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Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in Law
The New Handshake: Where We Are Now, Amy J. Schmitz, Colin Rule
The New Handshake: Where We Are Now, Amy J. Schmitz, Colin Rule
Faculty Publications
The internet has empowered consumers in new and exciting ways. It has opened more efficient avenues for consumers to buy just about anything. Want proof? Just pull out your smartphone, swipe your finger across the screen a few times, and presto – your collector’s edition Notorious RBG bobblehead is on its way from China. Unfortunately, however, the internet has not yet delivered on its promise to improve consumer protection.
Introducing The 'New Handshake' To Expand Remedies And Revive Responsibility In Ecommerce, Amy J. Schmitz
Introducing The 'New Handshake' To Expand Remedies And Revive Responsibility In Ecommerce, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
There was a time when individuals would meet in person to make purchases and do deals. They would discuss the terms, assess the trustworthiness and character of their contracting partners, and conclude the deal with a handshake. The handshake helped ensure the enforcement of the deal without need for the rule of law or legal power. That handshake was one’s bond — it was a personal trust mark. With the emergence of eCommerce, however, that handshake has nearly disappeared along with the sense of responsibility it inspired. Accordingly, this article discusses how this has impacted consumers’ access to remedies regarding …
Females On The Fringe: Considering Gender In Payday Lending Policy, Amy J. Schmitz
Females On The Fringe: Considering Gender In Payday Lending Policy, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
Payday lending may provide a much-needed safety net for some consumers in need of quick cash for emergencies. However, data suggest that most payday loan borrowers become repeat users caught in a cycle of high-cost debt. Furthermore, empirical evidence indicates consistent overrepresentation of women, including many single mothers, among payday loan borrowers. This takes a toll not only on these women and their families, but also on society as a whole. Indeed, context matters in payday lending debates. It is thus time to think creatively and consider contextualized programs that aim to increase women’s and all consumers’ safe borrowing options, …
Secret Consumer Scores And Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' From 'Have-Nots', Amy J. Schmitz
Secret Consumer Scores And Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' From 'Have-Nots', Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
“Big Data” is big business. Data brokers profit by tracking consumers’ information and behavior both on- and offline and using this collected data to assign consumers evaluative scores and classify consumers into segments. Companies then use these consumer scores and segmentations for marketing and to determine what deals, offers, and remedies they provide to different individuals. These valuations and classifications are based on not only consumers’ financial histories and relevant interests, but also their race, gender, ZIP Code, social status, education, familial ties, and a wide range of additional data. Nonetheless, consumers are largely unaware of these scores and segmentations, …
Sex Matters: Considering Gender In Consumer Contracts, Amy J. Schmitz
Sex Matters: Considering Gender In Consumer Contracts, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
We hear about the so-called “War on Women” and persisting salary gaps between men and women in the popular media, but contracts scholars and policymakers rarely discuss gender. Instead, dominant voices in the contracts field often reflect classical and economics-driven theories built on assumptions of gender neutral and economically rational actors. Furthermore, many mistakenly assume that market competition and antidiscrimination legislation address any improper biases in contracting. This Article therefore aims to shed light on gender’s importance by distilling data from my own e-survey of Colorado consumers along with others’ research regarding gender differences in contract outcomes, interests and behaviors. …
Ensuring Remedies To Cure Cramming, Amy J. Schmitz
Ensuring Remedies To Cure Cramming, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
The unauthorized addition of third party charges to telecommunications bills ("cramming") is a growing problem that has caught the attention of federal regulators and state attorney generals. This Article therefore discusses the problems associated with cramming, and highlights consumers’ uphill battles in seeking remedies with respect to cramming claims. Indeed, it is imperative for policymakers, researchers, consumer advocates, and industry groups to collaborate in developing means for resolving these claims. Accordingly, this Article offers a proposal for resolving cramming disputes in order to advance this collaboration, and inspire development of a functioning online dispute resolution ("ODR") process to handle these …
American Exceptionalism In Consumer Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz
American Exceptionalism In Consumer Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
