…is the question posed in today's piece from NPR's Morning Edition today. The story covers a new partnership between Yelp and ProPublica to integrate ProPublica data into Yelp doctor reviews. One of the difficulties in Yelp reviews of doctors is that they often focus on the rudeness or efficiency of the office staff rather than […]
In 2009, New York City expanded its regulation of debt collectors to include "a buyer of delinquent debt who seeks to collect such debt either directly or through the services of another by, including but not limited to, initiating or using legal processes or other means to collect or attempt to collect such debt." A law firm engaged […]
In a decision issued Monday in a case called Sanchez v. Valencia Holding Co., the California Supreme Court rejected arguments that a class-action ban in an arbitration clause, together with a few other provisions that were unfavorable to a consumer, rendered the arbitration clause unconscionable. The opinion emphasized that an arbitration clause, like any other […]
by Paul Alan Levy Several years ago, the notorious Hollywood mouthpiece Martin Singer sent a demand letter to the San Diego Reader, in reaction to its having inquired about a pending law suit, threatening to sue it in the event that any story it might write about the subject of the inquiry and further threatening […]
The FTC's press release is here.
News reports in the last day reveal that Facebook has obtained a patent on a method for "authenticating an individual for access to information or service based on that individual's social network." What exactly does that mean? Among other things, the patent says, the invention could be used by lenders as follows: "When an individual […]
HT: Kate Spellman
The Bureau's release explained yesterday that it is: filing [] a lawsuit in federal district court against the NDG Enterprise, a complex web of commonly controlled companies, for collecting money consumers did not owe. The CFPB alleges that the defendants illegally collected loan amounts and fees that were void or that consumers had no obligations […]
This non-profit organization, which brings together consumer organizations (such as Consumer Federation of America and National Consumers League), governments and insurance organizations, aims to educate the public and expose fraud. Now it's launched a podcast, with the first three episodes covering home contractors, tow-trucks, and medical ID theft. You can check it out here.