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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

Times Pieces on Telemarketing, the CPSC, and Credit Reports

Posted on February 10, 2008
Recent articles in the Times that bear on consumer law issues include a report in Wednesday's paper, "Papers Show Wachovia Knew of Thefts." Some excerpts: Last spring, Wachovia bank was accused in a lawsuit of allowing fraudulent telemarketers to use...

Credit Card Practices Bill Introduced in House of Representatives

Posted on February 10, 2008
Thanks to Ed Mierzwinski over at U.S. PIRG's Consumer Blog for this excellent post on the introduction last Thursday of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act, H.R. 5244. The bill addresses a number of credit card company practices, including...

Foreclosure Counseling Controversy

Posted on February 08, 2008
by Alan White The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, which represents many of the established non-profit debt advice agencies, dispatched a strongly-worded letter on Wednesday to the HOPE NOW foreclosure prevention alliance. In it, NFCC protests the refusal of the...

Foreclosure update: HOPE NOW report

Posted on February 08, 2008
By Alan White The HOPE NOW alliance has released a 35-page report with a wealth of useful data from mortgage servicers about foreclosures started, sales completed, workouts and loan modifications during 2007. The data are based on a survey covering...

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Ninth Circuit: Private Debt Collectors Under Contract With Prosecutors Are Not Shielded by Sovereign Immunity

Posted on February 07, 2008
by Deepak Gupta Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Marsha Berzon, ruled that American Corrective Counseling Services (ACCS), the nation's largest operator of "check diversion" programs, may not shield itself from...

Consumer Groups Sue Justice Department Over Auto Database

Posted on February 07, 2008
by Deepak Gupta 1992, Congress required the federal government to set up a comprehensive national database covering the title-, theft-, and damage- history of used cars, based on data from insurance companies, junk and salvage yards, and all 50 states...

Fifth Circuit Disapproves of Secret Class Action Fees

Posted on February 07, 2008
by Greg Beck The Decision of the Day covers an interesting Fifth Circuit decision about secret fees in class action settlements. In In re High Sulfer Content Gasoline Products Liability Litigation, Shell Oil had agreed to pay $3.7 million to...

Gang Rape Case Against Haliburton/KBR Sent to Arbitration

Posted on February 06, 2008
According to this ABC News story, a Texas trial judge has sent to arbitration the case of a woman who alleges that she was gang raped by Haliburton/KBR employees while working in Iraq. The judge appears to have reluctantly sent...

The "New Redlining"

Posted on February 06, 2008
The Washington Post reported this weekend on mortgage lenders imposing loan restrictions on entire counties or zip codes considered to be "soft markets." [via Consumerist]

How the candidates stand on the subprime meltdown

Posted on February 05, 2008
Bankrate.com highlights the major-party presidential candidates' stances on the subprime meltdown. Romney, Huckabee, and McCain favor a light touch, perhaps freezing interest rates or offering some aid to borrowers. But they are vague as to what, if anything, they would...

Paper on the Effect of State and Local Anti-Predatory Lending Laws

Posted on February 05, 2008
Raphael W. Bostic of the University of Southern California - School of Policy Planning and Development, Kathleen C. Engel of the Cleveland State University - Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Patricia A. McCoy of Connecticut, and Anthony Pennington-Cross of the Marquette...

Becker and Posner on the Suprime Mortgage Meltdown

Posted on February 04, 2008
The Becker-Posner Blog, written by Law and Economics Guru Richard Posner and the Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker, always offers interesting commentary. In December they took on the suprime mortgage crisis (you can find their posts here, though you have...

Rent to Own in the News

Posted on February 03, 2008
From time to time, articles appear in the media bemoaning the high cost of rent to own transactions. Here is another, from yesterday's Times. This one is a bit unusual in that it contains a suggestion that placing rent-to-own stores...

Texas Supreme Court: Threat or Menace?

Posted on February 03, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court, since the turn of the Millennium, never met a defendant it didn?t like. In an opinion delivered on February 1, it once again proved that to be the case, when it reversed and rendered judgment in...

The mortgage mess explained

Posted on February 03, 2008
The good folks at NEDAP in New York have made a wonderful video of one woman's testimony about how an ordinary, well-educated middle class homeowner can find herself facing foreclosure. We need more first-person accounts from foreclosure victims like this...

