In this New Republic essay, lawyer Si Lazarus explains that "radical libertarian anti-government ideas" previously "confined to law reviews" "could readily be ratcheted up [in coming Supreme Court terms] to forge a new constitutional regime inimical to modern economic protection."
by Jeff Sovern A couple of weeks ago, Ira Rheingold and I had an op-ed in the Times about issues with credit reports. Almost on cue, the Associated Press reports Jury awards Oregon woman $18.6M over credit report. It seems she had been trying to get Equifax to correct errors for two years. In the op-ed, […]
Economic recovery? AP reporter Hope Yen has issued this report, based on data sometimes overlooked by the government, which maintains that the likelihood that someone in the U.S. will live in poverty in his or her lifetime is on the rise. Some excerpts: Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance […]
The introductory paragraphs of the Third Circuit's opinion in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. HHS sum it up: A Mennonite-owned wood-manufacturing business and the family that owns it allege that regulations promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services, which require group health plans and health insurance issuers to provide coverage for contraceptives, violate […]
A clear and forceful explanation from Emily Bazelon of what's at stake in the fight over class actions. Pass it on. (We've previously discussed one aspect of the Whirlpool case here.) UPDATE: We previously discussed other aspects of the Whirlpool case here, including some of those addressed by Bazelon as well an absurd argument advanced […]
by Jeff Sovern A personal rant. Even consumer law professors have consumer irritations. Cell phones, including smart phones, occasionally develop problems. In the past, when that has happened, I've stopped by a local store run by my cell service provider and they have fixed the problem fairly quickly. But last year I got an Iphone from […]
The protesting workers want to earn $15 per hour. Read about it here. The fast-food companies — KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, etc. — claim that they cannot afford to pay more. The National Employment Law Project seeks to rebut that claim — and illustrate the plight of fast-food workers — in a new report entitled […]
Go here and learn that, though the bill passed 81 to 19 and has President Obama's support, Senators Sanders and Warren are against it, believing that it will increase the costs of higher education for those who can least afford it. Some basic terms: The compromise will fix undergraduate loans to the interest rate on […]
Ian Ayres of Yale, together with Jeff Lingwall and Sonia Steinway, have written Skeletons in the Database: An Early Analysis of the CFPB's Consumer Complaints. Here's the abstract: Analyzing a new data set of 110,000 consumer complaints lodged with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we find that (i) Bank of America, Citibank, and PNC Bank […]
This story by Jim Puzzanghera explains that The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday sued Castle & Cooke Mortgage, accusing it of paying illegal bonuses to employees who steered home buyers toward higher-interest loans. The suit marks the first time a company has been targeted under new federal loan-origination compensation rules adopted after a mountain […]