Category Archives: Consumer Law

Identity Theft is Real and Scary. So What Are You Going To Do About It?

21 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Law, Consumer Privacy, Identity Theft

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Security Tip (ST05-019) – Preventing and Responding to Identity Theft, United States Computer-Readiness Team (with hat tip to Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog) t.(Original release date: September 17, 2008 | Last revised: January 31, 2017)

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST05-019

I would love to stick my head in the sand, and pretend that identity theft does not exist. It is a foolish reaction to a real threat, especially after the recent Equifax hack.

Some people think that, if they do not use the Internet to pay their bills or make purchases, they are safe. I wish that were true; it isn’t. Hackers are more sophisticated, which means we should take additional precautions.

This security tip will help, and there is another link to an earlier tip that is likewise helpful. I encourage you to research further and take whatever precautions you deem necessary. -CCE

What Defenses Are Possible If Someone Wants Out of An Auto Lease Contract?

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Consumer Contracts, Consumer Law, Contract Defenses, Contract Law

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 Auto Leases and Contract Defenses, by Nancy Kim, ContractsProf Blog

http://nyti.ms/2eeoaqk

The New York Times ran this article today about car leases and how difficult it is to get out of them.  The article discusses one auto lessee who found that she had a medical condition that prevented her from driving.  When she tried to get out of her lease with Ford, she was told that there was no way that she could escape her obligations unless she joined the military or died.

Which brings me to contract defenses . . . .

By Playing Facebook “Test,” How Much Private Personally Identifiable Information Did You Inadvertently Reveal?

26 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by in Consumer Privacy, Facebook, Privacy, Social Media

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Facebook “Most Used Words” App as Privacy Lesson,  by Adam Levin, Huffington Post Blog

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-levin/facebook-most-used-words_b_8651034.html

If you spend any time on Facebook, no doubt you have noticed an assortment of games or tests meant to reveal something about your personality. Have you ever wondered how much personal information you reveal about yourself, your friends, or  other privacy details? If not, you should, as well as how it could be used to your detriment.

Conversely, if your intent was to obtain research on that individual, how much information did it reveal? -CCE

If you have an account on Facebook, you may have noticed posts featuring a nicely designed cloud comprised of the words your Facebook friends use most often. It’s powered by an app from a company called Vonvon, and it’s been getting a lot of attention this week from consumer privacy experts.

The reason this app has privacy hawks screeching is simple: it grabs an enormous amount of personally identifiable information and private details about Facebook users for way too little in return.

In exchange for a graphically-appealing cloud featuring the names of your children and/or significant others, pets, the stuff of warm-hearted Aws and Ohs — and, let’s not forget, potential answers to security questions that might allow a clever fraudster to execute an account takeover — the app seems to get virtually everything there is to know about you. . . .

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Canada To Start Using Plain Language For Drug Labels.

03 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Canada, Consumer Law, Plain Language

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Plain Language Labeling Regulations to Take Effect in Canada, by Michael Mezher, Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society™

http://tinyurl.com/qfdk7vh

Health Canada has released a new guidance document intended to clarify new ‘plain language’ labeling requirements before new regulations take effect on 13 June 2015.

Background

In 2013, Canada’s then-Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq announced the government was launching a new initiative to improve drug safety by making product information easier to understand for consumers. . . .

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PayPal Has A New Agreement.

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Consumer Law, Contract Law, FCC, Finance and Banking Law, Government, Telemarketing, Telephone Consumer Protection Act

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PayPal’s New Agreement and the FCC, Editor: D. A. Jeremy Telman Valparaiso Univ. Law School, ContractsProf Blog

http://tinyurl.com/odzogfg

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission acted to approve a number of proposals that update the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act), popularly known as the  “Do Not Call” law that prohibits companies from interrupting consumers’ dinner time conversations with pesky telemarketing calls. . . .

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Sprint and Verizon Will Repay Millions For Illegal Billing.

16 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Law

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Sprint And Verizon Will Refund $120 Million To Consumers Harmed By Illegal Billing Practices, by Genessa Stout, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

http://tinyurl.com/n5l3q6q

Today [May 12, 2015] we’re announcing settlements with Sprint and Verizon, who illegally billed consumers over a hundred million dollars in unauthorized third-party charges. If approved, these will return $120 million directly to affected consumers.

