Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Common Sense, Contracts, And Law And Literature: Why Lawyers Should Read Henry James, Lenora Ledwon

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Of Contract, Culture, And The Code: Judge Easterbrook And The Cheyenne Indians, John M. Conley

Touro 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 …

Fair Warning?: The First Amendment, Compelled Commercial Disclosures, And Cigarette Warning Labels, Timothy J. Straub

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Sum Uncertain: Preserving Due Process And Preventing Default Judgments In Consumer Debt Buyer Lawsuits In New York, Conor P. Duffy

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Quality Collusion: News, If It Ain’T Broke, Why Fix It?, Mark Mcmillan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pick-Pocketing: A Thing Of The Past The New Risk Of Data Security Breaches And Identity Theft - Content Hoarding In The Digital Age - The Web Does Not Forget, Fatima Arash

Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Timber! The Sec Falls Hard As The Georgia District Court In Timbervest Finds The Appointment Of The Sec Aljs "Likely Unconstitutional", Moses M. Tincher

Mercer Law Review

The higher you go, the harder you fall. This simple, yet powerful, adage could not be more apt regarding the recent rise and fall in power of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The rise began in 2010 when Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), giving the SEC new power over its administrative proceedings. Using this new power, the SEC brought more insider-trading and highly contested cases before specially hired administrative law judges (ALJs), who conduct these administrative proceedings. This "home-court" advantage corresponded with the SEC's enforcement division enjoying an 86%, …

Charging The Poor: Criminal Justice Debt & Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons, Neil L. Sobol

Faculty Scholarship

Debtors’ prisons should no longer exist. While imprisonment for debt was common in colonial times in the United States, subsequent constitutional provisions, legislation, and court rulings all called for the abolition of incarcerating individuals to collect debt. Despite these prohibitions, individuals who are unable to pay debts are now regularly incarcerated, and the vast majority of them are indigent. In 2015, at least ten lawsuits were filed against municipalities for incarcerating individuals in modern-day debtors’ prisons. Criminal justice debt is the primary source for this imprisonment.

Criminal justice debt includes fines, restitution charges, court costs, and fees. Monetary charges exist …

Newsroom: Freedman On Credit Reports 02-12-2016, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Accredited Investor Standard, Syed Haq

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act provided the impetus for several changes in the financial regulatory regime. In the securities markets, Dodd-Frank included provisions that lifted a ban on general solicitation and mandated a review of the accredited investor standard. These changes, while intended to increase capital formation within our private markets, also brought to light serious investor protection issues. This note advocates for a new accredited investor standard that more accurately reflects the risks associated with investing in the private markets.

Vindicating Bankruptcy Rights, Kara J. Bruce

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preventing Preemption: Finding Space For States To Protect Consumers' Reputations, Elizabeth De Armond

All Faculty Scholarship

The Great Recession awoke state legislators to the power of individuals’ credit reports to hinder their economic opportunities. Many legislators would like to assuage the effects of bad historical events on the futures of the citizens that they represent. Among the topics they can address are employers’ use of credit reports, the presence of criminal record information in credit reports, and the toxic effects of identity theft and medical debt on credit reports. However, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act’s preemptive effects must be acknowledged and negotiated. This article evaluates potential state legislative efforts against the FCRA’s preemption provisions and …

Preventing Preemption: Finding Freedom For States To Protect Their Citizens’ Personal History Information, Elizabeth De Armond

All Faculty Scholarship

The Great Recession awoke state legislators to the power of individuals’ credit reports to hinder their economic opportunities. Many legislators would like to assuage the effects of bad historical events on the futures of the citizens that they represent. Among the topics they can address are employers’ use of credit reports, the presence of criminal record information in credit reports, and the toxic effects of identity theft and medical debt on credit reports. However, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act’s preemptive effects must be acknowledged and negotiated. This article evaluates potential state legislative efforts against the FCRA’s preemption provisions and …

Stopping Deceptive Health Claims: The Need For A Private Right Of Action Under Federal Law, Diane Hoffmann, Jack Schwartz

Faculty Scholarship

This is the accepted version of the article. The final published version is available at

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0098858816644715

Homelessness And Legal Advocacy Clinic, Legal Clinic Program

Clinical Programs Brochures

The goals of the Homelessness and Legal Advocacy Clinic are to educate students in homelessness related issues, such as housing, public benefits, family law, and consumer law. In addition to interviewing clients at the Clinic's office, Clinic students interview homeless individuals at the Coalition for the Homeless, the Women's Residential Counseling Center, and potential clients who contact the Clinic.

