Scott blogged earlier today about the pending vote to delay protections. Here's Ed Mierzwinski's HuffPo post, House Launches Attack on Servicemember Lending Protections, and Chris Morran of Consumerist weighs in with Congress May Delay Predatory Lending Protection For Military Personnel. Update: the Times' Brent Staples adds "The offending legislation, now before the House Armed Services Committee, deserves to […]
The New York Times reports today that the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (part of the U.S. Department of Transportation) is promising aggressive action on vehicle recalls that move too slowly and continue to endanger lives. "Mr. Rosekind, who took over as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December, […]
In this year's proposed National Defense Authorization Act, currently before the House Armed Services Committee, there's a provision to delay for one year DoD regulations to protect service members from predatory lenders. What's the year for? Further study. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, herself a veteran, is expected to try to remove the delay provision. […]
As the people of Baltimore recover from this week's rioting and try to make sense of the shocking event that sparked it, 538.com reflects on some relevant statistics about economic conditions in Baltimore: -The median income for African-American households: $33,000 (white households make nearly double that amount). -The unemploment rate for African-American men 20 to […]
In a brief filed in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, we have asked the Court to enforce the Supreme Court’s rule forbidding temporary injunctions to protect the reputation of a business against allegedly defamatory criticisms. The facts of the case show the wisdom of the rule. How the Appeal Came About In the fall […]
We discussed previously a "debt strike" launched by students of the for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges, which faces multiple legal actions from state and federal regulators over claims that it misled students about job prospects and graduation rates (see our prior discussion about one such action here). Now the company is closing its schools, reports the […]
Today the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, a Fair Credit Reporting Act claim about an incorrect report. Spokeo, a company that publishes information about people online, challenged the plaintiff's standing to proceed in the absence of concrete harm flowing from the inaccurate report of facts about the plaintiff. The plaintiff, Robins, […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued its third Snapshot of Complaints Received from Servicemembers, Veterans and their Families. The report details the data and trends from consumer complaints received by the CFPB from members of the military and their families since July 2011. Points highlighted by the CFPB include: Debt collection complaints have continued […]
by Jeff Sovern I don't know anyone who likes getting a shot. One of my daughters, as a small girl, would hide under chairs at the pediatrician's office to avoid them, which by the way, was not an effective strategy. But most of us are willing to get stuck with needles if the payoff is large […]
by Paul Alan Levy Over the past couple of decades, federal courts have a uniform answer to the question whether state anti-SLAPP statutes applied when state law claims were pursued in federal court. Anti-SLAPP statutes give the defendants in cases brought over the exercise of free speech rights on matters of public interest, and certain […]