Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Esg Investing Breaches Erisa Fiduciary Duties? A Closer Look At Spence V. American Airlines, Inc., Eric Chin-Ru Chang

Seattle University Law Review

In Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that American Airlines breached its fiduciary duties due to BlackRock’s ESG investing practices. Contrary to some reports suggesting that the ruling prohibits ESG investing under ERISA, a closer look at the ruling shows that the court only targeted American Airlines’ failure to manage conflicts of interest appropriately, rather than the legality of ESG investing itself. In light of the intensifying ESG backlash in the United States, this Article cautions against further restrictive measures on ESG investing. Such measures would exacerbate the widening …

Mandating Fluoride: A Constitutional Exercise Of Police Power, Anita Jahangiri

Seattle University Law Review

This Note addresses the ongoing debate over fluoridation: the regulation of fluoride levels in public water systems. Extensive research indicates fluoridation, when regulated at the recommended concentration, is both safe and highly effective in preventing dental caries. Better known as cavities, dental caries is a preventable yet widespread health issue that disproportionately affects low-income populations. Reducing dental health disparities among economic classes is a pressing public health issue. Fluoridation is not merely a policy option, but a critical, proven tool to address such disparities and uphold the collective welfare of Washingtonians. This Note focuses on fluoridation as a public health …

Neurodiversity In The Courtroom: Expanding Jury Service Accessibility Beyond Physical Disability, Samantha L. Mabe

Seattle University Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act has required equal access to jury service for decades; however, efforts to accommodate jurors with disabilities have been slow to develop beyond some minor accommodations for physical disabilities. While neurodivergent people frequently struggle to navigate a world catered toward neurotypical people, jury service remains inaccessible for many neurodivergent people who need accommodations to attend trial and engage in jury deliberations. If courts and advocates do not consider how to develop accommodations to secure the service of neurodivergent jurors, they will miss out on the unique skillsets that neurodivergent people can bring to resolving disputes.

Disabled …

Is Your Data Good, Bad, Or Neutral?: Redefining Concreteness For Data Breach Harms, Jeeyoon Lim

Fordham Law Review

In recent years, the Supreme Court has tightened federal court standing requirements for intangible harms, including statutory harms. In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, the Court held that a mere statutory violation, absent a common-law analogue, is not sufficiently concrete to grant standing. The Court did not provide clear guidance as to how stringent the common-law analogue analysis must be, other than that it does not require an “exact duplicate.” Because of the ever-evolving nature of digital data, data breach victims attempting to enforce their statutory right to privacy in federal court have struggled to rely on tradition and history …

The Loyalty Trap: How Loyalty Programs Hook Us With Deals, Hack Our Brains, And Hike Our Prices, Samuel A.A. Levine, Stephanie T. Nguyen

Center for Law and the Economy

This paper examines the devolution of loyalty programs — from simple coupon programs to major lines of business transforming the retail experience. This devolution is happening in three stages. In the first stage — the hook — companies entice consumers by promising generous upfront benefits if consumers enroll. In the second stage — the hack — companies use loyalty programs to extract deep insights into our spending habits and willingness to pay, effectively hacking our brains. And in the third stage — the hike — companies make these programs worse for consumers — raising fees, devaluing points, limiting redemption options, …

Agentizing Privacy Preferences Without Privatizing Data Protection Policy, Frank Pasquale, Vanna Carter

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This essay explores how consumers might exercise newly restored agency in a digital environment increasingly shaped by generative AI. Rather than expecting consumers to read privacy-related terms of service, policymakers should encourage the emergence of Automated Consumer Agents (“ACAs”) capable of interpreting privacy provisions and acting on behalf of users according to their stated preferences. These systems could automatically reject objectionable forms of data extraction, translating consumer values into actionable decisions in online transactions.

