Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Resilient Dispute Resolution Systems For International Energy Conflicts, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Seattle University Law Review

Energy-related conflicts are on the rise, spanning diverse issues such as the impacts of rare mineral mining on local communities, the impacts of sanctions on energy investments due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and the impacts of expanded subsidies on the electric vehicle and solar panel industries. Increasingly, companies, communities, and governments are clashing over the challenges of pursuing disparate and sometimes competing energy policies. This Article argues that dispute resolution mechanisms in the energy investment sector must be fundamentally rethought. Traditional semi-adjudicatory models, which focus on winners and losers, fail to accommodate the complex and multifaceted nature of contemporary energy …

Restricting Data Flows Is A Sign Of Weakness, Nikolas Guggenberger

Seattle University Law Review

There has been a seismic shift in American attitudes toward the free flow of data across borders.  In less than a decade, the United States has transitioned from condemning barriers to digital trade to constructing a digital fortress of its own. It passed legislation requiring TikTok’s parent company to divest its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban affecting 170 million U.S. users, citing national security concerns about its ties to China and the potential for data surveillance and content manipulation. Upon legal challenge by TikTok on First Amendment grounds, the Supreme Court affirmed the ban’s constitutionality. Recent federal legislation …

Product Nationality And Corporate Identity, Trang (Mae) Nguyen

Seattle University Law Review

Global supply chains have long depended on a deceptively technical device: the attribution of a “nationality” to goods. A trade law principle, rules of origin assign products an “economic passport” that governs how they are treated at the border, including what markets they may enter and which tariff rates apply. In recent years, however, product nationality has taken on a new and far more ambitious role. As U.S. trade policy increasingly intersects with national security and human rights policy, policymakers rely on nationality-based measures to police supply chain linkages, curb geopolitical issues, and discipline firms for their links to forced …

Global Supply Chain Resilience In Emerging Technologies: A Case Study Of Bitcoin Mining, Kishanthi Parella, Carla L. Reyes

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has put into motion bold plans in critical and emerging technologies to bolster its national and economic security.  For example, the federal government created a national bitcoin strategic reserve and a stockpile of other cryptocurrency; while several states have committed to or are considering similar goals.  However, the security of these reserves is dependent on two types of supply chains within the Bitcoin mining industry: analogue supply chains, relating to the physical components needed for Bitcoin mining, and data supply chains, relating to the complex and layered logistical network of actors that create input into the software …

Volume 49 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 49 Masthead

A Comparative Study Of Chinese And American Approaches To Shaping International Outer Space Law And Norms, Ariel G. Silverman

Seattle University Law Review

This article explores convergences and divergencies in the United States and PRC’s responses to the stalemate in the United Nations over the future of outer space resource governance. I do so by systematically analyzing these leading space-faring nations’ policy-positions and tactics deployed to shape norms around three substantive areas of outer space resource governance: rights of ownership and scope of utilization of space resources, mechanization of the “benefits sharing” principle, and the rights and responsibilities of the private sector. I theorize that these leading space-faring nations have adopted divergent approaches due to their differing historical relationships with international law and …

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Third-Party Funding: Balancing Transparency, National Security, And Access To Justice, Victoria Shannon Sahani

Seattle University Law Review

Many lawmakers who have recently become aware of the multi-billion-dollar global third-party funding industry are raising new national security concerns that further complicate preexisting, longstanding debates about transparency, disclosure, access to justice, and the best way to regulate third-party funding. In response, this Article briefly asserts three main points relating to the question of how best to regulate third-party funding. First, this Article explains the third-party funding industry, including its global regulatory landscape and how it serves three distinct populations: consumers, businesses, and law firms. Second, this Article explains that third-party funding is one tool that can help expand access …

The Field Of International Business Transactions Law, Kathleen Claussen

Seattle University Law Review

This Article studies the evolution of the scholarly subfield referred to as the law of “international business transactions” (IBT). It reviews data on academic articles, courses, textbooks and other signifiers of the growth of this research area. Beginning around 1960, scholars began to use the term “international business transactions” and by the 1980s, several law schools were offering a course by that title. A handful of dedicated textbooks soon followed. These data reflect a gradual increase in research on the topic of IBT, particularly in the United States, but also considerable diversity of subject matters covered by those works. The …

Kim Gyeong-Seok And The Origins Of Northeast Asia’S Corporate Accountability Movement For War And Colonialism, Timothy Webster

Seattle University Law Review

For the past three decades, a transnational reparations movement has unfolded across Northeast Asia. Hundreds of victims—assisted by attorneys, academics, and activists—seek remedies from Japan for various atrocities committed during World War II, colonialism, and other historical injustices.  They press their claims in street protests, legislative hearings, dramatic performances, and other fora.  The “comfort women” are the best known of these claimants; their global redress campaign ex-tends from noisy protests outside of Japan’s embassy in Seoul, to mute statues in raucous boroughs of Berlin.  More obscure, though larger in number, were the roughly one million Koreans who performed forced labor …

