Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Toward An Empirical And Theoretical Assessment Of Private Antitrust Enforcement, Joshua P. Davis, Robert H. Lande

Seattle University Law Review

The predominant view in the antitrust field has been that private enforcement, and especially class action cases, yields little or no positive results. This Article analyzes these twenty cases, compares and contrasts their analysis with that of our earlier group of forty cases, and draws new insights from the results of all sixty combined. This Article demonstrate that private antitrust litigation has provided a substantial amount of compensation for victims of anticompetitive behavior: at least $33.8 to $35.8 billion. The studies also demonstrate that private antitrust enforcement has had an extremely strong deterrent effect. In fact, this research ...

Janus Capital Group, Inc. V. First Derivative Traders: Further Limited Liability, And Missing An Opportunity To Curb Corporate Misconduct, Zachary K. Ostro

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

A Matter Of National Importance: The Persistent Inefficiency Of Deceptive Advertising Class Actions, Stacey M. Lantagne

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Full Disclosure Of Consumer Savings Information , Vance Hartke

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Index Theory: The Law, Promise, And Failure Of Financial Indices, Andrew Verstein

Lecturer and Other Affiliate Scholarship Series

Financial indices, like the S&P 500 or the Consumer Price Index, have become a ubiquitous feature of our financial markets. One index, the London InterBank Offered Rate ("Libor"), may be the world’s most important number, an interest rate benchmark upon which hundreds of trillions of dollars depend. Yet, almost every day new revelations emerge that Libor was tampered with during the height of the financial crisis by one or many of the world's most prominent banks, with billions of dollars potentially misappropriated. This index disruption has attracted tremendous interest from regulators, private litigants, and market observers. Despite ...

When Toning Shoes Strengthen Nothing More Than Likelihood Of Lawsuit: Why The Federal Trade Commission Needs Guidelines Regarding Proper Substantiation Of Fitness Advertisements, Heather M. Mandelkehr

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Expressive Synergies Of The Volcker Rule, Onnig H. Dombalagian

Boston College Law Review

In this Article, I propose an implementation of the Volcker Rule that balances the statutory mandate to promote the safety and soundness of U.S. banking organizations with the significant role that bank-affiliated dealers currently play as providers of liquidity in over-the-counter markets. The Volcker Rule restricts the proprietary trading activities of U.S. banks and their affiliates subject to exemptions for traditional banking activities and certain “client-oriented” activities. This Article draws upon the academic literature regarding expressive law, the history of federal banking legislation, and the text of the Dodd-Frank Act to argue that federal financial regulators have the ...

At&T Mobility And The Future Of Small Claims Arbitration, Jill I. Gross

Pace Law Faculty Publications

This article focuses on small claims arbitration and examines the impact of AT&T Mobility on the legitimacy of the process. Part II of the article describes the Supreme Court’s AT&T Mobility decision, which held that the FAA preempts a California rule that declared a class arbitration waiver in a consumer contract unconscionable. Part III describes the primary features of the two options remaining for the Concepcions—small claims court and small claims arbitration, as well as their perceived advantages and disadvantages. Part IV demonstrates that courts have endorsed simplified arbitration. Part V examines whether simplified arbitration is ...

No Contract?, Oren Bar-Gill, Omri Ben-Shahar

New York University Law and Economics Working Papers

'No Contract' is on the rise in many consumer markets. Sellers are luring customers with the assurance that no commitment is required — that the consumer can terminate the service freely at any time, without paying a termination penalty. What explains the increasing prevalence of No Contract? Is it welfare enhancing? We examine the costs and benefits of No Contract, as compared to the lock-in alternative, and conclude that the rise of No Contract is generally desirable, a market response to consumers’ growing awareness and understanding of the costs of lock-in. We argue, however, that lock-ins continue to prevail less conspicuously ...

Legal Australia-Wide Survey: Legal Need In Australia, Christine Coumarelos Dr, Deborah Macourt, Julie People, Hugh M. Mcdonald, Zhigang Wei, Reiny Iriana, Stephanie Ramsey

Access to Justice

This report is one in a series of nine that provides the initial findings of a national survey of legal needs — the LAW Survey. The series consists of a report on Australia as a whole and a report on each state/territory.

The LAW Survey deals with key questions that go to the heart of understanding the legal and access to justice needs of the community, and how to address these needs. It assesses the prevalence of legal problems across the community, and the vulnerability of different demographic groups to different types of legal problems. It examines the various adverse ...

