Law Commons^™

Chapter Ii Property Agents And Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld): The Answer To Our Prayers Or The Devil In Disguise?, Tammy Johnson

Tammy Johnson

In the mid to late 1990s the Gold Coast real property market was the subject of intense marketeering operations. Investigation revealed that the legislation regulating the real estate industry at that time was unable to combat such unethical and unscrupulous behaviour. The Queensland Government realised that action must be taken to provide for protection of consumers in the real property market. After some hasty drafting, the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld) became effective on 1 July 2001. The aim of the Act was simple - to provide for consumer protection. After numerous and frequent amendments, the Act …

Consumer Debt - Are Credit Cards Bankrupting Americans: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On Commercial & Administrative Law Of The H. Comm. On The Judiciary, 111th Cong., April 2, 2009 (Statement Of Associate Professor Adam J. Levitin, Geo. U. L. Center), Adam J. Levitin

Testimony Before Congress

I urge the Congress to take up a comprehensive program of credit card reform legislation. While repealing parts of the BAPCPA is a key element to creating a fair and sustainable card lending industry, that alone will not eliminate predatory lending models. Instead, I strongly urge the Congress to consider mandating term standardization and price structure simplification for credit cards.

Litigating Second Life Land Disputes: A Consumer Protection Approach. , Paul Riley

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Modernizing Consumer Protection In The Financial Regulatory System; Strengthening Credit Card Protections: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On Banking, Housing, And Urban Affairs, 111th Cong., Feb. 12, 2009 (Statement Of Associate Professor Adam J. Levitin, Geo. U. L. Center), Adam J. Levitin

Testimony Before Congress

Transparent pricing is a prerequisite for an efficient, competitive market and responsible consumer behavior. If the card industry were required to price its products in a straightforward manner, and it were less costly for consumers to switch cards, deceptive practices would be harder to maintain, Truth-in-Lending disclosures would be more effective, as consumers would be able to easily compare cards and make informed decisions about card usage, and competitive pressures would push down total card, prices, forcing the card industry to operate more efficiently, benefiting all consumers.

I strongly urge Congress to pass legislation that creates transparency in credit card …

"A License To Deceive: Enforcing Contractual Myths Despite Consumer Psychological Realities", Debra P. Stark, Jessica M. Choplin

Debra Pogrund Stark

Are consumers “foolish” or “negligent” when they trust what salespersons falsely tell them rather than read all of the terms of the contracts they sign? Should consumers be barred from bringing a fraud action on the ground that they have not “reasonably relied” upon such false statements or deceptive conduct when the form contract they sign states that they have not so relied? Currently seven states’ courts have interpreted their consumer fraud statutes to require “reasonable reliance,” and three-quarters of the states’ courts impose this requirement for a common law action for fraud. Some courts have also ruled that the …

Study On Online Hotel Reservation Systems, Frank Alleweldt, Klaus Tonner, Marc Mcdonald

Articles

This study, conducted by Civic Consulting, looks at both pre-contractual and contractual matters concerning online hotel reservation systems, examines relevant Community rules, identifies gaps and, where needed, discusses possible policy options. Key conclusions The study shows that the impact of Community law on online hotel

The Subprime Crisis And The Link Between Consumer Financial Protection And Systemic Risk, Erik F. Gerding

Erik F. Gerding

This Article argues that the current global financial crisis, which was first called the “subprime crisis,” demonstrates the need to revisit the division between financial regulations designed to protect consumers from excessively risky loans and safety-and-soundness regulations intended to protect financial markets from the collapse of financial institutions. Consumer financial protection can, and must, serve a role not only in protecting individuals from excessive risk, but also in protecting markets from systemic risk. Economic studies indicate it is not merely high rates of defaults on consumer loans, but also unpredictable and highly correlated defaults that create risks for both lenders …

Code, Crash, And Open Source: The Outsourcing Of Financial Regulation To Risk Models And The Global Financial Crisis, Erik F. Gerding

Erik F. Gerding

The widespread use computer-based risk models in the financial industry in the last two decades enabled the marketing of more complex financial products to consumers, the growth of securitization and derivatives, and the development of sophisticated risk management strategies by financial institutions. Over this same period, regulators increasingly delegated or outsourced vast responsibility for regulating risk in both consumer finance and financial markets to these private industry models. The proprietary risk models of financial institutions thus came to serve as a “new financial code” that regulated transfers of risk among consumers, financial institutions, and investors.

