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Judgment reinstated against Wells Fargo in overdraft fee case
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California this week reinstated a $203 million judgment against Wells Fargo for slapping hefty overdraft fees on consumers by manipulating the order in which their charges posted to their accounts in... Continue reading
Posted May 16, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Expanded FTC protection for kids' information online to go into effect July 1
As the Blog of the Legal Times reported, the FTC sent letters to almost 100 companies letting them know about revisions to the regulations implementing the Childen's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a statute that regulates the collection of information... Continue reading
Posted May 15, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Court denies cert in Zinni
Good news: this morning the Supreme Court denied a debt collector's cert. petition in Convergent Outsourcing v. Zinni, a case Greg reviewed in detail last week here. Continue reading
Posted May 13, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Jon Stewart on MERS and wrongful foreclosures
Here. Continue reading
Posted May 10, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Pro Publica investigates intern practices
As Pro Publica explains, "In April 2010, the Department of Labor released a six-point test to help determine whether an internship in the for-profit sector qualifies to be unpaid under federal law. One of the key criteria is that the... Continue reading
Posted May 9, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Health care price disparities
Check out this article about some revealing data released this week comparing hospital pricing. For the first time, the federal government [released] the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been... Continue reading
Posted May 9, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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The "retirement crisis" and some eye-opening data about Americans' savings
The main point of this Washington Post column is to describe the looming danger facing retirees with insufficient savings, and to suggest one possible answer (a supplement to Social Security). But I found the column most interesting for its discussion... Continue reading
Posted May 8, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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A good deal for Facebook, a bad deal for privacy and for kids
Today Public Citizen filed objections to the proposed class action settlement in Fraley v. Facebook, which concerns Facebook's practice of using the images of their millions of users, without their knowledge or consent, to sell advertising. Specifically, through Facebook's "Sponsored... Continue reading
Posted May 2, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Why Genesis is a problem
Brian argues, based on Justice Kagan's excellent dissent (which is quite good and worth a read), that Genesis won't have much effect. My view is different. Justice Kagan effectively skewers the majority opinion for its failure to address the crucial... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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(BREAKING) Bad Supreme Court decision on FLSA collective actions
This morning, in Genesis HealthCare v. Symczyk, the Supreme Court held that defendants in a Fair Labor Standards Act case can defeat the certification of a collective action by making an offer of complete relief to the named plaintiff before... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Petition to appeal denial of class cert tests scope of Comcast
Today, Public Citizen, working with co-counsel at Thomas & Solomon LLP of Rochester, N.Y., and O’Hara, O’Connell & Ciotoli of Fayetteville, N.Y., filed a petition to appeal the class certification denial in Roach v. T.L. Cannon Corp., a wage-and-hour class... Continue reading
Posted Apr 12, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Smoking bans and housing
Following up on Brian's post yesterday about employment discimination against smokers, consider California's proposed ban on smoking in apartment buildings and other attached dwellings, discussed here by the Huffington Post (with a headline framing the ban critically) and here by... Continue reading
Posted Apr 2, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Expansion of CFPB consumer complaint database
From a CFPB press release this morning: Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) goes live with the nation’s largest public database of federal consumer financial complaints, opening up to consumers across the country information on more than 90,000 individual... Continue reading
Posted Mar 28, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Fourth Circuit opinion limits scope of preemption of consumer remedies
Yesterday's decision from the Fourth Circuit in McCauley v. Home Loan Investment Bank cabins the preemptive scope of the Home Owners' Loan Act and associated regulations to pre-Dodd Frank consumer claims (Dodd-Frank has changed the legal landscape going forward, but... Continue reading
Posted Mar 26, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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NPR on the earned income tax credit
One month before federal tax filing day, here's a helpful primer on an important redistributive aspect of our tax system. Continue reading
Posted Mar 15, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Mixed signals from the administration today on environmental protection
On one hand, Bloomberg reports, the President is going to require federal agencies to consider their activities' impact on climate change. On the other, the Post reports, the administration may delay power plant regulations. Continue reading
Posted Mar 15, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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American University law school announces student debt project
From the program's website: The Women and the Law Program’s new Student Debt and Education Justice Project will address the causes and consequences of student debt, particularly for low-income students by engaging in legal and policy advocacy and research. Promised... Continue reading
Posted Mar 12, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Justices Sotomayor and Kagan in the spotlight
This has been a revealing week for President Obama's two appointees to the Supreme Court, who are becoming two of the strongest voices on the Court. On Monday, Justice Sotomayor made national headlines with her opinion regarding a denial of... Continue reading
Posted Feb 28, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Supreme Court rules unsuccessful FDCPA plaintiffs must pay opponents' costs
The Supreme Court held today that an unsuccessful FDCPA plaintiff in a non-frivolous case must pay the defendant's costs (which could be hundreds or occasionally, as in this case, thousands of dollars), even though the statute's text provides for attorney-fee-... Continue reading
Posted Feb 26, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Narrow Supreme Court standing decision in surveillance case
In a 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court held that lawyers, journalists and human-rights workers whose work requires that they communicate with individuals abroad whose communications the federal government is likely to target under its broad new surveillance authority lack... Continue reading
Posted Feb 26, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Sixth Circuit strikes down inadequate robo-signing class action settlement
A number of significant legal opinions were released today on procedural and/or substantive issues affecting consumers. We'll be highlighting each of them in turn today. First, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a settlement of three class action... Continue reading
Posted Feb 26, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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An astonishing arbitration decision in an age of astonishing arbitration decisions
Why do courts enforce mandatory arbitration clauses? Because the contracting parties agreed to them, the courts tell us. Not this time. A Florida intermediate appellate court held earlier this month that an arbitration clause was enforceable in a wrongful death... Continue reading
Posted Feb 18, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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$35 million fraud settlement in Florida
From a DOJ press release: "Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a publicly traded mortgage servicing company based in Jacksonville, Fla., has agreed to pay $35 million in criminal penalties and forfeiture to address its participation in a six-year scheme to... Continue reading
Posted Feb 18, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Forced arbitration of claim on behalf of non-party to arbitration agreement
In light of the steady march toward maximum judicial enforcement of arbitration clauses, perhaps nothing should surprise us anymore, but a recent federal district court decision caught the eyes of several of us here at CL&P Blog. This decision, from... Continue reading
Posted Feb 14, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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Marco Rubio channels Elizabeth Warren... for just a moment
As the New York Times pointed out (as we noted yesterday), Republicans have continued to oppose the work (and existence) of the CFPB. So I was a little surprised to hear Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's State of the Union response... Continue reading
Posted Feb 13, 2013 at CL&P Blog
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