Robert C. Hockett of Cornell and John Vlahoplus of Mortgage Resolution Partners have written A Federalist Blessing in Disguise: From National Inaction to Local Action on Underwater Mortgages, 7 Harvard Law & Policy Review (2013). Here is the abstract: While it is widely recognized that the mortgage debt overhang left by the housing price bubble […]
by Jeff Sovern I frequently post links to scholars' articles on consumer law issues, including pieces by George Mason's Todd J. Zywicki, like this one. The Nation recently published a piece reporting on professors who also work for Wall Street-funded operations without disclosing that in, as The Nation put it, their "university profile, CV, byline […]
We have covered the question whether self-driving cars would benefit consumers by making driving easier and reducing injuries and deaths from crashes. California has enacted legislation setting up a framework for the regulation of self-driving cars in that state. At the federal level, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced a new policy in late […]
We blog frequently here about access-to-the-courts issues, such as standing, class-action status, pre-dispute mandatory arbitration, and so forth. So, I thought our readers might be interested in this decision issued today by Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia holding that an advocacy group (Scenic America) has standing to […]
The Third Circuit held today in Delaware Coalition for Open Government v. Strine that a state-run arbitration program over which a judge presides and that results in an enforceable judgment is subject to the First Amendment right of access to judicial proceedings. The key question in the case was whether these proceedings should be treated […]
by Bradley Girard (guest post) File this under terrifying. Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission settled with Aaron's, a rent-to-own furniture company, over charges that Aaron’s violated laws protecting consumer privacy. Aaron’s franchisees were allegedly renting computers with pre-installed software that secretly monitored consumers and transmitted information back to Aaron’s. Now, this would be cause for […]
Is Noel Canning v. NLRB a classic separation-of-powers conflict between the Senate and the President, or a false controversy created by the House of Representatives, which has no business interfering with appointments? I argue the latter in a short essay forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review's online companion, the Forum. I have a few more […]
Here. An interesting report on a third circuit case on whether consumers can revoke their consent to receive automated calls. The case arose in the debt collection context and given the steep penalties under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act–$500 per call and $1500 for willful violations–could lead to a lot of litigation.
In June 2011, the Supreme Court decertified a class action brought by women claiming that Wal-Mart underpaid and underpromoted its female employees throughout the chain. The Court's decision in the case, called Wal-Mart v. Dukes, was predicted to have significant effect on plaintiffs' ability to litigate Title VII discrimination cases on a classwide basis. Two […]
by Paul Alan Levy Over the past few years I have blogged about our defense of some documentary filmmakers who had to defend the use of the name "Jenzabar" (a software company) in the meta tags and title tag for a web page about a software company called Jenzabar (it was founded by one of […]