Law Commons^™

Federal Student Aid: Can We Solve A Problem We Do Not Understand?, Deanne Loonin, Julie Margetta Morgan

Utah Law Review

At over $1 trillion, with more than 8 million borrowers in default, the federal student loan program is in trouble. There is no question that policymakers will do their best to fix it in the coming years. The only question is whether they will have the evidence they need to make informed judgments about what ails our student loan program, and what can cure it.

In the coming years, advocates, policymakers, and researchers should focus on gathering data and information on all possible causes of the failures in the student loan program. As the previous Part describes, the public has …

The Case For More Debt: Expanding College Affordability By Expanding Income-Driven Repayment, John R. Brooks

Utah Law Review

One of the most important—but least discussed—legislative and regulatory accomplishments of the Obama administration was the reform and expansion of income-driven repayment (“IDR”) for federal student loans. By 2016, anyone with a federal student loan—old or new—could choose to cap their monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of their discretionary income (after a large exemption) and have any unpaid balances forgiven after a minimum of ten, twenty, or twenty-five years of repayment, depending on the plan. IDR has the potential to effect a massive change in how the United States pays for higher education. At its core, the promise …

Improvident Student Lending, Joseph Sanders, Vijay Raghavan

Utah Law Review

The idea that lending without regard to ability to repay should be illegal is not particularly new, but it gained purchase in recent years with the rapid growth of high-cost mortgage loans. In the late 1990s, law enforcement and private litigants began attacking predatory mortgage lenders on the grounds they were making loans that borrowers could not afford. Both before and after the financial crisis of 2008, state and federal legislators imposed reforms on the mortgage market that provided relief to borrowers whose lenders failed to determine whether they had sufficient income to afford their monthly mortgage payments.

This Article …

Broken Promises: How Debt-Financed Higher Education Rewrote America’S Social Contract And Fueled A Quiet Crisis, Seth Frotman

Utah Law Review

The U.S. student loan market stands at $1.5 trillion—the second largest consumer debt market in the country. Despite the vast size of this market and the far-reaching spillover effects of student loan debt on individuals and communities, the American higher education system increasingly relies on debt financing as the predominant mechanism by which American families pay for college. Furthermore, student loans still lack a comprehensive twenty-first century consumer protection infrastructure. Researchers and policymakers are only now beginning to acknowledge the threat runaway student debt poses to the American social contract - even as millions of borrowers across the country struggle …

Consumer Law Immersion, Kevin M. Mcdonald, Karl Hochkammer, Steven Wernikoff

Global Business Law Review

As part of Washington University School of Law’s (WashULaw) Online Master of Legal Studies (MLS) program, students attend optional weekend immersion courses at the law school in St. Louis in both the spring and fall. We recently taught a course on consumer law over the spring 2018 weekend session held on March 23-25, 2018. In attendance were twenty-two students, most of whom were enrolled in the MLS program. Several were foreign lawyers and one was an LL.M. student. This article summarizes our three-day experience and concludes with our key learnings that incorporate feedback we received from students both during and …

Workplace Privacy In The Age Of Social Media, Tess Traylor-Notaro

Global Business Law Review

This note addresses the lack of adequate protections in Ohio for social media privacy laws in the workplace and compares proposed legislation in Ohio to legislation that has passed in other states. It examines the provision of the SCA including the definition of "user" and whether social media sites fall under its umbrella. It also looks at the safeguards and limitations of the SCA and how it is used to protect a private employee’s social media account. It analyzes the state statutory laws in Arkansas, Illinois, and California passed specifically to prevent employers from requesting passwords to personal Internet accounts. …

The Economics Of American Higher Education In The New Gilded Age, Paul Campos

Utah Law Review

Student debt is a function of three factors: the cost of higher education, the extent to which that cost is subsidized through sources other than students and their families, and the percentage of nonsubsidized revenue that is supplied via loans rather than out-of-pocket payments.

