Law Commons^™

Rising Together: Clarifying The International Environmental Marketing Claim Regulatory Landscape So That Developing Country Exporters May More Effectively Market Their Environmentally Responsible Products, Jeffrey J. Minneti

Jeffrey J Minneti

This article focuses attention on national and international state and non-state actor environmental marketing claim criteria setting bodies to assess whether and to what extent the actors consider developing country interests in their schemes. Finding that many firm-specific and industry-specific non-state actors fail to offer any consideration of developing country interests in their standardization and certification schemes, likely because they lack any legal obligation to do, the article suggestes two clarifications to the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), that will at least incentivize non-state actors to integrate developing country interests into their schemes. First, the …

Freedom Of Contract In An Augmented Reality: The Case Of Consumer Contracts, Scott Peppet

Scott Peppet

This Article argues that freedom of contract will take on different meaning in a world in which ubiquitous information about places, goods, people, firms and contract terms is available to contracting parties anywhere, any time. In particular, our increasingly “augmented reality” calls into question leading justifications for distrusting consumer contracts—and thereby strengthens traditional understandings of freedom of contract as enforcing contracts as written. This is largely a descriptive and predictive argument: the Article aims to introduce contract law to these technologies and consider their most likely effects. It certainly has normative implications, however. Given that the vast majority of consumer …

Website Proprietorship Liability, Design And Two Regrettable Online Norms:, Nancy Kim

Nancy Kim

Two regrettable norms have emerged online: the posting of content about others without their consent; and impulsive postings with little or no regard to their long term consequences. Website operators can either encourage or discourage these regrettable norms and influence their consequences through the design of their website and by the fostering of norms and codes of conduct. Unfortunately, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as interpreted by courts provides websites with broad immunity. In a prior Article, I argued that a proprietorship standard should be imposed upon websites which would require them to take reasonable measures to prevent …

In Defense Of The Shuckers: Enhanced Consumer Warnings And Assumption Of The Risk, Not Forced Post-Harvest Processing, As The Proper Remedy For Raw Oyster Toxicity, Scott T. Schmidt

Scott Schmidt

Oysters are a popular culinary delight. Oyster connoisseurs ("ostreaphiles") thoroughly enjoy consuming the bivalves in a multitude of ways, including fried, baked, and raw. A large portion of oysters in the U.S. come from the Gulf of Mexico. However, the FDA has proposed regulations which would make it difficult to consume living raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico during certain times of the year. The Vibrio family of bacteria is the leading cause of raw shellfish toxicity. It occurs naturally in seawater, and is more heavily concentrated in warmer months. It is known to cause several illnesses and death …

The Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act: Legislation Passed By Congress Or The Tobacco Companies?, Sakineh A. Majd

Sakineh A. Majd

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (“the Act”) was passed by the 111th Congress in June 2009. Granting the FDA substantial authority to regulate tobacco products and how they are marketed, the Act has the power to define the future of the tobacco industry in America, and its passage did not go uncontested. Philip Morris was in support, while competing tobacco firms Reynolds and Lorillard were opposed. With the Act’s controversial passage came accusations that the senators of the 111th Congress voted according to the agendas of the tobacco firms that they were beholden to. I argue that …

“No Fishing Poles Allowed At The Office,” And Other Suggestions On How To Limit “Fishing Expeditions” To An Outdoor Weekend Activity And Away From The Realm Of E-Discovery, Joanna K. Slusarz

Joanna Slusarz

Early settlement is usually encouraged by the courts and welcomed by most parties involved in a lawsuit. However, it may not always be the most favorable result. This idiosyncrasy arises most when the costs of continuing litigation and adjudication on the merits outweigh those of early settlement. On the other hand, early settlement raises the risk of “encourag[ing] additional, low merit cases that might not otherwise have been filed had the company chosen to litigate existing lawsuits.”

The phenomenon of electronic discovery (“e-discovery”) has exponentially increased the occurrence of the latter result. As a result, defendants, particularly large corporations with …

Community Collateral Damage: A Question Of Priorities, Andrea J. Boyack

Andrea J Boyack

Today’s soaring mortgage default rate and the uncertainty and delay associated with mortgage foreclosure proceedings threatens to cause financial tragedies of the commons in condominiums and homeowner associations across the country. Assessment defaults in privately governed communities result in an inequitable allocation of upkeep costs, and current law provides no way to prevent this spillover effect. But the collateral damages caused by delayed foreclosures and insufficient recoveries can be minimized by gradually increasing the priority position of the association lien.

In a majority of states, association liens are completely subordinate to the first mortgage lien. At foreclosure of the mortgage …

Coerced Debt: An Empirical Examination Of The Role Consumer Credit In Domestic Violence, Angela K. Littwin

Angela K Littwin

When one pictures domestic violence, consumer credit probably does not come to mind. Physical and sexual abuse in intimate relationships has become an acknowledged reality. Structural abuse, which includes tactics such as isolating victims from other relationships and cutting off access to transportation, has also made headway in the public consciousness. Even forms of economic abuse that depress victims’ income have been well-documented. But there is another facet of domestic violence that has not yet been recognized: financial abuse through consumer credit. As consumer lending has permeated American life, violent partners have begun using debt as a means of exercising …

Transparent And Commercialized?: Managing The Public-Private Model For Data Production And Use, Shubha Ghosh

Shubha Ghosh

This Article examines the relationship between two trends: the move towards transparency in government data and information and the increasing commercialization of data through social network and other sites. The author presents a normative framework for reconciling these two trends, analyzes the legal implications of this normative framework, and examines three case studies: the private use of government real estate assessment records, the creation of websites like data.gov, and governmental protection of databases. The Article concludes with a proposal for an open source licensing model for data and information.

