CL&P Blog: Consumer Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Consumer Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Houlihan Smith?s Phony Invocation of Trademark Law Fails to Keep Criticism off the Web

Posted on May 10, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy It?s an old story, sad to say. Bank waltzes into court, represented by a big firm, decrying damage to its interests and demanding immediate relief, but giving no notice to the other side, and walks out...

Mike Konczal on Why Preemption of State Consumer Law is a Bad Idea

Posted on May 10, 2010
Here. It's an excellent summary of the argument.

More on the Progress of the Financial Reform Legislation in the Senate

Posted on May 08, 2010
Here.

Remember to Check Out the Financial Reform Scorecard

Posted on May 07, 2010
The Senate continues to vote on amendments from all sides on the financial reform legislation. Learn about each amendment and how each Senator voted, as U.S. PIRG's excellent scorecard begins to fill out.

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Consumer and Privacy Advocates Ask the FTC to Go After Facebook

Posted on May 06, 2010
The Electronic Privacy Information Center and more than a dozen other consumer and privacy advocacy groups have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Facebook regularly violates its users privacy rights by providing users' personal information to...

The Status of Financial Reform in the Senate

Posted on May 06, 2010
This article in today's New York Times explains a push by Senate "liberals" to amend the pending financial reform legislation to break up the large banks and to audit the Federal Reserve, among other things. It notes that some Republican...

Elizabeth Warren on the CFPA on Colbert

Posted on May 05, 2010
Here. A highlight: Colbert, after noting that we already have bank regulators, asked why we need both belts and suspenders. The reply: "Right now, we don't have any pants on." (HT: New Deal 2.0).

D.C. Council To Pass Landmark School Nutrition Legislation

Posted on May 03, 2010
The first page of today's Washington Post has this article on the D.C. Council's consideration this coming Tuesday of the nation's most far reaching school nutrition legislation. Among other things, it will mandate low-fat, low calorie school meals, and ban...

The Shadow Terms: Contract Procedure and Unilateral Amendments

Posted on May 02, 2010
David Horton of Loyola Law School has an interesting and timely new article in the UCLA Law Review exploring the increasing phenomenon of companies using the authority of blanket "change-in-terms" provisions to unilaterally revise the terms of consumer contracts, often...

Recall News

Posted on May 02, 2010
Kids' Tylenol and similar kids' products have been recalled because they may be more potent than alleged on the product label. Go here for the April 2010 product recalls from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Poll About Supreme Court Nominee Released

Posted on April 30, 2010
by Brian Wolfman This story reviews a Washington Post-ABC News poll that shows that a majority of the public thinks prior judicial experience is the single most important qualification for appointment to the Supreme Court. That's understandable, don't you think?...

Bullying Critics and Suppressing Competition Not Enough to Keep Video Professor in Business

Posted on April 30, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy Video Professor, notorious for filing lawsuits against message boards and message board posters to suppress criticisms of its sales practices, and for filing spurious trademark actions to prevent effective competition, is apparently teetering on the edge...

U.S. PIRG's Financial Reform Legislative Scorecard

Posted on April 30, 2010
U.S. PIRG has issued a handy legislative scorecard that lists all of the likely amendments to the Senate Financial Reform legislation and its position on each.

Jeff Gelles on "Click and Trick"

Posted on April 29, 2010
Here and here. The practice, sometimes called "data pass," refers to a transaction in which a consumer deliberately purchases something on the web and then agrees to a second transaction without realizing it because the consumer's credit card information is...

Supreme Court Decides Stolt-Neilsen: No Class Arbitration Where Clause is "Silent"

Posted on April 27, 2010
by Deepak Gupta The opinions are here. The vote is 5-3. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas. Justice Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Stevens and Breyer. Justice...

The US News Rankings, Employment Statistics, and Consumer Protection

Posted on April 27, 2010
by Jeff Sovern In ranking law schools, US News takes into account the percentage of students who are employed at graduation and nine months after graduation. This has led to reports that are interesting, to say the least. For example,...

