Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

The Incredible Edible: Protecting Businesses And Consumers In A Society Of Legalized Cannabis, Brandon M. Thompson

Nevada Law Journal Forum

This Article briefly discusses the history and origin of marijuana, or more precisely the cannabis plant, before branching into an examination of its chemical properties, forms, and uses. Including a concise survey of the various effects—including adverse side effects—of cannabis use. Additionally, it provides an introduction to products liability as it relates to drugs, in general, and then more specifically to the production and distribution of edibles. It will discuss some of the dangers that edibles pose to children. The focus will be primarily on issues with the marketing and presentation of edibles that have led to unintended ...

All That Glitters Is Gold: The Regulation Of Hidden Advertisements And Undisclosed Sponsorships In The World Of Beauty Social Media Influencers, Ashley Luong

William & Mary Business Law Review

What happens when a trusted acquaintance is caught lying? What if these lies have influenced your purchasing decisions? In the realm of social media influencers, the line between authentic opinions and sponsored advertisements is a blurred one. Influencers have considerable marketing power over millions of followers and their brand of authenticity makes them a desirable partner to big corporations seeking to promote their products. Under current FTC regulations, the simplified rule for advertisement disclosure is to make the disclosure “clear and conspicuous” with very little guidance beyond that phrase. Influencers are uncertain how to disclose, some choosing to toe the ...

In Conspicuous Terms-- Arbitration Agreements For The Modern Reasonable App User, Michelle Dunbar

William & Mary Business Law Review

Two recent decisions regarding the validity of arbitration agreements in mobile apps have come to opposite conclusions despite utilizing the same legal standard and concerning the same app—Uber. While the Federal Arbitration Act strongly favors the validity and importance of arbitration agreements, it appears that judge’s subjectivity based on common knowledge and understanding of apps is influencing the outcome of cases concerning the validity of these arbitration agreements. To the modern app user, are these terms really inconspicuous? For businesses, this could mean that instead of competing in an already saturated app market by enhancing their design and ...

Investigating Healthcare Fraud: Its Scope, Applicable Laws, And Regulations, Nicole Forbes Stowell, Carl Pacini, Nathan Wadlinger, Jaqueline M. Crain, Martina Schmidt

William & Mary Business Law Review

Healthcare costs are not only an enormous strain on the U.S. economy but are expected to increase in the foreseeable future. Not surprisingly, clever fraudsters view the healthcare industry as a lucrative and attractive hotspot for illegal activity. Although federal and state governments have increased their funding and prosecution efforts relating to healthcare fraud, this fraud continues to be a major threat to the U.S. economy and every patient and consumer. The impact of healthcare fraud is substantial and far-reaching. Healthcare fraud in the U.S. affects not only the government, but also insurance companies, patients, healthcare providers ...

Securities Exchange Act Section 4e(A): Toothless "Internal-Timing Directive" Or Statute Of Limitation?, Richard E. Brodsky

William & Mary Business Law Review

The Securities and Exchange Commission has a problem, and everyone knows it: its investigative process suffers from excessive delay, which harms both individuals and entity it investigates and its own enforcement program. This problem has long been recognized and complained about, but never remedied.

In 2010, Congress passed a law specifically designed to solve the problem of excessive delay but, the way the SEC has read the law—which has been acquiesced in by the courts and ignored by subsequent Congresses—has rendered it toothless and essentially meaningless. This has been accomplished, first, by the Commission’s cabined interpretation of ...

Cryptocurrencies' Revolt Against The Bsa: Why The Supreme Court Should Hold That The Bank Secrecy Act Violates The Fourth Amendment, Jeremy Ciarabellini

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) creates a Hobson’s choice: one must either struggle to function in modern society without a bank account or submit to financial surveillance by the government. Both choices result in drastic consequences.

The Case For Blockchain In The Beauty Industry, Sumanpreet Kaur

Blockchain Law

Part II of this paper addresses the legal issues presented by counterfeit cosmetics and false claims, and also compares the regulatory landscape in the United States versus that of the European Union. Part III analyzes how blockchain can be used to fill in the gaps left by the lack of strong regulations in the United States and provide consumers reliable methods of authenticating the ingredients in their personal care products. Part III also explains how Cult Beauty is implementing blockchain in its business. Part IV discusses the potential hurdles and negatives of using blockchain in the beauty industry. Part V ...

No Money, Mo’ Problems: The Attitudes And Experiences Of Homeowners In Default, Tracy Douglas

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article discusses differences in foreclosure law, consumer protection, and mediation programs. Then, it will summarize relevant research on the topic of homeowners’ attitudes, financial knowledge, economic hardships, causes of default, and effectiveness of representation. Next, this article will outline the study’s design and methodology followed by the results from the data produced by the study. Then, the results will be analyzed. Finally, policy recommendations and reforms supported by the study’s evidence will be discussed.

