Here, with links to purchase the articles. The issue includes remarks from a program at the 2013 AALS Annual Meeting jointly sponsored by The Sections on Poverty Law and Clinical Legal Education, entitled The Debt Crisis and the National Response: Big Changes or Tinkering at the Edges? The list includes. The articles include: "Owner Finance! No Banks Needed!" […]
Last Tuesday, just in time for the Nation's gift-buying orgy (which now starts on Thanksgiving morning), U.S. PIRG issued its 28th annual Trouble in Toyland report, which surveys the dangers to kids posed by toys. The report covers toxins (such as lead, antimony, arsenic, and cadmium), choking hazards, excessively loud toys, laceration hazards, and strangulation risks. […]
The Project on Student Debt has issued Student Debt and the Class of 2012.That report found that Seven in 10 college seniors who graduated in 2012 had student loan debt, with an average of$29,400 for those with loans. The national share of seniors graduating with loans rose in recentyears, from 68 percent in 2008 to […]
by Jeff Sovern Some of my students tell me they have received the following class action notice: IF YOU RECEIVED A CALL THROUGH THE USE OF AN AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE DIALING SYSTEM AND/OR A PRERECORDED VOICE FROM DISCOVER TO YOUR CELLULAR TELEPHONE BETWEEN NOVEMBER 30, 2007 AND SEPTEMBER 10, 2013, THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES YOUR RIGHTS IN […]
Here is a helpful (and entertainingly written) catalogue of various nasty consumer practices to watch out for, along with some basic advice about protecting yourself as a consumer (to the extent you can). Courtesy of the Consumer Law Center of Neighborhood Legal Services of Greater Cleveland. (HT: Mark Wiseman.)
Chris Morran explains in this article that the number of U.S. banks has hit its lowest point since the federal government began counting in 1934. The number has dropped precipitously since 1985 (going from about 18,000 to 6,800), which may mean fewer options for bank services and greater costs for consumers.
Sarah Rudolph Cole of Ohio State haas written The Federalization of Consumer Arbitration: Possible Solutions. Here is the abstract: Over the past fifteen to twenty years, businesses dramatically increased the use of arbitration clauses in contracts with consumers. Although commentators criticize the use of arbitration to resolve consumer disputes because arbitration lacks the due process […]
"New guidelines issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for banks they oversee stop short of completely disallowing deposit advances. But the guidelines should reduce the banks’ profits while making the loans less onerous to borrowers." The Times urges the Fed to follow suit in regulating […]
The Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center, in cooperation with the University of New Mexico School of Law and the National Association of Consumer Advocates, is organizing its seventh semi-annual Teaching Consumer Law Conference. The subject this time is “Teaching Consumer Law in a Digital Borderless World.” The Conference will […]
by Deepak Gupta In a much-anticipated decision, the Fifth Circuit held today that the National Labor Relations Board overstepped its authority when it ruled that an employer violated federal labor law by requiring its employees to sign an arbitration agreement containing a class-action ban. Judge Leslie Southwick, joined by Judge King, isssued the opinion for the court. Here's […]