There's been a lot of publicity about the recalled defective Takata air bags, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been encouraging consumers to get their air bags fixed. (Under the law, recall repairs are free.) According to NHTSA, 8,867,284 Takata air bags have been fixed. That's a lot of air bags. And it's […]
Why? Because the Nobel laureates believe that GMOs can advance human health and nutrition, and, they say, there's no evidence that GMOs hurt people. Read this article on the development by Joel Achenbach. Here are excerpts: More than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organismss. The letter asks Greenpeace to […]
Stephen J. Ware of Kansas has written The Politics of Arbitration Law and Centrist Proposals for Reform, 53 Harvard Journal on Legislation (2016). Here is the abstract: Arbitration law in the United States is far more controversial when applied to individuals than to businesses. While enforcement of arbitration agreements between businesses sometimes raises legal issues that […]
SCOTUSBLOG coverage here and here. Reuters reports here. The Reuters lead reads: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether Miami can pursue lawsuits accusing major banks of predatory mortgage lending to black and Hispanic home buyers resulting in loan defaults that drove down city tax revenues and property values." HousingWire has more […]
The Washington Post has two articles today about payday loans. First, an opinion piece by Mike Calhoun, the director of the Center for Responsible Lending, is entitled "Think there’s no good alternative to payday loans? Think again." Mr. Calhoun begins: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule requiring payday and car title lenders to assess […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released a monthly "complaint snapshot" highlighting complaints about consumer loans, including vehicle loans and leases, installment loans, title loans, and pawn loans. The report shows that consumers continue to complain about issues managing their loans and problems they encounter when they are unable to pay off the loans. The […]
Confirming the reports last week of a settlement of the VW emissions lawsuit, the parties today announced that VW will pay $14.7 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers. Volkswagen will offer consumers a buyback and lease termination for nearly 500,000 model year 2009-2015 2.0 liter diesel vehicles sold or leased […]
Here. Excerpt: * * * Affected businesses are likely to sue (in court, ironically) to try to block [the CFPB arbitration proposal]. In a move that conjures up the famous scene from “Blazing Saddles” in which Cleavon Little takes himself hostage, the financial industry has threatened to abandon consumer arbitration altogether if the regulation takes […]
The Washington Post reports that Volkswagen has agreed to pay $10.2 billion to settle a lawsuit brought against it for cheating on U.S. emissions tests. The case stems from the carmaker’s 2015 admission that 11 million vehicles worldwide had cheating software designed to get around emissions tests. The settlement will compensate owners of 482,000 vehicles […]
NPR reports: Just a week before a Vermont law kicks in requiring labels on food containing genetically modified ingredients, U.S. Senate agriculture leaders announced a deal Thursday that takes the power out of states' hands — and sets a mandatory national system for GM disclosures on food products. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, the chairman of […]

