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Consumer Law

CL&P Blog

The contributors to this blog are a diverse group of lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. Although the blog is hosted by Public Citizen's Consumer Justice Project, the views expressed here are solely those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Post Frequency: 15.1/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 11:13:04

NCLC Publishes Report on the Role of the States Under the Dodd-Frank Act

Posted on December 30, 2010
The National Consumer Law Center has published this helpful nine-page report on the role of the states (and those seeking to enforce state law) under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The Report covers two...

Obama Administration Announces Final Meat Labeling Rules

Posted on December 29, 2010
The LA Times explains: Coming soon to a grocery store near you: Those nutrition labels slapped on everything from cereal to soda pop will soon be required on packages of meat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday morning that...

The Inefficiency of Gift Giving Vol. II

Posted on December 29, 2010
We discussed here the inefficiency of gift giving. Now, the Consumerist tells us that "Amazon has patented a system that could intercept the yet another sweater Aunt Janice has sent you and automatically return it and exchange it for something...

Unsealed Google Brief in Rosetta Stone Appeal Shows Baselessness of Original Redactions

Posted on December 28, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy Over the past couple of months, I have discussed the heavily redacted filings in Rosetta Stone?s appeal of a ruling that Google did not violate the trademark laws by allowing advertisers to bid on the display...

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Local Community Radio Act Gets Congressional Approval After 10-Year Battle

Posted on December 28, 2010
The Local Community Radio Act won Congressional approval last week after a 10-year battle led by groups such as the Prometheus Radio Project, which is dedicated to "freeing the airwaves from corporate control." Basically, the legislation will enable the FCC...

The Inefficiency of Gift Giving

Posted on December 25, 2010
And how a bunch of 7th graders dealt with it.

U.S. PIRG's 25th Annual "Trouble in Toyland" Report

Posted on December 25, 2010
Yeah, we should have told you about this before Christmas! But read U.S. PIRG's 2010 "Trouble in Toyland" Report anyway. It's PIRG's 25th annual survey of toy safety, in which the group guides consumers when purchasing toys for small children...

Carey Alexander Paper on the Meaning of "Abusive" in the Dodd-Frank Act

Posted on December 25, 2010
I've never before posted to the Blog a link to a paper written by one of my students, but this paper deserves to be seen by those interested in the Dodd-Frank Act. Carey Alexander has written Abusive: Dodd-Frank Section 1031...

Toyota Sudden-Acceleration Lawsuits and Brake Override Technology

Posted on December 23, 2010
It has been a while since we've posted on the Toyota sudden-acceleration issue. This LA Times article discusses an individual lawsuit filed by the parents of a woman killed when, despite allegedly applying the brakes, her Toyota allegedly accelerated and...

House Passes Food Safety Overhaul; Bill Goes to President Obama for His Signature

Posted on December 22, 2010
The House of Representatives yesterday passed a broad overhaul of the nation's food safety laws, which sends the bill (already passed by the Senate) to the President for his signature. Among other things, the bill gives the Food and Drug...

Si Lazarus and Randy Barnett Debate the Constitutionality of the Health Care Mandate on C-SPAN

Posted on December 22, 2010
Si Lazarus of the National Senior Citizens Law Center says the Health Care mandate is constitutional; Randy Barnett of Georgetown Law School says it isn't. Go here to watch the debate.

Time-Barred Debts

Posted on December 22, 2010
Over at Credit Slips, Nathalie Martin has this interesting post on the New Mexico Attorney General's new rule requiring a debt collector to determine whether a debt it is seeking to collect is time barred and to disclose time-barred debt...

Are Suits Aimed at Disabling the Health Care Reform Legislation Based on 21st Century "Lochnerism"?

Posted on December 22, 2010
Si Lazarus of the National Senior Citizens Law Center says yes.

Fed Proposes Rules to Expand Applicability of Regs Z and M to Transactions Up to $50,000

Posted on December 17, 2010
At present, Regs Z and M apply only to transactions of up to $25,000 (except that Reg Z also applies to mortgages, of course). That means consumers taking out large car loans or entering into expensive car leases, say, aren't...

HAMP Homeowner Bailout . . . money goes to banks, mostly

Posted on December 17, 2010
On November 30, Treasury finally began reporting how much it is actually paying out for foreclosure prevention to various banks and servicers (HAMP Incentive Payments 11-30-10). So far $728 million has been paid out to encourage mortgage modifications and prevent...

