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Full-Text Articles in Consumer Protection Law
The Rise And Fall Of Unconscionability As The 'Law Of The Poor', Anne Fleming
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. …
Abusive Credit Card Practices And Bankruptcy: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On The Judiciary, 111th Cong., March 24, 2009 (Statement Of Associate Professor Adam J. Levitin, Geo. U. L. Center), Adam J. Levitin
Testimony Before Congress
The Marquette decision created a regulatory arbitrage possibility that set off a regulatory race to the bottom. Congress should act to close this loophole. There is a reasonable debate to be had on usury regulations, but that is one that should be held in legislatures, not determined by the Supreme Court's interpretation of a hoary statute. A 1970s interpretation of an 1863 law should not be what determines 21st century consumer credit regulation. Congress should permit the states, the laboratories of democracy, to go further than S.257 if they wish in regulating high-interest-rate consumer credit. This essential consumer protection power …