Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Stimulus Checks, Universal Basic Income, And Debtor Protections, Sophie B. Laing

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Interest in Universal Basic Income (UBI) is growing. While Congress may not be passing UBI legislation anytime soon, the policy has enjoyed enthusiastic support from a variety of high-profile politicians and advocates and made its way from a fringe idea to a national debate. Universal Basic Income has inspired pilot programs across the country, beginning with one such program in 2019 and growing to at least thirty-three by 2021. UBI has been discussed, debated, and dissected in the literature, which has addressed arguments for and against UBI, the values and principles underlying the program, and the policy mechanisms needed to …

What The Judge Ate For Breakfast: Reasonable Consumer Challenges In Misleading Food Labeling Claims, Jessica Guarino, Nabilah Nathani, A. Bryan Endres

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Food, being an established aspect of global human culture and history, occupies a unique role in contemporary society. Given the massive market available for packaged and processed food, companies have taken deceptive marketing to new heights, resulting in a flurry of consumer litigation. The dominant test for -evaluating the scope of these cases is the reasonable consumer standard, an amorphous assessment which requires a probability that a majority of the general public or targeted consumers would be misled by said deceptive marketing. By analyzing state and federal consumer protection statutes, landmark cases, and elements of human and cultural psychology, the …

Student Loans And Financial Distress: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Most Common Student Loan Complaints, Matthew Adam Bruckner, Christopher J. Ryan, Jr.

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Student loan servicers are the face of the U.S. student loan system, and they are not well-liked. Using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (the CFPB) consumer complaint database, we study borrower perceptions of the student loan system. We qualitatively analyzed a sample of complaint narratives drawn from every student loan complaint ever filed with the CFPB. Our analysis of these complaint narratives reveals clear patterns of discontent in four primary areas: 1) a mismatch between ability to repay and repayment options, including problems with forbearance, deferments, the public service loan forgiveness program, income-driven repayment plans, and loan cancellation options; 2) …

I Think I'Ve Seen This Film Before: How Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Has Exposed The Need To Investigate Ticketmaster's Market Dominance, Grace Connelly

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Loyola Consumer Law Review

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Megamerger Of Kroger-Albertsons: A Big Deal For Chicago Consumers, Brett Wainscott

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Condo Collapse Creates Consumer Collapse, Alexandra Alvarez

Loyola Consumer Law Review

The collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside led the Florida legislature to enact Senate Bill 4-D in the hopes of ensuring public safety and better regulating its previous unsatisfactory building code. While the implementation of this new bill is well intentioned and much needed, it carries with it impactful consequences on consumers.

Senate Bill 4-D comes alive during a time when the real estate market in South Florida is scorching. The new bill will continue to force consumers to reach into their savings and pay tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, to improve the structural integrity of …

Healthwashing: Corporate Communication Strategies In A Legal Gray Zone, Felix Delerm, Anna Galmiche, Melanie Levy

Loyola Consumer Law Review

In an age of rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases, transnational companies of the tobacco, alcohol, and food industries wash their risk-creating commercial activities and unhealthy products and incidentally mislead consumers. This paper examines industries' quest for legitimacy through elaborate communication strategies. It conceptualizes the practice of healthwashing as a new form of a commercial determinant of health, revealing the inherent tension between commercial and public health objectives. Healthwashing consists of deceptive, multi-level communication strategies, including labeling and advertising, that trick consumers into believing they support companies whose practices align with their values. The paper is the first to present an …

Federal Courts On Mifepristone: How Do Healthcare Consumers Fare?, Jessica Antoni

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Age Of Fraud, James Toomey

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

We think of scams primarily as a problem for older adults. Indeed, in the past few years, states and the federal government have undertaken a range of legal actions designed to prevent seniors, as a distinct class, from scams-- from more harshly punishing perpetrators of scams directed towards older adults to authorizing financial institutions to closely monitor and rapidly freeze the accounts of their older clients. But this successful, popular, and bipartisan law reform movement has taken place without a thorough empirical understanding of whether, in fact, seniors fall victim to scams more frequently than other age groups.

This study …

Protecting Low-Income Consumers In The Era Of Digital Grocery Shopping: Implications For Wic Online Ordering, Qi Zhang, Priyanka Patel, Caitlin M. Lowery

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is now expected to allow participants to redeem their food benefits online, i.e., via online ordering, rather than only in-store. However, it is unclear how this new benefit redemption model may impact participants’ welfare since vendors may have an asymmetric information advantage compared with WIC customers. The WIC online ordering environment may also change the landscape for WIC vendors, which will eventually affect WIC participants. To protect WIC consumers’ rights in the new online ordering model, policymakers need an appropriate legal and regulatory framework. This narrative review provides that …

Eliminating Cash Bail In Washington State—Amending Criminal Rule 3.2, Simran Kaur

Seattle University Law Review

This Note discusses the following three parts. Part I provides an overview of the cash bail system, its history, and its contemporary use in Washington state. Part II presents the effects of bail on pretrial release, analyzing low-income and racial inequalities and the adverse impacts it can have on the accused. Part III focuses on solutions and alternatives to the cash bail system, using other states as case studies.

