Consumer Law

CL&P Roundup

By Deepak Gupta

by Deepak Gupta

• Banks Pressure Consumers As Overdraft Deadline Nears: Facing an August 15th deadline for existing bank customers to opt in to high-cost overdraft programs, bankers are using aggressive, often misleading marketing to target the most vulnerable cusomers, according to a new report. [Center for Responsible Lending]

•  Kagan and Consumer Issues: Do we know anything about near-Justice Elena Kagan's views on consumer law and policy, or on particular issues like preemption, arbitration, or class actions?  The answer, in my view, is no--not really. One journalist predicts Justice Kagan will be a pro-regulation "pocketbook pragmatist."  

• The Justice That Wasn't.  At least one of Kagan's fellow shortlisters, by contrast, had a significant paper trial on consumer issues. Judge Diane Wood of the Seventh Circuit, a prolific scholar, has written knowledgeably about the problems of mandatory arbitration in the consumer context: "The problems we are encountering today have come as arbitration has expanded to two new areas: consumer transactions, and statutory claims. If arbitration is to play a significant role in the enforcement of public law, then arbitration itself must become more publicly accountable." Maybe she'll get the next seat?