A clear and forceful explanation from Emily Bazelon of what's at stake in the fight over class actions. Pass it on. (We've previously discussed one aspect of the Whirlpool case here.) UPDATE: We previously discussed other aspects of the Whirlpool case here, including some of those addressed by Bazelon as well an absurd argument advanced […]
by Jeff Sovern A personal rant. Even consumer law professors have consumer irritations. Cell phones, including smart phones, occasionally develop problems. In the past, when that has happened, I've stopped by a local store run by my cell service provider and they have fixed the problem fairly quickly. But last year I got an Iphone from […]
The protesting workers want to earn $15 per hour. Read about it here. The fast-food companies — KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, etc. — claim that they cannot afford to pay more. The National Employment Law Project seeks to rebut that claim — and illustrate the plight of fast-food workers — in a new report entitled […]
Go here and learn that, though the bill passed 81 to 19 and has President Obama's support, Senators Sanders and Warren are against it, believing that it will increase the costs of higher education for those who can least afford it. Some basic terms: The compromise will fix undergraduate loans to the interest rate on […]
Ian Ayres of Yale, together with Jeff Lingwall and Sonia Steinway, have written Skeletons in the Database: An Early Analysis of the CFPB's Consumer Complaints. Here's the abstract: Analyzing a new data set of 110,000 consumer complaints lodged with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we find that (i) Bank of America, Citibank, and PNC Bank […]
This story by Jim Puzzanghera explains that The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday sued Castle & Cooke Mortgage, accusing it of paying illegal bonuses to employees who steered home buyers toward higher-interest loans. The suit marks the first time a company has been targeted under new federal loan-origination compensation rules adopted after a mountain […]
by Jeff Sovern I just read a terrific article by Richard Craswell of Stanford, Static Versus Dynamic Disclosures, and How Not to Judge Their Success or Failure, 88 Washington Law Review 333 (2013). Here's the abstract: Disclosure laws can serve many different purposes. This Article is the first to distinguish two of those purposes, which […]
Last November, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed this class-action complaint claiming that the maker of 7-UP was violating California consumer protection laws by adding vitamin E to its product and implying that the product was healthy because it contained antioxidants. The complaint quoted this claim from 7-UP's website: “There’s never […]
That's the topic of this article by law professor Natalie Pedersen. Here's the abstract: In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the U.S. Supreme Court not only reversed the grant of class certification to one of the largest employment discrimination classes ever, but also indelibly altered the substance of employment discrimination law. While many scholars have […]
by Jeff Sovern Another self-serving post: West has just published the 2013 edition of Selected Consumer Statutes, which I edited along with John A. Spanogle, Ralph J. Rohner, Dee Pridgen, and Christopher L. Peterson. The book should be useful not just for consumer law courses, but also for consumer law practitioners who want a portable […]