Sprint’s and Verizon’s customers became victims by clicking on ads for ‘free’ digital content such as ring tones or daily horoscopes, and were then charged without their consent. Many people did not know that third parties could add charges to their wireless bills. The illegal billing often continued undetected for months.

Sprint’s and Verizon’s billing systems invited illegal third-party charges and the companies did little or nothing to root them out. Sprint and Verizon also failed to properly track and respond to consumer complaints about these charges, while collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue by serving as payment processors for these third-party companies. Sprint and Verizon received a 30-40 percent cut of every third-party charge. . . .

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Beginner’s Research Guide to Lemon Laws and Consumer Protection Law.

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Case Law, Consumer Law, Federal Law, Internet, Legal Directories, Lemon Laws, Library of Congress, Mandatory Law, Primary Law, Research, State Law, Statutes, Westlaw

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Lemon Laws: A Beginner’s Guide, Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/04/lemon-laws-a-beginners-guide/?loclr=eaiclb

You are really getting two for one (and more) with this post. Please note the hyperlink to consumer protection law in the first sentence. Both posts provide guides on how to research both subjects. Click on “Legal Research” to the left once you are at the website, and you will find the link to all posts at this website on how to research other laws. -CCE

In response to our last post on consumer protection law, we determined there was additional interest in ‘lemon laws.’  Lemon laws are defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as statutes ‘designed to protect a consumer who buys a substandard automobile, usu[ally] by requiring the manufacturer or dealer either to replace the vehicle or to refund the full purchase price.’ So, if you find that the new car of your dreams is actually a waking nightmare, you can use this guide to determine what recourse you might have. Lemon laws vary by state, but this guide should help get you started with your research. . . .

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New Federal Rules for Payday Loans.

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Law, Credit Repair, PayDay Loans

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Let The Game of Whack-A-Mole Begin: Feds Put Forward New Payday Rules, by Paul Kiel, ProPublica

http://www.propublica.org/article/let-the-game-of-whack-a-mole-begin-feds-put-forward-new-payday-rules

New rules put forward by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would have a major impact on the high-cost loan industry. But if history is any guide, lenders will quickly find some loopholes.

If there’s any industry that has mastered the art of the loophole, it’s high-cost lending. When faced with unwanted regulation, lenders are well-practiced at finding an opening that will allow them to charge triple-digit interest to their customers. As we have reported, they’ve been playing a giant, ongoing game of whack-a-mole with regulators and lawmakers in states across the country over the past decade or so.

Here’s only a partial list of dodges that have been employed over the years by payday and other high-cost lenders: posing as a credit-repair organization, posing as a mortgage lender, using a bank as a front, using a Native American tribe as a front, offering cash for free to hook borrowers, lengthening loan terms when rules targeted short-term loans, larding loans with useless insurance.

But after fights in cities and states across the country, the industry now faces its most powerful foe yet. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created by the 2010 financial reform bill, has the authority to regulate high-cost loans on the federal level for the first time. And on Thursday morning, the agency unveiled a first draft of new rules that would sharply reduce the number of payday loans made in the country. You can expect lenders to respond by opening up their playbook. . . .

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S&P Settlement For Defrauding Investors That Led To Financial Crisis.

14 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by in Consumer Law, Finance and Banking Law, Foreclosure, Standard & Poor

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DOJ and State Partners Secure $1.375 Billion Settlement with S&P for Defrauding Investors in Lead Up to the Financial Crisis, by Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog

http://tinyurl.com/l8lykkr

News release: ‘Attorney General Eric Holder announced today [February 3, 2015] that the Department of Justice and 19 states and the District of Columbia have entered into a $1.375 billion settlement agreement with the rating agency Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, along with its parent corporation McGraw Hill Financial Inc., to resolve allegations that S&P had engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in structured financial products known as Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs).  The agreement resolves the department’s 2013 lawsuit against S&P, along with the suits of 19 states and the District of Columbia. Each of the lawsuits allege that investors incurred substantial losses on RMBS and CDOs for which S&P issued inflated ratings that misrepresented the securities’ true credit risks.  Other allegations assert that S&P falsely represented that its ratings were objective, independent and uninfluenced by S&P’s business relationships with the investment banks that issued the securities. The settlement announced today is comprised of several elements. In addition to the payment of $1.375 billion, S&P has acknowledged conduct associated with its ratings of RMBS and CDOs during 2004 to 2007 in an agreed statement of facts.  It has further agreed to formally retract an allegation that the United States’ lawsuit was filed in retaliation for the defendant’s decisions with regard to the credit of the United States. Finally, S&P has agreed to comply with the consumer protection statutes of each of the settling states and the District of Columbia, and to respond, in good faith, to requests from any of the states and the District of Columbia for information or material concerning any possible violation of those laws. ’On more than one occasion, the company’s leadership ignored senior analysts who warned that the company had given top ratings to financial products that were failing to perform as advertised,’ said Attorney General Holder.  ’As S&P admits under this settlement, company executives complained that the company declined to downgrade underperforming assets because it was worried that doing so would hurt the company’s business.  While this strategy may have helped S&P avoid disappointing its clients, it did major harm to the larger economy, contributing to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.’ . . . [Emphasis added.] Continue reading →