The first factor is a product of how much money colleges and universities choose to spend. The second is determined by total value of the many sources of subsidization upon which higher education draws. The third is a function of the relative wealth or poverty of the people who make up the student bodies at American …

The Narrative And Rhetoric Of Student Debt, Jonathan D. Glater

Utah Law Review

The swirl of concerns about and criticisms of the cost of higher education and the debt burdens taken on by students masks a deeper confusion over the goals student aid should pursue and over reforms to enable achievement of those goals. This Article explores how the rhetoric used in public discussion of college cost and student borrowing can get in the way of what would be a difficult but critically important debate over goals. Higher education is a personal, private “investment” that must be “worth it” to the student; student “aid,” flexible loan repayment plans, even debt forgiveness, all aim …

Technology Regulation By Default: Platforms, Privacy, And The Cfpb, Rory Van Loo

Faculty Scholarship

In the absence of a technology-focused regulator, diverse administrative agencies have been forced to develop regulatory models for governing their sphere of the data economy. These largely uncoordinated efforts offer a laboratory of regulatory experimentation on governance architecture. This symposium essay explores what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has done in its first several years to regulate financial technology (“fintech”), in the context of broader technology-related concerns identified in the literature. It begins with a survey of what the CFPB has undertaken using more traditional administrative agency tools—enforcement and rulemaking—in areas such as privacy, consumer control over data, and …

One Man’S Tale Of Resisting The Seducing Spa Sirens Of Singapore, Gary Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Why do people give in to pressure selling in the slimming and beauty industry? One consumer lawprofessor explores the dazzling experience of stepping into a spa.

Kajian Peraturan Perlindungan Konsumen Di Sektor Perbankan, Aad Rusyad Nurdin

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The dynamics of carrying out intensive banking business activities between customers and banks have the potential to raise various problems that cause violations of the rights of customers as consumers of a bank's business activities. To overcome the problems of customers as banking consumers, it is necessary to examine the regulations in the banking sector regarding consumer protection regulations in the banking sector with Law No. 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection (UUPK). This research is a normative research that study the law of consumer protection as contained in the UUPK. The results of the study show that the legislation …

The Strategy Of Boilerplate, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

Boilerplate can be exciting. It is this, perhaps hard-to-swallow, proposition that the present analysis attempts to convey. Particularly in invoking the work of Thomas Schelling on the role of focal points in coordination games, it offers what can be characterized as a "strategic" theory of boilerplate, in which boilerplate plays an active, even aggressive, role.

Contrary to the relatively inert quality of boilerplate implied by conventional treatments in the legal literature, boilerplate may serve essential signaling and coordination functions in contract bargaining. In appropriate circumstances, its proposed usage may be a valuable weapon in the arsenal of a bargaining party, …

The Gm Food Debate: An Evaluation Of The Nationalbioengineered Food Disclosure Standard Andrecommendations For The United States Based On Foodjustice, Courtnee Grego

Seattle University Law Review

This Note aims to identify the food justice issues caused by the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS) and make recommendations for the United States to minimize these concerns. The NBFDS requires the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to draft regulations establishing a mandatory disclosure standard for GM food and ultimately, will require a disclosure on the package of any GM food sold in the United States. Part I of the Note provides an overview of the genetically modified (GM) food debate. Part II reviews the NBFDS. Part III explains the food justice implications of GM food production. Part …

The Race Is On! Regulating Self-Driving Vehicles Before They Hit The Streets, Jack Liechtung

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

As the world braces itself for the unveiling of autonomous vehicles, the idea of regulation and oversight has gone largely undetected. Though some states have already begun enacting legislation ahead of the technology’s wide release, the regulatory landscape across the country is in disarray. It is imperative that both manufacturers and consumers be given some sort of uniform understanding as to how the automation is overseen throughout the manufacturing process and how liability will be levied in the case of inevitable mistakes on our nation’s roadways. This Note proposes that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration be responsible for providing …

When Good Policies Go Bad: Controlling Risks Posed By Flawed Incentive-Based Compensation, Nicole Vincent