Rent-an-Arbitrator

Posted on April 27, 2010
by Deepak Gupta It's been a pretty busy week for arbitration issues at the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the Court heard oral argument in Rent-a-Center v. Jackson, a potentially very important arbitration case that I've discussed here before. (Disclosure: We're co-counsel...

Foreclosure Stories and Goldman Sachs

Posted on April 26, 2010
The Wall Street Journal has an excellent piece telling the stories of several foreclosed homeowners whose mortgages were included in the infamous Abacus deal that has Goldman Sachs in hot water. The SEC charge is that Goldman sold investors a...

13 Bankers vs 13 Consumer Advocates

Posted on April 25, 2010
by Jeff Sovern I've been listening to the audio version of Simon Johnson and James Kwak's excellent book, 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. The book describes how financial institutions used their power, beginning in...

The President's Speech Today

Posted on April 22, 2010
by Jeff Sovern I was lucky enough to be invited to attend President Obama's speech at Cooper Union today on financial reform, thanks to the thoughtfullness of Norm Silber of Hofstra. Here's what the President said about the CFPA: [T]his...

Jeff Gelles Column About How a Bank May Have Misrepesented Debit Card Law

Posted on April 21, 2010
by Jeff Sovern Here's the column, and follow up posts can be found here and here. Basically, someone made unauthorized charges of $5,208 to a couple's bank account in December, as reflected in the bank's statement which came in January....

Another Supreme Court Victory for Consumers: Ignorance of the Law Doesn't Excuse Collection Abuses

Posted on April 21, 2010
by Deepak Gupta In an opinion by Justice Sotomayor, the U.S. Supreme Court this morning handed consumers an important victory in the battle against abusive and deceptive debt-collection practices. The Court ruled 7-2 that debt collectors who violate the Fair...

Vision Media's Claims Panned by NPR; Will Hugh Downs Stand Up for His Principles?

Posted on April 21, 2010
by Paul Alan Levy I have posted recently the efforts of Vision Media TV Group to use litigation to suppress critical speech on 800Notes, an online online message board devoted to comments about unwanted marketing calls. Vision Media seeks to...

FDA Planning to Establish Legal Limits on Salt in Foods

Posted on April 20, 2010
The lead story in today's Washington Post explains that the Food and Drug Administration, citing health concerns, plans to limit the amount of salt in foods. Given that only 6% of salt intake comes from salt added at the table...

Moral Hazard, Strategic Default and Debt Reduction

Posted on April 20, 2010
By Alan White Opponents of mortgage debt reduction, with or without taxpayer subsidies, often invoke moral hazard and strategic default. They argue that if delinquent borrowers are offered the chance to have part of their debt canceled to prevent foreclosure,...

The Transportation Department's $16.4 Million Fine Against Toyota and the Need for a Vibrant Civil Justice System

Posted on April 19, 2010
by Brian Wolfman Today's news reports bring word that, after mulling its options for weeks, Toyota is expected to agree to pay a $16.4 million fine levied by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), which charged Toyota with hiding information...

R.J. Reynolds Test Marketing Nicotine "Pez," Trying to Lure Kids

Posted on April 19, 2010
by Brian Wolfman It seems that the tobacco industry is still trying to hook kids. As the New York Time explains here: "A research study and editorial to be published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics takes direct aim at...

Arbitration clause naming NAF as arbitrator is unenforceable.

Posted on April 19, 2010
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas has held that an arbitration agreement naming NAF as the arbitrator was unenforceable. In light of the substantial number of contract containing similar clauses, this may be just one...

AARP Financial Reform Bill Music

Posted on April 19, 2010
Here.

Moralizing Bankers

Posted on April 18, 2010
By Alan White Last week the chief executives of JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo home lending wrote to Congress, and decried the danger and immorality of forgiving debts. Specifically, they protested that any effort to compel...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...