Verizon Zombie Cookies Must Die!

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Android Phones, Cell Phones, Consumer Contracts, Consumer Law, Contract Law, Cybersecurity, Legal Technology

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Zombie Cookies Slated to be Killed, by Julia Angwin and Mike Tigas, ProPublica

http://tinyurl.com/n9d7ago

Tech company Turn said it would stop using tracking cookies that are impossible to delete. The decision came in response to a ProPublica article this week that revealed the controversial practice.

‘We have heard the concerns and are actively re-evaluating this method,’ Max Ochoa, Turn’s chief privacy officer, wrote in a blog post.

He said the company plans aims to suspend the practice by ‘early February.’

Turn’s zombie cookie was exploiting a hidden undeletable number that Verizon uses to track its customers on their smartphones on tablets. Turn used the Verizon number to respawn tracking cookies that users had deleted. The company said it will now re-evaluate its practices.

Turn’s decision to suspend the practice was a sharp reversal from its previous stance. It had previously argued that ‘clearing cookies is not a reliable way for a user to express their desire not to receive tailored advertising.’

Critics across the Web vocally disagreed. Jason Kint, CEO of a trade association for digital content companies, wrote that ‘this kind of surreptitious behavior does nothing to build trust between consumers, advertisers and publishers.’ The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization, said Turn’s action made it ‘ impossible for customers to meaningfully control their online privacy.’

Click On Your State For Legal Status of Payday Loans.

05 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in Consumer Law, PayDay Loans

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Legal Status of Payday Loans by State, PayDay Loans Consumer Information

http://www.paydayloaninfo.org/state-information

Click on your state to learn if payday loans are legal or prohibited and the state law that applies.

States where payday lending is allowed

The page for each state where payday lending is legal gives the key cost of loan terms under state law. Look for the cost of a payday loan in dollars and annual interest rate for a 14-day $100 loan. Each page lists the maximum number of loans a consumer can have, any limits on loan renewals and requirements for extended repayment plans. Collection limits spell out the fees lenders can charge if the loan is not repaid and whether the lender can use or threaten criminal action if a borrower is unable to make good on the check used to get a loan.

States where payday lending is prohibited

In states that still have small loan rate caps or usury laws, the state page gives the citation for the law that limits rates, and the small loan rate cap.

Contact Information for State Regulators

All state pages list the state payday loan or small loan regulator, contact information and web site. Links to state complaint forms, instructions for filing complaints, and information about payday loans are provided if available. . . .

Are Debt Collection Laws Out of Date and Overly Harsh?

26 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by in Consumer Law, Debt Collection, Garnishment

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Old Debts, Fresh Pain: Weak Laws Offer Debtors Little Protection, by Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Chris Arnold, NPR, ProPublica (This story was co-published with NPR.)

http://www.propublica.org/article/old-debts-fresh-pain-weak-laws-offer-debtors-little-protection

Like any American family living paycheck to paycheck, Conrad Goetzinger and Cassandra Rose hope that if they make the right choices, their $13-an-hour jobs will keep the lights on, put food in the fridge and gas in the car.

But every two weeks, the Omaha, Neb. couple is reminded of a choice they didn’t make and can’t change: A chunk of both of their paychecks disappears before they see it, seized to pay off old debts.

The seizures are the latest tactic of debt collectors who have tracked the couple for years, twice scooping every penny out of Goetzinger’s bank account and even attempting to seize his personal property. For Goetzinger, 29, they’re the bewildering consequences of a laptop loan he didn’t pay off after high school; for Rose, 33, a painful reminder of more than $20,000 in medical bills racked up while uninsured. The garnishments, totaling about $760 each month, comprise the single largest expense in the budget.