Groups to Congress: Make BofA clean up Countrywide

Posted on February 02, 2008
In a February 1 letter, four community development and advocacy groups have called on Congress to hold hearings on the BankofAmerica acquisition of Countrywide, a merger that will make BofA the nation's largest mortgage lender and servicer. The groups want...

CPSC Drags Its Feet on Critical Safety Warnings

Posted on February 01, 2008
A new Public Citizen report, Hazardous Waits: CPSC Lets Crucial Time Pass Before Warning Public About Dangerous Products, takes the Consumer Product Safety Commission to task for failing to compel manufacturers to provide prompt notice of hazardous products and raps...

Attention homeowners: your lender can help you avoid foreclosure

Posted on January 31, 2008
According to a Freddie Mac study, 57% of homeowners are unaware of the workout options that could help them avoid foreclosure. And this is an improvement, up from 61% in 2005. Will the lender actually work something out? It's worth...

Lexis Willing to Abandon Unfair Arbitration Clause

Posted on January 31, 2008
by Paul Bland It?s no secret that Westlaw an Lexis are in a fierce competitive battle for customers and marketshare. In light of this situation, I?ve always been curious that Lexis?s standard contract with law firms contains a long set...

Would you like fries with your mandatory binding arbitration clause?

Posted on January 31, 2008
Stephanie Mencimer at Mother Jones reports on an amazing new low in mandatory binding arbitration: Mandatory arbitration agreements forcing people to give up their rights to sue are now standard fare in everything from cell phone contracts to Hooters? employment...

New Times Reports on Conning the Elderly, FDA Inspections, and Lead in Toys

Posted on January 31, 2008
by Jeff Sovern On Tuesday, the Times reported here about a study that confirms what many consumer lawyers already know about the elderly. Here's the first paragraph of the article: For the especially unscrupulous con artist, the elderly are a...

Where is the mortgage insurance?

Posted on January 31, 2008
by Richard Alderman As a general rule, we read blogs for information. It is a great way to find out what is going on and who is doing what. But a blog is also a great way solicit information--and that...

Consumers Beware -- ABA IP Section Is on the Move

Posted on January 30, 2008
by Paul Alan Levy Corynne McSherry and Eric Goldman have posted a timely joint warning about an effort within the Trademark Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association to put forward a series of resolutions that are apparently designed to...

Arbitrator certifies Class Action

Posted on January 29, 2008
If the purpose of mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts is to prevent class actions, it does not seem to be working. An AAA arbitrator has apparently certified a class of 70 million Verizon wireless subscribers, with damage claims...

MBA & CRL duke it out on Bankruptcy reform

Posted on January 29, 2008
by Alan M. White The Mortgage Bankers Association issued a press release yesterday denouncing the Center for Responsible Lending for misstating facts about foreclosures and loan modifications in its reports. Both groups are trying to influence the bankruptcy legislation being...

Pres. Clinton and Gov. Schwarzenegger Team Up To End Payday Loans

Posted on January 29, 2008
U.S. PIRG's Consumer Blog has this interesting post about a Bill Clinton-Arnold Schwarzenegger op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last week discussing their joint effort to end payday loans. As the PIRG blog summarizes: "They want to terminate demand for...

Mortgage Fraud Enforcement Reportedly Not Keeping Up

Posted on January 27, 2008
by Jeff Sovern I've been meaning to post for some time a link to this story in the Times, "Officials Say They Are Falling Behind on Mortgage Fraud Cases" which ran on Christmas day. An excerpt: The number of mortgage...

Eleventh Circuit Issues Important RESPA Class Action Decision

Posted on January 27, 2008
by Brian Wolfman The Eleventh Circuit's decision in Busby v. JRHBW Realty, No. 06-15308 (Jan. 17, 2008), is worth reading for two reasons. First, in Busby, the district court denied class certification, the plaintiff class sought permissive interlocutory review under...

Does copyright law bar the posting of unflattering cease and desist letters?

Posted on January 26, 2008
by Paul Alan Levy Last fall, Greg Beck blogged here about a law firm's cease and desist letter that demanded suppression of consumer criticisms of Direct Buy, and closed with a threat to sue for copyright if the recipient of...

White House Considering Candidates To Head Consumer Product Safety Commission

Posted on January 26, 2008
by Brian Wolfman Today's Washington Post has this article about the White House's consideration of candidates for Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the government agency charged with protecting the public from potentially dangerous products, ranging from fire-prone mattresses...

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