The spectacular failure of financial …

Consumer Harm Acts? An Economic Analysis Of Private Actions Under State Consumer Protection Acts, Henry N. Butler, Jason S. Johnston

Faculty Working Papers

State Consumer Protection Acts (CPAs) were adopted in the 1960s and 1970s to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices that would not be redressed but for the existence of the acts. In this sense, CPAs were designed to fill existing gaps in market, legal and regulatory protections of consumers. CPAs were designed to solve two simple economic problems: 1) individual consumers often do not have the incentive or means to pursue individual claims against mass marketers who engage in unfair and deceptive practices; and, 2) because of the difficulty of establishing elements of either common law fraud or breach …

The Subprime Crisis And The Link Between Consumer Financial Protection And Systemic Risk, Erik F. Gerding

Publications

This Article will appear in a May 2009 symposium issue of the Florida International University Law Review on the global financial crisis. This Article argues that the current global financial crisis, which was first called the “subprime crisis,” demonstrates the need to revisit the division between financial regulations designed to protect consumers from excessively risky loans and safety-and-soundness regulations intended to protect financial markets from the collapse of financial institutions. Consumer financial protection can, and must, serve a role not only in protecting individuals from excessive risk, but also in protecting markets from systemic risk. Economic studies indicate it is …

Collision Course - Science, Law, And Regulation In The Emerging Science Of Low Dose Toxicity, Jody A. Roberts

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Code, Crash, And Open Source: The Outsourcing Of Financial Regulation To Risk Models And The Global Financial Crisis, Erik F. Gerding

Publications

The widespread use of computer-based risk models in the financial industry during the last two decades enabled the marketing of more complex financial products to consumers, the growth of securitization and derivatives, and the development of sophisticated risk-management strategies by financial institutions. Over this same period, regulators increasingly delegated or outsourced vast responsibility for regulating risk in both consumer finance and financial markets to these privately owned industry models. Proprietary risk models of financial institutions thus came to serve as a "new financial code" that regulated transfers of risk among consumers, financial institutions, and investors.

The spectacular failure of financial-industry …

Restoring The Balance: Bringing Back Consumer Rights In Umg Recordings V. Augusto By Reaffirming The First Sale Doctrine In Copyright Law, Maureen Steimer

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mature Product Preemption Doctrine: The Unitary Standard And The Paradox Of Consumer Protection, The, Jean Macchiaroli Eggen

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

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, …

The Subprime Crisis And The Link Between Consumer Financial Protection And Systemic Risk, Erik F. Gerding

Publications

This Article argues that the current global financial crisis, which was first called the “subprime crisis,” demonstrates the need to revisit the division between financial regulations designed to protect consumers from excessively risky loans and safety-and-soundness regulations intended to protect financial markets from the collapse of financial institutions. Consumer financial protection can, and must, serve a role not only in protecting individuals from excessive risk, but also in protecting markets from systemic risk. Economic studies indicate it is not merely high rates of defaults on consumer loans, but also unpredictable and highly correlated defaults that create risks for both lenders …

The Great Collapse: How Securitization Caused The Subprime Meltdown, Kurt Eggert

Kurt Eggert

This Article builds on existing criticism of securitizing subprime loans and argues that one of the primary causes of the subprime meltdown and the resulting economic collapse was the structure of securitization as applied to subprime and other non-prime residential loans, along with the resecuritization of the resulting mortgage-backed securities. Securitization weakened underwriting by discouraging originators from gathering “soft information” about the likelihood of borrower default and instead caused loan originators and other market participants to focus almost exclusively on such “hard information” as FICO scores and loan to value ratios. At each stage of the loan and securitization process, …