Georgia Dentist Mitul Patel Acknowledges That “Consent Order” Was a Fraud, but Claims He is the Real Victim

A few days ago I wrote here about a lawsuit and consent order that were filed in Baltimore, Maryland, determining that a series of criticisms posted against Georgia dentist Mitul Patel by Matthew Chan, one of his patients in Georgia, were false and defamatory, and commanding their removal from the web and from search engine […]

CFPB finds consumers complain of needless hurdles in applying for lower student loan payments

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Student Loan Ombudsman released a report last week on consumers complaints of servicing problems that make it difficult to get lower student loan payments tied to their income. Student loan borrowers seeking to take advantage of income-driven repayment plans with their federal student loans complain to the CFPB about prolonged […]

CFPB Acts Against Wells Fargo for Illegal Student Loan Servicing Practices

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday took action against Wells Fargo Bank for illegal private student loan servicing practices that increased costs and unfairly penalized certain student loan borrowers. The CFPB identified breakdowns throughout Wells Fargo’s servicing process including failing to provide important payment information to consumers, charging consumers illegal fees, and failing to update […]

Noll Article on Regulating Arbitration, including the CFPB’s Proposed Regulation

David L. Noll of Rutgers has written Regulating Arbitration,  California Law Review, Forthcoming.  Here's the abstract:  Arbitration is everywhere, as are calls to regulate its use in consumer and employment contracts. But when should Congress and federal administrative agencies do so? That is, what is the policy rationale for regulating arbitration through federal legislation and agency […]

Georgia Dentist Mitul Patel Takes Phony Litigation Scheme to New Extremes Trying to Suppress Criticism

by Paul Alan Levy At a time when the California Supreme Court is deciding whether to grant discretionary review of the decision of the California Court of Appeal in Hassell v. Bird, which held that Yelp could be required to comply with a default judgment holding that a posted review of a California lawyer was […]

Can consumer claims that may not be litigated in a class action nonetheless be settled on a class basis without the consumer’s affirmative consent (and, if so, when)?

That's pretty much the topic of The Limits of Comprehensive Peace: The Example of the FLSA by Lonnie Hoffman and Christian Ward. Here is the abstract: Normally, cases can be settled on broad terms that release all related claims. Although there are added protections that must be satisfied when a settlement is proposed in the class action […]

Uber is about to start using self-driving cars. Really.

Read this article by Russ Mitchell and Tracey Lien. Here's an excerpt: The robot cars aren’t coming. The robot cars are here. A fleet of Fords and Volvos, capable of driving themselves, is fully equipped and ready to hit the streets of Pittsburgh within weeks. The cars will be deployed by Uber, the ride-hailing company. Experimental robot cars already […]

The Conversation: How companies learn what children secretly want

Here.  Op-ed by Faith Boninger, Research Associate in Education Policy, University of Colorado, and Alex Molnar, Research Professor, University of Colorado.  Excerpt: In the U.S. and around the world, millions of digital data points are collected daily from children by private companies that provide educational technologies to teachers and schools. Once data are collected, there is little […]

WSJ Article Criticizes CFPB for Using “Mystery Shoppers” Who Find Evidence of Racial Discrimination

by Jeff Sovern Here (behind paywall).  Excerpt: In 2013, a loan officer at BancorpSouth Bank's Madison, Ala., branch received visits from two people with similar profiles within 10 days of each other, both saying they were first-time home buyers — one white, the other black. The employee allegedly steered the black customer to a smaller […]