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 […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has subpoenaed documents from eBay relating to its "Bill Me Later" financing service, which allows financing of purchases from many online stores, apparently over concerns that the finance charges imposed by "Bill Me Later" are excessive. The Wall Street Journal has details about the CFPB investigation.
Remember how car dealers fought to avoid being subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's jurisdiction, and won? It turns out that the dealers are still experiencing pressure to comply with the Bureau's edicts. From Carter Dougherty's story: Under pressure from the agency, large banks that routinely buy auto loans have been reviewing records to […]
We've previously written about a Takings Clause case filed to challenge Washington D.C.'s practice of permitting private companies to buy tax liens, institute foreclosure proceedings, and keep the entire value of the property (not just the amount needed to satisfy the debt). On Friday, D.C. moved to dismiss the suit on a variety of procedural […]