The continuing role of state courts in the age of CAFA

That's the topic of The (Surprisingly) Prevalent Role of States in an Era of Federalized Class Actions by law prof Linda Mullenix. Here is the abstract: In enacting the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, Congress intended to expand access to federal courts for interstate class actions by creating minimal diversity and removal jurisdiction. Congress […]

Widman article examines whether state agencies changed their UDAP enforcement in the age of Trump

Amy Widman of Rutgers has written Protecting Consumer Protection: Filling the Federal Enforcement Gap, 69 Buffalo Law Review __ (2021) (Forthcoming). Here is the abstract:  Since 2014, when a first-of-its-kind empirical study looked at how public enforcers use their authority under UDAP laws, the enforcement landscape has changed. Most notably, the Trump Administration has weakened […]

Do We Have To Tax Student Debt Forgiveness?

Student debt forgiveness is gaining traction among Democrats, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling on Joe Biden to forgive $50,000 of student debt via executive action during the first 100 days of his Presidency — that is, to adopt Senator Warren's plan from the primary. Last night, Jason Furman—one of President Obama's top economists—tweeted […]

Washington Supreme Court holds that it violates the state constitution to exclude certain workers from overtime pay

On the potential importance of state constitutional law: The Supreme Court of Washington has just held that the statutory exclusion of dairy workers from state overtime protections violates the state constitution. Read Martinez-Cuevas v. Deruyter Brothers Dairy. HT to Charlotte Garden.

Industry’s first reactions to the CFPB FDCPA rules: “More treat than trick”

On Saturday, we posted links to consumer advocates' reactions to the CFPB's new debt collection rules. Want to know how the industry sees the regulations, at least at first? Go here, to AccountsRecovery.net. Here's a hint: "there appeared to be no provisions or restrictions in the rule that should cause collection agencies to lose a […]

CFPB new debt collection rules less bad than as proposed but still insufficiently protective of consumers

The new rules are here. NACA and other groups, calling the rules a "mixed bag for consumers," comment here. Consumer Reports ("CFPB rules fail to protect consumers from abusive debt collection harassment") comments here. The Bureau said it intends to issue more rules in December.

Dee Pridgen authors new edition of Consumer Protection Law in a Nutshell

West has published the fifth edition of Dee Pridgen's Consumer Protection Law in a Nutshell, the best short introduction to consumer protection law and an extremely useful volume for students and practitioners alike (disclosure: I commented on the manuscript of the fourth edition and coauthor a casebook with Dee). Here are some of the bigger […]