Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Guardians Of The Galaxy Of Personal Data: Assessing The Threat Of Big Data And Examining Potential Corporate And Governmental Solutions, Timothy A. Asta

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consumer Financial Protection And Human Rights, Chrystin Ondersma

Cornell International Law Journal

This summer the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would restrict the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer financial credit contracts. With the administration and Congress seemingly eager to pull back on consumer financial regulations, it is crucial to examine the rights at stake. Many financial institutions have agreed to protect and promote human rights, so pressure from consumers, human rights organizations, and consumer protection advocates may succeed even though Congress has declined to promulgate the CFPB’s proposed rule. This Article argues that the existing binding, mandatory arbitration system in consumer credit contracts is inconsistent with human …

Empowering Consumers Through Online Dispute Resolution, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

We transact online every day, hoping that no problems will occur. However, our purchases are not always perfect: goods may not arrive; products may be faulty; expectations may go unmet. When this occurs, we are often left frustrated, with no means for seeking redress. Phone calls to customer service are generally unappealing and ineffective, and traditional face-to-face or judicial processes for asserting claims are impractical after weighing costs against likely recovery. This is especially true when seeking redress requires travel, or for crossborder claims involving jurisdictional complexities. This situation has created a need for online dispute resolution (“ODR”), which brings …

The Safe Harbor Solution: Is It An Effective Mechanism For International Data Transfers Between The United States And The European Union, Alexander Zinser

Oklahoma Journal of Law and Technology

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 …

When The Feds Have Taken The Field: Federal Field Preemption Of Claims Against Manufacturers Whose Medical Devices Have Received Premarket Approval By The Fda, Charles Warren

Oklahoma Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Comments To The Federal Trade Commission On The Can-Spam Rule Review, 16 C.F.R. Part 316, Project No. R711010, Roger Allan Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

These comments respond to the Federal Trade Commission’s request for public comment on the CAN-SPAM Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 316.

The CAN-SPAM Act set a minimum baseline for consumer protections that senders of unsolicited commercial email must respect. These protections have been largely effective at giving consumers the ability to manage how a large group of companies uses their email addresses for marketing. At the same time, the Act has had little effect on the volume of unsolicited commercial email or on the amount of email sent by scammers and fraudsters. The Act and its implementing Rule, then, have been …

Aligning Opioid Prescribing Pathways, Andrea Lai, Outpatient Pharmacy, Haley Pelletier, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

There is a drug epidemic sweeping the State of Maine and it continues to worsen each passing year. In 2017, the Maine legislature passed Public Law Chapter 488 to strengthen the controlled substance prescription monitoring program. An outpatient pharmacy, located in a large acute care hospital, created a performance improvement project to clarify opioid prescription and resolve any non-compliance with Chapter 488.

After a root cause analysis, several KPIs were established to include tracking the number of phone calls made by pharmacists to non-compliant providers to clarify scripts, provide one on one education and ultimately resolve non-compliance. Repeat offenders were …

Buckle Up: State Child Safety Restraint Laws Need To Be Strengthened To Better Protect Children, Ellen A. Black

Akron Law Review

Deaths of children due to vehicle accidents have drastically decreased since 1985, the year in which all states enacted laws requiring children to be secured in child safety restraints when traveling in a vehicle. Yet, vehicle accidents remain the leading cause of death for children in this country, with at least three children under the age of fourteen dying each day and 462 suffering from severe injuries due to vehicle accidents. In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics set forth recommendations seeking to lower these troubling statistics, but thus far, only four states have enacted legislation that mirrors, at least …

Trumping The Ninth Circuit: How The 45th President’S Supreme Court Appointments Will Strengthen The Already Strong Federal Policy Favoring Arbitration, Eric Schleich

Arbitration Law Review (2009 - Present)

No abstract provided.

The Uberization Of Arbitration Clauses, Jill I. Gross

Arbitration Law Review (2009 - Present)

No abstract provided.

K&P Homes V. Christiana Trust, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 51 (July 27, 2017), Yolanda Carapia

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that the SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A. decision, extinguishing first security interests, applies retroactively to all foreclosures occurring prior to the date of the decision and since NRS 116.3116’s inception.

Mad Men And Dead Men: Justification For Regulation Of Computer-Generated Images Of Deceased Celebrity Endorsers, Kerry Barrett

Cleveland State Law Review

Pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with consumer protection through the prohibition of unfair and deceptive trade practices. An unfair and deceptive trade practice is gaining in prominence and has not yet been subjected to FTC regulation. Computer-generated imagery (CGIs) of deceased celebrity endorsers are misleading to consumers and constitute a false advertisement. This Note evaluates how digitally resurrected endorsers pervert the consumer decision-making process through analysis of issue-relevant thinking, the match-up hypothesis, event-study analysis, social adaptation theory, and transfer theory. This Note also accounts for the macroeconomic effect of regulation of …

Trading Safety For Innovation And Access: An Empirical Evaluation Of The Fda’S Premarket Approval Process, George Horvath

BYU Law Review

Congress created the premarket approval process (PMA) to provide a rigorous safety evaluation of high-risk medical devices before they may be sold on the U.S. market. Evaluating a PMA application requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a lengthy, complex, and costly assessment of the extensive data a manufacturer must submit. But other policy concerns, notably a fear of hampering innovation and a desire to assure timely access to new technologies, have led Congress to relax some of the rigorous data requirements the PMA process imposes on manufacturers. Congress mandates that the FDA employ the “least burdensome” approach …

Privacy, Security, And The Connected Hairbrush, Travis Leblanc

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Averting Robot Eyes, Margot E. Kaminski, Matthew Rueben, William D. Smart, Cindy M. Grimm

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of The Long Privacy Statement, Mike Hintze

Maryland Law Review

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 …

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.