‘I honestly dread paydays,’ said Goetzinger. ‘Because I know it’s gone by Saturday afternoon, by the time we go grocery shopping.’

Across the country, millions of other workers face a similar struggle: how to live when a large fraction of their paycheck is diverted for a consumer debt, as ProPublica and NPR reported Monday. The highest rates of garnishment are among workers who, like Rose and Goetzinger, earn between $25,000 and $40,000, but the numbers are nearly as high for those who earn even less, according to a new study by ADP, the nation’s largest payroll services provider.

Those who fall into this system find their futures determined by laws that consumer advocates say are outdated, overly punitive and out of touch with the financial reality faced by many Americans. . . .

ADA Litigation Considers Websites and Apps Access for the Disabled.

24 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Americans With Disabilities, Consumer Law

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The Next Frontier in ADA Litigation: Website and App Access for the Disabled, by Joe Libert, Tim Long, and Jill Rosenberg, Orric, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 

http://tinyurl.com/nj2n7n5

For the last several years, consumers have increasingly turned to online shopping as an alternative to traditional ‘brick and mortar’ stores. Some reports showed that ‘Cyber Monday’ sales figures beat out those for ‘Black Friday’ this year, and many retailers are doubling down on their eCommerce efforts in response. What many retailers might not be aware of is the growing risk of litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and derivative state laws arising from websites or mobile apps that allegedly discriminate against disabled individuals.

Although there has been more than a decade of litigation on this issue, basic questions have remained muddled, including whether Title III of the ADA (which requires access to places of public accommodations to disabled individuals) applies to websites.  Recent developments in case law, new proposed regulations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) slated for March 2015, and a noteworthy recent DOJ settlement with an online grocery service, all indicate that this will be an area to watch in 2015.

Title III and Private Employer Websites

Although there is no consensus among courts, some recent cases have held that Title III applies to websites, while several earlier cases held that it did not.

Even courts that have held that a website is not a ‘public accommodation’ under Title III have recognized that an exception exists where there is a ‘nexus’ between the website and a physical place of public accommodation, such as a brick and mortar store. For example, in National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation, the plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Target, alleging that its website was inaccessible to blind individuals.[1]  Target argued that the website was not a place of public accommodation, and that plaintiffs had not alleged denial of access to the brick and mortar stores. The court rejected this argument, noting that ‘it is clear that the purpose of the statute is broader than mere physical access—seeking to bar actions or omissions which impair a disabled person’s ‘full enjoyment’ of services or goods of a covered accommodation.’[2] . . .

 

“Lost In Fine Print” – Documentary on Forced Arbitration.

20 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by in Arbitration, Consumer Law, Contract Law

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Documentary on Forced Arbitration, by Nancy Kim, ContractsProf Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kulpycd

The Alliance for Justice has released a documentary on forced arbitration called Lost in the Fine Print.  It’s very well-done, highly watchable (meaning your students will stay awake and off Facebook during a viewing), and educational.  I recently screened the film during a special session for my Contracts and Advanced Contracts students.  It’s only about 20 or so minutes and afterward, we had a lively discussion about the pros and cons of arbitration.  We discussed the different purposes of arbitration and the pros and cons of arbitration where the parties are both businesses and where one party is a business and the other a consumer.  Many of the students had not heard about arbitration and didn’t know what it was.  Many of those who did know about arbitration didn’t know about mandatory arbitration or how the process worked.  Several were concerned about the due process aspects.  They understood the benefits of arbitration for businesses, but also the problems created by lack of transparency in the process.  I thought it was a very nice way to kick start a lively discussion about unconscionability, public policy concerns, economics and the effect of legislation on contract law/case law.

I think it’s important for law students to know what arbitration is and it doesn’t fit in easily into a typical contracts or civil procedure class so I’m afraid it often goes untaught.  The website also has pointers and ideas on how to organize a screening and discussion questions.

Judge Posner Writes A Form Collections Letter.

16 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Consumer Law, Debt Collection, Legal Writing

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Judge Posner’s Collections Letter Template, by Megan E. Boyd, Lady (Legal) Lawyer Blog

http://ladylegalwriter.blogspot.com/2014/05/technical-difficulties.html

Courts don’t often help lawyers out by providing templates, but Judge Posner’s opinion in Bartlett v. Heibl, 128 F.3d 497 (7th Cir. 1997) offers a form letter for those seeking to collect certain consumer debts. . . .