Despite this promise, the rise of ACAs would also present new problems. Without supportive policy and legal frameworks, agentization of privacy preferences could itself reproduce or …

The Gamification Of Banking, Colleen Baker, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

Gamification is coming to banking. This phenomenon is already gain-ing ground in advertising, healthcare, manufacturing, and, more recently, with the GameStop and AMC meme stock saga in securities trading. The idea behind gamification is to make transactions seem fun, playful, and even casino-like in order to elicit habit-forming, addictive-like effects with consumers. This Article argues that the rise of financial technology (“fintech”) firms and their ever-growing business relationships with incumbent financial institutions has created the necessary conditions for gamification to take hold in the banking sector. In order to explore this observation, we undertake a study of current examples of …

Equity Partners Or Equity Predators? A Call For Federal Regulations To Safeguard Against Abusive Home Equity Sharing Agreements, Lindsay Lankau

Washington and Lee Law Review

Home equity sharing agreements are on the rise throughout the country. In a home equity sharing agreement, homeowners are given a lump sum of cash, upfront, in exchange for a portion of their home’s future value. Agreements are structured however the investment company prefers and are not subject to any state usury caps, mortgage loans, or federal lending laws. The investment companies believe that their product is exempt from all of these requirements, despite the high risk that home equity sharing poses to consumers. In reality, home equity sharing agreements are dangerous, unregulated mortgage loans, which are being utilized by …

Dispute Resolution Tailored For Digital Assets, Michele Kallo

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

As digital asset markets continue to expand, the need for efficient and reliable dispute resolution mechanisms has grown increasingly pressing. In May 2022, alone, over 200 individual and class action lawsuits related to digital assets were filed, with cases only deepening in nuance. Traditional litigation, with its high costs, slow timelines, and jurisdictional complexities, often falls short in resolving such disputes. In reaction to these limitations, decentralized arbitration platforms have emerged as spaces for dispute resolution. While innovative, these platforms’ susceptibility to issues such as market volatility, barriers to juror diversity, and impartiality limitations raise questions about their effectiveness as …

The Public Health Cost Of Online Behavioral Targeting, Arthi Annadurai

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Behavioral targeting is an increasingly popular marketing technique that utilizes users’ online activity to personalize advertisements aimed at consumers. However, since personalized advertisements aim to influence individual consumers, behavioral targeting can negatively impact vulnerable users. For instance, it may reinforce harmful behaviors—like showing alcohol advertisements to individuals with alcohol dependency—or worsen mental health struggles, such as prolonging grief by continuing to serve parenting advertisements to those mourning the loss of a child. These practices can perpetuate harmful behaviors, such as relapse or heightened psychological distress, and contribute to long-term health problems, such as addiction or other mental health problems, creating …

“Contains: Gluten” And “Gluten Free”; Fda, It’S A No-Grainer!, Elizabeth Bulat

Cardozo Law Review

Reading food, drug, and cosmetic labels is a frequent practice for all individuals with allergies. However, unlike those who are allergic to peanuts, dairy, or another major food allergen, individuals with celiac disease (“celiac consumers”) are not offered a bold, capitalized statement clearly identifying the allergen they seek to avoid. Instead, celiac consumers are tasked with studying a list of ingredients and relying on their own ability to catch any sources of gluten. This Note considers the authority provided by Congress to the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remedy this rash regime. Then, this Note proposes that the …

Measuring And Mitigating Drip Pricing Overcharge: Evidence From An Online Marketplace Experiment With A Digital Shopping Assistant, Benjamin Lu, Daniel Markovits, Andrew Miller, Rory Van Loo

Faculty Scholarship

We study how much drip pricing (hidden mandatory fees revealed after consumers have begun the buying process) raises prices paid for identical goods and whether an automated shopping assistant mitigates the effect. In a randomized online marketplace experiment (n = 1608) with real purchases of gift cards funded by a $15 endowment, we vary the initial and final presentation of the gift cards’ prices across 33 levels and randomly assign participants to an automated assistant that flags a lower-price identical option and links to it. Relative to transparent pricing, drip pricing increases the average price paid by up to a …

Barbarians At The Gate Or Angels At The Crossroads? Examining The Impact Of The Uk Green Taxonomy On Private Equity Firms, Melek Redzheb, Fatjon Kaja

