by Jeff Sovern Sovereign Bank is changing its name to Santander, but I have decided not to change my name to Jeff Santander. I'm rather attached to my last name, which family lore claims came about when my grandfather and his three brothers decided to anglicize the family name. Previously, we had been the Smiths. […]
As many of our readers know, there's controversy over whether third parties (that is, non-lawyers and non-clients) should fund large, complex litigation. Two new articles address the question, in part asking whether outside funding benefits plaintiffs, particularly in class and other representative litigation. First, there's "Litigation Finance: What Do Judges Need to Know?" by law […]
by Brian Wolfman Yesterday, we told you about federal judge Richard Leon's ruling invalidating the Federal Reserve's rule on debit card swipe fees. As explained in this article by Katerina Sokou, if Judge Leon's decision holds, swipe fees likely will drop substantially, which should benefit consumers in the form of lower retail prices. Lower swipe fees […]
Go here to see the decision of Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. district court in D.C. Here's the first paragraph of the lengthy ruling: Plaintiffs NACS (formerly, the National Association of Convenience Stores), National Retail Federation ("NRF"), Food Marketing Institute ("FMI"), Miller Oil Co., Inc. ("Miller"), Boscov's Department Store, LLC ("Boscov's) and National Restaurant […]
Here, along with an explanatory memo. We had previously blogged about this Do Not Track effort. Here's the abstract: This document contains the decision of the Tracking Protection Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium, as issued in July, 2013 by the co-chairs, Peter Swire and Matthias Schunter, as well as a detailed […]
Here. The story is about consumer reports maintained on consumers' banking practices originally intended to bar fraud but that often result in banks denying accounts to low-income consumers because of bounced checks and similar blemishes.
International & Comparative Law Fellow Emanwel J. Turnbull at Maryland has written Account Stated Resurrected: The Fiction of Implied Assent in Consumer Debt Collection. Here's the abstract: When are modern American consumers like 17th century merchants? The answer is “now”. Often, in collection lawsuits, creditors allege that consumers in debt are liable for an “account […]
The New York Times reports today that the City of Richmond, California is considering using eminent domain to buy mortgages and reduce homeowner debt. The banks don't like the idea. The article explains: [R]oughly half of all homeowners with mortgages in Richmond are underwater, meaning they owe more — in some cases three or four […]
In this New Republic essay, lawyer Si Lazarus explains that "radical libertarian anti-government ideas" previously "confined to law reviews" "could readily be ratcheted up [in coming Supreme Court terms] to forge a new constitutional regime inimical to modern economic protection."