Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Liberal Constitutionalism And Economic Inequality, Rosalind Dixon, Julie Suk

Articles

Economic inequality is rising in democracies across the world and poses a clear threat to both the stability and legitimacy of liberal constitutional models. Can liberal constitutionalism respond to this threat? Or are there inherent limits to the liberal model that prevent an effective response? This Essay explores these questions by surveying the range of possible structural and rights-based constitutional responses to economic inequality, as well as possible obstacles to these responsesincluding problems of definition, leveling up versus down, unintended or counterproductive consequences, and institutional path dependence.

How Commonsense Consumption Acts Are Preventing “Big Food” Litigation, Grace Thompson

Seattle University Law Review

This Note takes a critical look at Commonsense Consumption Acts and how they are detrimental to the possibility of “Big Food” litigation. The tobacco industry was held accountable through the effective use of tort litigation (commonly referred to as “Big Tobacco” litigation), and the food industry could theoretically be held similarly accountable, but CCAs are preventing the possibility of similar reform. Therefore, in order for health reform to be as effective as tobacco reform, CCAs must be repealed in the states where they exist. Part I of this Note discusses why the food industry needs tort reform. Specifically, it argues …

Don’T Let The Bed Bugs Bill: Landlord Liability For Bed Bug Infestations In Georgia, Megan M. Harrison

Georgia State University Law Review

Although the historical relationship between bed bugs and humans dates back to ancient Egypt, the common bed bug, or Cimex lectularius, vanished from the beds of Americans around World War II. In the late 1990s, however, our bloodsucking bedfellows returned. Bed bug infestations are a growing public health issue. Bed bugs are now found in all fifty states, with populations in five states reaching epidemic levels. Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) consider bed bugs a “pest of significant public health importance."

Despite their name, bed bugs are not limited to …

Soda Taxes As A Legal And Social Movement, David A. Dana, Janice Nadler

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

The Gdpr’S Version Of Algorithmic Accountability, Margot Kaminski

Publications

No abstract provided.

Consumer Protection In The Age Of Connected Everything, Terrell Mcsweeny

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reaching For The Stars: A Proposal To The Ftc To Help Deter Astroturfing And Fake Reviews, Matthew Barish

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Yershov V. Gannett: Rethinking The Vppa In The 21st Century, Ariel A. Pardee

Maine Law Review

Almost anyone with a smartphone can recall a time when an online advertisement followed them from webpage to webpage, or mobile browser to mobile application, or even jumped from a mobile device to a desktop web browser. While some people see it as a harmless—or even helpful—quirk of the online world, others find it creepy and intrusive. In the absence of significant government regulation of online advertising practices, particularly aggrieved individuals have sought relief in the courts by alleging violations of ill-fitting statutes drafted decades ago. This note explores just such a case, Yershov v. Gannett, in which the First …

Volume 4 Issue 2 (Complete Spring 2017), David J.. Cook, Zachary Bolitho, Evan Wright, George Steven Swan, Cynthia Brown

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

A complete version of LMU Law Review Volume Issue 2 for Spring 2017.

Moving Towards Harmonization Of The Food Safety Standards: Role Of The Tpp And Ttip Agreements, Ksenia A. Petrovets

Journal of Food Law & Policy

We are now less dependent on locally available food resources that we have ever been. The continuing industrialization of food production, the advancement in technologies and the rapid development of supply chains granted us the luxury of immediate access to a variety of products originating from local supermarkets all over the world. This, along with the greater level of food production industrialization, inevitably comes the rise of related food safety risks. Because of the enlargement of producing operations, an emerging safety threat in one place may result in a foodborne illness outbreak thousands of miles away from its place of …

Local And State Governments Are Taking The Stage When It Is Fda's Curtain Call - Are Local And State Governments' Safety Warnings Preempted By Federal Law?, Melissa M. Card

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Eliminated from fad diets, sworn off by celebrities, and frantically reformulated out of processed foods, added sugars have been deemed the new nutritional scoundrel. Recent studies from the American Heart Association, the World Health Organization, and the American Cancer Association demonstrate that the consumption of added sugar leads to increased risks of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and gout. While all foods containing added sugar are deemed unhealthy, Sugary-Sweetened Beverages ("SSBs") are said to be especially toxic by the American health community, by virtue of these beverages' being excessively high in added sugar content, low in satiety, and incomplete in compensation …

Will Consumers Be In The "Dark" About Labels On Genetically Engineered And Modified Foods?, Hilary Nat

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the 1900s, the United States began to sell genetically engineered foods. One of the first genetically engineered foods sold in the United States and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was the Flavr Savr tomato. The tomato's genetic structure was modified to prevent softening which allowed it to ripen after being picked. In the United States, statistics demonstrate that 92% of com, 94% of soybeans, and 94% of cotton sold is genetically engineered. In addition, it is estimated that 75% of the processed foods sold in supermarkets around the United States contain ingredients that are products of …

Energy Drink Regulations: Why The Time For More Fda Authority Is Not Ripe And How States Can Protect Children Without Unjustly Infringing On Adult Autonomy, Larry D. Treat

