The Class Action Fairness Act provides for federal jurisdiction over “any civil action … in which monetary relief claims of 100 or more persons are proposed to be tried jointly on the ground that the plaintiffs’ claims involve common questions of law or fact.” But what constitutes a “proposal” that cases be “tried jointly”? Today, […]
A federal court this month issued an order, in a case filed by the Federal Trade Commission, to temporarily stop a predatory student loan relief scam that targeted Puerto Rican, Spanish-speaking borrowers. According to the FTC’s complaint against USA Student Debt Relief/Start Connecting SAS, operating out of Florida and Cali, Colombia, these entities falsely represented […]
We often see reports complaining that professors are indoctrinating students by conveying only one side of the story. So I asked 31 consumer law professors: when you teach consumer law, how important is it to you that students hear arguments you yourself disagree with? As reported in Who Teaches Consumer Law? forthcoming in the Journal […]
I wrote Who Teaches Consumer Law? forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law. Here’s the abstract: This paper reports on a survey of 31 law professors teaching consumer protection law conducted in connection with the Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice at the UC Berkeley School of Law and the Center for Consumer Law […]
Aniket Kesari of Fordham has written ‘Right to Yelp Laws’ and the Reputational Sanctions Market? Here’s the abstract: How do statutes that protect consumers’ rights to write reviews shape the reputational sanctions market? In 2016, Congress passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA), commonly championed as the “right to Yelp” law. The law makes contract provisions […]
Today, the CFPB issued a report on the growth of “earned wage” cash advances , by which employers partner with third party companies to offer employees loans based on earned wages. The report found that, in addition to fees, these loans typically have an APR of 109.5%. Along with the report, the CFPB issued a […]
Kate Berry has an interesting article with some nice alliteration in the American Banker, Debt collectors defend doctors in skewering CFPB medical debt plan (behind paywall but available at Lexis). The CFPB has proposed to block medical debt from appearing in credit reports. The proposal is based in part on the theory that medical debt, because […]
The Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) requires banks, credit unions, and similar financial institutions to reimburse their customers for unauthorized electronic transfers of money from the customers’ accounts. Several credit union customers saw money transferred out of their accounts as part of a scam called “SIM Swap,” which, it was claimed, took advantage of T-Mobile’s […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed “new rules to make it easier for homeowners to get help when they are struggling to pay their mortgage. The proposal, if finalized, would require mortgage servicers to focus on helping borrowers, not foreclosing, when a homeowner asks for help. The proposed changes would also make it simpler […]
Oregon enacted the Toxic-Free Kids Act, which directs the Oregon Health Authority to establish and maintain a list of high-priority chemicals of concern for children’s health. Manufacturers of consumer products with those chemicals to provide certain notices are required to publish notices, and, after several years, are prohibited from selling those products in the state. […]