The Supreme Court granted review on Friday in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant. Here is the question presented in the petition: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act permits courts, invoking the “federal substantive law of arbitrability,” to invalidate arbitration agreements on the ground that they do not permit class arbitration of a federal law […]
Creola Johnson of Ohio State has written America's First Consumer Financial Watchdog Is on a Leash: Can the CFPB Use Its Authority to Declare Payday-Loan Practices Unfair, Abusive, and Deceptive? 61 Catholic University Law Review (2012). Here's the abstract: To stop payday lenders from skirting state laws, this Article asserts that the CFPB should exercise […]
Florencia Marotta-Wurgler of NYU and Robert Brendan Taylor of Kirkland & Ellis have written Set in Stone? Change and Innovation in Consumer Standard Form Contracts for the Seventh Annual Conference on Empirical Studies. Here's the abstract: This article studies the rate, direction, and determinants of change in consumer standard form contracting. We examine what changed […]
Appointment to the Senate Banking Committee is a plum usually reserved for Senators with more seniority than Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren — that is, Senators with at least some seniority — but it appears that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may make it happen because of Warren's expertise on banking and finance issues. Read about it […]
David Horton of UC Davis has written Federal Arbitration Act Preemption, Purposivism, and State Public Policy, 101 Georgetown law Journal (2013). Here's the abstract: The relationship between the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and state public policy has long been unsettled. According to some judges, scholars, and litigants, the FAA precludes courts from invalidating arbitration clauses […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday I blogged about senatorial votes on consumer protection (a more succinct version of the special report can be found in the American Banker). During the period we studied–2009 to 2012–Congress voted on two major consumer protection bills, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and the Dodd-Frank Act. But other votes were […]
by Jeff Sovern Now that the election is over, the post is back! Read the American Banker op-ed on the study here. My student, Andrew Lipkowitz, and I recently reviewed the votes of the members of the United States Senate going back to 2009 on consumer issues. I'm reporting some of the findings today and […]
Ira Rubinstein of NYU's Information Law Institut has written Big Data: The End of Privacy or a New Beginning? Here's the abstract: “Big data” refers to novel ways in which organizations, including government and businesses, combine diverse digital data sets and then use statistics and other data mining techniques to extract from them both hidden […]
Lea Krivinskas Shepard of Loyola Chicago has written Toward a Stronger Financial History Antidiscrimination Norm, 53 Boston College Law Review (2012). Here's the abstract: This Article examines a topic at the intersection of consumer protection and antidiscrimination law: the use by employers and licensing organizations of applicants’ credit reports and financial histories in the hiring […]
In September, we blogged concerning the California electoral initiative that would require labeling of genetically modified foods. (We should know the answer on the initiative sometime tomorrow night or early Wednesday morning.) We followed up with this post about genetically modified food labeling requirements across the globe. Now, Brad Plumer has posted this excellent piece on […]