by Paul Alan Levy Last month, a Fells Point restaurant was able to use an apparently baseless threat of defamation litigation to secure a vote renewing its liquor license by the liquor control board despite considerable neighborhood complaints. Baltimore attorney Scott Marder apparently a demand letter to every one of the 15 neighbors who objected, […]
Erik Durbin and Charles J. Romeo, both of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, have written The Economics of Debt Collection, with Attention to the Issue of Salience of Collections at the Time Credit Is Granted, 16 Journal of Credit Risk (2020). Here is the abstract: This paper considers the role of policies that protect consumers from […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Both written and audio versions of the article are available. The article also reports on scam call centers overseas. I hope this is something the Biden administration moves on aggressively in its foreign policy.
by Jeff Sovern My new article is now up on SSRN: Six Scandals: Why We Need Consumer Protection Laws Instead of Just Markets. Here' is the abstract: Markets are powerful mechanisms for serving consumers. Some critics of regulation have suggested that markets also provide consumer protection: for example, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman said “Consumers […]
Yonathan A. Arbel of Alabama and Shmuel I. Becher of Victoria University of Wellington have written Contracts in the Age of Smart Readers. Here's the abstract: What does it mean to have machines that can read, explain, and evaluate contracts? Recent advances in machine learning have led to a fundamental breakthrough in machine language models, auguring […]
On Wednesday, just hours after being sworn in, President Biden ordered the Education Department to extend the current COVID-19 suspension of all federal student loan payments and interest until at least October 1st. The CARES Act — Congress' third coronavirus relief bill, which passed in March 2020 — directed the Education Department to suspend payments, stop […]
by Jeff Sovern If you are curious to learn more about FTC Commissioner and CFPB Director-Nominee Rohit Chopra, here is a video of him discussing the FTC's remedial authority a couple days before the Supreme Court heard oral argument earlier this month in AMG v. FTC. The event was hosted by Truth-in-Advertising.org (TINA.org).
by Paul Alan Levy In a decision issued his afternoon, Judge Barbara Rothstein has denied a motion by the infamous web site Parler seeking a preliminary injunction compelling Amazon to reverse its decision to terminate its hosting of Parler's web site. The judge agreed with Amazon that, under its hosting contract, Parler was subject to […]
President Biden has named Dave Ueijo, the chief strategy officer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the Bureau's acting director. Kate Berry's American Banker story here (may be behind paywall). Excerpt: “He’s a great interim pick and he doesn’t regard the role as simply a caretaker," said [former CFPB Director Richard] Cordray. "He knows […]