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1998, FMC Corporation agreed to submit to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ permitting processes, including the payment of fees, for clean-up work required as part of consent decree negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 2002, FMC refused to pay the Tribes under a permitting agreement entered into by both parties, even though the company continued to store hazardous waste on land within the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. FMC challenged the Tribes’ authority to enforce the $1.5 million permitting fees first in tribal court and later challenged the Tribes’ authority to exercise civil regulatory and adjudicatory jurisdiction ...

The Auditor's Responsibilities For Fraud Detection And Disclosure: Do The Auditing Standards Provide A Safe Harbor?, James L. Costello

Maine Law Review

Eighty-seven percent of managers recently surveyed were willing to commit financial statement fraud. More than half were willing to overstate assets, forty-eight percent were willing to understate loss reserves and thirty-eight percent would "pad" a government contract. These disturbing results are underscored by the financial miseries still brewing in the savings and loan industry, as well as by other corporate and banking financial debacles of the past decade, including Lincoln Savings & Loan, Wedtech, and the Delorean sports car venture scandal. Amidst these financial ruins we find the chronic element of management fraud. Unfortunately for investors and depositors a troublesome number ...

Vertical Merger Enforcement Actions: 1994–April 2020, Steven C. Salop, Daniel P. Culley

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We have revised our earlier listing of vertical merger enforcement actions by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission since 1994. This revised listing includes 66 vertical matters beginning in 1994 through April 2020. It includes challenges and certain proposed transactions that were abandoned in the face of Agency concerns. This listing can be treated as an Appendix to Steven C. Salop and Daniel P. Culley, Revising the Vertical Merger Guidelines: Policy Issues and an Interim Guide for Practitioners, 4 JOURNAL OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT 1 (2016).

Victim V. Victim Restitution: The Commingling Fictions, Andrew Kull

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Borrowing American Ideas To Improve Chinese Tort Law, Yongxia Wang

St. Mary's Law Journal

As China develops its modern jurisprudence it faces a choice between emulating the legal frameworks of civil law countries or common law countries. Thus far, the civil law path has allowed for a rapid expansion of Chinese tort law, but jurists have found difficulty in applying such generalized statutory schemes with the absence of supporting judicial interpretation. Cognizant of the differences between the public policy of common law countries and China, Vincent Johnson’s Mastering Torts (Měiguó Qīnquán Fǎ) provides this guidance through the lens of American tort law. The hornbook takes care to simplify the role of judicial opinion ...

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both ...

Environmental Justice In Little Village: A Case For Reforming Chicago’S Zoning Law, Charles Isaacs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Chicago’s Little Village community bears the heavy burden of environmental injustice and racism. The residents are mostly immigrants and people of color who live with low levels of income, limited access to healthcare, and disproportionate levels of dangerous air pollution. Before its retirement, Little Village’s Crawford coal-burning power plant was the lead source of air pollution, contributing to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks per year. After the plant’s retirement, community members wanted a say on the future use of the lot, only to be closed out when a corporation, Hilco Redevelopment ...

False Advertising Law And New Private Law, Gregory Klass

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter, which will appear in the Oxford Handbook of New Private Law, examines the extent to which US false advertising law can be viewed as part of the private law. Its working hypothesis is that that although it can be helpful to distinguish private from public law, there is not a sharp border between the two regions. Laws that fall on the private side of the divide can be designed in light of purposes and principles commonly associated with public law, and vice versa. False advertising law provides an example. Despite the fact that it is commonly classified as ...

(Almost) No Bad Drugs: Near-Total Products Liability Immunity For Pharmaceuticals Explained, Anita Bernstein

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Article explores four beliefs about supposed pharma-benevolence that appear to be shared by more than the industry, reaching the level almost of conventional wisdom. These figurative pillars help support one-sided results in court. However, each of the pillars on examination turns out at least a bit shaky. This Article puts them forward for review to start a necessary discussion.

The locus of this Article is products liability, where a court concludes that a manufactured object is defective or could be called defective by a factfinder following a trial. Drug manufacturers enjoy near-immunity from this consequence. Modern products liability identifies ...

Horseshoes And Hand Grenades: Frank V.Gaos And The Problem With Class Action Cy Pres Distributions, Jorge Galavis

University of Miami Business Law Review

Nearly Just

Frank v. Gaos is a case that weighed the merits of cy pres, a pesky complex doctrine left applied to my dismay. When in class action settlements, there are remaining funds, Defendants seem to benefit from what the Plaintiffs won.