Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Opening Schumer’S Box: The Empirical Foundations Of Modern Consumer Finance Disclosure Law, Hosea H. Harvey

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article explores the fundamental failure of Congress’ twenty-five-year quest to utilize disclosure as the primary tool to both regulate credit card issuers and educate consumers. From inception until present, reforms to this disclosure regime, even when premised on judgment and decision-making behavioralism, were nomothetic in orientation and ignored clear differences in population behavior and the heterogeniety of consumers. Current law prohibits credit card issuers from acquiring consumer socio-demographic data and prevents issuers and regulators from using market and policy experimentation to enhance disclosure’s efficacy. To explain why this regime was structured this way and why it must change, this …

Can Consumers Bring State Claims For Furnisher Errors On Their Credit Reports, Catherine Bourque

Legislation and Policy Brief

In an increasingly digital world, it can often feel like numbers define us. Whether your social security number, your phone number, or your credit score, the cold truth is that your identity is often boiled down to a single number. In the financial world, your credit score traditionally defines your eligibility for credit and the cost of credit, but the uses of credit scores have expanded to include premiums for insurance, employment eligibility, and other non-financial determinations. Particularly in tough financial times, small fluctuations in credit scores can have large impacts on consumers’ access to affordable credit.

As furnishers and …

The Missing Link: U.S. Regulation Of Consumer Cosmetic Products To Protect Human Health And The Environment, Valerie J. Watnick

Pace Environmental Law Review

This article explores these lax regulatory efforts and their connection to risk assessment, and proposes changes to our current toxics regulatory paradigm. Part I of this article explores our current regulatory approach for consumer cosmetics. Part II discusses the specific and dire concerns regarding chemicals that are suspected carcinogens and those suspected of disrupting the human endocrine system. The article argues in Part III that because the framework for our current regulation of consumer cosmetic products is not designed to be protective of human health, our regulatory paradigm must shift dramatically in the future if this is to become our …

The Future Of The Private Label Securities Market, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The PLS market, like all markets, cycles from greed to fear, from boom to bust. The mortgage market is still in the fear part of the cycle and recent government interventions in it have, undoubtedly, added to that fear. In recent days, there has been a lot of industry pushback against the government’s approach, including threats to pull out of various sectors. But the government should not chart its course based on today’s news reports. Rather, it should identify fundamentals and stick to them. In particular, its regulatory approach should reflect an attempt to align incentives of market actors with …

Warning: A Post-Sale Duty To Warn Targets Small Manufacturers, Jill Wieber Lens

Utah Law Review

The majority of states now obligate manufacturers to warn about dangers of their products that are discoverable after the sale. Commentators and courts have been hesitant about this obligation because of the potential burden it puts on manufacturers — the costs of identifying users and warning them of the danger. The consensus is that only a factually dependent post-sale duty to warn should exist, obligating manufacturers to warn only if a reasonable manufacturer would do so. A reasonable manufacturer, of course, would warn only if the danger to be warned of justifies the costs of the warning.

This Article is …

Armed, Unarmed Or Harmed By Knowledge? A Comment On The Fha's Housing Counseling Pilot Program, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The FHA has requested input on its Homeowners Armed with Knowledge (HAWK) for New Homebuyers pilot program. This comment letter argues that housing counseling is not a proven solution to the problem it is meant to solve, excessive defaults by FHA borrowers. HAWK is a traditional housing counseling program but the scholarly literature casts into doubt the efficacy of such programs. It would be better to take time to research which counseling strategies, if any, are proven to be effective. This is true for the FHA but also for other government agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that …

Too Complex To Perceive? Drafting Cash Distribution Waterfalls Directly As Code To Reduce Complexity And Legal Risk In Structured Finance, Master Limited Partnership, And Private Equity Transactions, Ralph C. Mayrell

Pace Law Review

This Article proposes that complex structured finance transactions involving sophisticated investors should adopt an analogous solution to the home construction agreements’ strategy of contracting by reference to blueprints. First, dealmakers should, preferably by choice, place as much of their waterfall distribution specification and related inputs as possible into automated, programmatic representations that will be used to make the actual distribution. In many cases, these agreements already have programmatic representations, so this change should pose relatively few practical challenges logistically. Second, they should, like their counterparts in construction contracts, define the terms of those waterfalls by reference to their functional representations. …

Durbin Amendment To The Dodd Frank Act: Two Caps Are Better Than One For Debit Card Interchange Fees, Maureen Kane

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Abstention Doctrine And The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Michael J. Wood

