Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Contracts (6)
- Administrative Law (4)
- Marketing Law (4)
- Banking and Finance Law (3)
- Commercial Law (3)
-
- State and Local Government Law (3)
- Torts (3)
- Antitrust and Trade Regulation (2)
- Courts (2)
- Energy and Utilities Law (2)
- Internet Law (2)
- Law and Economics (2)
- Law and Society (2)
- Legal Remedies (2)
- Legislation (2)
- Business Organizations Law (1)
- Communications Law (1)
- Environmental Law (1)
- First Amendment (1)
- Insurance Law (1)
- Intellectual Property Law (1)
- Jurisdiction (1)
- Science and Technology Law (1)
- Social Welfare Law (1)
- Supreme Court of the United States (1)
Articles 1 - 26 of 26
Full-Text Articles in Consumer Protection Law
A Post-Spokeo Taxonomy Of Intangible Harms, Jackson Erpenbach
A Post-Spokeo Taxonomy Of Intangible Harms, Jackson Erpenbach
Michigan Law Review
Article III standing is a central requirement in federal litigation. The Supreme Court’s Spokeo decision marked a significant development in the doctrine, dividing the concrete injury-in-fact requirement into two subsets: tangible and intangible harms. While tangible harms are easily cognizable, plaintiffs alleging intangible harms can face a perilous path to court. This raises particular concern for the system of federal consumer protection laws where enforcement relies on consumers vindicating their own rights by filing suit when companies violate federal law. These plaintiffs must often allege intangible harms arising out of their statutorily guaranteed rights. This Note demonstrates that Spokeo’s …
Digital Market Perfection, Rory Van Loo
Digital Market Perfection, Rory Van Loo
Michigan Law Review
Google’s, Apple’s, and other companies’ automated assistants are increasingly serving as personal shoppers. These digital intermediaries will save us time by purchasing grocery items, transferring bank accounts, and subscribing to cable. The literature has only begun to hint at the paradigm shift needed to navigate the legal risks and rewards of this coming era of automated commerce. This Article begins to fill that gap by surveying legal battles related to contract exit, data access, and deception that will determine the extent to which automated assistants are able to help consumers to search and switch, potentially bringing tremendous societal benefits. Whereas …
Regulating Electricity-Market Manipulation: A Proposal For A New Regulatory Regime To Proscribe All Forms Of Manipulation, Matthew Evans
Regulating Electricity-Market Manipulation: A Proposal For A New Regulatory Regime To Proscribe All Forms Of Manipulation, Matthew Evans
Michigan Law Review
Congress broadly authorized the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) to protect consumers of electricity from all forms of manipulation in the electricity markets, but the regulations that FERC passed are not nearly so expansive. As written, FERC’s Anti-Manipulation Rule covers only instances of manipulation involving fraud. This narrow scope is problematic, however, because electricity markets can also be manipulated by nonfraudulent activity. Thus, in order to reach all forms of manipulation, FERC is forced to interpret and apply its Anti-Manipulation Rule in ways that strain the plain language and accepted understanding of the rule and therefore constitute an improper extension …
A Disclosure-Focused Approach To Compelled Commercial Speech, Andrew C. Budzinski
A Disclosure-Focused Approach To Compelled Commercial Speech, Andrew C. Budzinski
Michigan Law Review
In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration passed a rule revising compelled disclaimers on tobacco products pursuant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The rule required that tobacco warnings include something new: all tobacco products now had to bear one of nine graphic images to accompany the text. Tobacco companies filed suit contesting the constitutionality of the rule, arguing that the government violated their right to free commercial speech by compelling disclosure of the graphic content. Yet First Amendment jurisprudence lacks a doctrinally consistent standard for reviewing such compelled disclosures. Courts’ analyses typically depend on whether the …
Rationality's Reach, Adam B. Badawi
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, …
One-Sided Contracts In Competitive Consumer Markets, Lucian A. Bebchuk, Richard A. Posner
One-Sided Contracts In Competitive Consumer Markets, Lucian A. Bebchuk, Richard A. Posner
Michigan Law Review
The usual assumption in economic analysis of law is that in a competitive market without informational asymmetries, the terms of contracts between sellers and buyers will be optimal-that is, that any deviation from these terms would impose expected costs on one party that exceed benefits to the other. But could there be cases in which "one-sided" contracts containing terms that impose a greater expected cost on one side than benefit on the other-would be found in competitive markets even in the absence of fraud, prohibitive information costs, or other market imperfections? That is the possibility we explore in this Article.
