Today, the Department of Transportation published on its website a final rule regarding airline refunds, requiring (1) automatic (cash) refunds when flights are cancelled or significantly changed and customers do not accept alternatives offered, (2) refunds of checked bag fees for significantly delayed bags, (3) refunds for ancillary services fees (seating, etc.) that are paid for and not provided; and (4) requiring carriers to provide credits or vouchers valid for 5 years where passengers with nonrefundable tickets cannot travel due to a serious communicable disease. DOT’s press release on th ..read more

Neil L. Sobol of Texas A&M has written Consumer Law for Gen Z Law Students, 66 Arizona Law Review (2024). Here’s the abstract: Whether they are consumers, representing consumers, or advising clients dealing with consumers, law school graduates will inevitably confront numerous consumer law issues. Moreover, most students entering law school are members of Generation Z and face a new wave of consumer laws arising from the 2007–2009 recession and the rapid growth of new technologies. Clickwrap agreements, email spoofing, cybercrimes, cryptocurrencies, fintech, identity theft, onli ..read more

Tamar Meshel and Moin A. Yahya both of the University of Alberta – Faculty of Law, have written The Gatekeepers of the Federal Arbitration Act: An Empirical Analysis of the FAA in the ‎Lower Courts, forthcoming in the Mississippi Law Journal.  Here’s the abstract: This article presents the results of the first comprehensive empirical study of motions to ‎compel arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Arbitration has become a divisive ‎issue both in the United States Supreme Court and in American society, fueling calls to restrict or ‎entirely ban its use in certain ..read more

Noam Kolt of the University of Toronto has written Governing AI Agents. Here is the abstract: While language models and generative AI have taken the world by storm, a more transformative technology is already being developed: “AI agents” — AI systems that can autonomously plan and execute complex tasks with only limited human oversight. Companies that pioneered the production of tools for generating synthetic content are now building AI agents that can independently navigate the internet, perform a wide range of online tasks, and increasingly serve as automated personal assistants. The opportu ..read more

Here’s the announcement (original available here): NACA Consumer Law Fellowship Program with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) is offering a 2-year consumer law fellowship to recent law school graduates who are expected to sit for the July 2024 Florida Bar exam and be admitted to practice in the state at the outset of their employment. This inaugural fellowship is designed to help NACA develop an annual program that encourages and supports new lawyers in their introduction to the practice of consumer law and builds a pathway for their future succ ..read more

The period from 2001 through 2016 saw several major mergers amongst US passenger airlines. In recent years, though, efforts to merge or coordinate have faced opposition from courts and antitrust regulators. In December 2023, Alaska Airlines (which already has a huge Hawaiian presence) announced a deal to acquire Hawaiian Airlines.  The immediate response from government officials was muted, suggesting that, unlike the JetBlue/Spirit and JetBlue/American tie-ups, this merger might go through. Yesterday, though, a group of consumers filed suit in federal district court seeking to stop the a ..read more

Benjamin C. Zipursky of Fordham and Zahra Takhshid of Denver and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center have written Consumer Protection and the Illusory Promise of the Unconscionability Defense, forthcoming in 103 Texas Law Review. Here’s the abstract: The United States Supreme Court’s notorious decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion seems to display impatience with the idea of an unconscionability defense to the enforcement of a contract. At the core of Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion, however, was not an argument against the idea of unconscionability per se, but an argument agai ..read more

We’ve received the following announcement: University of Oklahoma College of Law is pleased to announce that it is currently seeking applicants for visiting professor position(s) for Spring 2025 of the upcoming academic year. The law school has a number of curricular needs, but is especially interested in candidates specializing in bankruptcy, secured transactions, consumer law and finance, and payment systems. Visiting faculty are responsible for teaching and assessing law students in their courses. There are no required scholarship or service obligations, although opportunities for both will ..read more

The Center for Responsible Lending has issued a report, Not Free: The Large Hidden Costs of Small-Dollar Loans Made Through Cash Advance Apps. Here’s the Executive Summary and Key Findings: Earned wage advances (EWA) and cash advance products are small, short-term loans that are typically repaid on the consumer’s next payday either directly from a bank account or as a payroll deduction. Consumers access these products using an app on their smartphone by linking their bank accounts or by enrolling through their employer. The costs of these very short-term loans are not always transparent to con ..read more

Here (behind paywall). According to the article, the bill would preempt state privacy laws and provide for a private cause of action. The bill enjoys support from Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican. Whether it will pass in a presidential election year remains unclear. The post WaPo reports congressional deal on consumer online privacy bill appeared first on CLP Blog ..read more