Legitimate Invasions: What Ontario Can Learn From The History Of The Consumer Reporting Act, Eliie Marshall

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The growth of modern surveillance has attracted great public and scholarly interest. As Justice Abella recently noted in Douez v. Facebook, the Internet has transformed the potential harms flowing from an unjustified invasion of one’s personal information. Most analyses of the associated risks, however, imply that the techniques and motivations for surveillance are new. In fact, tactics for collecting and exchanging information about individuals to gain power over those individuals are well documented since time immemorial. From William the Conquerer’s Domesday Book to IBM’s first census tabulating machine, the advantage gained through data sharing has greatly benefited the state. The …

Smart Washers May Clean Your Clothes, But Hacks Can Clean Out Your Privacy, And Underdeveloped Regulations Could Leave You Hanging On A Line, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 259 (2016), Nikole Davenport

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

A house is equipped with a smart clothes washer, an intelligent HVAC system and a video enabled home security system, all running through the home network - it reduces the noise by doing laundry when no one is at home, saves energy costs by automatically changing the temperature depending who is in a room, lets the owner remotely see the kids walk in the door after school, and keeps the house safe - the owner is maximizing the use of the Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices (i.e. a network of everyday objects connected to the Internet and to each other). …

The Hidden Scam: Why Consumers Should No Longer Be Forced To Shoulder The Burden Of Liability For Mobile Cramming, Caroline E. Sweet

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Presumption Of Injury: Giving Data Breach Victims "A Leg To Stand On," 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 301 (2016), Corey Varma

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

The Law And Economics Of Consumer Debt Collection And Its Regulation, Todd J. Zywicki

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fetchin' The Truth About Dog Food Regulations, Abra Slivinski

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hurrah For The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Consumer Arbitration As A Poster Child For Regulation, Jean R. Sternlight

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Protecting The Brave: Why Congress Should Amend The Dodd-Frank Act To Better Protect Fcpa Whistleblowers, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 829 (2016), Jeffrey Mathis

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Student Loan Debt For The Millennial Generation And Ineffectiveness Of The Federal Student Loan Program, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 139 (2016), Chris Ciciora

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Use Of Facial Recognition Technology For Medical Purposes: Balancing Privacy With Innovation, Seema Mohapatra

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Notion And Practice Of Reputation And Professional Identity In Social Networking: From K-12 Through Law School, Roberta Bobbie Studwell

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Collection Texas-Style: An Analysis Of Consumer Collection Practices In And Out Of The Courts, Mary B. Spector, Ann Badour

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

As many as forty-four percent of Texans with credit files have non-mortgage debt in collection; this is more than ten percent above the national average. The Authors provide a snapshot of collection practices employed in Texas over a two-year period following the enactment of new court rules governing the litigation of most collection cases. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, they consider data in three general categories:

(1) consumer complaints to the state and federal agencies;

(2) court outcomes over a two-year period along with related demographic data; and

(3) court observations conducted in five counties with a …

When Peace Is Not The Goal Of A Class Action Settlement, D. Theodore Rave

Georgia Law Review

On the conventional account, a class action settlement is a vehicle through which the defendant buys peace from the class action lawyer. That single transaction will preclude future litigation by all class members. But peace, at least through preclusion, may not always be the goal. In a recent Fair Credit Reporting Action (FCRA) case, In re Trans Union Privacy Litigation, the parties agreed to a class action settlement that did not preclude individual claims. The 190 million class members surrendered only their rights to participate in a future class or aggregate action; they remained free to march right back into …