The FTC announced yesterday that it sued weight-loss company Roca Labs in federal court in Florida for making unsubstantiated claims about its products then trying to silence critics using a non-disparagement clause followed up by threats (a subject we've covered numerous times on this blog, see, e.g., here and here). The FTC's press statement explains: In a […]
You might assume, based on our prior discussions of lawsuits over modern day debtors' prison practices in Georgia and Missouri (see here and here) that the practice of jailing people who can't pay court fines and fees is confined to the South. An ACLU report last week discussing practices in New Hampshire shows otherwise. Among […]
Here, in the Daily Kos. An excerpt: If Spotify does something illegal, no one can ever know that a consumer is challenging it. And then, if an arbitrator did find that Spotify acted illegally (which is asking a lot, since Spotify will pick the private arbitration company that will, in turn, select the arbitrator to hear the […]
Here. Excerpt: We believe that consumers should not be forced into arbitration. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should use its authority to stop forced arbitration in financial services; it recently announced it's holding a hearing on October 7 in Denver to discuss the topic, and may make an announcement then. Congress should enact legislation to make arbitration voluntary in […]
A timely counterweight to the troubling political movement to roll back regulations that protect public safety, the American Museum of Tort Law opened in Winsted, Connecticut this past weekend. As the NYT describes, The museum aims to describe the evolution of the law regarding negligence and liability, and it features some of the most groundbreaking […]
The BBC reported Wednesday that "An opinion issued by the European Court of Justice says that current data-sharing rules between the 28-nation bloc and the US are 'invalid.' The decision could affect other tech firms' abilities to send Europeans' information to US data centres." Although the ruling is not final, the BBC explains that the ruling […]
From a CFPB press release today: Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a joint action against Hudson City Savings Bank for discriminatory redlining practices that denied residents in majority-Black-and-Hispanic neighborhoods fair access to mortgage loans. The complaint filed by the CFPB and DOJ alleges that Hudson City […]
The story, based on a Fed study, is here. Excerpt: New rules designed to make sure borrowers can repay their mortgages haven’t curtailed the ability to buy a home, a Federal Reserve study says. * * * The Fed study didn’t find any evidence of credit restriction as a result of the rules. For instance, […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Board on Tuesday released its latest monthly consumer complaints snapshot, which highlights mortgage complaints. According to the report, consumers continue to face problems with mortgage servicing, particularly during certain circumstances, such as when they apply for a loan modification to avoid foreclosure. The CFPB report finds the consumers continue to experience […]
A discouraging article from the New York Times: Long before Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions tests for millions of cars worldwide, the automobile industry, Volkswagen included, had a well-known record of sidestepping regulation and even duping regulators. For decades, car companies found ways to rig mileage and emissions testing data. In Europe, some automakers […]