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Article explores whether the UK Green Taxonomy will foster sustainable corporate governance in private equity-backed portfolio companies. We explore how the Taxonomy will address the greenwashing problem that plagues financial markets, including the private equity industry. Our analysis suggests that general partners will have a twofold response to the new reforms. In the short term, they will seek to address the social concerns of limited partners by negatively screening unsustainable companies and cherry-picking more sustainable ones (the so-called “exit” strategy). In the long term, however, they will adopt a dynamic strategy to transform unsustainable targets into sustainable enterprises on …

Show Me The Money: Approaches To Anti-Money Laundering Compliance For Digital Assets, Mollie Rouan

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (“MiCA”) created a harmonized framework to regulate digital asset issuance and services that were not already covered by existing regulations. Notably, MiCA requires virtual asset providers to adhere to the Financial Action Task Force Recommendation 16 (“FATF”), also known as the Travel Rule. Though the Travel Rule has existed for almost 20 years, its application to crypto asset transfers is entirely new. The purpose of the Travel Rule is to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, but its application to cryptocurrency wallet transactions is criticized for being overly burdensome and invasive …

Crazy Rich Asians At What Cost? The Role Of Target Marketing In Perpetuating Problem Gambling In Asian Communities, Jana Marquez

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Comparative Analysis Between The United States And Indonesia Regarding Product Liability Of Food And Beverage Tenants Within The Tourism Industry, Shadrina R. T. Utomo, Henny Marlyna, Ayu Galuh Anggraini

Technology and Economics Law Journal

This research analyzes on how the laws in Indonesia and Florida, United States (U.S.) regulate the product liability of tourism entrepreneurs, whether as the food and beverage tenant within the tourism area or as the tourism operator, who have caused tourists to suffer from food poisoning. The Law Number 10 Year 2009 concerning Tourism the obligation for tourism entrepreneurs in providing insurance is only for high-risk tourism businesses. Tourism entrepreneurs in Indonesia have made various safety measures by fulfilling the sanitation and hygiene requirements, and preparing medical protocols. Meanwhile in Florida, tourism entrepreneurs have added accessibility efforts for tourists with …

Regulatory Influence In The Financial Markets Revisited, Jessica E. Lees

BYU Law Review

Historically, the financial markets of the United States and their corresponding regulatory scheme wielded unique influence throughout the globe. But this influence is waning, due largely to the centralization of financial services rulemaking within the European Union and the growth of global emerging markets. It is thus an important time to consider the circumstances under which a jurisdiction may assume and exercise the global regulatory influence traditionally wielded by the U.S. regime.

This Article develops a new framework to specifically address regulatory influence within global financial regulation and financial markets more broadly, looking beyond market size to establish a more …

There's Not Enough Cement And Too Much Air In That Concrete: Addressing The Weakness Of The Supreme Court's Concrete Injury Analysis, Sidney Balaban

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

“Zombie” debt collectors—third-party entities who purchase from creditors and attempt to collect on debts that have passed the statute of limitations periods—have become a particular nuisance and source of distress to the unsuspecting consumer. A serious problem arises in some states, such as Illinois, which allow for the limitations period to restart if the debtor began making payments again or promised to make payments, giving nefarious debt collectors the chance to trick consumers into renewed legal liability—a true zombification. Fortunately, in 1978, Congress passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA” or “the Act”) to “eliminate abusive debt collection …

Volume 48 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Keynote Address: Community Over Constitution, Riddhi Mukhopadhyay

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, Riddhi Mukhopadhyay challenges the veneration of the U.S. Constitution by highlighting its origins in exclusion and its continued failure to protect marginalized communities. Drawing from her experience in civil legal aid and gender justice, she argues that the Constitution was drafted to consolidate power among white, wealthy men and continues to reflect that legacy through racial, gender, and class-based inequities. While acknowledging the significance of constitutional amendments and landmark cases, Mukhopadhyay emphasizes that meaningful change has always come from community-led action, not top-down reform. Additionally, Mukhopadhyay calls on lawyers and legal advocates to center community, practice …