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Consumer Protection Law Commons

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Contracts

2014

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Articles 1 - 22 of 22

Full-Text Articles in Consumer Protection Law

Standard-Form Contracting In The Electronic Age, Robert A. Hillman, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski Dec 2014

Standard-Form Contracting In The Electronic Age, Robert A. Hillman, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

The development of the Internet as a medium for consumer transactions creates a new question for contract law. In this Article, Professors Robert Hillman and Jeffrey Rachlinski address whether the risks imposed on consumers by Internet boilerplate requires a new lens through which courts should view these types of contracts. Their analysis of boilerplate in paper and Internet contracts examines the social, cognitive, and rational factors that affect consumers' comprehension of boilerplate and compares business strategies in presenting it. The authors conclude that the influence of these factors in Internet transactions is similar to that in proper transactions. Although the …


Coming Up Short: The United States' Second-Best Strategies For Corralling Purely Speculative Derivatives, Timothy E. Lynch Dec 2014

Coming Up Short: The United States' Second-Best Strategies For Corralling Purely Speculative Derivatives, Timothy E. Lynch

Faculty Works

Purely speculative derivatives (PSDs) are derivatives in which neither counterparty is engaged in hedging. Unless used for entertainment purposes, PSDs are irrational, less-than-zero-sum transactions. Entities that engage in PSDs jeopardize their stakeholders and increase systemic risk. PSDs can also increase moral hazard, be used for regulatory arbitrage, and redirect resources away from efficient allocation of market capital. PSDs should be unenforceable, void for public policy reasons, except where expressly permitted to provide gambling entertainment, enhance price discovery, or increase liquidity for hedgers. In the U.S., however, PSDs are often legal and enforceable, even after the financial crisis of 2008 that …


Stored Value Cards And The Consumer: The Need For Regulation , Mark E. Budnitz Oct 2014

Stored Value Cards And The Consumer: The Need For Regulation , Mark E. Budnitz

Mark E. Budnitz

No abstract provided.


Summary Of Century Sur. Co. V. Casino W., Inc., 130 Adv. Nev. Op. 42, Michael Paretti May 2014

Summary Of Century Sur. Co. V. Casino W., Inc., 130 Adv. Nev. Op. 42, Michael Paretti

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The court determined whether two distinct provisions of an insurance policy regarding air pollution were subject to multiple reasonable interpretations.


Summary Of Lavi V. Eighth Judicial District Court, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 38, Danielle Barraza May 2014

Summary Of Lavi V. Eighth Judicial District Court, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 38, Danielle Barraza

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined whether waiver of the “one-action rule” of NRS 40.430 terminates the procedural requirements for bringing a deficiency judgment action within six months of foreclosure under NRS 40.455.


Questioni Giuridiche Connesse All'emissione E All'uso Delle Carte Di Credito Revolving, Valerio Sangiovanni May 2014

Questioni Giuridiche Connesse All'emissione E All'uso Delle Carte Di Credito Revolving, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.


A Psychological Account Of Consent To Fine Print, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan May 2014

A Psychological Account Of Consent To Fine Print, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan

All Faculty Scholarship

The moral and social norms that bear on contracts of adhesion suggest a deep ambivalence. Contracts are perceived as serious moral obligations, and yet they must be taken lightly or everyday commerce would be impossible. Most people see consent to boilerplate as less meaningful than consent to negotiated terms, but they nonetheless would hold consumers strictly liable for both. This Essay aims to unpack the beliefs, preferences, assumptions, and biases that constitute our assessments of assent to boilerplate. Research suggests that misgivings about procedural defects in consumer contracting weigh heavily on judgments of contract formation, but play almost no role …


Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland Apr 2014

Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland

Faculty Scholarship

Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …


Rationality's Reach, Adam B. Badawi Apr 2014

Rationality's Reach, Adam B. Badawi

Michigan Law Review

Economic analysis and the rational actor model have dominated contracts scholarship for at least a generation. In the past fifteen years or so, however, a group of behaviorists has challenged the ability of the rational choice model to account for consumer behavior. These behaviorists are not trying to dismantle the entire enterprise. They generally accept the fundamentals of economic analysis but argue that the rational actor model can be improved by incorporating evidence of decisionmaking flaws that people exhibit. Oren Bar-Gill has been one of the foremost and influential proponents of a behaviorist take on contracts, and his recent book, …


A Tale Of Three Markets: The Law And Economics Of Predatory Lending, Kathleen Engel, Patricia Mccoy Mar 2014

A Tale Of Three Markets: The Law And Economics Of Predatory Lending, Kathleen Engel, Patricia Mccoy

Patricia A. McCoy

Predatory lending - the practice of making exploitative high-cost loans to naive borrowers - has spurred policy-makers, activists, lenders and scholars to debate whether intervention is warranted and, if so, what type of intervention is appropriate. The solution requires understanding the incentives in the home mortgage market that have fueled predatory lending. Recent changes in the credit market have created new possibilities for lenders to profit by exploiting information asymmetries to the detriment of unsophisticated borrowers. As a result, a new, predatory lending market has emerged alongside the legitimate prime and subprime home mortgage markets. Neither market forces nor existing …


Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland Mar 2014

Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland

Peter A. Holland

Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …


Contrastanti Orientamenti Nel Difficile Accertamento Della Natura Di Operatore Qualificato Nelle Operazioni Di Swap, Valerio Sangiovanni Mar 2014

Contrastanti Orientamenti Nel Difficile Accertamento Della Natura Di Operatore Qualificato Nelle Operazioni Di Swap, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.


Le Contrôle Des Conditions Générales: L'Envol Manqué Du Phénix, Nicolas Pierre Marie Kuonen Jan 2014

Le Contrôle Des Conditions Générales: L'Envol Manqué Du Phénix, Nicolas Pierre Marie Kuonen

Nicolas Kuonen

This article presents and discusses the new fairness test for Standard Terms & Conditions ("ST&C") which has recently been introduced in Switzerland (the new art. 8 of the Swiss Federal Act against Unfair Competition). This article's first aim is to provide some guidelines for the understanding of that test. It second aim is to explain why, although it was supposed to strongly impact ST&C used in Switzerland, it has failed to change anything to date.


The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson Jan 2014

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …


Legal Uncertainty And Aberrant Contracts: The Choice Of Law Clause, William J. Woodward Jr. Jan 2014

Legal Uncertainty And Aberrant Contracts: The Choice Of Law Clause, William J. Woodward Jr.

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Legal uncertainty about the applicability of local consumer protection can destroy a consumer’s claim or defense within the consumer arbitration environment. What is worse, because the consumer arbitration system cannot accommodate either legal complexity or legal uncertainty, the tendency will be to resolve cases in the way the consumer’s form contract dictates, that is, in favor of the drafter. To demonstrate this effect and advocate statutory change, this article focuses on fee-shifting statutes in California and several other states. These statutes convert very common one-way fee-shifting terms (consumer pays business’s attorneys fees if business wins but not the other way …


Some Economic Insights Into Application Of Payments Doctrine: Walker-Thomas Revisited, James W. Bowers Jan 2014

Some Economic Insights Into Application Of Payments Doctrine: Walker-Thomas Revisited, James W. Bowers

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Contractual relations frequently involve multiple transactions, which might give rise either to a single aggregate debt, or else to multiple differing obligations. This conflict creates the application of payments problem. Unsurprisingly, the common law developed long-standing rules for the application of partial payments to multiple, but remedially distinguishable debts. The subject is made timely again by the recent enactments of the 1999 revision of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Article 9 instructs courts how to solve the application of payments problem when some partial payments might satisfy “purchase money” security interests. The enactments repealed the common law application …


Situational Duress And The Aberrance Of Electronic Contracts, Nancy S. Kim Jan 2014

