by Jeff Sovern Politico has a summary of the McConnell bill here. It immunizes schools, colleges, charities, and businesses that follow public health guidelines from liability for negligently infecting consumers with the virus. But many public health guidelines are written in terms of what is feasible or possible, meaning that the entities subject to the […]
Shmuel I. Becher of Victoria University of Wellington and Sarah Dadush of Rutgers have written Relationship as Product: Transacting in the Age of Loneliness. Here's the abstract: Behavioral economists and social psychologists distinguish between two main types of relationships. One type is “exchange relationships,” which are based on mutual benefit and economics principles. The second type […]
Vivien Chen of the Monash University – Department of Business Law & Taxation has written Online Payday Lenders: Trusted Friends or Debt Traps? 43 University of New South Wales Law Journal (Advance 2020). Here's the abstract: The recent Senate inquiry into credit and hardship underscored the prevalence of predatory conduct in the payday lending industry. […]
I thought our readers might want to look at an interesting new decision from the Third Circuit about common-law nuisance under Pennsylvania law. The decision is Baptiste v. Bethlehem Landfill Company. The first two paragraphs of the opinion offer a synopsis: Robin and Dexter Baptiste brought an action against the Bethlehem Landfill Company on behalf […]
Law prof Mark Budnitz has written The Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts: The American Law Institute's Impossible Dream. Here is the abstract: The American Law Institute has been attempting to write a Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts since 2012. The proposed Restatement has gone through ten drafts and has generated considerable […]
by Paul Alan Levy The New York state trial judge who initially granted a temporary restraining order against both Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster declined late today to extend that order into a preliminary injunction. Faced with a welter of arguments put forward by both the defendants in the case as well as by […]
Lots of folks are using hand sanitizer these days. Sometimes it is hard to find hand sanitizers on the shelves or on-line, and there might be an inclination to buy any brand you find. Because there are a bunch of dangerous brands on the market containing methanol (which can be toxic, even life-threatening when ingested), […]
This article by Renae Merle discusses in detail the impending eviction crisis as eviction moratoriums begin to expire. Something has to be done to help tenants in crisis, and it can't be extending the patchwork of moratoriums, which doesn't deal with the underlying problem: that people out of work can't afford the rent.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced a final rule rescinding payday loans protections that had been issued in October 2017. Among the provisions rescinded are those limiting unaffordable loans that trap families in cycles of debt. The CFPB also announced that it will implement the provisions of the payday loan rule that prevent lenders, […]
As established by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was headed by a director who could the President could remove only for cause (inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office). The CFPB’s first director was appointed on January 4, 2012. On June 29, 2020, the Supreme Court held in Seila […]