Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

The Peculiar Case Of State Network Neutrality Regulation, Thomas B. Nachbar

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

In the wake of the FCC's recent decision to rescind federal network neutrality rules, several states have implemented their own network neutrality regulations, some in the form of procurement conditions on state contracts and others affirmative mandates requiring broadband Internet service providers to observe neutrality in providing service. The federal government and industry trade associations have challenged the state network neutrality laws as both preempted and unconstitutional under the "dormant Commerce Clause" doctrine.

This paper analyzes those state restrictions as a matter of constitutional law. The Court has recently changed dormant Commerce Clause law, liberalizing those limits with regard to …

Amazon’S Invincibility: The Effect Of Defective Third-Party Vendors’ Products On Amazon, Amy E. Shehan

Georgia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consumer Protection, Matthew J. Mcgowan

Student Scholarship

The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (DTPA)1 focuses on consumer harm brought about through deception.2 This article covers significant developments under the DTPA during the Survey period, December 1, 2016, through November 31, 2017.

Some of the salient changes to the DTPA came through statutory additions inserted by the 85th Texas Legislature during the Summer 2017 session, which added to the DTPA’s laundry list of violative acts and also amended the Texas Insurance Code such that related DTPA claims may be more easily removed to federal court. Also, case law developments have, among other things, revealed that certain DTPA …

Health Care Referrals Out Of The Shadows: Recognizing The Looming Threat Of The Texas Patient Solicitation Act And Other Illegal Remuneration Statutes, Trenton Brown

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Holding Ridesharing Companies Accountable In Texas, Martha Alejandra Salas

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

The Gm Food Debate: An Evaluation Of The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard And Recommendations For The United States Based On Food Justice, Courtnee Grego

Seattle University Law Review

This Note aims to identify the food justice issues caused by the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS) and make recommendations for the United States to minimize these concerns. The NBFDS requires the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to draft regulations establishing a mandatory disclosure standard for GM food and ultimately, will require a disclosure on the package of any GM food sold in the United States. Part I of the Note provides an overview of the genetically modified (GM) food debate. Part II reviews the NBFDS. Part III explains the food justice implications of GM food production. Part …

The Gm Food Debate: An Evaluation Of The Nationalbioengineered Food Disclosure Standard Andrecommendations For The United States Based On Foodjustice, Courtnee Grego

Seattle University Law Review

This Note aims to identify the food justice issues caused by the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS) and make recommendations for the United States to minimize these concerns. The NBFDS requires the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to draft regulations establishing a mandatory disclosure standard for GM food and ultimately, will require a disclosure on the package of any GM food sold in the United States. Part I of the Note provides an overview of the genetically modified (GM) food debate. Part II reviews the NBFDS. Part III explains the food justice implications of GM food production. Part …

Uncharted Waters? Legal Ethics And The Benefit Corporation, Joseph Pileri

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Corporate law norms are reflected in lawyers’ ethical duties. The enactment of benefit corporation legislation across the country signals a legislative acknowledgment that corporate law can serve as a public, rather than a merely private, ordering mechanism. Benefit corporations expressly adopt a public benefit as a legal purpose of the enterprise. While many have written about this important development with respect to corporate fiduciary law, this essay is the first to explore the professional and ethical responsibility of lawyers representing benefit corporations. In the last century, as scholars and courts drove an understanding of corporate law that elevated the interests …

Whose Sperm Is It Anyways In The Wild, Wild West Of The Fertility Industry?, Tatiana E. Posada

Georgia State University Law Review

Imagine a couple that is unable to conceive a child naturally. Luckily, they had the money and resources available to them to conceive a child through assisted reproductive technology (ART), so they decided to start their family through the use of intrauterine insemination. They selected a sperm bank and began the arduous process of selecting a sperm donor who fit the desired traits and characteristics for their child. The sperm bank matched them with an anonymous donor, Donor 9623, and assured the couple that the donor was “a healthy male with an IQ of 160, a bachelor’s of science in …

