Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Tsunami: At&T Mobility Llc V. Concepcion Impedes Access To Justice, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Comments: The Credit Card Act Of 2009 Was Not Enough: A National Usury Rate Would Provide Consumers With The Protection They Need, Eliot C. Schaefer

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Meaning, Purpose, And Cause In The Law Of Deception, Gregory Klass

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Laws designed to affect the flow of information take many forms: rules against misrepresentation, disclosure requirements, secrecy requirements, rules governing the formatting or packaging of information, and interpretive rules designed to give people new reasons to share information. Together these and similar rules constitute the law of deception: laws that aim to prevent or cure deception. One encounters similar problems of design, function and justification throughout the law of deception. Yet very little has been written about the category as a whole. This article begins to sketch a general theory. It identifies three regulatory approaches. Interpretive laws, such as common …

Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing: Learning From The Past And Looking Toward The Future, Stephanie Bair

Faculty Scholarship

A decade after the complete sequencing of the human genome, we have seen a proliferation of genetic testing services marketed directly to the consumer and purporting to use genetic information to generate individualized health information. These tests have been subject to only minimal regulation, despite the fact that scientists and policymakers have serious concerns about both the clinical effectiveness of the tests and the safety of releasing certain types of health information to the public without the supervision of a health care professional. Proponents of minimal regulation argue that the tests allow for patient autonomy and privacy of genetic information, …

Cybercrime, Ronald C. Griffin

Journal Publications

This essay recounts campaigns against privacy; the fortifications erected against them; and hi-jinx attributable to hackers, crackers, and miscreants under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Freedom Of Contract In An Augmented Reality: The Case Of Consumer Contracts, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

This Article argues that freedom of contract will take on different meaning in a world in which new technology makes information about places, goods, people, firms, and contract terms available to contracting parties anywhere, at any time. In particular, our increasingly "augmented reality" calls into question leading justifications for distrusting consumer contracts and strengthens traditional understandings of freedom of contract. This is largely a descriptive and predictive argument: This Article aims to introduce contract law to these technologies and consider their most likely effects. It certainly has normative implications, however. Given that the vast majority of consumer contracting occurs in …

Consumer Protection Out Of The Shadows Of Shadow Banking: The Role Of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, David Reiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Graduated Response By Industry Compact: Piercing The Black Box, Mary Lafrance

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Internet Advertising After Sorrell V. Ims Health: A Discussion On Data Privacy & The First Amendment, Agatha M. Cole

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Clash Of Cultures - Integrating Copyright And Consumer Law, Lucie Guibault, Natali Helberger

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Purpose – This article seeks to deal with the fundamental conceptual differences between consumer law and copyright law that render the application of consumer law to copyright-law related conflicts difficult. Design/methodology/approach – Following a normative approach to copyright and consumer law based on an analysis of the relevant literature and case law, the article examines in which situations consumers encounter obstacles when trying to rely on consumer law to invoke ‘‘privileges’’ granted to them under copyright law, such as the private copying exception. Findings – Research shows that most difficulties lie in the fundamental conceptual differences between consumer law and …

Credit Risk Transfer Governance: The Good, The Bad, And The Savvy, Houman B. Shadab

Articles & Chapters

Goldman Sachs and American International Group on the eve of the 2008 financial crisis were bound together through a web of credit risk transfer (CRT) contracts in the form of credit default swaps (CDSs) and synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Synthetic CDOs enabled certain hedge funds to profit from the ultimate bursting of the housing bubble due to the funds’ savvy in understanding CRT better than their counterparties. This Article constructs a novel theory of CRT that extends the insights of creditor governance theory to CRT transactions. By doing so, this Article establishes a framework for good CRT governance. CRT …

An Investigation Of The Rationality Of Consumer Valuations Of Multiple Health Risks, W. Kip Viscusi, Wesley A. Magat, Joel Huber

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

After developing a conceptual analysis of consumer valuation of multiple risks, we explore both economic and cognitive hypotheses regarding individual risk-taking. Using a sample of over 1,500 consumers, our study ascertains risk-dollar tradeoffs for the risks associated with using an insecticide and a toilet bowl cleaner. We observe the expected positive valuation of risk reductions andfind empirical supportfor a diminishing in the valuation of risk reduction as the extent of the risk reduction increases. We also find evidence of certainty premiums for the total elimination of one risk, but no strong evidence of additional certainty premiums for the elimination of …