Online Boilerplate: Would Mandatory Website Disclosure Of E-Standard Terms Backfire?, Robert A. Hillman
Online Boilerplate: Would Mandatory Website Disclosure Of E-Standard Terms Backfire?, Robert A. Hillman
Michigan Law Review
A law backfires when it produces results opposite from those its drafters intended. Lots of laws may have backfired. For example, people opposed to hate crimes legislation think that the laws "inflame prejudice rather than eradicate it." The Endangered Species Act, according to some analysts, has helped destroy rather than preserve the creatures listed by the Act. Even consumer protection laws, some believe, increase prices and confuse consumers instead of protecting them. This Article analyzes whether mandatory website disclosure of standard terms, advocated by some as a potential solution to market failures when consumers contract over the Internet, is another …
The Boilerplate Puzzle, Douglas G. Baird
The Boilerplate Puzzle, Douglas G. Baird
Michigan Law Review
The warranty that comes with your laptop computer is one of its many product attributes. The laptop has a screen of a particular size. Its microprocessors work at a particular speed, and the battery lasts a given amount of time between recharging. The hard drive has a certain capacity and mean time to failure. There is an instruction manual, online technical support (or lack thereof), and software. Then there are the warranties that the seller makes (or does not make) that are also part of the bundle. Just as I know the size of the screen, but nothing about the …
Contra Proferentem: The Allure Of Ambiguous Boilerplate, Michelle E. Boardman
Contra Proferentem: The Allure Of Ambiguous Boilerplate, Michelle E. Boardman
Michigan Law Review
Bad boilerplate can shake one' s faith in evolution; not only does it not die away, it multiplies. The puzzle is why. Much of boilerplate is ambiguous or incomprehensible. This alienates consumers and is i ncreasingly punished by courts construing the language against the drafter. There must, therefore, be some hidden allure to ambiguous boilerplate. The popular theory is trickery: drafters lure consumers in with promising language that comes to nothing in court. But this trick would require consumers to do three things they do not do-read the language, understand it, and take comfort in it. There is a hidden …
The Hidden Roles Of Boilerplate And Standard-Form Contracts: Strategic Imposition Of Transaction Costs, Segmentation Of Consumers, And Anticompetitive Effects, David Gilo, Ariel Porat
The Hidden Roles Of Boilerplate And Standard-Form Contracts: Strategic Imposition Of Transaction Costs, Segmentation Of Consumers, And Anticompetitive Effects, David Gilo, Ariel Porat
Michigan Law Review
Standard-form contracts offered to consumers contain numerous terms and clauses, most of which are ancillary to the main terms of the transaction. We call these ancillary terms "boilerplate provisions." Since most consumers do not read boilerplate provisions or, if they do, find them hard to understand, courts are suspicious of boilerplate provisions and sometimes find them unenforceable under the doctrine of unconscionability. At times, courts conclude that harsh terms have not been accepted by consumers in the first place and therefore are not included in the contract, and on other occasions courts interpret boilerplate provisions in favor of consumers, applying …
Search And Persuasion In Trademark Law, Barton Beebe
Search And Persuasion In Trademark Law, Barton Beebe
Michigan Law Review
The consumer, we are led to believe, is the measure of all things in trademark law. Trademarks exist only to the extent that consumers perceive them as designations of source. Infringement occurs only to the extent that consumers perceive one trademark as referring to the source of another. The most "intellectual" of the intellectual properties, trademarks are a property purely of consumers' minds. The simple idealist ontology underlying trademark law is largely responsible for the law's characteristic instability. Since 1992, the Supreme Court has considered - and in some cases, reconsidered - seven trademark cases. The Court's copyright cases garner …
Rescuing The Revolution: The Revived Case For Enterprise Liability, Steven P. Croley, Jon D. Hanson
Rescuing The Revolution: The Revived Case For Enterprise Liability, Steven P. Croley, Jon D. Hanson
Michigan Law Review