Bad GPS Is A Defense? Who Knew?

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Consumer Law, Finance and Banking Law, Foreclosure

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Bank Robs House By Mistake, Refuses To Pay Up, by Joe Patrice, Above The Law Blog

http://tinyurl.com/mlm78h9

Imagine returning home from vacation and finding your home cleaned out. The thieves grabbed all the furniture, all the gadgets, all the kitchenware, and left you nothing.

That’s what happened to an Ohio woman recently, and the police are refusing to help.

That’s because the perpetrator was First National Bank. Except Katie Barnett was not behind on her payments; the bank just repossessed the wrong house.

Fair enough. Mistakes happen. The bank is going to pay her back though, right? . . . .

Time To Take A Cue From Passenger-Friendly Court Rulings in UK?

21 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in Aviation Law, Consumer Law

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UK Court Allows Passengers 6 Years to File 261/2004 Claims, by Aviation LawProf

http://tinyurl.com/mwdo5rn

On the heels of its recent passenger-friendly ruling in Huzar, a UK court again came down on the side of passengers, this time ruling that passengers have up to six years to bring claims for compensation for delayed or cancelled flights. EU Regulation 261/2004, which, among other things, entitles passengers to compensation from airlines for flight cancellations or significant delays, does not set a statute of limitations on those claims leaving those limits to be set by the implementing Member States. In the UK, cases for unpaid debts are subject to a six-year statute of limitations which the UK courts had been applying to 261/2004 compensation and delay claims. . . .

Lemon Law Guide By State.

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by in Lemon Laws

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Lemon Law, at DMV.org

http://www.dmv.org/automotive-law/lemon-law.php

We at DMV.org hope you never have to read our Lemon Law guide (because it probably means your shiny new car has gone sour). But if you do, we’ve cut through the legalese in your state’s statutes to educate you about your rights under the law―in language anyone can understand.

Most states’ Lemon Laws are spelled out in their legal code. But who wants to read through all that to find out whether your vehicle qualifies as a lemon? Our state-by-state guides will explain in plain English how Lemon Law claims are handled where you live.

In most cases, your state will mediate between you and the automaker to get the vehicle repaired or replaced, or your money refunded. Don’t get stuck with a car you can’t drive. Instead, empower yourself with information. . . .

Big Banks, Big Business, And The DOJ.

02 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Consumer Law, Contract Law, Criminal Law, Intentional Misrepresentation, SEC, White Collar Crime

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Big Banks, Business and Butter: Highlights From Our Q&A on Corporate Impunity, by Blair Hickman, ProPublica

http://bit.ly/1fCRh1R

Reporter Jesse Eisinger offers his thoughts on the lack of white-collar prosecutions, journalism and the Green Bay Packers.

*     *     *

I don’t think enough attention has been paid to the fact that the white collar laws are inadequate, so there haven’t been many proposed remedies. One thing the DoJ should use is the ‘willful blindness’ or ‘conscious disregard’ charge. As Judge Jed Rakoff wrote recently in the New York Review of Books: Such a charge ‘is a well-established basis on which federal prosecutors have asked juries to infer intent, including in cases involving complexities, such as accounting rules, at least as esoteric as those involved in the events leading up to the financial crisis. And while some federal courts have occasionally expressed qualifications about the use of the willful blindness approach to prove intent, the Supreme Court has consistently approved it.’ . . .

Senate Report on Target’s 2013 Data Breach.

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by in Consumer Law, Government

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Senate Staff Report Details Target’s Missed Opportunities to Stop Massive Data Breach, by Sabrina I. Pacifici, beSpacific Blog

http://tinyurl.com/qekhb7t

‘Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV released a staff report titled, “A ‘Kill Chain’ Analysis of the 2013 Target Data Breach.’ The report details how Target possibly failed to take advantage of several opportunities to prevent the massive data breach in 2013 when cyber criminals stole the financial and personal information of as many as 110 million consumers.  Rockefeller will formally introduce the report tomorrow when he chairs his third full Committee hearing on data security. The hearing, titled, ‘Protecting Personal Consumer Information from Cyber Attacks and Data Breaches’, explored the dangers to consumers posed by recent data breaches. The Chairman highlight[ed] legislation he recently introduced, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act, that would – for the first time – establish strong, federal consumer data security and breach notification standards.’