Navigating Compliance In A Geopolitical Era: The Case Of Chinese Multinationals In The United States, Ji Li

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines how Chinese multinational companies (MNCs) approach compliance in the United States amid deepening geo-political rivalry and intensified regulatory scrutiny. Drawing on original survey data, this Article maps variations in compliance structures, staffing, and governance mechanisms across Chinese firms and identifies key determinants such as industry-specific regulatory intensity, listing status, and organizational imprinting from headquarters. The analysis employs a dual institutional framework to explain how compliance systems emerge from the interplay between host-state regulatory demands and home-state institutional legacies, producing hybrid structures that blend local adaptation with headquarters-driven replication. Findings reveal that while certain compliance features—such as committee …

Social Media’S Death Toll: Who Should Be Held Liable?, Sara Fradi

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

No abstract provided.

Authentication Of Art, Herbert I. Lazerow

Cleveland State Law Review

The authentication of items permeates our law and our markets. While it is important for many consumer goods, authentication is crucial for artworks and artifacts where the value difference between the authentic and the inauthentic is huge. The question is raised most frequently in conflicts between buyer and seller of art where it is claimed that a warranty was breached, or between the owner of artwork and an authenticator where the claim sounds in tort. It also arises in any situation where the value of the art is important, such as tax or antitrust. Authentication of artwork can be difficult …

Mutual Fund Fees, Stewart L. Brown

William & Mary Business Law Review

Investors pay billions annually in fees for actively managed mutual funds, despite the availability of far superior, cost-effective alternatives like index funds. Mutual funds, with their unique legal structure, insulate management fees from competitive pressures, thereby enabling fund sponsors to maintain high fees. Contrary to the assumption that legal, regulatory, and governance mechanisms adequately protect investors, this Article demonstrates that such safeguards are largely ineffective. The competitive forces that would ordinarily drive fee reductions are rendered impotent by structural conflicts of interest, ineffective regulatory oversight, and the passive role of independent directors. Fund sponsors capitalize on economies of scale, reaping …

Unfit For Human Consumption: A Bone To Pick With Boneless Wings, H. Beau Baez

Akron Law Review

This article examines defective food laws after the Ohio Supreme Court held that “boneless” in boneless chicken wings does not mean “without bones.” The result in this case is a man with permanent injuries was precluded from recovering damages after eating a menu item described as “boneless.”

The article begins by discussing the case, Berkheimer v. REKM, and the rationale used by the court for allowing summary judgment against the plaintiff.  Next, the article examines legal history, beginning with 13^th century unwholesome food statutes.  This section demonstrates that the law for unwholesome food, until the 20^th century, …

Rules Of The Game: Lessons From Sports To Understand Antitrust Law’S Fairness Foundations, Tara Pincock, Daniel A. Hanley

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Traditionally, courts and practitioners assert that the antitrust laws are simply about protecting competition, not competitors. In essence, these parties perceive competition to be inherently desirable, rather than recognizing that it can be beneficial or harmful depending on its intensity and scope. As a result of this mistaken belief, courts hold that certain conduct is legal under the antitrust laws simply because they determine it to be procompetitive, while conduct deemed anticompetitive is condemned. Courts seldom provide definitive boundaries to this pro-competition trope and instead assert it as if it were a well-established truism and universal societal good.

Without details …

Read But Not Understood? An Empirical Analysis Of Consumer Comprehension In Homeowners Insurance, Daniel Benjamin Schwarcz, Brenda Cude, Kyle D. Logue, German Marquez Alcala

Articles

Modern contract law assumes that consumers meaningfully assent to the standard forms that govern their daily lives. However, this assumption is widely regarded as a legal fiction for two key reasons: first, most consumers do not read standard forms, and second, even those who do often struggle to fully comprehend their terms and implications. Although the lack of consumer reading has been well documented through empirical research, consumers’ ability to comprehend standard-form contracts has received surprisingly little attention.

This Article addresses the latter issue by empirically examining whether providing excerpts from the dominant standard-form homeowners insurance policy improves consumer understanding …

Ai Is Coming For Your Mind: A Case For Consumer Protection, Blithe Ellis

Gateway Reader- Individual Papers

• The Problem: Immersive and anthropomorphic artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots can trigger, amplify, or reshape psychotic experiences—colloquially termed "AI psychosis"—by mirroring user language, validating delusional beliefs, and prioritizing user engagement over safety.

• The Method: The author analyzes peer-reviewed psychiatric literature, media reports from 2025, and user discussions on the r/ChatGPT Reddit forum to advocate for consumer protection regulations.

• Quantitative Finding: The analysis incorporates data from the year 2026, references cases involving a 26-year-old woman, and evaluates a specific Reddit thread featuring hundreds of user stories regarding AI-fueled delusions.

