Consumer Law

Trader Ming?s Peanut Satay: Box v. Contents

Posted on April 16, 2013
I picked up a few “Trader Ming’s” noodle boxes at Trader Joe’s the other day, thinking they would be good for a quick lunch. And the image on the box looked pretty great. The product inside does not really measure up to the cover art, though...

Do Taxes Really Need to Be So Complicated?

Posted on April 15, 2013
If you used TurboTax or went to H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt for your tax preparation this year, you were supporting more-expensive tax filing.The post Do Taxes Really Need to Be So Complicated? appeared first on Caveat Emptor.

The Difference Between Assets and Liabilities

Posted on March 08, 2013
We all assume that having things is the same thing as having wealth. You see someone driving a Mercedes, and assume he or she is wealthy. More often than not, it just means that person has a huge loan payment to make each month. Cash flow is not the same thing as wealth...

Should You Trust Your Lawyer with Your Data?

Posted on March 07, 2013
When you work with a lawyer (or a financial advisor or accountant, for that matter), you almost certainly hand over a lot of confidential information. It may include things like account numbers, birth dates, your social security number, family members’ names ? in short, everything necessary to steal your identity...

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Famous Last ? Tweet?

Posted on March 03, 2013
Last words are automatically interesting, but not automatically significant. This goes double or triple for last tweets, since tweeting is rarely the last thing anyone would think to do before expiring. All the same, The Tweet Hereafter archives last tweets of famous people, just in case they are significant, like the last tweet of Oscar [...

How Monitoring Your Kids on Instagram Could Land You in Jail

Posted on February 28, 2013
Instagram is apparently the teen and tween social network of choice. That means parents who want to do the responsible thing and monitor their children’s Instagram accounts may be tempted to demand that their children “hand over the keys” to their accounts...

Midland Funding Robo-Signing Class Action Settlement Struck Down

Posted on February 26, 2013
Under the terms of the settlement reached in several class actions against Midland Funding for its (apparently past) practice of employing robo-signers to execute affidavits for debt buyer lawsuits, each class member would receive under $20 ? and that’s it...

FTC: 26% of Credit Reports Have Errors, but 95% of Consumers Are Unaffected by Them

Posted on February 15, 2013
It turns out that a comically-large number (26%) of consumer credit reports may have errors. However, 95% of those with errors do not need to worry about them, because those errors do not affect their “credit risk tier.” Or, conversely, only 5% of the consumers with errors on their credit reports were “significant enough” that [...

Elizabeth Warren Comes Out Swinging at Banking Regulators

Posted on February 15, 2013
While there are a lot of people you can blame for the state of the US economy, government regulators are at the top of the list. So it’s satisfying that someone has finally taken them to task. Elizabeth Warren, finally on the Senate Banking Committee where she belongs, had some hard questions for banking regulators [...

The Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act May Cost Americans Billions of Dollars a Year

Posted on February 13, 2013
Americans spend nearly $6 billion on digital music every year, and that number is growing fast. That is an already-huge and fast-growing pile of digital things. But there is a problem with all those digital assets. Even though you can take your digital music, movies, and books with you everywhere you go, they are much [...

Put Free Credit Scores on Congress?s Agenda

Posted on February 13, 2013
Right now, you have a right to a free credit report, but not a free credit score. That’s annoying, because the score is what really matters whenever you apply for credit. Consumer Union wants to make it easier for consumers to get their score, and is putting in motion a grass-roots campaign to put free [...

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act May Cost Americans Billions of Dollars a Year

Posted on February 13, 2013
Americans spend nearly $6 billion on digital music every year, and that number is growing fast. That is an already-huge and fast-growing pile of digital things. But there is a problem with all those digital assets. Even though you can take your digital music, movies, and books with you everywhere you go, they are much [...

How a $1,200 Espresso Machines is Cheaper Than a $120 One

Posted on January 29, 2013
It turns out that less-expensive products aren’t always cheaper in the long run, as we found out when comparing a $529 Nexus One to a $199 (on contract) iPhone. The up-front cost is never as important as the ongoing cost. This holds true even when comparing a $1,200 espresso machine to a $120 one...

Debt Collector FDCPA Prohibitions Checklist

Posted on January 28, 2013
The [Fair Debt Collection Practices Act](http://lawyerist.com/tag/FDCPA/) is basically a checklist for debt collectors, a list of things they must do and things they cannot do. With some regularity, someone actually breaks it up into a list. Consumerist just put together a list of 23 things debt collectors may not do, which includes the obvious: 3...

Avoid Refund Anticipation Loans

Posted on January 19, 2013
It’s a new year, and time to start thinking about taxes. Which means it is also time for another warning about refund anticipation loans. Refund anticipation loans are very similar to payday loans; they are short-term, high-interest loans made in anticipation of future income — your tax refund, in this case...

Should Debt Buyers Have a Higher Burden?

