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Allison Zieve
Allison Zieve is the director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and Public Citizen's Supreme Court Assistance Project.
Recent Activity
Consumers lost more than $200 million to romance scams in 2019
The Federal Trade Commission reports that consumers reported losing $201 million to romance scams in 2019—up nearly 40% since 2018. The total reflects complaint submitted to the FTC by more than 25,000 consumers. Continue reading
Posted 3 days ago at CL&P Blog
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Consumer Reports article on expansion of forced arbitration into consumer products
Arbitration clauses, ubiquitous in financial and telecom services, are increasingly used by sellers of consumer products such as dishwashers and televisions. To get a sense of how often, Consumer Reports looked at the top-selling brands in the 10 product categories... Continue reading
Posted Jan 30, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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How Facebook stalks you — even when you’re not using Facebook
A column in the Washington Post today explains Facebook's new "Off-Facebook Activity" tool and suggests privacy settings you can change. Ever suspect the Facebook app is listening to you? What we now know is even creepier. Facebook is giving us... Continue reading
Posted Jan 28, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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Call for papers on consumer law
The Montana Law Review is seeking papers on consumer law for a symposium to be held next September: The Montana Law Review invites submissions for the 2020 biennial Browning Symposium at the University of Montana’s Blewett School of Law. The... Continue reading
Posted Jan 27, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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Briefing on the constitutionality of the CFPB
The briefing is almost complete in Seila Law. v. Consumer Financial Protection Agency. In that case, the Supreme Court will consider whether the structure of the CFPB, which was established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010, violates... Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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How protective orders impede public safety
Reuters reports on how protective orders sealing evidence about defective cars, drugs, and other products from public view can hide health and safety information from the public and impede government agencies -- such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission and... Continue reading
Posted Jan 17, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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Robocalls up 22% in 2019
The Hill reports: Roughly 58.5 billion robocalls were made in the U.S. last year, according to new research, marking a 22 percent increase from 2018. YouMail, a company that provides a service to block robocalls, estimated that the average American... Continue reading
Posted Jan 16, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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Apps are sharing your personal information. Are they violating data privacy laws?
A report released Tuesday by the Norwegian Consumer Council, a government-funded nonprofit organization in Oslo, describes how apps on our phones systematically violate users’ privacy collecting and sharing information with third-party advertisers without users’ knowledge or consent. The report "demonstrate[s]... Continue reading
Posted Jan 14, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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New report on safety risks faced by travelers and limits on their legal rights
The Center for Justice & Democracy at New York Law School has released a report examining both safety risks and disappearing legal rights for commuters and business travelers. The study presents an overview of some of the most common yet... Continue reading
Posted Jan 7, 2020 at CL&P Blog
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Senate report faults CPSC for failure to recall dangerous products
An investigation by Senator Cantwell's oversight staff found that a "series of high-profile failures to effectively recall dangerous products has called into question the ability of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to adequately protect American consumers from unsafe... Continue reading
Posted Dec 20, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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California's consumer privacy law takes effect on January 1
The Washington Post today reports on the expected effect of California's consumer privacy law, which was enacted in June 2018 and takes effect on January 1, 2020. The law aims to protect consumers from having their information sold without their... Continue reading
Posted Dec 19, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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Investigation into the smartphone tracking industry
The New York Times has a lengthy piece today on location tracking through smartphones. Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions... Continue reading
Posted Dec 19, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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Advances or payday loans?
An article in The Atlantic yesterday reported on apps that offer "advances" on salary. Although the companies that offer the apps insist that the advances are not "loans," the article explains that the companies look a lot like payday lenders.... Continue reading
Posted Dec 19, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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"The Decade Class Actions Were Gutted"
An article in Slate today addresses the Supreme Court's cases greatly restricting the availability of class actions as a recourse for the powerless against the powerful, largely through an atextual expansion of the Federal Arbitration Act. As the article notes,... Continue reading
Posted Dec 18, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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Dep't of Education's continuing efforts to withhold full relief for students defrauded by Corinthian Colleges
NPR reports today on Secretary Betsy DeVos's decision to overrule the decision to forgive the federal student loans of students defrauded by now-defunct Corinthian Colleges and ITT. The story is here. Also today, the Department announced a new methodology for... Continue reading
Posted Dec 11, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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FTC settles deceptive advertising charges against University of Phoenix
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has settled with the University of Phoenix and its parent company, Apollo Education Group, for a record $191 million to resolve FTC charges that the school used deceptive advertisements that falsely touted... Continue reading
Posted Dec 10, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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House passes anti-robocall bill
By a vote of 417-3, the House of Representatives today passed a bill restricting robocalls. The TRACED Act would require phone companies to block robocalls without charging customers any extra money, require most carriers in the U.S. ensure that calls... Continue reading
Posted Dec 5, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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Dept of Education discloses that it tried to collect from even more Corinthian Colleges students -- in violation of a court order
The Department of Education stated in a court filing this week that it had pursued 29,000 more former Corinthian Colleges students for federal student loan payments than it had previously identified, despite a court order barring collection. As we noted... Continue reading
Posted Dec 5, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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OCC to propose new rules on Community Reinvestment Act
In mid December, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will propose new regulations, substantially revising its rules under the Community Reinvestment Act. The 1977 Act is aimed at combating redlining, or racial bias in lending, requires banks to... Continue reading
Posted Nov 26, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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Rule implementing a new Texas law against surprise medical billing may narrow the law's protections
Texas enacted a law in 2019 to protect people in state-regulated health plans from surprise medical billing -- that is, outrageous bills for out-of-network care. The law, which goes into effect in January, creates an arbitration process for insurers and... Continue reading
Posted Nov 26, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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CFPB's regulatory agenda for 2020
The CFPB's list of rules that it intends to propose or to finalize in the next year is now posted, here. The two rules it expects to finalize this spring are a rule rescinding the 2017 payday lending regulation issued... Continue reading
Posted Nov 22, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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"Trump Administration Declares Open Season on Consumers for Subprime Lenders"
At CreditSlips, Professor Adam Levitin writes that a rule proposed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency "provides that nonbank assignees of loans from banks may charge whatever interest rate the bank may charge." In effect, the... Continue reading
Posted Nov 18, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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FTC sues to stop student-loan debt-relief scam
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it obtained a temporary restraining order halting an operation that bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by pretending to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education and falsely promising student loan... Continue reading
Posted Nov 13, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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Bipartisan bill would ban high-cost loans
In 2006, Congress enacted the Military Lending Act, which protects active duty troops by capping interest rates at 36% and provides other safeguards. Now, some members of Congress want to expand those safeguards to protect everyone from high-interest paydays loans... Continue reading
Posted Nov 7, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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FTC issues guide on advertising disclosures for online influencers
Yesterday, the FTC released guide setting forth rules for when and how online influencers should disclose sponsorships to their followers. The guide is here. Continue reading
Posted Nov 6, 2019 at CL&P Blog
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