Cleveland State Law Review

The recent Wells Fargo scandal revealed the harm that can result from flawed incentive-based compensation arrangements. Large financial institutions have both a legal and an ethical obligation to ensure that any incentive-based compensation arrangements that are in place will not encourage risky or fraudulent employee behavior. The continued existence of inappropriate and poorly structured arrangements demonstrates that existing regulations are inadequate to ensure compliance and protect consumers. Regulations should include increased penalties and should more evenly distribute the burden of oversight and compliance between the public and private sectors. In addition to regulatory reform, the government should prosecute culpable high-level …

Letter To The Hon. Sen. Orrt (Nys Senate) Regarding Litigation Finance (Lawsuit Lending) (2018), Maya Steinitz

Faculty Scholarship

Following testimony to the New York State Senate's Standing Committee on Consumer Protection (available on SSRN and YouTube), Professor Steinitz was asked to elaborate on her recommendation for a statutory minimum recovery requirement to protect consumers of litigation financing. Enclosed is her response to this inquiry.

Uncharted Waters? Legal Ethics And The Benefit Corporation, Joseph Pileri

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Corporate law norms are reflected in lawyers’ ethical duties. The enactment of benefit corporation legislation across the country signals a legislative acknowledgment that corporate law can serve as a public, rather than a merely private, ordering mechanism. Benefit corporations expressly adopt a public benefit as a legal purpose of the enterprise. While many have written about this important development with respect to corporate fiduciary law, this essay is the first to explore the professional and ethical responsibility of lawyers representing benefit corporations. In the last century, as scholars and courts drove an understanding of corporate law that elevated the interests …

Equitable Sharing Aids Circumventing State Civil Asset Forfeiture, Ella Fisher

Economic Crime Forensics Capstones

Civil Asset Forfeiture (CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE) is a disputable law enforcement asset utilized to combat the war on drugs and criticized as an abusive practice. Are law enforcement agencies really combatting the war on drugs using civil asset forfeiture law or just using the law for their own self interests? Civil Asset Forfeiture abuse relates to perverse incentives which are further aided by the federal equitable sharing program (ESP). Civil asset forfeiture law allows owners’ assets to be seized and forfeited, by law enforcement agencies without a warrant and/or a criminal conviction. When federal agencies adopt and prosecute, state and …

Protecting San Francisco Residents From The Wolves Of Wall Street: A Case Study, Jessica Lindquist

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research conducts the first deep data analysis of the public complaints filed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Consumer Complaint database by San Francisco residents. The case study highlights how consumer financial harms are a citywide problem: San Franciscans living at every income level and in every part of the city are struggling to resolve their financial issues with the wolves of Wall Street, the financial services industry. The recommendations center on what the city, particularly the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment, can do at a local level now that the Trump administration is focused on deregulating the …

Consumer Preferences For Performances Defaults, Franklin G. Snyder, Ann M. Mirabito

Franklin G. Snyder

Commercial law in the United States is designed to facilitate private transactions, and thus to enforce the presumed intent of the parties, who generally are free to negotiate the terms they choose. But these contracts inevitably have gaps, both because the parties cannot anticipate every situation that might arise from their relationship, and because negotiation is not costless. When courts are faced with these gaps in a litigation context, they supply default terms to fill them. These defaults usually are set to reflect what courts believe similar parties would have agreed to if they had addressed the issue. These "majoritarian" …

The Cfpb’S Endaround, Chris O'Brien

Catholic University Law Review

The financial crisis of 2008 led Congress to enact the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to better protect consumers. Although Dodd-Frank and the CFPB introduced sweeping changes to many areas of financial lending, automobile dealers and financers were expressly excluded from oversight by the CFPB. Despite this express limitation on the CFPB’s authority, the Bureau nonetheless expanded its definition of “larger participants” to encompass automobile dealers and financiers. This action has resulted in duplicative regulatory oversight and increased costs to consumers, which in turn, imposes additional burdens on those …

Diamonds Aren't Always A Consumer's Best Friend: Considering The Need For Regulation In The Diamond Grading Industry, Hannah Ponders Feist

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Crashed Software: Assessing Product Liability For Software Defects In Automated Vehicles, Sunghyo Kim