A Specter Is Haunting The Financial Industry - The Specter Of The Global Financial Crisis: A Comment On The Imminent Expansion Of Consumer Financial Protection In The United States, The United Kingdom, And The European Union, Daniel Lamb

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This Comment explores the regulatory fallout from the global financial crisis. Across borders, policy makers are united in their conviction to reconcile the perceived failures of their predecessors to foresee and prevent the crisis, the effects of which show no signs of abating. A critical component of what caused the crisis was the inability to correct failures in the consumer credit market, specifically in subprime mortgages. Exacerbated by an influx of capital and a generally weak regulatory environment, this market failure manifested itself forcefully through a tidal wave of defaults in the American mortgage market that sent shock waves around ...

El Registro De Marca De Mala Fe: Entre La Coincidencia Y El Propósito Desleal, Gustavo M. Rodríguez García

Gustavo M. Rodríguez García

No abstract provided.

Flawed But Noble: Desegregation Litigation And Its Implications For The Modern Class Action, Davis Marcys

Florida Law Review

From the perspective of the present day, Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure contains a difficult puzzle. After a court certifies a class pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3) in a money damages case, absent class members must receive notice and have a chance to opt out. Their counterparts in injunctive or declaratory relief suits prosecuted pursuant to Rule 23(b)(2) do not. As long understood, the class certification decision essentially equals a determination to bind all class members to the eventual judgment. Class members seeking money damages therefore have some control over their rights to ...

The Impact Of Data Caps And Other Forms Of Usage-Based Pricing For Broadband Access, Daniel A. Lyons

Boston College Law School Faculty Papers

In recent years, broadband providers have introduced data caps and other plans that charge customers based on use. While regulators have generally approved of this shift, some consumer groups fear that usage-based pricing will lead to higher prices and deteriorating service. They also fear data caps allow companies like Comcast to protect their cable businesses from upstarts like Netflix.

This article evaluates the merits of data caps and other usage-based pricing strategies. Usagebased pricing shifts more network costs onto heavier Internet users. This can reduce costs for others and make broadband more accessible to low-income consumers. Usage-based pricing can also ...

Ftc Regulation Of Endorsements In Advertising: In The Consumer's Behalf?, Whitney F. Washburn

Pepperdine Law Review

The Federal Trade Commission, as recently as 1980, has issued Guides designed to prevent deception of consumers due to misleading product endorsement advertising by celebrities and others. The new Guides indicate that the FTC intends to continue its recent trend offending advertisers and even endorsers liable for deceptive endorsement practices. However, a critical analysis of the Guides, in light of marketplace realities and consumer needs, raises serious question as to whether they are likely to promote accurate endorsement advertising. This comment will explore pre-1980 regulations and trace the progression of controls through the advent of the FTC Guides. The Guides ...

Privacy, Transparency & Google's Blurred Glass, Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

No matter the context or jurisdiction, one concept underlies every view of the best practices in data privacy: transparency. The mandate to disclose what personal information is collected, how it is used, and with whom and for what purpose it is shared, is essential to enable informed consent to the collection, along with the other user rights that constitute privacy best practices. Google, which claims to support and offer transparency, is increasingly opaque about its many products and services and the information they collect for it, posing a significant privacy concern.

Duty Of “Sameness”?: Bartlett Preserves Generic Drug Consumers’ Design Defect Claims, Caitlin Sawyer

Boston College Law Review

On May 2, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held in Bartlett v. Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) does not preempt design defect claims against generic manufacturers. The court reasoned that, by not manufacturing the drug, a generic manufacturer could avoid state design defect liability without violating the federal requirement that a generic drug remain “the same” as a listed brand-name drug. This Comment argues that, in so holding, the First Circuit misconstrued Supreme Court precedent and contravened the objectives of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. It further argues that ...

Learning From Past Mistakes: Future Regulation To Prevent Greenwashing , Nick Feinstein

Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review

The term “greenwashing” refers to false or misleading environmental claims in advertising. This Note gives an overview of various laws that may be applied to greenwashers and the “Green Guides,” the Federal Trade Commission’s nonbinding guidance covering the application of the Federal Trade Commission Act to environmental claims. This Note argues that greenwashing is a persistent problem for consumers and the environment and that existing laws are not sufficient to prevent it. It suggests that additional federal regulation is needed to curb greenwashing, and that regulation should specifically define terms and be uniform across the country. Unlike the Green ...

Consumer Debt And Usury: A New Rationale For Usury , Robin A. Morris

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consumerism And Land Sales , Leonard Levin

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.