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Consumer Law

CL&P Blog

The contributors to this blog are a diverse group of lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. Although the blog is hosted by Public Citizen's Consumer Justice Project, the views expressed here are solely those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Post Frequency: 15.1/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 11:13:04

$275,000 Sanctions in Mortgage Shell Game

Posted on May 27, 2009
A Massachusetts federal court has affirmed the imposition of $275,000 in penalties against Ameriquest Mortgage and its lawyers for misrepresenting the ownership of a mortgage in bankruptcy court filings. Ameriquest originated the mortgage, then assigned it to a securitization trust...

New Credit Card Bill and People Under 21

Posted on May 25, 2009
by Brian Wolfman Sections 301 to 305 of the new credit card legislation are aimed at curbing the credit card industry's very aggressive marketing practices toward college students and people under age 21. It is too early to say whether...

Will There Be Any Negative Consequences of the New Credit Card Legislation?

Posted on May 24, 2009
by Brian Wolfman The new credit card legislation will eliminate certain credit card practices (such as double-cycle billing, unlimited marketing to minors, and very short-lived introductory teaser interest rates). It will, by definition, benefit consumers who would otherwise be harmed...

Obama Administration Reverses Bush Administration Policy on Regulatory Preemption

Posted on May 23, 2009
The Obama administration last Wednesday reversed the Bush policy on federal preemption of state law, particularly product liability law. The Obama administration's memorandum announcing the new policy does three things: First, it states that agencies should not include in regulatory...

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Barnes v. Yahoo!: Raising the Section 230 Immunity Defense on a Motion to Dismiss

Posted on May 22, 2009
Several days ago, I posted about a Ninth Circuit decision, Barnes v. Yahoo!, holding that an alleged promise by a Yahoo! employee to remove false profiles of the plaintiff, posted by her ex-boyfriend, could be enforced against Yahoo! notwithstanding the...

Obama Administration Considering New Financial Consumer Protection Agency

Posted on May 22, 2009
The Times has the story here.

Washington Post: Credit Card Reform Legislation Not Really Needed

Posted on May 21, 2009
Today's Washington Post has this editorial claiming that although the credit card reform legislation on its way to enactment is good in substance it is largely unnecessary because, the Post asserts, it mainly apes new Federal Reserve Board rules. The...

David Schmudde on the Subprime Crisis

Posted on May 21, 2009
David Schmudde of Fordham University has written Responding to the Subprime Mess: The New Regulatory Landscape. Here's the abstract: An era of unregulated financial markets has resulted in a global financial disaster the likes of which has never before been...

Congress Sends Credit Card Bill to President

Posted on May 20, 2009
The Times has the story here. I'm sure that in the days to come we'll see blog coverage of the bill, and of course there's already been quite a bit of news and blog coverage. Here's one thought: one apparent...

Senate Passes Credit Card Bill

Posted on May 19, 2009
The Times story is here.

Plaintiffs Win Important Consumer Protection Case in California Supreme Court

Posted on May 18, 2009
by Brian Wolfman The California Supreme Court today decided In re Tobacco II, an important case under California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 17200 et seq. Early in the opinion, the Court described the issues in...

Times Sunday Magazine Money Issue

Posted on May 18, 2009
Yesterday's Sunday Times Magazine was devoted to money. The entire issue was worth reading, but two articles in particular were striking. One, written by Times economics reporter Edmund Andrews and titled My Personal Credit Crisis, was excerpted from his forthcoming...

Are SEC Employees Trading on the Agency's Inside Information or Otherwise Abusing Their Power?

Posted on May 17, 2009
This front page story in today's Washington Post concerns a report on the alleged conduct of employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Here's a brief excerpt to give you a sense of the story: A Securities and Exchange Commission...

Article on Supreme Court's Decision in Wyeth v. Levine

Posted on May 16, 2009
Check out this new article on the Supreme Court's recent decision in Wyeth v. Levine. It describes the Court's decision in detail and discusses its implications for future litigation. Wyeth held that FDA approval of a prescription drug and its...

Consumer Law Wedding Toast

Posted on May 15, 2009
by Jeff Sovern Recently I was asked to speak briefly at an upcoming wedding but was admonished not to mention consumer law. So that made me wonder: what would a consumer law wedding toast look like? My effort follows: The...