Situational Duress And The Aberrance Of Electronic Contracts, Nancy S. Kim

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article explains how the aberrant nature of electronic contracts has unique implications, which contract law should recognize. Companies, taking advantage of these unique implications, may use electronic contracts in an unfair and coercive manner, which is why this article proposes expanding the definition of duress to include “situational duress.” Situational duress would not encompass all electronic contracting scenarios, but would be limited to situations where (1) a drafting company uses an electronic contract to block consumer access to a product or service; (2) the consumer has a “vested interest” in that product or service; and (3) the consumer accepts …


Are You Free To Contract Away Your Right To Bring A Negligence Claim?, Scott J. Burnham Jan 2014

Are You Free To Contract Away Your Right To Bring A Negligence Claim?, Scott J. Burnham

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article explores the enforceability of the exculpatory clause—a contract term in which one party agrees to give up the right to bring a negligence claim against the other party. A spectrum of views on whether a contract containing such a clause is aberrant or not is presented and analyzed, followed by the author’s view of the rubric by which the enforceability of the clause should be measured. The article concludes by deconstructing one contract in which the clause was found.


Arbitration And The Contract Exchange, Andrew A. Schwartz Jan 2014

Arbitration And The Contract Exchange, Andrew A. Schwartz

Publications

A contract exchange, defined as an organized marketplace for the creation or trading of specific contracts, provides benefits to its members as well as the public at large. But legal disputes can arise on contract exchanges, just as they do anywhere else, and those disputes can be litigated, mediated, arbitrated, or resolved in some other way. This Essay claims that arbitration, rather than litigation, is a particularly useful and appropriate means for resolving exchange-related disputes, and that this is true not only for traditional contract exchanges, like the Chicago Board of Trade, but also for online "consumer contract exchanges," such …


The Rise And Fall Of Unconscionability As The 'Law Of The Poor', Anne Fleming Jan 2014

The Rise And Fall Of Unconscionability As The 'Law Of The Poor', Anne Fleming

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What happened to unconscionability? Here’s one version of the story: The doctrine of unconscionability experienced a brief resurgence in the mid-1960s at the hands of naive, left-liberal, activist judges, who used it to rewrite private consumer contracts according to their own sense of justice. These folks meant well, no doubt, much like present-day consumer protection crusaders who seek to ensure the “fairness” of financial products and services. But courts’ refusal to enforce terms they deemed "unconscionable” served only to increase the cost of doing business with low-income households. Judges ended up hurting the very people they were trying to help. …


Entender Los Males Económicos Modernos A La Luz De La Doctrina Social Católica, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2013

Entender Los Males Económicos Modernos A La Luz De La Doctrina Social Católica, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

In a general sense, St. Thomas Aquinas predicted the paralysis and chaos of the financial and economic systems in America and Europe which occurred in 2008, when he predicted that in a society where unjust exchanges dominate, eventually all exchanges will cease. St. Thomas also points out that although human law cannot prohibit all injustice, society cannot escape the consequences of transgressing the divine law which leaves “nothing unpunished.” Thus, at least part of the explanation for that crisis whose effects remain with us today lies in continuous violations of natural justice by our economic system. Neither one product nor …


"La Transposición De La Directiva 2011/83/Ue Al Derecho Del Reino Unido: 'The (Information, Cancellation And Additional Charges) Regulations 2013'", Luis González Vaqué Dec 2013

"La Transposición De La Directiva 2011/83/Ue Al Derecho Del Reino Unido: 'The (Information, Cancellation And Additional Charges) Regulations 2013'", Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

En este artículo se describe y explica sucintamente la transposición al Derecho del Reino Unido de la Directiva 2011/83/UE, de 25 de octubre de 2011, sobre los derechos de los consumidores, por la que se modifican la Directiva 93/13/CEE y la Directiva 1999/44/CE y se derogan las Directivas 85/577/CEE y 97/7/CE, teniendo en cuenta las tres principales áreas cubiertas por la citada Directiva 2011/83/UE: la información que los comerciantes deben facilitar al consumidor, el derecho de desistimiento en los contratos a distancia y los contratos celebrados fuera de un establecimiento y las medidas para impedir los costes encubiertos.