The article proceeds as follows. Part I defines important terms and introduces the two-by-four Products Liability Matrix by explaining the eight possible positions that might be taken with respect to the mutability and liability-standard dimensions of products liability. Part II provides a backdrop for the current products liability debate, first by setting out a capsule history of the evolution of the modem products liability regime, and then by explaining the arguments offered by the "first generation" of products liability scholars to justify expanded manufacturer liability. Part II also illustrates the utility of the Products Liability Matrix by locating many of …
Revolt Against Regulation: The Rise And Pause Of The Consumer Movement, Michigan Law Review
Revolt Against Regulation: The Rise And Pause Of The Consumer Movement, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Revolt Against Regulation: The Rise and Pause of the Consumer Movement by Michael Pertschuk
How Consumer Remedies Fail, Bryant G. Garth
How Consumer Remedies Fail, Bryant G. Garth
Michigan Law Review
A Review of No Access to Law: Alternatives to the American Judicial System edited by Laura Nader
An Act Of Faith, Jerry J. Phillips
An Act Of Faith, Jerry J. Phillips
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Modern Products Liability Law by Rocjard A. Epstein
Criminal Consumer Fraud: A Victim-Oriented Analysis, Donald P. Rothschild, Bruce C. Throne
Criminal Consumer Fraud: A Victim-Oriented Analysis, Donald P. Rothschild, Bruce C. Throne
Michigan Law Review
The poor and the elderly are the principal victims of the high pressure and often sophisticated sale techniques of criminal consumer fraud in this country. The problem is compounded when the poor and the elderly live in inner cities where legal assistance is costly and inadequate, and the courts, prosecutors, and investigators are overburdened. Yet the executive and legislative agencies responsible for law enforcement continue to assign a low priority to criminal consumer fraud. President Ford has reflected this orientation: "For effective management [of law enforcement], we first have to have some hard decisions on priorities. As a starter, I …
The Role Of The Michigan Attorney General In Consumer And Environmental Protection, Michigan Law Review
The Role Of The Michigan Attorney General In Consumer And Environmental Protection, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
In an effort to clarify the role of the attorney general as public representative, this Note will examine the functioning of the office of the Michigan attorney general. After an analysis of the nature and extent of the attorney general's powers and of his current utilization of those powers, several proposals to increase his effectiveness will be discussed.
Consumer Protection In The Credit Card Industry: Federal Legislative Controls, John C. Weistart
Consumer Protection In The Credit Card Industry: Federal Legislative Controls, John C. Weistart
Michigan Law Review
Credit cards have been used as a means of facilitating delayed-payment purchases since early in this century. The first credit card systems were operated by retailers and service organizations in connection with the merchandising of their products. While such programs were used in local markets by department stores, oil companies were the first issuers to recognize the potential of credit card plans in larger geographical areas. In the early 1950's a new phase in credit card development evolved with the emergence of firms engaging solely in the extension of credit. These firms-Diners' Club, American Express, and Hilton Credit Corporation with …
Representation Of The Public Interest In Michigan Utility Rate Proceedings, Michigan Law Review
Representation Of The Public Interest In Michigan Utility Rate Proceedings, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Although the Free Press study centered on political and economic issues, the operation of the Michigan Public Service Commission also raises significant issues regarding the role of public intervenors, agency compliance with statutory requirements, statutory construction, and legislative response to regulatory deficiencies. This Comment will consider the representation of the public interest in Michigan utility proceedings in the context of rate cases involving the state's major utilities. While such an analysis does not reach the breadth of activities performed by the Commission, it is suggestive of the extent to which the Commission is responsive to the public interest generally. Following …
Corrective Advertising And The Ftc: No, Virginia, Wonder Bread Doesn't Help Build Strong Bodies Twelve Ways, Michigan Law Review