Privacy & The Personal Prospectus: Should We Introduce Privacy Agents Or Regulate Privacy Intermediaries, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulation Goes Medieval, Andrew A. Schwartz

Publications

Section 301 of the 2009 federal Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act prohibits the issuance of consumer credit cards to young adults ages 18–20 unless the credit contract is cosigned by an older adult who accepts joint liability for the card, or else the young adult proves she has “independent means of repaying” her credit card obligations. This prohibition is at odds with a 50-year trend of extending the rights of adulthood to people ages 18–20. It also blocks an important source of credit for young entrepreneurs, who often use consumer credit to launch their enterprises.

The Homeowners’ Illusory Safety Net: Mortgage Broker Surety Liability, Bryan Adamson

Faculty Articles

This Article exposes a critical consumer protection flaw in Washington State’s Mortgage Brokers Practices Act. While allowing aggrieved borrowers to bring claims against mortgage brokers at least up to three years from the date of injury, it requires a borrower to bring an action against the mortgage broker’s surety within one year of the injury. This Article posits that the one-year statute of limitations for actions against the mortgage surety is procedurally counterintuitive. Importantly, it also compels filing of possibly frivolous claims, and subverts all other statute of limitations provisions otherwise available to a wronged consumer. The Article explains why …

Tying And Consumer Harm, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

Brantley raises important issues of law, economics, and policy about tying arrangements. Under current legal principles, Brantley was on solid ground in distinguishing between anticompetitive ties and those that might harm consumer interests without impairing competition. As a matter of economics, the court was also right to reject the claim that the cable programmers forced consumers to pay for programs the customers didn’t want. The hardest question is a policy one - whether antitrust law should ever condemn the exploitation of market power in ways that extract surplus from consumers but do not create or enlarge market power. I shall …

Back To The Future: Applying The Collateral Bars Of Section 925 Of The Dodd-Frank Act To Previous Bad Acts, Chad Howell

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Trademark Dilution And Corporate Personhood, Stacey Dogan

Shorter Faculty Works

It’s become almost passé to decry our federal trademark dilution laws. The laws – first passed in 1995 and amended in 2006 – protect “famous trademarks” against uses that are likely to dilute their distinctiveness, without regard to any confusion among consumers or competition between the parties. Early critics warned that passage of the anti-dilution statute marked a turning point in trademark law: by giving famous trademark holders rights against even non-confusing uses of their marks, the law created “property”-like rights in trademarks. The initial commentary on the statute focused mainly on the costs associated with this increasingly absolutist approach …

Memorandum Of Amici Curiae In Support Of Petition For Writ Of Certiorari, Pasadena Receivables, Inc. V. Loren W. Parker,, Peter A. Holland

Court Briefs

The petition for certiorari to the Maryland Court of Appeals by Loren Parker concerned the interpretation of Maryland Rule of Evidence 5-902, specifically the authentication of business records by debt buyers.

The central issue was whether a debt purchaser is bound by the same rules of evidence for the admissibility of business records as other Maryland businesses. Rule 5-902(b) provides for the self-authentication of records of a regularly conducted business activity. It requires that a party served with a 5-902(b) notice must object within 5 days. The petitioner debtor argued that this rule was being abused by debt buyers, like …

Are You Ready For Some Football?: How Antitrust Laws Can Be Used To Break Up Directv's Exclusive Right To Telecast Nfl's Sunday Ticket Package, Ariel Y. Bublick

Federal Communications Law Journal

There is almost no question that football has become modem America's pastime. Football has never been more popular, and every Sunday people are clamoring to watch as many games as possible. The Sunday Ticket package allows viewers to watch any National Football League ("NFL") game being played at any given time. However, the NFL has only granted DirecTV the right to air the Sunday Ticket package, denying this excellent service to a majority of television viewers. By limiting the reach of the Sunday Ticket package, the NFL may be in violation of antitrust laws. This Note begins by explaining antitrust …

Fair Is Fair—Reshaping Alaska’S Unfair Trade Practices And Consumer Protection Act, Ryan P. O'Quinn, Thomas Watterson

