by Brian Wolfman A couple weeks ago, in McMahon v. LVNV Funding (and a companion case), the Seventh Circuit held that debt collectors' letters to consumers offering to "settle" time-barred debts (that is, debts that would be subject to a successful statute-of-limitations defense) could mislead consumers and, thus, could violate the federal Fair Debt Collection […]
Kevin Davis has written this article reviewing legal issues raised by airbnb, the on-line apartment and home rental site that says it facilitates "[r]ent[als] from people in over 34,000 cities and 192 countries." Among the issues are (1) whether airbnb renters should have business licenses in cities and towns that require them generally, and (2) […]
Some contributors to this blog have expressed general skepticism about the value of disclosure as a means of consumer protection (and have argued that some types of disclosure are more likely to be effective than others). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is interested in improving disclosures for prepaid cards. Here's how the CFPB describes the […]
by Brian Wolfman Tesla wants to sell its electric cars from its own stores directly to consumers. Some states require consumers to buy new cars from car dealers supposedly on the ground that requiring consumers to go through a dealer promotes competition. Really? Sounds like protectionism for car dealers, doesn't it? Tesla isn't saying that […]
Joshua Mitts of Sullivan & Cromwell has written How Effective is Mandatory Disclosure? Here's the abstract: Mandatory disclosure lies at the cornerstone of consumer protection law but its efficacy is unclear. I conduct one of the first online experiments on mandatory disclosure by evaluating a recent proposal to warn consumers of unexpected, unfavorable terms. To […]
That's one of the conclusions reached by Adam Levitin in his new essay The Politics of Financial Regulation and the Regulation of Financial Politics. Here is the abstract: This review essay considers six recent books on the financial crisis (Bernanke, Blinder, Bair, Barofsky, Connaughton, and Admati & Hellwig). The essay discerns two basic narratives of […]
Guest post by Mark Totten, Associate Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law Last week Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit against a short-term lender for abusive practices, likely making Illinois the first state to exercise its new powers under the Dodd-Frank Act to enforce the law’s ban on “unfair, deceptive, […]
That's the theme of this article by Michael Hiltzik. Here's an excerpt: [I]f you really want to destroy a business, just hack away at its customer service. … The principle also holds true for government programs, which is why you should be very suspicious about the relentless budget-cutting at the Social Security Administration. Mark Miller […]
The Georgetown Consumer Law Society and Citizen Works are hosting a symposium, Making the Fine Print Fair, at Georgetown on April 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Speakers include FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez; Ralph Nader; Georgetown Dean William Treanor; Associate Dean Gregory Klass; Professors David Vladeck, Adam Levitin; CL&P bloggers Deepak Gupta, Scott Michaelman, […]
by John Cook at Gawker