Take This Job And Shove It: The Pragmatic Philosophy Of Johnny Paycheck And A Prayer For Strict Liability In Appalachia, Eugene "Trey" Moore Iii

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

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 …

Not So Good: The Classification Of “Smart Goods” Under Ucc Article 2, Chadwick L. Williams

Georgia State University Law Review

Refrigerators can now tweet. Today, almost sixty years after the states widely adopted the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), the line between goods and services is more blurred than ever. When the UCC was drafted, a good was the simple opposite of a service. A good was something “movable” and tangible, and a service was not. Article 2 of the UCC, which governs sales, limits its scope to goods.

However, because Article 2 was drafted long before the proliferation of so-called “smart goods,” courts continuously struggle to determine when a smart good falls within Article 2’s scope. Courts have developed different …

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

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Consumer Protection, Matthew J. Mcgowan

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

The Uneasy Case For Patent Federalism, Roger Allan Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

Nationwide uniformity is often considered an essential feature of the patent system, necessary to fulfill that system’s disclosure and incentive purposes. In the last few years, however, more than half the states have enacted laws that seek to disrupt this uniformity by making it harder for patent holders to enforce their patents. There is an easy case to be made against giving states greater authority over the patent system: doing so would threaten to disrupt the system’s balance between innovation incentives and a robust public domain and would permit rent seeking by states that disproportionately produce or consume innovation.

There …

Regulating Fantasy Sports: A Practical Guide To State Gambling Laws, And A Proposed Framework For Future State Legislation, Marc Edelman

Indiana Law Journal

In recent months, the legal status of fantasy sports has undergone intense scrutiny, with the attorneys general of many states contending that certain formats of daily fantasy sports violate state gambling laws. In an effort to save the burgeoning daily fantasy sports industry, legislators in these states have proposed bills to affirmatively legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports. However, these bills often fail to adequately address the underlying consumer protection concerns pertaining to the industry.

This Article analyzes how U.S. states currently regulate the fantasy sports marketplace and proposes a framework for future state laws to effectively regulate both traditional …

Antitrust And Consumer Protection, Leslie Sara Hyman, Matthew J. Mcgowan

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

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 …

Sharing Risk In The Sharing Economy: Insurance Regulation In The Age Of Uber, Alexander B. Traum

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

Preventing Preemption: Finding Space For States To Regulate Consumers’ Credit Reports, Elizabeth D. De Armond

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expanding Local Enforcement Of State And Federal Consumer Protection Laws, Kathleen S. Morris

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article calls on Congress and the state legislatures to grant large cities and counties standing to enforce the Federal Trade Commission Act (the FTC Act) and its state statutory counterparts (or little Acts). The FTC Act, a federal law, prohibits businesses from engaging in any “unlawful,” “unfair,” or “deceptive” acts or practices, and the little Acts apply similarly broad prohibitions in all fifty states. This fifty-one-statute consumer protection regime—which has been the law of the land for several decades—carries enormous promise to halt a wide range of unlawful and harmful corporate practices in their earliest stages. Unfortunately, that promise …

Cybersecurity On My Mind: Protecting Georgia Consumers From Data Breaches, Maggie L. Mcmichael

Georgia Law Review

In a world where vast amounts of personal information
are obtained and stored by countless organizations and
businesses in the public and private sector, data breaches,

due to negligence or nefarious hacking, are a far too
common occurrence. The results of a data breach can be
serious and widespread, from public humiliation to
identity theft and national security crises. In an effort to
protect consumers from the potentially devastating effects
of data breaches, the Federal Trade Commission has
begun to take enforcement action against businesses whose
data security practices are alleged to be unfair and
deceptive. Theoretically, states can take …

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 …

Share And Share Dislike: The Rise Of Uber And Airbnb And How New York City Should Play Nice, Alexandra Jonas