Alaska Law Review

Few fields of law impact as wide a swath of population as consumer protection law. Alaska adopted its consumer protection statute, the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act (UTPCPA), amid a national movement to strengthen consumer protection laws. The UTPCPA uses broad language to encompass a wide range of conduct. However, creative pleading and recent applications of the UTPCPA have expanded the law in ways that threaten Alaska businesses even in the absence of culpable conduct. This Note reviews the history of consumer protection, Alaska’s UTPCPA, and the incentives leading to an expanding application of the UTPCPA. The Note …

Transnational Class Actions And The Illusory Search For Res Judicata, Tanya Monestier

Law Faculty Scholarship

The transnational class action-a class action in which a portion of the class consists of non-US claimants-is here to stay Defendants typically resist the certification of transnational class actions on the basis that such actions provide no assurance of finality for a defendant, as it will always be possible for a non-U.S. class member to initiate subsequent proceedings in a foreign court. In response to this concern, many U.S. courts will analyze whether the "home" courts of the foreign class members would accord res judicata effect to an eventual U.S. judgment prior to certifying a U.S. class action containing foreign …

Proving Racial Discrimination And Monitoring Fair Lending Compliance: The Missing Data Problem In Nonmortgage Credit, Winnie F. Taylor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conceptions Of Borrowers And Lenders In The Canadian Payday Loan Regulatory Process: The Evidence From Manitoba And Nova Scotia, Freya Kodar

Dalhousie Law Journal

Commentators characterize thinking aboutpaydayloans as falling into two general perspectives. In one theory payday loans respond to market demand and are a sensible choice for a consumer with limited assets, credit, or other support when an unexpected financial need arises. The opposing theory holds that the loans are usurious and exploit vulnerable low-income borrowers. In 2007, amendments were passed exempting payday loans from the application of the criminal interest rate provisions of the Criminal Code if they were made by companies licensed by a province with a regulatory scheme. The author examines how federal and provincial lawmakers and administrative decision-makers …

The Fda, Preemption, And Public Safety: Antiregulatory Effects And Maddening Inconsistency, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Most people think of preemption as a technical constitutional doctrine, but it is pivotally important to health and safety, while also opening the door to broad judicial discretion. The Rehnquist and Roberts Courts’ pro-business/pro-preemption jurisprudence is distinctly antiregulatory, invalidating major state public health rules, such as in occupational safety, tobacco control, and motor vehicle safety. Apart from the antiregulatory effects, there is maddening inconsistency. Consider three relatively recent Supreme Court cases. In Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. (2008), the Court held that federal law bars injured consumers from challenging the safety or effectiveness of FDA-approved medical devices. A year later, …

State Attorneys General's Use Of Concurrent Public Enforcement Authority In Federal Consumer Protection Laws, Amy Widman, Prentiss Cox

Cardozo Law Review

Recent scholarly and legislative interest in state enforcement of federal law has led to the need for an empirical understanding of how and when these enforcement powers are used. This Article reports on an examination of the use by state attorneys general of sixteen federal consumer protection laws that expressly allow for state enforcement. The data are sorted and analyzed by both single state actions and multistate actions over time, and by the involvement of federal agencies in the state cases. The data reveal a measured use of such powers by state attorneys general and robust state and federal cooperation …

Learning From Financial History: An Academic Never Forgets, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

There is a lot of debate in the Senate regarding the appropriate structure and jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But much of the criticism of the CFPB is merely tactical.

Given that it is impossible to kill off the bureau in the current political environment, powerful financial industry interests are seeking to sufficiently hamstring it so as to make it completely ineffective.

Thus, debates over Elizabeth Warren’s qualifications and the structure of the leadership of the CFPB were more about this tactical goal than the actual issues themselves.

The Subprime Virus: Reckless Credit, Regulatory Failure, And Next Steps, By K Engel, P Mccoy [Book Review], David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Trouble With Investment Banking: Cluelessness, Not Greed, Will Bunting

San Diego Law Review

We assume that the set of marketable financial instruments can be divided into two distinct categories: (1) easy to price and (2) difficult to price, and then isolate two behavioral effects as most important with respect to securities trading in difficult-to-price securities; specifically, the "house money effect" and the "earned money effect." It is shown that these behavioral effects discourage profitable investment in research effort.

We then argue that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) safe harbor should not apply to investment banks that issue/underwrite difficult-to-price securities. We also advocate for the return of the private investment banking partnership …

Judicial Review Of Public Utility Commissions, Jonathan Armiger

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.