Read Steven Lane's piece in The Hill entitled Trump signs repeal of auto-loan policy that targeted racial bias. Acting CFPB director Mick Mulvaney is pleased. In a press release issued today, Mulvaney "thanks the President and the Congress" for nixing the CFPB's policy because the agency had acted "outside of federal statutes." "As an executive agency," Mulvaney says, "we […]
In a 5-4 opinion this morning, the Supreme Court continued its string of pro-arbitration decisions. In Epic Systems v. Lewis, the Court held that arbitration agreements that ban collective proceedings do not violate the federal labor laws’ protection of concerted worker action. Instead, the Court held, the Federal Arbitration Act requires enforcement of those bans […]
Rory Van Loo of BU has written Regulatory Police, forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review. Here is the abstract: The front line for business regulation — Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) engineers, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) examiners, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspectors, among others — guard against toxic air, financial ruin, and deadly explosions. Like police officers […]
Brian Feinstein of Penn's Wharton School has written Judging Judicial Foreclosure, 15 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 406 (2018). Here is the abstract: For the third time in the last several decades, policymakers are contemplating an overhaul of mortgage‐finance regulations. Despite the considerable attention paid to how ex ante regulations affect the availability of credit and the appropriateness […]
David L. Noll of Rutgers has written Public Litigation, Private Arbitration? 18 Nev. L.J. 477 (2018). Here is the abstract: How should legal disputes be allocated between litigation and arbitration? Given strong incentives for many actors to arbitrate everything, the question turns fundamentally on the scope of arbitration under the applicable law. In "Re-Inventing Arbitration: How Expanding the […]
The Vatican called for "a new regulation of financial activities" in on Thursday a broad and harsh critique of the international financial system that emphasized the need for higher ethical standards since the housing market crash in the last decade. The new document released by the Vatican, approved by Pope Francis, calls out the post-2008 […]
by Jeff Sovern The NY Times has the story here. Excerpt: The director, Andrew M. Smith, has recently represented Facebook, Uber and Equifax — all companies with matters before the commission — and plans to recuse himself from dozens of cases now that he has been confirmed for the post. And in 2012, Mr. Smith was also […]
by Jeff Sovern Industry lawyer Thomas B. Hudson of Hudson Cook has authored Arbitration Agreements: Not Always Good All the Time for AutoDealer Today, in which he writes: An arbitration agreement is the dealer’s first and best line of defense against class-action lawsuits. If you think that isn’t reason enough, have a word with the many […]
We have received the following announcement: The Pound Civil Justice Institute will make a Civil Justice Scholarship Award, bi-annually as possible, to recognize current scholarly legal research and writing focused on topics in civil justice, including access to justice and the benefits of the U.S. civil justice system, as well as the right to trial […]
Catherine Piché of the University of Montreal has written The Coming Revolution in Class Action Notices: Reaching the Universe of Claimants Through Technologies. Here's the abstract: This paper will address whether a correlation may be drawn between the types and modalities of notices sent to class action members and the rate of compensation of these members, […]