Duke Law & Technology Review

Automated vehicles will not only redefine the role of drivers, but also present new challenges in assessing product liability. In light of the increased risks of software defects in automated vehicles, this Note will review the current legal and regulatory framework related to product liability and assess the challenges in addressing on-board software defects and cybersecurity breaches from both the consumer and manufacturer perspective. While manufacturers are expected to assume more responsibility for accidents as vehicles become fully automated, it can be difficult to determine the scope of liability regarding unexpected software defects. On the other hand, consumers face new …

The Ecoa And Disparate Impact Theory: A Historical Perspective, Winnie F. Taylor

Journal of Law and Policy

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) prohibits credit discrimination because of sex, marital status, race, age, and other personal attributes. Congress enacted the ECOA in 1974 to eliminate unfair lending practices that inhibit equality in the credit industry. Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) sued several automobile financiers and alleged ECOA violations in the various complaints; the resulting settlements became controversial when critics questioned the CFPB’s use of an evidentiary standard known as “disparate impact” to support its discrimination claims. While plaintiffs may use disparate impact theory to prove unintentional discrimination, they may also use another analytical …

Aggregation On Defendants' Terms: Bristol-Myers Squibb And The Federalization Of Mass-Tort Litigation, Andrew D. Bradt, D. Theodore Rave

Andrew D. Bradt

Although it is destined for the personal jurisdiction canon, the Supreme Court’s eight-to-one decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court does little to clarify that notoriously hazy doctrine. It does, however, significantly alter the balance of power in complex litigation. Bristol-Myers is a landmark case because it makes both mass-tort class actions and mass joinders impracticable in almost any state court outside of the defendant’s home states. With federal courts already hostile to class actions, plaintiffs who want to aggregate their claims will have to do so on the defendant’s terms: either on the defendant’s home turf or in …

Whose Sperm Is It Anyways In The Wild, Wild West Of The Fertility Industry?, Tatiana E. Posada

Georgia State University Law Review

Imagine a couple that is unable to conceive a child naturally. Luckily, they had the money and resources available to them to conceive a child through assisted reproductive technology (ART), so they decided to start their family through the use of intrauterine insemination. They selected a sperm bank and began the arduous process of selecting a sperm donor who fit the desired traits and characteristics for their child. The sperm bank matched them with an anonymous donor, Donor 9623, and assured the couple that the donor was “a healthy male with an IQ of 160, a bachelor’s of science in …

Behavioral Finance Symposium Summary Paper, Michael S. Barr, Annabel Jouard, Andrew Norwich, Josh Wright, Katy Davis

Other Publications

On September 14-15, 2017, the University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law, and Policy and behavioral science research and design lab ideas42 brought together influential leaders from academia, government, nonprofits and the financial sector for a two-day symposium on behavioral finance. Behavioral finance is the study of how behavioral biases and tendencies affect financial decisions, and in turn how those impact financial markets.

Consumer Bitcredit And Fintech Lending, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

The digital economy is changing everything, including how we borrow money. In the wake of the 2008 crisis, banks pulled back in their lending and, as a result, many consumers and small businesses found themselves unable to access credit. A wave of online firms called fintech lenders have filled the space left vacant by traditional financial institutions. These platforms are fast making antiques out of many mainstream lending practices, such as long paper applications and face-to-face meetings. Instead, through underwriting by automation — utilizing big data (including social media data) and machine learning — loan processing that once took days …

Take This Job And Shove It: The Pragmatic Philosophy Of Johnny Paycheck And A Prayer For Strict Liability In Appalachia, Eugene "Trey" Moore Iii

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Insurer Prejudice Analysis Of An Expanding Doctrine In Insurance Coverage Law, Richard L. Suter

Maine Law Review

All contracts of insurance place certain requirements on the insured both before and after a covered loss has occurred. For example, all insurance policies require that an insured notify the insurer of a covered loss and cooperate with the insurer in the investigation of the loss and in the pursuit or defense of any claims arising out of the loss. Traditionally, if an insured failed to comply with such notification or cooperation requirements, the insurer could flatly deny coverage of the claim. Recently, however, an increasing number of courts are requiring that the insurer show that it has been prejudiced …