World Wide Web Consortium Tracking Protection Working Group Text

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 […]

Paper Explains and Critiques the Account Stated Cause of Action

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 […]

Richmond, CA May Use Eminent Domain to Prevent Foreclosures

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 […]

Will Supreme Court pro-business libertarianism bring down health and safety laws, education programs, and consumer protection?

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."

Credit Report Accuracy

by Jeff Sovern A couple of weeks ago, Ira Rheingold and I had an op-ed in the Times about issues with credit reports.  Almost on cue, the Associated Press reports Jury awards Oregon woman $18.6M over credit report.  It seems she had been trying to get Equifax to correct errors for two years.  In the op-ed, […]

Lifetime poverty risk in the U.S. is increasing

Economic recovery? AP reporter Hope Yen has issued this report, based on data sometimes overlooked by the government, which maintains that the likelihood that someone in the U.S. will live in poverty in his or her lifetime is on the rise. Some excerpts: Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance […]

Apellate victory for Affordable Care Act mandate that employers cover birth control

The introductory paragraphs of the Third Circuit's opinion in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. HHS sum it up: A Mennonite-owned wood-manufacturing business and the family that owns it allege that regulations promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services, which require group health plans and health insurance issuers to provide coverage for contraceptives, violate […]

Terrific Slate article about Whirlpool washing machines and class actions

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 […]