Judge Posner Blames Himself, Among Others, for Economic Crisis

Posted on May 15, 2009
This article explains that champion of deregulation Judge Richard Posner blames himself, among others such as Alan Greenspan, for the current economic crisis. He says that although deregulation is good for virtually every sector of the economy, he failed to...

Comments in Times on Cuomo Case

Posted on May 14, 2009
by Jeff Sovern Back on April 27, the Times published an editorial titled When Banks Discriminate about Cuomo v. The Clearinghouse Association, the pending Supreme Court case addressing whether state officials can investigate discriminatory lending by national banks, or whether...

American Banker Piece on Truth in Lending

Posted on May 13, 2009
by Jeff Sovern The American Banker ran a piece I wrote in their Viewpoints section today titled "Borrowers Must Understand Their Obligations" (the American Banker's content is available only to subscribers but they offer a free two-week trial subscription if...

More on the Credit Card Bill Before the U.S. Senate

Posted on May 13, 2009
The National Consumer Law Center has just issued this fact sheet explaining why the credit card reform bill currently being debated in the U.S. Senate is needed to protect consumers from retroactive rate hikes, which would not be regulated under...

April 2009 Product Recall Information

Posted on May 13, 2009
April 2009 vehicle recalls conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are here, and product safety recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission are here.

ABA Antitrust Section's Consumer Protection Conference

Posted on May 12, 2009
The ABA's Section on Antitrust Law has scheduled its Consumer Protection Conference for June 18-19 in Washington,D.C. Here's an excerpt from the announcement: The conference will open with remarks by David Vladeck, in his first public appearance as the Director...

Consumers Union on the Credit Card Bill in the U.S. Senate

Posted on May 12, 2009
To learn about the credit card reform legislation in the U.S. Senate, go to this nice post by Consumers Union.

Duties to absent class members--maybe not so much, says NY's highest court

Posted on May 11, 2009
The New York Court of Appeals (top NY court) issued an opinion last week, discussing the effort by a class member to discover internal documents of class counsel, for use in a subsequent class action against class counsel. Wyly had...

Texas Legislature Considers Ban on Transfats in Restaurant Foods

Posted on May 09, 2009
State and local governments have been take the legislative lead in the fight against obesity and its pernicious health consequences. We've reported, for instance, on New York City's ordinance requiring fast-food restaurants to disclose the calorie content of their foods...

Law students, lawyers, the economy?A silver lining for consumers?

Posted on May 08, 2009
It?s clear that the ongoing economic crisis is affecting job markets in every city and every profession ? and the consequences for the legal profession and graduating 3L?s are profound and troubling. Jobs are difficult to find, offers are being...

Can a Section 230 Immunity Defense Be Raised on a Motion to Dismiss?

Posted on May 08, 2009
by Paul Alan Levy Several commentators have discussed (for example, here and here) the recent decision of the Ninth Circuit in Barnes v. Yahoo!. The Ninth Circuit held that, although Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects Yahoo! from....

Gerardi & Willen on Subprime Mortgages, Foreclosures, and Urban Neighborhoods

Posted on May 07, 2009
Kristopher Gerardi and Paul Willen, both of the Boston Fed, have written Subprime Mortgages, Foreclosures, and Urban Neighborhoods. Here's the abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of the subprime crisis on urban neighborhoods in Massachusetts. The topic is explored using...

More on Arbitration Opt-Outs and Opt-Ins

Posted on May 07, 2009
by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week, my co-coordinator Deepak Gupta suggested that instead of adopting a so-called compromise providing that consumers agree to arbitration unless they affirmatively opt out, Congress should provide that litigation is the default choice, and consumers...

ABA Dispute Resolution Section Appears to Be Backing Down From Arbitration "Opt Out" Proposal

Posted on May 05, 2009
by Deepak Gupta Today, the ABA's Dispute Resolution Section issued a statement suggesting that it may be backing down from its ill-advised "opt out" proposal on forced arbitration (which we've criticized on this blog here, here, and here.) The memo...

Default Rules and the Arbitration Fairness Debate

Posted on May 05, 2009
by Deepak Gupta Jeff Sovern and Paul Bland have contributed thoughtful posts on a proposal being pitched as a "compromise" in the debate over arbitration fairness. It goes something like this: Instead of passing a law like the Arbitration Fairness...

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