The New Handshake: Where We Are Now, Amy J. Schmitz, Colin Rule

Faculty Publications

The internet has empowered consumers in new and exciting ways. It has opened more efficient avenues for consumers to buy just about anything. Want proof? Just pull out your smartphone, swipe your finger across the screen a few times, and presto – your collector’s edition Notorious RBG bobblehead is on its way from China. Unfortunately, however, the internet has not yet delivered on its promise to improve consumer protection.

Products Liability And The Internet Of (Insecure) Things: Should Manufacturers Be Liable For Damage Caused By Hacked Devices?, Alan Butler

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

While the application of products liability to insecure software is a frequently-discussed concept in academic literature, many commentators have been skeptical of the viability of such claims for several reasons. First, the economic loss doctrine bars recovery for productivity loss, business disruption, and other common damages caused by software defects. Second, the application of design defects principles to software is difficult given the complexity of the devices and recent tort reform trends that have limited liability. Third, the intervening cause of damage from insecure software is typically a criminal or tortious act by a third party, so principles of causation …

Consumer Litigation Funding: Just Another Form Of Payday Lending?, Paige Marta Skiba, Jean Xiao

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article provides a side-by-side comparison of payday lending and consumer litigation funding in order to aid policymakers. Funding has similarities with payday lending because they are both alternative financial services, involve high interest rates, and cater to customers who need money for living expenses. However, they differ in ways that regulators should recognize. Many justify bans on payday lending by pointing to the fact that millions of borrowers every year are getting stuck in an inescapable cycle of interest payments. While legal finance has real costs, funding’s nonrecourse nature prevents consumers from getting stuck in a cyclical repayment of …

Accessible Credit, Sustainable Credit And The Federal Housing Administration, David Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The secondary mortgage market stands on three legs. The first leg, created in the early 1930s, is made up of government instrumentalities like the Federal Housing Administration (the FHA) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). The second leg, created in the 1930s, but taking off in the 1970s, is made up of public/private hybrids like the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). The third leg, created in the 1970s, but taking off in the 1990s, is the “private label” market, which is made up of private companies that package …

Antitrust And Intellectual Property: A Brief Introduction, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

Intellectual property law and antitrust have been described as conflicting bodies of law, and the reason is easy to see. Antitrust law aims to protect consumers from the consequences of monopolization. Intellectual property law seeks to enhance incentives to innovate by granting monopolies in ideas or expressions of ideas. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the purported conflict between antitrust and intellectual property. The chapter is largely descriptive, and focuses on current or developing litigation rather than historical controversies. Many of the modern examples of conflict can be attributed to problems of classification.

“Safe Harbor” On The Rocks: Ttb Label Approval For Beer, Wine, And Spirits, And The Uncertain Status Of The “Safe Harbor” Defense, Michael Mercurio

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This Note examines the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)’s label review process and the judicial split regarding the “safe harbor” doctrine in the context of alcoholic beverage labels. This Note observes that the judicial split is a result of the tension between two conflicting priorities stemming from the TTB’s purpose and identity: on one hand, courts apply Chevron deference to the TTB as a federal agency enforcing federal law, but on the other hand, courts aim to uphold the central purpose of the Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA) Act—protecting consumers from misinformation. Ultimately, this Note, by examining …

Ispy: Threats To Individual And Institutional Privacy In The Digital World, Lori Andrews

All Faculty Scholarship

What type of information is collected, who is viewing it, and what law librarians can do to protect their patrons and institutions.

America's Consumer Financial Sheriff And The Horse It Rides Are Under Fire, David Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Dodd-Frank implemented regulations that work very well in the consumer credit markets. It created a regulator, the CFPB, that has been very effective at keeping the bad guys out of those markets. The Financial CHOICE Act will seriously weaken the CFPB. It will gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and return us to the Wild West days of the early 2000s where predatory lenders could prey on the elderly and the uneducated, knowing that there was no sheriff in town to stop ‘em.

Who Will Protect The Consumers Of Trademarked Goods?, James Astrachan

University of Baltimore Law Review

Federal and state law recognizes multiple forms of intellectual property, including patents,1 copyrights,2 trademarks,3 and trade secrets.4 Alleged violations of patents and copyrights are required by statute to be litigated in the federal courts.5 Trademark rights can arise under the Federal Lanham Act6 or state law.7 Trademark infringement can be litigated in state or federal courts.8 Trade secrets arising under state statutes are litigated in state courts unless diversity jurisdiction exists and is pled.9

Infringement of intellectual property in the case of patents arises when a patented invention is used, manufactured or imported into the United States without authority of …

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: What Must Be Remembered When Resolving The Right To Be Forgotten, Katherine Stewart

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In May 2014, the European Court of Justice decided Google Spain v. AEPD and González and granted citizens the right to be forgotten, rather, the right to request any search engine offering services to European consumers to remove certain results displayed after a search of a citizen’s name. This decision has also resulted in an ongoing battle between Google and the Commission Nationale de l’Infomatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France’s data protection authority. The CNIL believes that Google must apply the right to be forgotten to all domains worldwide, including Google.com. Google, however, has been reluctant to do so, given …

Commercial Deception By Anti-Vaccine Homeopathic Websites: A Consumer Protection Approach, Donald C. Arthur

North Carolina Central University Science & Intellectual Property Law Review

No abstract provided.