Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

The Arc And Architecture Of Private Enforcement Regimes In The United States And Europe: A View Across The Atlantic, Jason Rathod, Sandeep Veheesan

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

The United States and Europe have traditionally taken very different approaches to the regulation of harmful conduct. Previously, European nations relied almost entirely on the public enforcement of laws, whereas the United States relied on a mix of public and private actors. In the United States, private rights of action have played a central role deterring illegal conduct—and, in fact, provided greater deterrence than public enforcers in some areas of law. They have also allowed injured parties to obtain compensation. Despite their very different histories, the private enforcement systems in the United States and Europe are showing signs of convergence …

Animal Legal Defense Fund V. Otter: Industrial Food Production Simply Is Not A Private Matter, Lucy L. Holifield

Journal of Food Law & Policy

About half of the states have either passed or attempted to pass laws aimed at stifling criticism and exposure of factory farms throughout the country. This unwanted exposure is often the result of undercover reporters gaining access to the interior of meat-producing entities by seeking and obtaining employment. Their reports often expose filthy and dangerous conditions, substantial animal abuse, and the incorporation of unfit animal products into the public's food supply.

Privatization Of Water Desalination: The Need To Balance Governmental And Corporate Control In California, Melissa Lee

Global Business Law Review

This note argues that California has to create regulations that prevent complete privatization of desalination facilities and protect the public's right to the water. This note provides a model that should be adopted by California in order to safeguard the water and community. There must be legislations and regulations to answer important issues of water rights and distribution of the desalinated water. Israel has utilized and the technology of desalination for half a century and has laws pertaining to water and privatization that can provide insight into what should be adopted by California.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Law Enforcement: An Empirical Review, Christopher L. Peterson

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In the aftermath of the U.S. financial crisis, Congress created a new federal agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — with the goal of fashioning a more just and efficient American consumer finance market. The CFPB now serves as the U.S. Government’s primary regulator and civil law enforcement agency governing consumer lending, payment systems, debt collection, and other consumer financial services. In its first four years of enforcing federal consumer protection laws, the CFPB has announced over a hundred different law enforcement cases forcing banks and other financial companies to relinquish over $11 billion in customer refunds, forgiven …

Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, And The Economic Loss Doctrine In The Payment Card Industry, David W. Opderbeck

Maryland Law Review

Data breaches are pervasive and costly. Recent civil data breach cases have centered on the consumer credit card payment chain in the retail industry. An important issue in such cases is whether the economic loss doctrine should bar negligence claims for purely pecuniary losses suffered by a non-negligent party, such as an issuing bank or a federal credit union that must incur costs to reimburse cardholders for the fraudulent use of stolen card numbers.

The economic loss doctrine should not bar these claims. Large-scale data networks, such as consumer credit card networks, often entail significant network externalities. These include externalities …

"All I Do Is Win": The No-Lose Strategy Of Cafo Regulation Under The Caa, Karl J. Worsham

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Corporate farms, often known as concentrated animal feeding operations ("CAFO'), provide inexpensive animal products but do so by externalizing the cost of their operation in the form of environmental harms and risks to human health. This article explores one possible approach to mitigating CAFO-caused harms. It argues that CAFO regulation under any one of three Clean Air Act ("CAA ") programs will result in net benefits, not just for air quality, but also for other CAFO-caused harms and thus, that CAA regulation of CAFOs is a no-lose strategy. The article then goes further to conclude that, while regulation under any …

Prostitution Policy: Legalization, Decriminalization And The Nordic Model, Ane Mathieson, Easton Branam, Anya Noble

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Don’T Risk It; Wait Until She’S Sober, Patrick John White

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Let’S Talk About Sex: A Call For Guardianship Reform In Washington State, Sage Graves

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Living Under The Boot: Militarization And Peaceful Protest, Charlotte Guerra

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Let’S Invest In People, Not Prisons: How Washington State Should Address Its Ex-Offender Unemployment Rate, Sara Taboada

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

His Feminist Facade: The Neoliberal Co-Option Of The Feminist Movement, Anjilee Dodge, Myani Gilbert

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

In Her Words: Recognizing And Preventing Abusive Litigation Against Domestic Violence Survivors, David Ward

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Persistence And Resistance: Women’S Leadership And Ending Gender-Based Violence In Guatemala, Serena Cosgrove, Kristi Lee

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Contours Of The Parallel Claim Exception: The Supreme Court's Opportunity To Define The Ill-Defined, Jarret Sena

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of The Sharing Economy: Uber And Beyond, Jack M. Beermann

Shorter Faculty Works

On January 8, 2016, the Section held a program entitled “Regulation of the Sharing Economy: Uber and Beyond.” I served as moderator of the program, which included four excellent speakers, Nicole Benincasa, Attorney for Uber Technologies, Inc., Bernard N. Block, Managing Principal, Alvin W. Block & Associates, Chicago, Illinois, Randy May, Founder and President, Free State Foundation (and long-time active member of the Section) and Peter Mazer, General Counsel to the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade and former General Counsel to the New York City Taxicab Licensing Commission.

The program began by asking general questions about regulatory issues concerning the …

Recalling The Lawyers: The Nhtsa, Gm, And The Chevrolet Cobalt, Bernard W. Bell

Fordham Law Review

This Article summarizes product safety and vehicle safety law and recounts General Motors Company’s (GM) response to the Cobalt ignition switch defect, paying particular attention to the actions of GM’s in-house and outside counsel. This Article then considers the legality and prudence of a regulatory agency’s imposition of gatekeeping responsibilities on such counsel.

Contracting In The Age Of The Internet Of Things: Article 2 Of The Ucc And Beyond, Stacy-Ann Elvy

Articles & Chapters

This Article analyzes the global phenomenon of the Internet of Things (“IOT”) and its potential impact on consumer contracts for the sale of goods. Recent examples of IOT products include Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service, which allows household devices to automatically reorder goods. By 2025, the IOT is estimated to have an economic impact of as much as $11.1 trillion. To date, there are approximately fifteen billion interconnected devices, and by 2020, there will be fifty billion such devices worldwide. IOT devices will revolutionize the way that consumers shop for consumable supplies and other goods. Consumers will no longer need to …

The Erosion Of Autonomy In Online Consumer Transactions, Eliza Mik

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Online businesses influence consumer behaviour by means of a wide range of technologies that determine what information is displayed as well as how and when it is displayed. This creates an unprecedented power imbalance between the transacting parties, raising questions not only about the permissible levels of procedural exploitation in contract law, together with the adequacy of existing consumer protections but also about the impact of technology on consumer autonomy. There is, however, no single technology that threatens the latter. It is the combined, mutually-enforcing effect of multiple technologies that influence consumer choices at different stages in the transacting process, …

Preventing Preemption: Finding Space For States To Regulate Consumers’ Credit Reports, Elizabeth D. De Armond

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.