Third Circuit joins circuit consensus on Comcast, also reaffirms that standing need not be established for each class member

Yesterday, in a product-defect class action about Volvos with faulty sunroofs, the Third Circuit addressed two important class action questions — one arising in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, the other to be examined in the upcoming term in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo. The Comcast question, which we've […]

Senate hearing on constitutionality of CFPB and Dodd-Frank

This afternoon (at 2pm), I'll be testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Dodd Frank Act. The title for today's hearing gives you a flavor of the sweeping (and fringe) legal theories being advanced by the CFPB's opponents: "The Administrative State v. The Constitution: Dodd-Frank […]

FDA to study effect of drug-ad boasting on patient perceptions

The Wall Street Journal explains: Time and again, consumer ads claim a medicine is the number one drug prescribed by physicians. Putting aside the question of whether such boasting is actually true, what remains unclear is the extent to which consumers view such information positively or as a substitute for effectiveness data. And so, the […]

Discover Bank to pay $18.5 million for illegal student-loan servicing practices

From the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's press release: Discover’s Illegal Servicing Practices Affected Private Student Loan Borrowers Transferred from Citibank Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against Discover Bank and its affiliates for illegal private student loan servicing practices. The CFPB found that Discover overstated the minimum amounts due on billing statements […]

Americans’ perception of work contributes to worker-unfriendly policies

… is the thesis of an article in Slate yesterday, which points out that about a quarter of Americans think differences in the amount of work people do is responsible for income inequality (according to a Pew study) and that on average, an American working a full time job reports that s/he works 47 hours per week […]

More on the new Military Lending Act rule: the rule itself

We posted earlier today on the final rule issued today by the Department of Defense to protect service members from predatory lending. See here and here. The final rule is here. The DoD statement is here. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of the agencies charged with enforcing the Military Lending Act, issued a supportive […]

President Announces New Military Lending and Arbitration Rules at Event in Pittsburgh

Today is an important milestone week for federal consumer protection policy–the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank and the fourth anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Right now, President Obama, speaking at a VFW hall in Pittsburgh, is announcing another important milestone: new protections for servicemembers against the worst abuses by predatory lenders in the form […]