by Jeff Sovern My latest, here. Excerpt: The Wells Fargo case shows the difference between arbitration and class actions: the difference between getting nothing and getting something. * * * Critics of the rule claim that class actions are just giveaways to lawyers. It’s true that not all class actions work as well as the Wells […]
In the SF Chronicle. The indefatigable Ted teaches consumer law at Berkeley. Here is his conclusion: So why did Director Cordray [issue the Arbitration Rule despite opposition from the powerful financial lobby]? Maybe he believes that the American people know a sharp practice when they see one, and that they won’t stand for the undoing […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, according to The Hill, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, announced that he would seek to block the CFPB's Arbitration Rule using the Congressional Review Act, saying: “The Bureau’s new rule on arbitration clauses ignores the consumer benefits of arbitration and treats Arkansans like helpless children, incapable of making business decisions in […]
Given the political and legal controversy over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's status as an independent agency, and the challenge to its structure pending en banc in the D.C. Circuit (go, for instance, here, here, and here), our readers may be interested in The Genesis of Independent Agencies by Patrick Corrigan and RIchard Revesz. Here is the abstract: The status […]
Two new lawsuits challenge conduct of Trump's "Election Integrity" Commission. ACLU v. Trump maintains that the Commission is meeting in secret and hiding its records in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Read the complaint here. And then there is Public Citizen v. U.S. Department of the Army, which Public Citizen describes this way: The Privacy Act […]
The Washington Post reports: Wells Fargo has received preliminary approval to pay out $142 million to customers affected by the bank’s sales practices scandal. A federal judge gave preliminary approval Saturday to the deal that would settle claims over fraudulent accounts going back to 2002. The San Francisco-based bank and lawyers for customers reached the […]
by Jeff Sovern Here's what David Lazurus says in his LA Times column, Banks and credit card companies can't try to stop you from joining a class action lawsuit — for now: Consumer advocates — who for months have been gearing up for this fight — tell me they have little doubt the House will […]
That's the name of this article by C. Ryan Barber (possibly behind a paywall). Here's an excerpt: When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expanded its public database to include narratives of negative customer experiences, banks such as Wells Fargo and other industry players worried about being named and shamed. Now, a new public database could be going up […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Call it a long op-ed or a short magazine article, in The Conversation, a forum for academics writing for the public. I co-authored it with my colleagues Gina Calabrese and Ann Goldweber. It discusses life before the CFPB, what the CFPB has done, and the attacks on the Bureau.
by Jeff Sovern House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling has already called for Congress to invalidate the CFPB arbitration rule by using the Congressional Review Act while the US Chamber of Commerce calls it a "Prime Example of [an] Agency Gone Rogue." Sigh.