That's the topic of Future Claimants and the Quest for Global Peace, a new article by prolific law prof Rhonda Wasserman. Here's the abstract: In the mass tort context, the defendant typically seeks to resolve all of the claims against it in one fell swoop. But the defendant’s interest in global peace is often unattainable […]
Following up on Deepak's post earlier this week flagging John Oliver's hilarious takedown of the payday lending industry, check out this post from our friends at Public Justice, discussing the impact of payday lending on minority communities (which are disproportionately targeted by these businesses) and the pernicious business model that relies on trapping borrowers in […]
…reports the National Law Journal, here (subscription required). In a consent order (available here), the CFPB found that Amerisave Mortgage Corporation violated numerous federal consumer protection and lending-related laws by luring borrowers to its services with inaccurate rates then overcharging them and misleading them into paying fees they did not need to pay. Of the […]
The Manhattan District Attorney has brought criminal charges against a payday lending syndicate, alleging that an intricate corporate structure was established to to make payday loans with interest rates in violation of the state's usury cap and to shield its principals from detection by law enforcement. Those charged include the owner, the chief operating officer, and […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has just issued this consumer advisory about the risks of bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The agency has also begun accepting consumer complaints on the topic. Today’s advisory warns that virtual currencies carry significant risks, including: · Exchange rates are volatile and costs unclear: The exchange rate of Bitcoins to U.S. […]
John Oliver's comedy news-in-review show on HBO, "Last Week Tonight," had an excellent segment on payday loans last night. The show was well researched and probably exposed many people to these issues for the first time. Among other things, it covers the payday industry's reliance on recidivism (citing Center for Responsible Lending research and an […]
Worth a listen (about 7 minutes), here.
Last year, we posted a link to Omri Ben-Shahar's review of Margaret Jane Radin's Boilerplate. Now she returns the favor by comenting on More Than You Wanted to Know: The Failure of Mandated Disclosure, the book he co-authored with Carl Schneider in her essay, Dismissing Disclosure? Here is the abstract: This essay responds to a […]
The New York Times has run several troubling pieces recently on predatory subprime car lending, most notably here. Today's Times includes an editorial that states: Dealers who can offload loans to banks before the loans fail take the same rapacious approach that mortgage lenders took in the run-up to the recession. They prey on less […]
Kenneth K. Ching of Regent has written What We Consent to When We Consent to Form Contracts: Market Price. Here is the abstract: Contracts require consent, yet no one reads form contracts. So what do we consent to when we consent to form contracts? Scholarly answers to this question range from “we consent to everything […]