Credit Card Ills: Reducing Racial Disparities In Debt, Andrea Freeman

Andrea Freeman

Credit card debt, particularly in conjunction with the subprime lending crisis and severe economic recession, jeopardizes the ability of many African American and Latino households to maintain financial viability. The credit card industry’s business model relies on the payment of fees and high interest rates by the poorest consumers to generate profits and subsidize credit card use by the richest. Documented racial disparities in credit card debt represent and perpetuate structural inequities that require regulatory intervention. Both increased consumer protection and structural reform are necessary to reduce credit card debt disparities arising from present and past discrimination and subordination. The …

Credit Card Ills: Reducing Racial Disparities In Debt, Andrea Freeman

Andrea Freeman

Credit card debt, particularly in conjunction with the subprime lending crisis and severe economic recession, jeopardizes the ability of many African American and Latino households to maintain financial viability. The credit card industry’s business model relies on the payment of fees and high interest rates by the poorest consumers to generate profits and subsidize credit card use by the richest. Documented racial disparities in credit card debt represent and perpetuate structural inequities that require regulatory intervention. Both increased consumer protection and structural reform are necessary to reduce credit card debt disparities arising from present and past discrimination and subordination. The …

Private Ordering In Light Of The Law: Achieving Consumer Protection Through Payment Card Security Measures, Edward A. Morse

Edward A. Morse

A private ordering regime has developed within the payment card industry to define appropriate security practices and to monitor compliance by network participants. Market demands for trustworthy systems upon which consumers and merchants could rely provide incentives for security, which are supplemented by privately-designed fines and sanctions imposed through contract by the card brands. Although private ordering has functioned sufficiently well to make payment cards a trusted payment method, the system is not completely secure, as data security breaches have continued to occur. This is not surprising, as complete security is not a feasible goal. Nevertheless, some have questioned whether …

Cyberlaw: The Unconscionability,/ Unenforceability Of Contracts (Shrinkwrap, Clickwrap, And Browsewrap) On The Internet: A Multijurisdictional Analysis Showing The Need For Oversight., Paul J. Morrow Sr

Paul J. Morrow Sr

This paper analyzes the differences between the common law of contracts and the way various jurisdictions in the United States have applied new contract law doctrine as applied to cyber contracts. The paper also has recommendations on how to reconcile those differences. These differences could lead to a very unfair application of contract precedent essentially overturning 200 years of contract common law. This is the age of cyberspace and cyberlaw. If we do not begin to reconcile these differences, it could change the way our society does business. Do we adhere to precedent or are the changes warranted under the …

The Skinny On The Federal Menu-Labeling Law & Why It Should Survive A First Amendment Challenge, Dayna B. Royal

Dayna B. Royal

In America’s battle of the bulge, the bulge is winning. Contributing to this obesity epidemic is Americans’ increasingly widespread practice of eating at restaurants where deceptively fattening food is served to patrons who grossly underestimate the calories in their meals.

To combat this problem and promote public health, Congress enacted a federal menu-labeling law, which requires that restaurants post calorie information next to menu offerings. The constitutionality of this law has yet to be tested in court. But New York City’s law, enacted prior, has survived First Amendment scrutiny.

Like New York’s menu-labeling law, the federal law should withstand a …

Four Property Wrongs Of Self-Storage Law, Jeffrey D. Jones

Jeffrey D Jones

Self-storage leases are troubling. Under such leases, self-storage facility owners may freely dispose of defaulting tenants’ medical and tax records, family ashes, heirlooms, etc. in the same manner as they would treat fungible items such as chairs or a bookshelf. Facility owners are legally entitled to do so through facility-sponsored auctions, most of which are unrestricted by any duty to conduct commercially reasonable sales. Still worse, these legal self-storage practices have generated a clandestine culture of treasure-hunting that often leaves tenants—some of whom default due to medical emergencies, bankruptcy or who are homeless working poor—with little opportunity either to regain …

Four Property Wrongs Of Self-Storage Law, Jeffrey D. Jones

Jeffrey D Jones

Self-storage leases are troubling. Under such leases, self-storage facility owners may freely dispose of defaulting tenants’ medical and tax records, family ashes, heirlooms, etc. in the same manner as they would treat fungible items such as chairs or a bookshelf. Facility owners are legally entitled to do so through facility-sponsored auctions, most of which are unrestricted by any duty to conduct commercially reasonable sales. Still worse, these legal self-storage practices have generated a clandestine culture of treasure-hunting that often leaves tenants—some of whom default due to medical emergencies, bankruptcy or who are homeless working poor—with little opportunity either to regain …