What is it about presidential campaigns that brings out some of the worst examples of trademark bullying? Two years ago, we shot down bogus a trademark demand by the Ready for Hillary pre-campaign PAC, which tried to suppress Liberty Maniac's “Ready for Oligarchy” parody. (Readers of this blog may remember Liberty Maniacs (and its owner, […]
by Jeff Sovern The Hill has the story with the headline House panel passes bills to ramp up CFPB oversight. For more on why "oversight" will hurt consumers, see here and here.
Here. Here is the Executive Summary: Debt buyers, specialized debt-collection companies, purchase defaulted consumer debt from creditors such as credit card companies for pennies on the dollar. Debt buyers then attempt to collect the debt, often by suing borrowers in court. Unfortunately, because debts are typically sold to debt buyers without fully verifying the accuracy […]
Last week, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that state labor law prohibits employers from forcing workers to perform their job on their feet when their tasks could be done sitting down. The ruling, which requires consideration of the totality of circumstances in determining whether seats are required for a particular job, was handed down […]
As you may have heard, on March 30, a D.C. district court threw out a designation by the federal Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) that MetLife needs to comply with special government safeguards under Dodd-Frank for entities whose "material financial distress" could "pose a threat to the financial stability of the United States." (Here's coverage […]
We wrote yesterday about Goldman's $5 billion settlement with the government in connection with the financial crisis. The New York Times reports that fine print in the deal might get Goldman off the hook for up to 20% of that amount, through the use of various credits. Read the details here. (HT: alert reader Matthew […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday: Four companies that market skin care products, shampoos, and sunscreens online have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely claimed that their products are “all natural” or “100% natural,” despite the fact that they contain synthetic ingredients. The Commission has issued a complaint against a fifth […]
Companies pretend to be from the IRS and represent that you're in big, big trouble. (I've gotten a couple of these myself this month.) Ars Technica has the details.
In this article, Zoe Tillman describes an oral argument today in the D.C. Circuit involving a challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus's structure. Specifically, the challengers say that Congress gave the CFPB's director too much power and independence. Tillman says that the D.C. Circuit appears to agree with the challengers: A federal appeals panel […]
This week's settlement between the financial giant and the government is the latest in a string of billion-dollar settlements addressing Wall Street misconduct in the lead-up to the financial crisis of 2008. (The others were with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and Morgan Stanley, and the values ranged from approximately $3 billion to $16 billion.) […]