Journal of Law and Policy

Uber and Airbnb are two companies in the emerging “sharing economy” that provide individuals with a means to become entrepreneurs and benefit from a laissez-faire business model. The problem, however, is that while the benefits to users are great, so too are the risks. The dangers of operating without restraint and circumventing existing law are not only potentially harmful to unapprised users, but also adversely affect the continued use of these businesses. Every aggrieved user complaint has the potential for a lawsuit and every violation creates an opportunity for penalties. Left over are attempts by the courts and city government …

Ohio's Newest Consumer Protection: The Prepaid Entertainment Contract Act, Sandra S. Braden

Akron Law Review

The Prepaid Entertainment Contract Act is not complex in its drafting and should be readily understandable by the consumer in informing him of his rights under a future service contract. There are, however, several aspects of PECA which will require clarification. First, the definition of "first service" will present problems in construction if a practical application of the Act is to be realized. Second, the extent to which a violation of this Act constitutes a per se deceptive act under the Consumer Sales Practices Act may require interpretation.' Third, a proposed Trade Regulation Rule by the Federal Trade Commission concerning …

Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain: Concealment, Revelation, And The Question Of Food Safety, Denis W. Stearns

Seattle University Law Review

Despite knowledge that commerce in food is a profit-driven enterprise, the public has consistently put great faith in the wholesomeness and safety of the food being purchased. To some extent, such faith is necessary, even if not always justified. In making the decision to put a bite of food in one’s own mouth, or the mouth of a friend or family member, a form of faith or trust must accompany the act of eating. For who would knowingly eat food suspected to be unsafe? But that is precisely what millions of people do every year, with a great many of …

The Enforcers & The Great Recession, Mark Totten

Cardozo Law Review

No one played a more vital role responding to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression than a small band of state attorneys general (AGs). Yet this story has never been told nor its implications considered. For more than a decade these AGs brought enforcement actions across the residential mortgage lending industry, reaching the origination, servicing, and securitization processes. From roughly 2000 to 2008, they targeted several of the largest subprime lenders for predatory and discriminatory lending. And they moved in the face of federal inaction - at times, even opposition. With the economic crisis everywhere visible by early …

Selected State Laws Governing The Safeguarding And Disposing Of Personal Information, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 487 (2015), Bruce Radke, Michael Waters

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Numerous states have adopted laws mandating the protection and disposal of personal information. Under those laws, businesses are required to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information in order to protect the personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure. Although the definition of “personal information” varies from state to state, “personal information” is generally defined as an individual’s first name or initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements, when either the name or the data elements are not encrypted or …

Cgmp Violations Should Not Be Used As A Basis For Fca Actions Absent Fraud, Kyle Faget

Seattle University Law Review

Since Congress amended the False Claims Act (FCA) in 1986, the statute has evolved into a seemingly boundless weapon for enforcing other statutes and regulations applicable to every industry that accepts any form of government funding. Use of the FCA by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and by private citizens bringing actions on behalf of the U.S. government to enforce other statutes and regulations is particularly evident in the field of health care. The FCA has been utilized in actions where the allegations include off-label promotion of drugs, kickbacks, and violations of current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs) by linking the …

Inevitable Imbalance: Why Ftc V. Actavis Was Inadequate To Solve The Reverse Payment Settlement Problem And Proposing A New Amendment To The Hatch-Waxman Act, Rachel A. Lewis

Seattle University Law Review

The law regarding reverse payment settlements is anything but settled. Reverse payment settlements are settlements that occur during a patent infringement litigation in which a pharmaceutical patent holder pays a generic drug producer to not infringe on the pharmaceutical patent. Despite the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court in FTC v. Actavis, Inc., there are still unanswered questions about how the “full rule of reason” analysis will be applied to reverse payment. This Comment argues that despite the outcome in Actavis, the complex regulatory framework of the Hatch–Waxman Act will create repeated conflicts between antitrust law and patent …