By guest blogger Jessica Ranucci New York state officials announced today that a student loan debt relief provider is shutting down operations after an investigation by the state’s Student Protection Unit. The company, Inveractiv Edcuation, advertised that it could lower students’ monthly loan payments and charged borrowers upfront fees of up to $3,400 for its […]
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking "seeking comments, data, research, and/or other information related to nicotine exposure warnings and child-resistant packaging for liquid nicotine, nicotine-containing e-liquid(s), and potentially for other tobacco products including, but not limited to novel tobacco products such as dissolvables, lotions, gels, and drinks." The […]
The LA Times reports: A federal appeals court Tuesday let stand a 2013 lower court ruling that concluded Apple conspired with several top book publishers to raise e-book prices. The Justice Department had accused Apple of unfairly taking control of a nascent market that had been dominated by Amazon.com. …. [The court] wrote that Apple […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced today: The Federal Trade Commission is mailing almost 95,000 checks totaling approximately $4 million to consumers who lost money to a debt collection operation that extorted payments from them using false threats. In May 2014, the FTC settled charges against Asset Capital and Management Group, which, under various names, illegally […]
The USDA just released a final rule that permits importing beef from Northern Argentina and parts of Brazil. Limitations on beef imports from these regions have been in place for decades as a safety measure designed to stop spread of foot-and-mouth disease. The United States eradicated the disease in 1929, but it remains common in […]
By guest blogger Katie Coulson On June 15, we blogged about PayPal's new user agreement. The new agreement includes expansive language giving PayPal the right to send autodialed or prerecorded calls on any subject to any phone number associated with a PayPal account. This change sparked outrage among PayPal users, and the FCC intervened. On […]
By guest blogger Jessica Ranucci Faulty ignition switches in certain General Motors vehicles are linked to over one hundred deaths. This defect has spurred a recall of more than nine million GM vehicles since February 2014. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration knew of the faulty airbag deployment as early as 2003 and received reports […]
The National Journal reports: The FDA last week told manufacturers to get rid of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) from processed foods, the primary source of artificial trans fats linked to heart disease. But as a replacement, manufacturers are likely to turn in part to palm oil. It's cheap, it's plentiful, and it can more or […]
Since June 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has posted individual-level complaint data on its website. Yesterday, the CFPB began posting the consumer narratives that underlie that data. The database and the narratives are available here. The CFPB's press announcement is here.
In light of yesterday's Affordable Care Act ruling, King v. Burwell, take a look at three short pieces. First, read this scotusblog post by law prof Einer Elhauge, which discusses the methodological approaches behind both Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion and Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent. Second, also in scotusblog, read Amy Howe's "In Plain […]