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Full-Text Articles in Law

Amazon As A Seller Of Marketplace Goods Under Article 2, Tanya J. Monestier Jun 2022

Amazon As A Seller Of Marketplace Goods Under Article 2, Tanya J. Monestier

Journal Articles

You have probably purchased goods on Amazon. Did you know that if the goods you purchased on Amazon turn out to be defective and cause serious personal injury, Amazon is probably not liable for them? Did you know that even though you placed an order on Amazon, gave payment to Amazon, and received the goods in an Amazon box, there is a good chance that the goods are not “sold by” Amazon—but are instead sold by a third-party seller? Did you know that Amazon tries to avoid liability for goods sold on its platform on the technicality that it does …


Protecting Consumer Protection: Filling The Federal Enforcement Gap, Amy Widman Oct 2021

Protecting Consumer Protection: Filling The Federal Enforcement Gap, Amy Widman

Buffalo Law Review

Since 2014, when a first-of-its-kind empirical study looked at how public enforcers use their authority under unfair and deceptive acts and practices (“UDAP”) laws, the enforcement landscape has changed. Most notably, the Trump Administration weakened enforcement on the federal level. In the wake of this political shift, many state enforcers rushed to fill the gap left by weak federal enforcement. At the same time, the state enforcers themselves experienced changes both internal (including changes to budgets and stated policy priorities) and external (electoral changes regarding state Attorneys General, changes to statutory authority, and other changes governing the enforcer’s authority).

This …


The Reality Of Class-Action Appeals, Christine P. Bartholomew Jan 2021

The Reality Of Class-Action Appeals, Christine P. Bartholomew

Book Reviews

Reviewing Bryan Lammon, An Empirical Study of Class-Action Appeals (2020).


The Specific Consumer Expectations Test For Product Defects, Clayton J. Masterman, W. Kip Viscusi Jan 2020

The Specific Consumer Expectations Test For Product Defects, Clayton J. Masterman, W. Kip Viscusi

Journal Articles

In this Article, we propose that courts adopt an amended version of the consumer expectations test that we call the “specific consumer expectations test.” The specific consumer expectations test would apply to any product or product component for which consumers have clear, articulable ex ante expectations about the function of the product. Under the specific consumer expectations test, a defendant is liable if consumers expected such a product to reduce a particular risk, and the product in fact increased that risk. Similarly, if a product was intended to convey a particular benefit, but in fact harmed consumers along the same …


The Equifax Data Breach: An Opportunity To Improve Consumer Protection And Cybersecurity Efforts In America, Gregory S. Gaglione Jr. Aug 2019

The Equifax Data Breach: An Opportunity To Improve Consumer Protection And Cybersecurity Efforts In America, Gregory S. Gaglione Jr.

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


The New Wild West: Exploring Western New York’S Underground, Fraudulent Debt Collection Industry, Nathan Woodard Jan 2018

The New Wild West: Exploring Western New York’S Underground, Fraudulent Debt Collection Industry, Nathan Woodard

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Customer Is Not Always Right: Balancing Worker And Customer Welfare In Antitrust Law, Clayton J. Masterman Oct 2016

The Customer Is Not Always Right: Balancing Worker And Customer Welfare In Antitrust Law, Clayton J. Masterman

Journal Articles

A natural consequence of employer restraints of trade that decrease wages is lower prices. Under antitrust law, courts evaluate most such restraints of trade under the rule of reason. This Note argues that the rule of reason’s focus on consumer welfare and the natural price decrease that follows from employer restraints of trade cause underenforcement of antitrust law against anticompetitive employer conduct. Such a result is anomalous, because the consumer welfare standard that permeates antitrust law should protect employees as much as customers that purchase goods.

To solve the under-enforcement problem, this Note proposes that courts analyzing a restraint of …


The Failed Superiority Experiment, Christine P. Bartholomew Oct 2016

The Failed Superiority Experiment, Christine P. Bartholomew

Journal Articles

Federal law requires a class action be “superior to alternative methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.” This superiority requirement has gone unstudied, despite existing for half a century. This Article undertakes a comprehensive review of the superiority case law. It reveals a jurisprudence riddled with inconsistency as courts adopt diametrically opposed interpretations of the requirement. Originally crafted to encourage predictable, consistent class action decisions, superiority has mutated over the years into a dangerous wild card—subjectively used to stymie aggregate litigation. The solution is not adding a new requirement to the already onerous rules for class certification. Instead, judges …


Saving Charitable Settlements, Christine P. Bartholomew May 2015

Saving Charitable Settlements, Christine P. Bartholomew

Journal Articles

This Article defies the conventional wisdom that all charitable distributions from a class action settlement fund are types of cy pres. Instead, it proposes a radical delineation between “cy pres remainders” (meaning settlement funds left over after individual monetary distributions) and “charitable settlements” (meaning money initially distributed to charities as part of class action settlements). While both have cy pres roots, these two settlement structures have been conflated, jeopardizing the potential utility of charitable settlements. After articulating more precise nomenclature for these distinct distribution methods, this Article justifies why we must preserve charitable settlements. This defense is particularly timely, as …


Redefining Prey And Predator In Class Actions, Christine P. Bartholomew Jan 2015

Redefining Prey And Predator In Class Actions, Christine P. Bartholomew

Journal Articles

Aggregate litigation’s potential as a tool for the disempowered is not being realized. Class actions have come under serious attack in the last decade as critics have successfully worked to change traditional notions of victimhood. The leading narrative identifies big businesses as the vulnerable prey needing protection from large class claims and the greedy class actions attorneys who bring them. Relying on this narrative, courts and Congress have made class actions harder to pursue, from filing and class certification to settlement approval.