Causes of the Financial Crisis

Posted on December 15, 2010
by Jeff Sovern The Republican Commissioners on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission have issued their preliminary findings and conclusions on the causes of the financial crisis in a document titled ?Financial Crisis Primer: Questions and Answers on the Causes of...

Rosetta Stone v. Google Appeal Shows Erosion of the Public Right of Access to Judicial Records

Posted on December 14, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy For more than three decades, the courts have recognized a general policy under both the common law and the First Amendment under which judicial records ? both briefs that argue how judges should resolve cases, and...

More on Judge Henry Hudson's Decision Finding the Health Care Mandate Unconstitutional

Posted on December 14, 2010
Even conservative legal academics who think the mandate is unconstitutional acknowledge that Judge Hudson's reasoning is flawed because it rendered the necessary-and-proper clause superfluous. See page 24 of the decision. Ht to Brendan McTaggart.

Federal Judge Holds Health Care Law's Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional

Posted on December 13, 2010
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson has held the national health care law's insurance mandate unconstitutional on the ground that it exceeds Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause. Read about it here and here. The judge's ruling is here. Other courts...

Lenders Starting to Extend Credit to Risky Borrowers Again

Posted on December 13, 2010
In the wake of the recession's massive nationwide credit default, banks largely stopped lending to relative risky consumers -- that is, to middle and lower income people who have trouble paying their bills as soon as they lose their jobs...

CFPB Will Focus On Better Disclosures To Consumers

Posted on December 13, 2010
Elizabeth Warren is at the Treasury Department setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She sat down with the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary and explained that, at least at first, the CFPB's priority will be clearer and simpler disclosures...

Jenzabar Loses Attempt to Suppress Critical Web Site Through Abusive Trademark Claim

Posted on December 10, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy In a ruling this week, a Massachusetts trial judge upheld the free speech rights of a documentary filmmaking company against an effort by a Massachusetts software company to use trademark litigation to punish the filmmakers for...

Geithner's solution for Robosigning: Don't Fund Legal Aid for Homeowners

Posted on December 10, 2010
The Nation reports on a little-noted controversy between Ohio's Congressional delegation and Treasury Secretary Geithner, about whether states can use the Hardest Hit Fund (TARP money set aside for states clobbered by the crisis) to fund legal aid and counseling...

Can a seller be a FDCPA "consumer"?

Posted on December 09, 2010
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies only to "debts," defined as: any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject...

Foreclosure Deed may be Voided by Mortgage Transfer or Servicing Problems

Posted on December 08, 2010
A Federal District Court, in a December 7 order, has denied a motion to dismiss a homeowner's lawsuit to set aside the nonjudicial Missouri foreclosure sale based on a deed of trust, based on allegations that 1) the homeowner was...

Supreme Court to Hear Credit Card Case Tomorrow Morning

Posted on December 07, 2010
Tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court will hear Chase Bank USA v. James A. McCoy, a case involving the interpretation of consumer notice requirements imposed on banks under the federal Truth-in-Lending Act. Public Citizen attorney Greg Beck will argue on behalf...

Letter to the Times on Consumer Class Actions

Posted on December 07, 2010
The Times recently published my letter to the editor. Class-Action Lawsuits To the Editor: Re "The Arbitration War" (editorial, Nov. 27): The legal issues before the Supreme Court in AT&T v. Concepcion may seem complex, but what's really at stake...

Does Anybody Read Disclosures?

Posted on December 06, 2010
by Jeff Sovern More and more anecdotal information is surfacing to supplement the empirical data indicating that consumers don't read disclosures. According to Above the Law and Josh Blackman's blog, 7th Circuit Judge and former Chicago Law Professor Easterbrook stated...

Why Rosetta Stone?s Attack on Google?s Keyword Advertising Program Should Be Rejected

Posted on December 06, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy In a brief filed today, Public Citizen argues to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that trademark law does not prevent Google from selling keyword advertising for display when Internet users conduct...

Supreme Court Grants Cert in Major Class-Action Case, Rewrites Question

Posted on December 06, 2010
by Deepak Gupta This morning, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a closely watched class-action case from the Ninth Circuit, Wal-Mart v. Dukes. Although Dukes is an employment case, involving allegations of gender discrimination -- it's been called the largest...

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