Promoting Corporate Diversity: The Uncertain Role Of Institutional Investors, Jill Fisch

Seattle University Law Review

Two developments are having an impact on corporate decisions. One is the increased engagement by institutional intermediaries and a shift in the focus of that engagement from corporate governance to environmental and social issues. The other is a heightened societal awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues, particularly the importance of diversity in corporate leadership. This Article considers the intersection between the two. It describes how institutional investors have focused their attention on increasing diversity in corporate leadership, the potential motivations for that focus, and the impact of that focus, to date. It highlights the tensions that result from …

America’S Hidden Citizens: The Untold Stories Of The Unconscionable Deportations Of Its International Adoptees, Halley Cody

Seattle University Law Review

This Note addresses how the U.S. should rectify the harms it has perpetrated on non-citizen adoptees by amending the current deportation statutes to prevent their deportation. Part I addresses the history of adoption in the U.S. and related effects on immigration law. Part II highlights the stories of Adam Crapser and Philip Clay, who were adopted by American families who failed to naturalize them as minors, and who were subsequently deported after they sustained criminal records. Part III examines the policy goals behind deportation as a consequence of criminal convictions, as well as remedies instituted to prevent unwarranted deportation and …

Inadequate Privacy: The Necessity Of Hipaa Reform In A Post-Dobbs World, Katherine Robertson

Seattle University Law Review

Part I of this Comment will provide an overview of HIPAA and the legal impacts of Dobbs. Part II will discuss the anticipatory response to the impacts of Dobbs on PHI by addressing the response from (1) the states, (2) the Biden Administration, and (3) the medical field. Part III will discuss the loopholes that exist in HIPAA and further address the potential impacts on individuals and the medical field if reform does not occur. Finally, Part IV will argue that the reform of HIPAA is the best avenue for protecting PHI related to reproductive healthcare.

Regulating Organic, Sarah J. Morath

American University Law Review

Even highly regulated labels, such as the organic label, have the potential for greenwashing. As recently as January 2023, a grain seller was indicted in federal court for a $43 million scheme that involved the sale of non-organic grain as USDA-certified organic. But today’s organic market is also full of sellers who follow the current federal organic regulations but fail to demonstrate the spirit of the organic movement—forgoing soil, animal welfare, and community for profit. I call this nuanced form of greenwashing quasi-greenwashing. It arises when a business complies with a rule or standard but takes advantage of consumer misunderstanding …

Public Health Product Hops, Michael S. Sinha

American University Law Review

Pharmaceutical product hops are anticompetitive maneuvers that often represent a last-ditch effort by brand manufacturers to preserve market share in the face of generic competition. An integral part of product life cycle management strategies, product hops may offer marginal benefits to patients but can substantially increase costs to payers and patients alike. Industry advocates, however, maintain that product hops represent essential follow-on research and development, resulting in the development of novel products that would otherwise never reach the market.

Is there a middle ground between these two diametrically opposed views? Might certain product hops be considered beneficial, perhaps if they …

Assaulting The Citadel Of Section 230 Immunity: Products Liability, Social Media, And The Youth Mental Health Crisis, Matthew P. Bergman

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The exponential rise in social media use among minors since 2008 is responsible for a precipitous increase in youth mental health injuries and suicides. These harms result from the design of social media platforms which elevate maximizing user engagement over providing minors with a safe online experience, yet social media companies benefit from broad construction of § 230 immunity to evade liability. Courts’ expansive interpretation of § 230 is historically analogous to the application of the privity doctrine in the 19th century to shield manufacturers from liability for designing dangerously defective products. The demise of the privity doctrine and rise …

Harsh Creditor Remedies And The Role Of The Redeemer, Christopher D. Hampson

UF Law Faculty Publications

The concept of the judgment-proof or collection-proof debtor is fundamental to our understanding of civil law and of what distinguishes it from criminal law. But when civil creditors can threaten unduly harsh or cruel debt collection measures (whether legally or not), they extend their reach into the pockets of those whom this Article calls “redeemers,” third parties with a familial or quasi-familial relationship to civil debtors who have reason to pay on their behalf. This Article examines four such measures—imprisonment, homelessness, destitution, and deportation—remedies that sound like they come from another time and place, but which are threatened by some …

Negligent Ai Speech: Some Thoughts About Duty, Jane R. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

Careless speech has always existed on a very large scale. When people talk, they often give bad advice or wrong information, and occasionally this leads the listener to act in a way that causes physical harm. The scale was made more visible by the public Internet as the musings and conversations of billions of participants became accessible and searchable to all. This dynamic produced a set of tort and free speech principles that we have debated and adjusted to over the last three decades.

AI speech systems bring a new dynamic. Unlike the disaggregated production of misinformation in the Internet …