Vulnerability theory offers an alternative framework to rehabilitate class actions. From this perspective, the legal system currently disadvantages …


Private Import Safety Regulation And Transnational New Governance, Errol E. Meidinger Jan 2009

Private Import Safety Regulation And Transnational New Governance, Errol E. Meidinger

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 12 in Import Safety: Regulatory Governance in the Global Economy, Cary Coglianese, Adam M. Finkel & David Zaring, eds.

This paper examines the role of ‘private’ (non-governmental) regulatory programs in assuring the safety of imported products. Focusing particularly on food safety it argues that private regulatory institutions have great capacity to control safety hazards and to implement dynamic systems for detecting and correcting nascent risks. However, to establish the accountability and legitimacy relationships necessary for long-term effectiveness, private safety regulatory programs must devise new ways of incorporating and responding to the interests of developing country producers, laborers, …


Double Whammy: How The New Credit Card Nondischargeability Provision And The New Means Test Hit Single Mothers Over The Head, Hatty Yip Sep 2006

Double Whammy: How The New Credit Card Nondischargeability Provision And The New Means Test Hit Single Mothers Over The Head, Hatty Yip

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Overcoming Discrimination In Housing, Credit, And Urban Policy (Transcript), Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal Sep 2006

Overcoming Discrimination In Housing, Credit, And Urban Policy (Transcript), Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Don't Tread On Me: Faster Than A Tire Blowout, Congress Passes Wide-Sweeping Legislation That Treads On The Thirty-Five Year Old Motor Vehicle Safety Act, Kevin M. Mcdonald Oct 2001

Don't Tread On Me: Faster Than A Tire Blowout, Congress Passes Wide-Sweeping Legislation That Treads On The Thirty-Five Year Old Motor Vehicle Safety Act, Kevin M. Mcdonald

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Increasing Citizen Participation In U.S. Postal Service Policy Making: A Model Act To Create A Post Office Consumer Action Group, Joseph W. Belluck Jan 1994

Increasing Citizen Participation In U.S. Postal Service Policy Making: A Model Act To Create A Post Office Consumer Action Group, Joseph W. Belluck

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


New York's Used-Car Lemon Law: An Evaluation, Martha M. Post Oct 1986

New York's Used-Car Lemon Law: An Evaluation, Martha M. Post

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Taming The Utilities: New York State Passes An Energy Consumers' Bill Of Rights, Marc Ganz Oct 1982

Taming The Utilities: New York State Passes An Energy Consumers' Bill Of Rights, Marc Ganz

In the Public Interest

No abstract provided.


Meeting The Equal Credit Opportunity Act's Specificity Requirement: Judgmental And Statistical Scoring Systems, Winnie F. Taylor Jan 1980

Meeting The Equal Credit Opportunity Act's Specificity Requirement: Judgmental And Statistical Scoring Systems, Winnie F. Taylor

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Compulsory Licensing Of A Trademark, Vincent N. Palladino Jul 1977

Compulsory Licensing Of A Trademark, Vincent N. Palladino

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Vindicating The Public Interest Through The Courts: A Comparativist's Contribution, Mauro Cappelletti Apr 1976

Vindicating The Public Interest Through The Courts: A Comparativist's Contribution, Mauro Cappelletti

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Computerized Medical Records And The Right To Privacy: The Emerging Federal Response, Barry B. Boyer Oct 1975

Computerized Medical Records And The Right To Privacy: The Emerging Federal Response, Barry B. Boyer

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Prohibiting Pyramid Sales Schemes: County, State And Federal Approaches To A Persistent Problem, Howard N. Solodky Apr 1975

Prohibiting Pyramid Sales Schemes: County, State And Federal Approaches To A Persistent Problem, Howard N. Solodky

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Right To A Hearing Prior To Termination Of Utility Services, Anthony Ilardi Jr. Apr 1973

The Right To A Hearing Prior To Termination Of Utility Services, Anthony Ilardi Jr.

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Fuentes V Shevin: The New York Creditor And Replevin, William H. Gardner Oct 1972

Fuentes V Shevin: The New York Creditor And Replevin, William H. Gardner

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


Treatment Of Debtors, O. John Rogge Oct 1972

Treatment Of Debtors, O. John Rogge

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Need For Protection Of The Consumer Of Services, Robert M. Feinson Oct 1968

The Need For Protection Of The Consumer Of Services, Robert M. Feinson

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.