“American exceptionalism” has been used to reference the United States’ outlier policies in various contexts, including its love for litigation. Despite Americans’ reverence for their “day in court,” their zest for contractual freedom and efficiency has prevailed to result in U.S. courts’ strict enforcement of arbitration provisions in both business-to-business (“B2B”) and business-to-consumer (“B2C”) contracts. This is exceptional because although most of the world joins the United States in generally enforcing B2B arbitration under the New York Convention, many other countries refuse or strictly limit arbitration enforcement in B2C relationships due to concerns regarding power imbalances and public enforcement of …
Access To Consumer Remedies In The Squeaky Wheel System, Amy J. Schmitz
Access To Consumer Remedies In The Squeaky Wheel System, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
This article explores the “Squeaky Wheel System” (“SWS”) in business-to-consumer (“B2C”) contexts, referring to merchants’ reservation of purchase remedies and other contract benefits for only the relatively few “squeaky wheel” consumers who have the requisite information and resources to persistently seek assistance. The article uncovers how this system fosters contractual discrimination and hinders consumers’ awareness and access with respect to contract remedies. It also adds empirical insights from my recent e-survey, and offers suggestions for using the internet to empower consumers of all economic and status levels with efficient and accessible means for learning about their purchase rights and asserting …
Building Bridges To Consumer Remedies In International Econflicts, Amy J. Schmitz
Building Bridges To Consumer Remedies In International Econflicts, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
Consumer purchases over the Internet (“ePurchases”) are on the rise, thereby causing an increase in conflicts regarding these purchases (“eConflicts”). Furthermore, these conflicts are increasingly international as consumers purchase goods over the Internet not knowing or caring where the seller is physically located. The problem is that if the purchase goes awry, consumers are often left without recourse due to the futility of pursing international litigation and the textured law and policy regarding enforcement of private dispute resolution procedures, namely arbitration. The United States strictly enforces arbitration contracts in business-to-consumer (“B2C”) relationships, while other countries have refused or limited enforcement …
Do I Own This Car - The Supreme Court Creates A Standard For Bapcpa Car Ownership, Anne Benton Hucker
Do I Own This Car - The Supreme Court Creates A Standard For Bapcpa Car Ownership, Anne Benton Hucker
Missouri Law Review
The case was Ransom v. FIA Card Services, N.A., and the dispute was whether, under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), Appellant Jason Ransom should be able to claim a vehicle ownership expense for purposes of Chapter 13 bankruptcy for the unencumbered car that he owned. Practitioners in the bankruptcy field had been watching the progression of this case and were eager to learn the Court's resolution of the issue. The interest was due to two reasons. First, the outcome of the case would affect approximately 250,000 Chapter 13 petitioners. Second, the case would resolve …
Plaintiffs' Bar Cannot Enforce The Laws: Individual Reliance Issues Prevent Consumer Protection Classes In The Eighth Circuit, The, Michael B. Barnett
Plaintiffs' Bar Cannot Enforce The Laws: Individual Reliance Issues Prevent Consumer Protection Classes In The Eighth Circuit, The, Michael B. Barnett
Missouri Law Review
This Note will specifically consider the implications of In re St. Jude on class certification sought under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (MMPA) in federal court. Though Missouri case law does not require reliance to be shown to bring an individual action under the MMPA, federal courts likely would require a showing of causation in which common facts of reliance exist in the class context. This is true, in part, because of the similarities in the Missouri and Minnesota statutes. Further, even though the Supreme Court of Missouri is the final arbiter of Missouri law, the MMPA adopts the Federal …
Little Fish In A Big Sea: Should Consumer Protection Statutes Override Class Arbitration Waivers, A, Thomas Wilmowski
Little Fish In A Big Sea: Should Consumer Protection Statutes Override Class Arbitration Waivers, A, Thomas Wilmowski
Journal of Dispute Resolution
As arbitration agreements have become increasingly commonplace in dealings between large companies and their subscribers, courts have taken a strong interest in protecting consumer rights. As part of this protection, courts have to apply federal statutes, protecting the right to treble damages and recovery of attorney's fees in the context of mass arbitration agreements. The difficulty comes in attempting to allow companies to exercise their freedom of contract while protecting consumers with little bargaining power. Although other courts have largely favored arbitration, and upheld its applicability, a clash remains between consumer protection statutes and the waiver of those statutory rights …
