WaPo reports congressional deal on consumer online privacy bill

Here (behind paywall). According to the article, the bill would preempt state privacy laws and provide for a private cause of action. The bill enjoys support from Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican. Whether it will pass in a presidential election year […]

Becher & Zarsky Article on using the law of mistake to attack digital contracts

Samuel Becher of the Victoria University of Wellington and Tal Zarsky of the University of Haifa have written Big Mistake(s), forthcoming in the Florida Law Review. Here’s the abstract: The digital age has brought the imbalance of power between prominent firms and individual consumers to the forefront. Despite their proclamations of upholding democratic values and […]

8th Circuit Allows Claims Against Hertz for Falsely Reporting Car as Stolen to Proceed

Over the past few years, there have been numerous stories of rental car company Hertz reporting customers as having stolen rental cars, when the cars were not stolen at all. In 2022, the company entered in a class action settlement covering 364 of these reported “thefts.” Today, the Eighth Circuit issued a decision in Wood […]

A CFPB proposed rule on data broker practices is on its way

For awhile now, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been scrutinizing the role and responsibilities of data brokers in collecting and selling consumers’ personal data. In a message at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy this week, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said that a proposed rule to provide greater oversight of third-party […]

CFPB identifies financial and privacy risks to consumers in video gaming marketplaces

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a report examining the growth of financial transactions in online video games and virtual worlds. “These platforms increasingly resemble traditional banking and payment systems that facilitate the storage and exchange of billions of dollars in assets, including virtual currencies. However, consumers report being harmed by scams or theft […]

FTC sends $62 million in refunds to sellers deceived by online real estate listing service

The Federal Trade Commission is sending nearly $62 million in refunds to sellers deceived by advertising and marketing claims made by online real estate business Opendoor Labs, Inc. According to the FTC’s August 2022 complaint, Opendoor cheated home sellers by tricking them into thinking that they could make more money selling their home to Opendoor than […]

Andrea Boyack article on abusive contract terms in online terms and conditions

Andrea J. Boyack of Missouri has written Abuse of Contract: Boilerplate Erasure of Consumer Counterparty Rights, Iowa Law Review, Forthcoming. Here’s the abstract: Contract law and the new Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts generally treats the entirety of the company’s boilerplate as presumptively binding. Entrusting the content of consumer contracts to companies creates a […]

DDC judge vacates part of (Obama era) CFPB Prepaid Rule

March 31 was this weekend, and, as is customary in the D.C. federal district court, that meant a huge number of decisions over the last two weeks so judges could avoid appearing on the dreaded CJRA “six-month” list. In one such long-awaited decision, Judge Leon granted PayPal summary judgment in its challenge to a 2016 […]

Online/In-Person Forum on the National Realtors Association Settlement, Including Consumer Protection Issues, at Minnesota

We received the following announcement: Join us in a discussion from diverse perspectives on how the National Association of Realtors settlement will affect the real estate industry Friday, April 12, 2024 | 12:30 to 4 pm (CT) Walter F. Mondale Hall Room 30, Sub-plaza (In-person) 229 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, Minnesota In-person – or – […]

States sue ED claiming targeted student loan relief is a “vote-buying scheme”

As many of us feared, those who support student loan debt have used the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s broad-based loan cancellation scheme to attack any debt relief offered by the Department of Education, regardless of statutory basis or how targeted it may be. Yesterday, in a rambling complaint including, for some reason, […]