Ready for this year's holiday gift-buying binge? Before you set out to shop for kids, read U.S. PIRG's 29th annual edition of Trouble in Toyland. Go here for the excutive summary. The report surveys the dangers to kids posed by toys. The report covers toxins (such as lead and arsenic), choking hazards, excessively loud toys, […]
The Boston Globe brings us word of a series of email exchanges in which a Harvard Business School professor (with whom I am acquainted) seems to have gone a bit overboard in invoking the treble-damages provision of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, chapter 93A. UPDATE: The professor has apologized for "what I said and how […]
I have longed argued that the problem with forced arbitration goes beyond whether it is “fair,” whether the consumer understands it, or whether it is cost efficient, here, here, and here. The real problem with forced arbitration is the affect it has on our system of justice. Recently, Professor Maria Glover of Georgetown University Law […]
That is the name of this article by law professor Mark Totten. Here is the abstract: No one played a more vital role responding to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression than a small band of state attorneys general (AGs). Yet this story has never been told nor its implications considered. For more […]
The Affordable Care Act has taken some hits in the courts (but so far has survived the biggest attacks), and it is not terribly popular. But is it working as it was intended? Yes, according to this piece by Sarah Kliff. An excerpt: [I]f you look beyond the political fights, the picture looks very different [from […]
Today the Supreme Court denied BP's petition seeking review of a case interpreting the company's multi-billion dollar settlement over its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company claimed (both in court papers and via a public relations campaign) that it is improperly being forced to compensate losses unrelated to the spill. Read […]
Robert C. Hockett of Cornell has written 'We Don't Follow, We Lead': How New York City Will Save Mortgage Loans by Condemning Them, 124 Yale Law Journal Forum 131 (2014). Here is the abstract: This brief invited essay lays out in summary form the eminent domain plan for securitized underwater mortgage loans that the author […]
The state of the law on arbitration is undeniably titled against consumers, workers, and really anyone who is wronged by a corporation (including, sometimes, even smaller corporations). We've discussed on this site for years how arbitration undermines disputants' rights and favors the big repeat players. And we've discussed how far arbitration has extended under recent […]
As Forbes discusses, the D.C. city council has just passed a law to combat the abuses associated with civil asset forfeiture, the law enforcement practice of taking people's money or property and asking questions (such as whether they had the authority to do it) later. The Washington Post summarizes what asset forfeiture is: Civil forfeiture […]
by Jeff Sovern The press release is here. The rules themselves are here. Law360's Evan Weinberger reports here on whether they might become a model for the CFPB or other states. I am very curious to see how effective the new rules will be. They will surely help some consumers. Because the rules require disclosures, and […]