Posted on January 14, 2013
I’ve said as much, and the Minnesota Attorney General thinks so, too. Well, actually, she thinks “a debt buyer should have admissible evidence” to back up its claims. That’s not really a higher burden; it’s what the law requires...

When You Call a Lawyer, Have a Pen and Paper Handy

Posted on January 08, 2013
Never call a lawyer without a pen and paper in front of you. During at least 90% of the calls I receive from people looking for a lawyer, I tell them something they need to write down. These days, it is often the name of a lawyer who can actually help them, since I no [...

Patent Trolls Find More Victims: Scanner Users

Posted on January 02, 2013
Imagine you are a patent troll, holding onto a portfolio of patents you can only assert against a handful of companies. At some point, you start running out of victims. So why not invent some more? That’s what a group of companies with names like AccNum, AllLed, AdzPro, CalNeb, ChaPac, FanPar, FasLan, FulNer, GosNel, and [...

Should Retail Stores Provide Selection or Curation?

Posted on December 28, 2012
While buying gifts this year, I found myself in the monument to consumerism, the Mall of America. To get my bearing, I did a lap to see if I could find what I wanted: a pair of shoes and an insulated travel mug for my wife. Although there were dozens of stores at which I [...

Wells Fargo Finally Adds Mobile Payments to its Horrible iOS and Android Apps

Posted on November 29, 2012
Wells Fargo has finally added mobile deposits to its piss-poor app for iOS and Android. On the one hand, this is awesome. Making deposits using the camera on your iPhone or Android phone is way more convenient than going to a branch — especially if you don’t have a branch nearby...

Scranton, PA, Outsources Garbage Bill Collection, Gets Flood of Complaints

Posted on November 15, 2012
Sometimes administrative errors cause real problems for real people. From Consumerist: Typically, the notices of delinquent bills get mailed in late January to mid-February, but this year there was a transition to a new collection agency, which delayed the process...

RIAA Celebrates 15-Year Jail Sentence for 5 Copied Movies and 1 CD

Posted on November 13, 2012
The case, which was investigated by the Attorney General?s office and Hazlehurst Police Department, eventually saw King plead guilty to the sale of the five DVDs and one CD. But despite his apparent cooperation, King received the harshest sentence for a copyright infringement offense that we?ve ever seen...

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Due to Our Blackout Policy

Posted on November 12, 2012
The revolution will not be televised, but if you have a cable subscription, you can log in to WatchRevolutions.com and use their authenticator to watch the revolution. Just provide your username and password, and you will have access to the revolution live, plus alternate angles, commentary, and the ability to share your login with up [...

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Posted on November 06, 2012
Harvard law professor, originator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and consumer-advocate-in-chief Elizabeth Warren will be a U.S. senator. Senator Elizabeth Warren is a post from Caveat EmptorSenator Elizabeth Warren is a post from Caveat Emptor The post Senator Elizabeth Warren appeared first on Caveat Emptor.

Supreme Court to Decide Whether a Defendant Can Get Costs Under the FDCPA

Posted on October 31, 2012
Everyone agrees that a consumer plaintiff who prevails in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit is entitled to get his or her attorney fees and costs paid by the debt collector defendant. But in Marx v. General Revenue Corporation, the question is whether, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a debt collector can [...

?Browsewrap? Agreement Found Unenforceable

Posted on October 31, 2012
Before you get all excited, this decision is just one federal district court judge’s opinion. That said, here’s the deal. The Zappos website had a little link at the bottom to its terms of use, which said that, by merely browsing the website, you agree to submit to mandatory binding arbitration of any disputes ? [...

American Bar Association Didn?t Want the CFPB to Look After Debt Collection Lawyers

Posted on October 26, 2012
According to the National Law Journal*, the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section filed comments (PDF) with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau objecting to its latest move to assume jurisdiction over debt collectors ? plenty of which are lawyers and law firms...

CFPB Turns its Eye to Debt Collectors

Posted on October 24, 2012
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it would finally start taking a good, hard look at the debt collection industry. It’s about time. Few industries need the attention more. The CFPB also released 3 resources (all in PDF format): A fact sheet on its move to take on debt collection oversight A copy [...

Gurstel Chargo?s ?Accountability Matters? Campaign

Posted on October 15, 2012
For as often as I represented people sued by Gurstel Chargo or sued Gurstel Chargo for FDCPA violations, I’m shocked at how little I wrote about one of Minnesota’s busiest debt collection law firms. I actually know the marketer (a lovely person, actually) who came up with Gurstel’s current marketing campaign, and I chuckled when [...

PayPal Puts the Kibosh on Class Actions

Posted on October 04, 2012
PayPal is the latest to join a growing list of companies (including eBay) who want to keep consumers out of courts and class actions. You can opt out of mandatory binding arbitration, at least, but you’ll be stuck with the class action ban either way...

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