Mobile Home Mania? Protecting Procedurally Fair Arbitration In A Consumer Microcosm, Amy J. Schmitz
Mobile Home Mania? Protecting Procedurally Fair Arbitration In A Consumer Microcosm, Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
Consumers' lack of warranty remedies prompted Congress to enact the 2000 Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA). Under the Act, the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must develop a program for resolving MH warranty disputes by the end of 2005. This article provides input regarding that program. It also calls for broader protection of procedural fairness in arbitration of disputes regarding warranties for mobile or manufactured homes (referred to in the article as MHs for ease of reference). Although HUD's program aims to create a process for resolving warranty disputes among manufacturers, dealers and installers, this article proposes that …
Product Liability: A Commentary On The Liability Of Suppliers Of Component Parts And Raw Materials, David A. Fischer
Product Liability: A Commentary On The Liability Of Suppliers Of Component Parts And Raw Materials, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
The liability of suppliers of raw materials and component parts for harm caused by the product into which the materials have been incorporated poses difficult questions. When the raw material or component part is clearly defective, there is no question that the supplier is liable. Thus, where an ingredient in processed food is contaminated or where a truck tire has a flaw that causes a blowout, the supplier of the ingredient or the tire is liable. The difficult questions arise where the components are not inherently defective, but the finished product is defective because it lacks a safety feature or …
Tort Law: Expanding The Scope Of Recovery Without Loss Of Jury Control, David A. Fischer
Tort Law: Expanding The Scope Of Recovery Without Loss Of Jury Control, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
This article will analyze the types of changes that are taking place by examining three expanding areas of tort law: liability for negligently inflicted mental distress, negligently inflicted pure pecuniary loss, and harm caused by defective products. This examination will demonstrate that the scope of liability can be increased in at least two ways. One is by formally expanding the scope of existing causes of action, e.g., relaxing arbitrary barriers to liability or expanding the type of damages which may be recovered. A second method is by relaxing judicial control over the jury. This relaxation of control can take place …
Products Liability--An Analysis Of Market Share Liability, David A. Fischer
Products Liability--An Analysis Of Market Share Liability, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
In Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories the Supreme Court of California created the market share liability theory of recovery for products liability cases. The innovative Sindell theory, which applies to certain products liability cases in which causation is either questionable or difficult to prove, departed significantly from the traditional tort principles of causation and liability. The theory allows plaintiffs to recover damages for their injuries, but it discounts the defendant's liability by the probability that it did not cause the harm.
Products Liability--Functionally Imposed Strict Liability, David A. Fischer
Products Liability--Functionally Imposed Strict Liability, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
Many manufacturers and insurance companies claim that a products liability crisis exists. This is evidenced by soaring products liability insurance rates. They express the fear that as insurance becomes unavailable or prohibitively expensive, useful products will be withheld from the market and some manufacturers may even be forced out of business. Such critics of the tort system are calling for modifications of the common law in order to give greater protection to manufacturers. A more drastic approach, vigorously championed by Professor Jeffrey O'Connell, calls for total or partial abolition of the tort system and substitution with various forms of no-fault …
Products Liability--Applicability Of Comparative Negligence, David A. Fischer
Products Liability--Applicability Of Comparative Negligence, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
Products liability and comparative negligence are two very rapidly developing fields of tort law. In recent years, the vast majority of courts have adopted strict liability for harm caused by defective products. At the same time, the doctrine of comparative negligence has changed almost overnight from a doctrine that had been accepted by only a handful of jurisdictions into what is now the majority approach in this country.
Products Liability--Applicability Of Comparative Negligence To Misuse And Assumption Of The Risk, David A. Fischer
Products Liability--Applicability Of Comparative Negligence To Misuse And Assumption Of The Risk, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
A trend is emerging to apply comparative negligence in strict products liability actions. This creates two serious difficulties. First is the question of how to compare the negligence of one party with the strict liability of the other party.