Imposter scam complaints surpassed identity theft for the first time as the second most common category of consumer complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2016, according to the agency’s new Data Book. Although debt collection complaints declined slightly between 2015 and 2016, they remained the top consumer complaint category, comprising […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report detailing the problems in the credit reporting industry that the CFPB uncovered and corrected through its oversight work. The report identifies significant issues with the quality of the credit information being provided by furnishers and maintained by credit reporting companies, and it outlines the actions that […]

The online publication FairWarning has this story today about OSHA enforcement since January 20: In November, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced fines against businesses with workers who were killed when they were pulled into a wood chipper, burned in a refinery fire and crushed in collapsing grain bins and construction trenches. In […]

In this essay, the Food and Drug Administration takes you into what the agency calls its "history vault" — where it stores evidence of drugs and devices that demanded — but didn't always get — proper regulation. (The vault contains more than 10,000 artifacts.) Some examples: a sample of Elixir Sulfanilamide, a 1937 wonder drug that was formulated with […]

Jacob Walpert has written Carpooling Liability?: Applying Tort Law Principles to the Joint Emergence of Self-Driving Automobiles and Transportation Network Companies. Here's the abstract: Self-driving automobiles have emerged as the future of vehicular travel, but this innovation is not developing in isolation. Simultaneously, the popularity of transportation network companies functioning as ride-hailing and ride-sharing services have […]

Yesterday, I posted about Drew Harwell's powerful article on allegations of widespread sexual harassment against Sterling Jewelers (the corporate conglomerate behind the chains known as Galleria of Jewelry and Kay Jewelers). My post explained that because the case was in arbitration (on account of a pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clause foisted on Sterling's employees), not in court, the […]

That's the issue taken up by journalist Jim Puzzanghera in Trump says businesses can't borrow because of Dodd-Frank. The numbers tell another story. Here's an excerpt: [A] main reason for dismantling Dodd-Frank often cited by Trump and critics of the law — that its slew of tougher financial regulations have significantly restricted bank lending — isn’t borne out by the data. Since […]

I was curious whether the Environmental Protection Agency's website on climate change had been modified since January 20. Perhaps it has been in some respects, but the site looks to still reflect the prior administration's views. "Climate change" is the third listed "popular topic" on the agency's website. The climate change homepage includes data that you […]

The California Supreme Court's decision is here. The LA Times reports on the decision here.