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In December of 2011, Anais Fournier ("Anais"), a fourteen-year-old from Maryland, was at the mall with her friends when she drank a twenty-four ounce Monster energy drink. Within twenty-four hours, Anais consumed a second twenty-four ounce energy drink. Together, the two Monster energy drinks Anais consumed contained around 480 milligrams ("mg") of caffeine. A few hours after the second drink, Anais went into cardiac arrest and later died from cardiac arrhythmia. An autopsy found that caffeine toxicity caused Anais's arrhythmia and impeded her heart's ability to pump blood. As it turns out, Anais suffered from a preexisting heart condition called …

2016 China Food Law Update, Michael T. Roberts, Ching-Fu Lin

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This update of China food law builds on a unique feature for the Journal of Food Law & Policy that has been provided since the Journal's inception - separate food law updates for both the United States and European Union. "Recognizing the globalness of the modem food system, these updates have served an invaluable role in keeping scholars and practitioners abreast of the world's leading food regulatory systems." China's emergence as a developed, modem food regulatory system with the potential of being a leading food regulatory system makes sense given its position as a world economic powerhouse. China's role in …

Animal Legal Defense Fund V. Otter: Industrial Food Production Simply Is Not A Private Matter, Lucy L. Holifield

Journal of Food Law & Policy

About half of the states have either passed or attempted to pass laws aimed at stifling criticism and exposure of factory farms throughout the country. This unwanted exposure is often the result of undercover reporters gaining access to the interior of meat-producing entities by seeking and obtaining employment. Their reports often expose filthy and dangerous conditions, substantial animal abuse, and the incorporation of unfit animal products into the public's food supply.

"All I Do Is Win": The No-Lose Strategy Of Cafo Regulation Under The Caa, Karl J. Worsham

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Corporate farms, often known as concentrated animal feeding operations ("CAFO'), provide inexpensive animal products but do so by externalizing the cost of their operation in the form of environmental harms and risks to human health. This article explores one possible approach to mitigating CAFO-caused harms. It argues that CAFO regulation under any one of three Clean Air Act ("CAA ") programs will result in net benefits, not just for air quality, but also for other CAFO-caused harms and thus, that CAA regulation of CAFOs is a no-lose strategy. The article then goes further to conclude that, while regulation under any …

Health Information And Data Security Safeguards, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 133 (2016), Jane Kim, David Zakson

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The healthcare industry possesses information coveted by cyber criminals. Unfortunately, healthcare providers are also among the most vulnerable and unprepared to deal with cyber attacks. The Introduction sets the background of this paper with cyber security statistics of the healthcare sector. Part A of this paper will discuss how new Russian law impacts global data security. Part B takes a broad look at data security safeguards. Part C focuses on U.S. attempts at safeguarding data through NIST and its Presidential Policy Directive. In Part D, the paper explores in greater detail causes that precipitate security breaches and specific security defenses …

Will Work For Free: The Legality Of Unpaid Internships, Nicole M. Klinger

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Note addresses the current ambiguity in the law regarding if unpaid interns are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Note explores relevant case law throughout the circuit courts, but primarily focuses on the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures. It argues that the primary benefits test created by the Second Circuit in Glatt does not adequately protect unpaid interns nor does it inform employers of the standards they need to meet in order to adopt legal unpaid internship programs. Instead, courts should adopt a clearer, more rigid test that finds an intern not …

Switch Hitters: How League Involvement In Daily Fantasy Sports Could End The Prohibition Of Sports Gambling, Jordan Meddy

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Whether in the form of lotto tickets or casino table games, gambling is legally permitted in some way in virtually every U.S. state. Yet, in all but a handful of jurisdictions, federal law prohibits wagering on sporting events or professional athletes in any form. Several economically challenged states, particularly New Jersey, have been trying to authorize sports gambling within their borders as a way to raise tax revenues and support their local gambling industries. While these attempts have thus far been unsuccessful, Daily Fantasy Sports have simultaneously experienced a meteoric rise, becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. This Note examines the …

The Dangerous Right To Food Choice, Samuel R. Wiseman

Seattle University Law Review

Scholars, advocates, and interest groups have grown increasingly concerned with the ways in which government regulations—from agricultural subsidies to food safety regulations to licensing restrictions on food trucks—affect access to local food. One argument emerging from the interest in recent years is that choosing what foods to eat, what I have previously called “liberty of palate,” is a fundamental right. The attraction is obvious: infringements of fundamental rights trigger strict scrutiny, which few statutes survive. As argued elsewhere, the doctrinal case for the existence of such a right is very weak. This Essay does not revisit those arguments, but instead …

Putting A Gag On Farm Whistleblowers: The Right To Lie And The Right To Remain Silent Confront State Agricultural Protectionism, Rita-Marie Cain Reid, Amber L. Kingery

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Whistleblowers play an important role in filling gaps in government food safety systems. Unfortunately, several dominant food-producing states have pursued legislative initiatives that punish farm whistleblowers and silence investigative tactics. First, this research describes various state legislative initiatives that curb criticism of agriculture. The work analyzes the federal food safety system and how these protections limiting agricultural criticism contravene that food safety net. Further, the research analyzes the free speech concerns in the newest protectionist laws. The analysis recommends strategies and future research to improve agriculture safety and protect free speech in an evolving food safety landscape.

