In addition to taking the case that Brian blogged about below, the Supreme Court this morning granted a petition in Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varella, which raises the question presented: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act forecloses a state-law interpretation of an arbitration agreement that would authorize class arbitration based solely on general language commonly used […]
The Supreme Court today granted cert in Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961, concerning the validity of a cy pres award in a consumer class action against Google. The cert petition, response, reply, and amicus briefs are here. The question presented is Whether, or in what circumstances, a cy pres award of class action proceeds that provides […]
Lawrence Gostin has written Tackling Obesity and Disease: The Culprit Is Sugar; the Response Is Legal Regulation, which discusses a series of regulatory reforms aimed at reducing sugar consumption. Why? Nearly 40% of the American public is obese, and more than 70% is either obese or overweight. Here is Gostin's abstract: It is staggering to observe […]
Law prof Michael Graetz has written The 2017 Tax Cuts: How Polarized Politics Produced Precarious Policy. Here's the abstract: In this lecture, Michael Graetz contends that the new tax law is unstable. This is hardly surprising because it was rushed through Congress in record time with only Republican votes and no ability for public comments on […]
The American Banker reports here that House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling may be moving away from insisting on adding to the Senate bill amending Dodd-Frank provisions the House had passed. Hensarling is a key player in the process and so if he goes along with the Senate version, others are likely to agree. Hensarling […]
by Jeff Sovern During his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Acting CFPB Director Mulvaney said that he had met with consumer advocates as much as he has met with industry representatives (or something to that effect; I can't remember the exact words). I've seen reports of Mulvaney meeting with industry groups (see here, […]
Dalié Jiménez of Irvine, Connecticut and Harvard has written Ending Perpetual Debts, 55 Houston Law Review (2018). Here is the abstract: Consumer debts in the United States can effectively live (and grow) forever: most statutes of limitations do not extinguish them; they can morph into relatives’ obligations after the debtor’s death; and they sometimes rise from […]
by Jeff Sovern The Hill has the story here. Among the confirmed commissioners is Rohit Chopra, formerly of the Consumer Federation of America and the CFPB, and a strong consumer advocate. The other commissioners would be wise to follow his lead on consumer protection matters.
The Ars Technica blog reports that "Verizon is forcing users of Yahoo services to waive their class-action rights and agree to resolve disputes through arbitration. Yahoo users who don't agree to the new terms will be cut off from the services, though Verizon hasn't said exactly when the cutoff date is." The blog post is […]
The Wall Street Journal reports that the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has floated the idea of not enforcing lending rules for poor people based on the location of a bank’s physical branches. People familiar with the matter said the OCC privately sought other regulators’ input on eliminating the concept of geographic […]