Corrective Advertising And The Ftc: No, Virginia, Wonder Bread Doesn't Help Build Strong Bodies Twelve Ways, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note will outline the development and theory of corrective advertising. In particular, it will discuss the residual effects of deceptive advertising, which are the basis for a corrective remedy. The Commission's statutory authority to require corrective advertising will then be explored: the analysis will compare corrective advertising with other types of affirmative disclosure required by the Commission and relate it to the present use of divestiture as a trade regulation remedy. Finally, the possible public benefit accruing from corrective advertising will be considered, along with some thoughts on what policies the FTC should pursue in order to maximize that …
Consumer Credit--The Department Store Revolving Charge Account--Usury Resurrected--State V. J.C. Penney Company, Michigan Law Review
Consumer Credit--The Department Store Revolving Charge Account--Usury Resurrected--State V. J.C. Penney Company, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The Attorney General of Wisconsin recently brought an action against the J.C. Penney retailing chain for an injunction against any further charges of 1½% per month on the declining balances of its revolving charge accounts. The state alleged that anything in excess of I% per month was a violation of the $12 per $100 per annum usury ceiling established by its legislature as the maximum chargeable for a loan or forbearance of money. Penney admitted that its monthly charge frequently exceeded the allowable rate but argued that its charge was a "time-price differential," exempt from statutory control under the time-price …
Federal Jurisdiction--Protective Jurisdiction And Adoption As Alternative Techniques For Conferring Jurisdiction On Federal Courts In Consumer Class Actions, Michigan Law Review
Federal Jurisdiction--Protective Jurisdiction And Adoption As Alternative Techniques For Conferring Jurisdiction On Federal Courts In Consumer Class Actions, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
"Consumer protection" has come of age. The heightened appreciation of the consumer's plight has not been matched, however, by an equal commitment to providing effective programs for vindicating his cause. As a practical matter the consumer may be unable to assert his rights. Suits to enforce consumer rights are costly and are not likely to be brought when each individual claim is counted only in the tens of dollars.
Consumer Protection In Michigan: Current Methods And Some Proposals For Reform, Michigan Law Review
Consumer Protection In Michigan: Current Methods And Some Proposals For Reform, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
During the past decade, a great deal of effort has been expended at all levels of government in the United States to enhance the prosperity of the poor and underprivileged elements of society. Much legislation has been passed-especially at the federal level--but it has been incomplete in that its main thrust has been simply to increase the income levels of poor people without a corresponding effort to ensure that they receive their money's worth as consumers. As a result, the long-standing evil of fraud in the market place has not been significantly reduced, but has contributed to the serious economic …
Cox, Fellmeth, Schulz: The Consumer And The Federal Trade Commission, Ernest Gellhorn
Cox, Fellmeth, Schulz: The Consumer And The Federal Trade Commission, Ernest Gellhorn
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Consumer and the Federal Trade Commission by Edward Cox, Robert Fellmeth, and John Schulz
Bauer & Greyser: Advertising In America: The Consumer View, Robert L. Birmingham
Bauer & Greyser: Advertising In America: The Consumer View, Robert L. Birmingham
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Advertising in America: The Consumer View by Raymond A. Bauer and Stephen A. Greyser
Regulation Of Finance Charges On Consumer Instalment Credit, Robert W. Johnson
Regulation Of Finance Charges On Consumer Instalment Credit, Robert W. Johnson
Michigan Law Review
The subject of adequate disclosure of finance charges in consumer credit transactions has, in recent years, "become a rallying point for consumers and a battle line for industry." Equal heat is generated by discussions concerning the regulation of finance charges on consumer instalment credit. The aim of this article is to examine briefly the existing pattern of rate regulation and then to explore the purposes of ceilings on consumer finance charges and the problems involved in their design. As is true with the question of disclosure of finance charges, the problems are extremely complex. Men of good will on both …