Commerce, Commonality, And Contract Law: Legal Reform In A Mixed Jurisdiction, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the tradition/reform dichotomy as it exists in certain jurisdictions that, because of their unique history and nature, are particularly susceptible to the struggle between legal tradition and legal reform — mixed jurisdictions. In order to more closely examine the tradition/reform dichotomy and its theoretical and practical effects, this Article analyzes the role that traditional legal institutions play in the legal reform process through the lens of America’s lone mixed jurisdiction — Louisiana.

By exploring Louisiana’s subtle, yet prevalent, anchor-like legal conundrum caused by the struggle between progress and tradition — the process of mooring oneself to existing …

Environmental Privacy, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article looks to nuisance doctrine, surveillance under environmental statutes, and Fourth Amendment cases arising in implementation of fish and game laws (the hunter enforcement cases) to better understand our experience, to date, balancing the need for environmental information with privacy. Section A analyzes common law nuisance and its relationship to individual privacy concerns and concludes that the law affords little *7 value to or protection of privacy in the context of at least one type of environmental externality -- conduct that gives rise to a common law nuisance. Recognizing that most environmentally significant individual behaviors do not constitute a …

Health And Welfare Preempted: How National Meat Association V. Harris Undermines Federalism, Food Safety, And Animal Protection, Marya Torrez

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released an undercover video filmed at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company and Westland Meat Company (Hallmark/Westland) in Chino, California. "The footage depicted nonambulatory cows being kicked, dragged, electrocuted, jammed with forklifts and sprayed in the nostrils with water to simulate drowning - in an effort to get them to stand up and walk to their slaughter." At least five inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - the federal agency tasked with ensuring that food safety and animal welfare guidelines are followed - were present at the time. The …

Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland

Faculty Scholarship

Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …

Deferred Prosecutions In The Corporate Sector: Lessons From Libor, Justin O'Brien, Olivia Dixon

Seattle University Law Review

Since 2008, the global economic downturn has significantly in-creased operating pressures on major corporations. Additionally, there has been a corresponding increase in corporate tolerance for corruption, which has coincided with a marked preference by regulators in settling, rather than litigating, enforcement actions. This Article argues that the expansion of prosecutorial authority without appropriate accountability restraints is a major tactical and strategic error. It evaluates whether the mechanism can be made subject to effective oversight. It argues that the current frame-work in the United States is highly problematic, leading to settlements that generate newspaper headlines but not necessarily cultural change. It …

The New Policing Of Business Crime, Rachel E. Barkow

Seattle University Law Review

The central goal of this Article is to describe the burgeoning turn to new policing techniques in the business crime context and to offer some initial thoughts on the promises and limits of the approach. Part II begins by explaining the traditional or “old policing” of business crime. After implementing an initial strategy that focused on pursuing individuals, the government turned its attention to the organizations where those individuals operated. It increased the sanctions for violators and sought to target companies in an effort to prompt them to adopt internal compliance pro-grams. The focus on company compliance programs was designed …

Are Defined Contribution Pension Plans Fit For Purpose In Retirement?, Jeremy R. Cooper

Seattle University Law Review

This Article considers the historical basis for the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, the structural and practical shortcomings of defined contribution plans, alternate pension models, and adjustments to existing retirement plan models that may offer a degree of protection to plan contributors. Like the United States, Australia is now realizing the limitations of a defined contribution retirement system insofar as it relates the provision of reliable retirement income for a population with increasing life expectancy. Unlike defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans provide a benefit based typically on time served and a predetermined proportion of either …

Breaking Up Payday: Anti-Agglomeration Zoning & Consumer Welfare, Sheila R. Foster

Faculty Scholarship

In the last decade, dozens of local governments have enacted zoning ordinances designed to limit the concentration of payday lenders and other alternative financial services providers (AFSPs), such as check-cashing businesses and auto title loan shops, in their communities. The main impetus for these ordinances is to shield economically vulnerable residents from the industry’s lending practices in the absence of sufficiently aggressive federal and state consumer protection regulation. This Essay casts considerable doubt on whether zoning is the appropriate regulatory tool to achieve the consumer protection and welfare goals animating these ordinances. The author’s analysis of the aftermath of payday …

Banking And The Social Contract, Mehrsa Baradaran

Scholarly Works

This article asserts that there exists today and has always existed an interdependent relationship between banks and the state. I refer to this connection and its mutual benefits and responsibilities as a social contract. When Alexander Hamilton responded to President Washington’s inquiry about the advisability of a national bank, he wrote that “such a Bank is not a mere matter of private property, but a political machine of the greatest importance to the State.” This social contract has existed since the inception of banking in the United States and has been reinforced over time, but it has recently become weakened …