• Qualitative Finding: Shared themes in AI-associated distress include messianic missions, delusions of chatbot …

  ---

  Go to article

The Case Against State Emotional Support Animal Documentation Laws, Krista Wirth

Animal Law Review

Under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), a tenant with a service animal or emotional support animal (ESA) may request a reasonable accommodation from their housing provider to have their assistance animal live with them in housing that might not otherwise permit animals. In recent years, several states have implemented laws that aim to address “fraudulent” emotional support animals (“state ESA laws”). These laws limit the types of acceptable verifying documentation or place requirements on a healthcare provider’s ability to produce documentation to verify an individual’s disability and disability related need for a support animal—documentation an individual often needs to support …

Enforcing International Humanitarian Law Through The Business Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Tara Van Ho

Faculty Articles

Insulation produced by the Danish company Rockwool—or its Russian subsidiary—lines thirty-one Russian Navy warships. Though not a weapon, this material is essential to the vessels’ operation. Did Rockwool have a responsibility under international law to stop the transfer of the insulation to the Russian Navy before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine? This article examines the business responsibilities under the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“UNGPs”). In doing so, the article finds that the business responsibility to respect human rights in the UNGPs provides a strong mechanism for enforcing international humanitarian law (“IHL”). However, it requires …

Facilitating Mortgage Modification To Save Homes And Mitigate Lender Losses, Julia Patterson Forrester Rogers

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Homeowners in financial distress or whose homes have been damaged by natural disaster may avoid foreclosure if their lender agrees to modify the loan to reduce payments. Commercial loans may also be modified to avoid foreclosure or in response to changed circumstances or changing market conditions. Although loan modifications are generally beneficial to both borrowers and lenders, barriers to modification exist. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has addressed some of the roadblocks to residential loan modifications by regulating the procedures that mortgage servicers must follow in dealing with delinquent borrowers, but the CFPB and its regulations are at risk …

Table Of Contents, Loyola Consumer Law Review

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Catch 23: Putting Superior Back Into The Superiority Prong Of Rule 23(B)(3), Fred B. Burnside

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Subversion By Design, Daniel Nicastro

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Dark patterns, in the words of the design expert who coined the term, are ".. . tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn't mean to, like buying or signing up for something."¹ The FTC, in its 2022 Staff Report on the subject, defined them similarly as ". . . design practices that trick or manipulate users into making choices they would not otherwise have made and that may cause harm."² Endemic to the digital retail space, dark patterns subvert consumer decision making, resulting in inflated spending, widespread privacy violations, and the …

The Ftc's First Action Under The Inform Consumers Act: A New Era Of Enforcement?, Karli Hiltner

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preemption Without Protection: Reconsidering The Airline Deregulation Act In An Era Of Federal Retreat, Carmela Frontzak

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Privacy Protection: Why Ai Chatbots Demand Coppa Changes, Jacob Yeskis

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Apathy Economy: Patents, Advertising, And Consumer Indifference, Gavin Milczarek-Desai, Derek E. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

Patents function as signals as well as rights to exclude. They inform competitors, investors, employees, and consumers about the invention and its owner. How this information affects consumers is not well understood. Existing studies disagree about how advertising a product or service as patented, or patent pending, affects the price consumers will pay. This Article offers the first major empirical study of that question and finds that consumers behave with surprising rationality: they will not pay any price premium for a patented product. A product’s patent status conveys little information about whether it is superior to competing offerings. The results …

Durbin’S Ripple: How Fee Caps Reshaped Banking And Boosted Fintechs: Exploring The Unintended Consumer Impacts And Regulatory Gaps In The Wake Of The Durbin Amendment, Rebecca M. Reeve

Touro Law Review

This Article explores the implications of the Durbin Amendment on consumer protection, financial innovation, and market competition. Initially intended to cap interchange fees and foster cost savings for merchants and consumers, the Amendment’s effects have diverged from its legislative intent. Financial institutions offset lost revenue by increasing other consumer fees, unintentionally spurring a financial technology (fintech) boom as consumers sought low-cost alternatives. This Article examines the administrative rulemaking challenges the Federal Reserve faced in implementing the Amendment, the rise of fintech solutions as a response to shifting bank priorities, and the potential regulatory gaps affecting consumer protection in a rapidly …

Reevaluating Consumer Debt Enforcement: Why We Don’T Need Courts To Enforce Consumer Debt Contracts, Adam Toobin

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Enforcing consumer debt contracts against low- and middle-income borrowers, rather than making consumer debt markets work better, is inefficient and exacerbates consumer protection concerns. While consumer debt litigation—and enforcement of consumer debt contracts through wage and bank account garnishment—may have once strengthened nascent consumer debt markets, consumer credit scoring now effectively structures consumers’ incentives to repay their debt obligations. Debt enforcement is not necessary to encourage consumers to repay their debts and tends to drive borrowers into bankruptcy. Debt enforcement also undermines efforts to provide consumer protection in these markets by raising the stakes of any debt contract—where any default …