Chicago-Kent Law Review

A survey of cases where federal courts abstain from hearing cases related to existing state court cases under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) reveals varying approaches and theories underlying those courts’ abstentions. This article attempts to distinguish FDCPA claims related to the validity of the underlying debt from claims arising out of debt collectors’ conduct in collecting a debt, and recommends that federal courts avoid abstaining from the latter. When Congress passed the FDCPA, it intended to provide access to a forum of the consumer’s choice to enforce their rights under the Act by serving as “private attorneys …

Avoiding The Nuclear Option: Balancing Borrower And Lender Rights Under The Truth In Lending Act’S Right Of Rescission , Jonathan L. Caulder

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tesla And The Car Dealers' Lobby, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

Tesla Motors, the offspring of entrepreneur Elon Musk (who brought us Pay-Pal and SpaceX), is the most exciting automotive development in many decades and a marquee story of American technological dynamism and innovation. The company’s luxury electric cars have caused a sensation in the auto industry, including a review by Consumer Reports calling Tesla’s Model S the best car it ever tested. Despite the acclaim, Tesla faces enormous challenges Despite the acclaim, Tesla faces enormous challenges in penetrating an automotive market that has been dominated for a century by internal combustion engines. Not only must it build cars that customers …

Unauthorized Practice Of Law And Meaningful Access To The Courts: Is Law Too Important To Be Left To Lawyers?, Matthew Longobardi

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Century Sur. Co. V. Casino W., Inc., 130 Adv. Nev. Op. 42, Michael Paretti

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The court determined whether two distinct provisions of an insurance policy regarding air pollution were subject to multiple reasonable interpretations.

Summary Of Lavi V. Eighth Judicial District Court, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 38, Danielle Barraza

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined whether waiver of the “one-action rule” of NRS 40.430 terminates the procedural requirements for bringing a deficiency judgment action within six months of foreclosure under NRS 40.455.

Should Section 5 Guidelines Focus On Economic Efficiency Or Consumer Choice?, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright is right that it would be desirable for the Commission to issue Section 5 antitrust guidelines. This article will demonstrate, however, that the best way to formulate Section 5 guidelines is to focus them on the goal of protecting consumer choice, rather than to embrace Commissioner Wright's proposal to neuter the FTC Act by confining it in an economic efficiency straitjacket. Only if Section 5 guidelines were formulated appropriately would they improve consumer welfare during the Commission's second century.

Health And Welfare Preempted: How National Meat Association V. Harris Undermines Federalism, Food Safety, And Animal Protection, Marya Torrez

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released an undercover video filmed at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company and Westland Meat Company (Hallmark/Westland) in Chino, California. "The footage depicted nonambulatory cows being kicked, dragged, electrocuted, jammed with forklifts and sprayed in the nostrils with water to simulate drowning - in an effort to get them to stand up and walk to their slaughter." At least five inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - the federal agency tasked with ensuring that food safety and animal welfare guidelines are followed - were present at the time. The …

A Disclosure-Focused Approach To Compelled Commercial Speech, Andrew C. Budzinski

Michigan Law Review

In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration passed a rule revising compelled disclaimers on tobacco products pursuant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The rule required that tobacco warnings include something new: all tobacco products now had to bear one of nine graphic images to accompany the text. Tobacco companies filed suit contesting the constitutionality of the rule, arguing that the government violated their right to free commercial speech by compelling disclosure of the graphic content. Yet First Amendment jurisprudence lacks a doctrinally consistent standard for reviewing such compelled disclosures. Courts’ analyses typically depend on whether the …

Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland

Faculty Scholarship

Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …

The Future Of Fannie And Freddie, Mark Calabria, David Reiss, Lawrence White, Mark Willis

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This is a transcript of a panel discussion titled, “The Future of Fannie and Freddie.” The panelists were Dr. Mark Calabria from the Cato Institute; Professor David Reiss from Brooklyn Law School; Professor Lawrence White from NYU Stern School of Business; and Dr. Mark Willis from NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. The panel was moderated by Professor Michael Levine from NYU School of Law. Panelists looked at economic policy and future prospects for Fannie and Freddie. The remarks have not been edited by the panelists.

Who Knew? Refining The "Knowability" Standard For The Future Of Potentially Hazardous Technologies, Scott P. Kennedy

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

As consumer technology becomes increasingly complex, so too does the manufacturer’s task in assessing the scope of its duty to warn of potential dangers. A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Rosa v. Taser International, Inc., offers a prime illustration of this challenge through its analysis of a hazard posed by Taser weaponry. The Rosa court highlights a point of uncertainty in this area of law: courts typically determine which hazards were knowable at the time of manufacture as a matter of law, but they sometimes do so in the absence of …