by Jeff Sovern Tonight marks the start of the NFL draft, a time when hope blooms for all fans of an NFL team, because they can always suppose that their team has used the draft to get better–and many teams will. Many fans create wish lists–what they want for their teams. In that spirit, I […]
Arthur Acoca of Penn's The Wharton School, Ren S. Essene of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Min Hwang of George Washington's Department of Finance, Jacob Liebschutz of Harvard's Government Department, Patricia A. McCoy of Connecticut, Jessica Russell of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Susan M. Wachter, also of Wharton have written The Performance of […]
That's the name of this article by law professor Howard Erichson. Here's the abstract: This article argues that class actions should never be certified solely for purposes of settlement. Contrary to the widespread “settlement class action” practice that has emerged in recent decades, contrary to current case law permitting settlement class certification, and contrary to […]
This article by Michael Fletcher explains that "[w]ealth inequality widened dramatically during the first two years of the economic recovery, as the upper 7 percent of American households saw their average net worth increase 28 percent, while the wealth of the other 93 percent declined." That finding bears repeating. In its first two years, the […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued what it's calling a "white paper on intial data findings" on Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products. The report is chock full of statistics and charts based on what the agency found is actually happening in the payday loan industry. Who is taking out the loans? How often […]
Jeff just told us that House Republicans won't let CFPB head Richard Corday testify before them because, they say, he's not the lawful head of the agency. He did testify today before the Banking Committee of the Democratic-controlled Senate. But there, Republicans went after him for gathering supposedly private data, which Corday says (reasonably, it […]
by Jeff Sovern The Wall Street Journal has the story here and the American Banker here (one or both may be behind a paywall). Mr. Hensarling argues that as Cordray has not been confirmed, he is not the lawful head of the bureau and so cannot testify. But he adds in his letter to Mr. […]
That's the name of this brief article by law professor Linda Mullinex. Here's the abstract: Commentary and analysis on case law developments in the lower federal courts, approximately one year after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (June 20, 2011). In the wake of the Court’s […]
That's today's ruling in Radcliffe v. Experian, No. 11-56376. Here's the court's synopsis of its unanmious opinion: Several named plaintiffs and objectors appeal the district court’s approval of a class-action settlement. The settlement agreement, like others we have approved in the past, granted incentive awards to the class representatives for their service to the class. […]
That's the topic of this article by Michael Fletcher explaining that large Wall Street investors are spending billions on housing and bidding up prices. Will that lead to another collapse in the market down the road? In some parts of the country this investment may be the cause of alleged recovery in the housing market. […]