Law Commons^™

Future Strategies For Improving Consent In Electronic Contracting, Ran Bi

Ran Bi

China's economy has been running deep into an exciting phrase called “Internet +”. In North America, most businesses have online presence and conduct numerous transactions online. Unprecedentedly, electronic contracts have been governing more Individuals and corporations’ legal relationships in a growing proportion of businesses and everyday life.

E-contracts, usually with no physical architecture, are easy to “sign”—people just click one or two icons on a computer / smartphone screen after “reading” (scroll down) the contents. However, e-contracts are standard form contracts which are provided by vendors . Users are easy to become victims of exploitative terms, because their consent has …

Future Strategies For Improving Consent In Electronic Contracting, Ran Bi

Ran Bi

China's economy has been running deep into an exciting phrase called “Internet +”. In North America, most businesses have online presence and conduct numerous transactions online. Unprecedentedly, electronic contracts have been governing more Individuals and corporations’ legal relationships in a growing proportion of businesses and everyday life.

E-contracts, usually with no physical architecture, are easy to “sign”—people just click one or two icons on a computer / smartphone screen after “reading” (scroll down) the contents. However, e-contracts are standard form contracts which are provided by vendors1. Users2 are easy to become victims of exploitative terms, because their consent has been …

Health Care And The Balance Billing Problem: The Solution Is The Common Law Of Contracts And Strengthening The Free Market For Health Care., George A. Nation Iii

George A Nation III

A large and growing group of insured patients is being unfairly burdened by hospitals’ exorbitant chargemaster prices. The burden is brought to bear on these patients through a process known as balance billing. For a variety of reasons hospital networks are becoming narrower as hospital systems contract with fewer insurers, and as a result, more and more patients are receiving balance bills. The practice of balance billing puts upward pressure on health care prices in general. That is, this practice leads to higher prices across the board for the uninsured, the out-of-network insured and even the in-network insured. This article …

Trust And Good-Faith Taken To A New Level: An Analysis Of Inconsistent Behavior In The Brazilian Legal Order, Thiago Luis Sombra

Thiago Luís Santos Sombra

With the changes in the paradigm of voluntarism developed under the protection of liberalism, the bases for legal acts have reached an objective dimension, resulting in the birth of a number of mechanisms of control of private autonomy. Among these mechanisms, we can point out the relevance of those reinforced by the Roman Law, whose high ethical value underlines one of its biggest virtues in the control of the exercise of subjective rights. The prohibition of inconsistent behavior, conceived in the brocard venire contra factum proprium, constitutes one of the concepts from the Roman Law renown for the protection …

Trust And Good-Faith Taken To A New Level: An Analysis Of Inconsistent Behavior In The Brazilian Legal Order, Thiago Luis Sombra

Thiago Luís Santos Sombra

With the changes in the paradigm of voluntarism developed under the protection of liberalism, the bases for legal acts have reached an objective dimension, resulting in the birth of a number of mechanisms of control of private autonomy. Among these mechanisms, we can point out the relevance of those reinforced by the Roman Law, whose high ethical value underlines one of its biggest virtues in the control of the exercise of subjective rights. The prohibition of inconsistent behavior, conceived in the brocard venire contra factum proprium, constitutes one of the concepts from the Roman Law renown for the protection …

Mistakes, Airfares, And Consumers: Restoring The Department Of Transportation's Role In Regulating Unfair Trade Practices, Terence Lau

Terence Lau

This Article traces the problem of mistake airfares and the federal government’s response to airlines that cancel tickets for erroneous fares. Part I of the Article explores airline pricing generally, and argues that airline tickets are a unique form of commodity good, one where there is no consumer expectation of a reasonable price. The dynamic nature of airline yield management means that prices for the exact same seat on an airplane can range dramatically on a variety of circumstances and factors that are beyond the knowledge, control or comprehension of the ordinary consumer. The Article investigates several well-known examples of …

Invisible Labor, Invisible Play: Online Gold Farming And The Boundary Between Jobs And Games, Julian Dibbell

Julian Dibbell

When does work become play, and play work? Courts have considered the question in a variety of economic contexts, from student athletes seeking recognition as employees to professional blackjack players seeking to be treated by casinos just like casual players. Here I apply the question to a relatively novel context: that of online gold farming, a gray-market industry in which wage-earning workers, largely based in China, are paid to play online fantasy games (MMOs) that reward them with virtual items their employers sell for profit to the same games’ casual players. Gold farming is clearly a job (and under the …

“Whimsy Little Contracts” With Unexpected Consequences: An Empirical Analysis Of Consumer Understanding Of Arbitration Agreements, Jeff Sovern

Jeff Sovern

Arbitration clauses have become ubiquitous in consumer contracts. These arbitration clauses require consumers to waive the constitutional right to a civil jury, access to court, and, increasingly, the procedural remedy of class representation. Because those rights cannot be divested without consent, the validity of arbitration agreements rests on the premise of consent. Consumers who do not want to arbitrate or waive their class rights can simply decline to purchase the products or services covered by an arbitration agreement. But the premise of consent is undermined if consumers do not understand the effect on their procedural rights of clicking a box …

Dirty Debts Sold Dirt Cheap, Dalie Jimenez

Dalie Jimenez

More than 77 million Americans have a debt in collections. Many of these debts will be sold to debt buyers for pennies, or fractions of pennies, on the dollar. This Article details the perilous path that debts travel as they move through the collection ecosystem. Using a unique dataset of 84 consumer debt purchase and sale agreement, it examines the manner in which debts are sold, oftentimes as simple data on a spreadsheet, devoid of any documentary evidence. It finds that in many contracts, sellers disclaim all warranties about the underlying debts sold or the information transferred. Sellers also sometimes …