How Target Missed Malware Alarms and Blew It.

14 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Consumer Law, Credit Repair, Criminal Law, Finance and Banking Law, Identity Theft

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Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It, by Michael Riley, Ben Elgin, Dune Lawrence, and Carol Matlack, Bloomberg  Businessweek Technology

http://tinyurl.com/njsy4rm

The biggest retail hack in U.S. history wasn’t particularly inventive, nor did it appear destined for success. In the days prior to Thanksgiving 2013, someone installed malware in Target’s (TGT) security and payments system designed to steal every credit card used at the company’s 1,797 U.S. stores. At the critical moment—when the Christmas gifts had been scanned and bagged and the cashier asked for a swipe—the malware would step in, capture the shopper’s credit card number, and store it on a Target server commandeered by the hackers.

It’s a measure of how common these crimes have become, and how conventional the hackers’ approach in this case, that Target was prepared for such an attack. . . .

U.S. Supreme Court’s “Instruction Manual” on Class Action Litigation.

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellate Law, Arbitration, Class Actions, Class Certification, Consumer Contracts, Contract Law, Credit Repair, Employment Law, Litigation, United States Supreme Court

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Recent Developments For Litigation Risk Mitigation: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Prescription, by Daniel P. Shapiro, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP  

(This piece is adapted from Daniel P. Shapiro’s article published in the November 2013, issue of AHLA Connections. © 2013 American Health Lawyers Association.)

Read Mr. Shapiro’s analysis of recent U.S. Supreme Court cases that have created an instruction manual of sorts for reducing litigation risks for American businesses, as stated below in the excerpt to his post.

There is a hyperlink at the end of the article that will take you to the original article. -CCE

 http://tinyurl.com/ldd7s2o

Over the past three years, since mid-2010, the Supreme Court has handed down a series of related decisions that, taken together, constitute an instruction manual for American business on how to reduce litigation risk. As the world has ‘flattened’ and trade has increasingly globalized and become borderless, it has been impossible to ignore that only in the U.S. economy is litigation such a prominent line item for business. This is particularly true with regard to class action litigation. No other country has the sort of class—or collective—action rules that the United States does. Perhaps in response to these facts, the Supreme Court has made it clear that through a combination of arbitration (as opposed to litigation) and class action waiver clauses properly used, businesses can contract out from under a great deal of litigation risk for the future and fundamentally change their litigation environment.

The new Supreme Court decisions offer instruction on how, exactly, to use arbitration clauses and class action waivers to mitigate litigation risk.

Target Update: Affected Customers Now 110 Million and May Still Go Up.

11 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by in Consumer Law, Recent Links and Articles

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Target: Hacking Hit Up To 110 Million Customers, by Katrina Lamansky, WQAD.com

http://tinyurl.com/pssy2r5

People who shopped at Target following Thanksgiving have already heard that their personal information was hacked. But now it is clear that Target was actually hacked much earlier than originally reported.

This morning, the reported number of customers affected was around 40 million. Now the reported number is 100 million, and Target is not sure how high the number will go.

Target will try to contact all affected customers. Be cautious. Contacts from Target will not request any personal information. Target is also offering a program of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. You will have three months to enroll in that program.

Target says that it does not think the thieves can access anyone’s bank account, but hacked customers are at risk for identity theft. -CCE

Debt Collectors Take Note. Harassment Can Mean Harsh Fines.

03 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Consumer Law, Debt Collection

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Feds ding biggest debt collector for harassment, by Mitch Lipka, MSN Money

http://money.msn.com/debt-management/article.aspx?post=5f47ae4b-5e5e-4b7a-8a93-ed998cd54621

As a result, the company has agreed to pay a $3.2 million penalty and to stop the illegal harassment alleged by the FTC. The penalty is the largest ever against a third-party debt collection agency, the FTC said.

Senate Approves Anti-Retaliation Bill Protecting Anti-Trust Law Whistleblowers.

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Anti-Retaliation, Consumer Law, Whistleblower

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Senate approves antitrust anti-retaliation bill, by Paul H. Saint-Antoine, Ronald A. Sarachan, and Todd N. Hutchison, Drinker Biddle & Reath, PC

http://bit.ly/1aoxTiR