl Wade, author of Predatory Lending and The Destruction of the African American Dream, Sarah Ludwig, Executive Director, New Economy Project, and Cathi Kim, Director, Inclusiv/Capital will speak on Thursday, August 13 at 7 pm EDT. Attendance is free but registration is required. The registration link is at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxTjViodwGaNG03Q1kEqD85DvhpkNxYbpp968QVzMD9mkrTQ/viewform.

Further pursuit of trolling by Higbee and Associates

by Paul Alan Levy In past blog posts, I have discussed our efforts to persuade the copyright enforcement law firm headed by Mathew Higbee to concentrate its efforts to pursue copyright infringement claims on behalf of its photographer clients on cases where it has reasonable claims of infringement by actual Internet users who put up […]

Neil Sobol’s Survey of Law Schools Offering Consumer Law Courses

Guest post by Neil Sobol: As part of an article in which I advocate for the incorporation of consumer law issues in first-year law classes, I requested my research assistant, Spencer Lockwood, to update the consumer law offerings chart reported in  Jeff Sovern's post in 2019. Spencer surveyed 201 ABA accredited law schools via their websites. He organized […]