Will Congress demand disclosure of litigation-funding sources?

Many of our readers are consumer class-action litigators or interested in litigation more generally. So I thought it was worth mentioning Senator Chuck Grassley's legislation, introduced last week, that would require disclosure of outside litigation funding in multi-district litigation and in class actions generally (that is, in class actions both inside and outside multi-district litigation). […]

Call for Papers for Symposium on Post-Secondary Education Non-Completion and Student Loan Debt

We've received the following call for papers: Submission Due Date:  Sunday, June 17, 2018 at midnight The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, Boston College Law School, and the National Consumer Law Center are pleased to announce a symposium on Post-Secondary Education Non-Completion and Student Loan Debt to take place at Boston College Law […]

“Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits”

The New York Times reports that members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees. The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at […]

Will Trump Replace a Part-Time CFPB Director with One Who is Never at the CFPB?

by Jeff Sovern Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney doubles as OMB director, meaning that he is doing two full-time jobs, and that therefore the CFPB does not have a full-time director. But the next director may be at the Bureau even less often than Mulvaney.  As Allison has noted, reports indicate that the president intends […]

Tinder’s Diabolical RETROACTIVE Arbitration Clause

by Jeff Sovern One of my students told me about Tinder's new retroactive arbitration clause which, of course, includes a class action waiver. As with many such contracts, consumers accept it by using the service, regardless of whether they have read it or not–and we know few consumers actually read such things.  The arbitration clause, […]

More on Congress’s Disapproval of the CFPB’s Indirect Auto Guidance

by Jeff Sovern Alan Kaplinsky and Chris Willis, on the one hand, and Adam Levitin, on the other, have been dueling over the impact of Congress’s use of the Congressional Review Act to disapprove of the CFPB’s Indirect Auto Lending Guidance.  Those of us interested in consumer financial law are lucky to have these titans […]