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CAPS recently submitted several public comments to the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on various consumer protection matters.

The FTC comments, one of which can we read here, were submitted in response to the FTC’s Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century. CAPS argued that to adequately deter unfair and deceptive business practices, Congress should grant the FTC increased rulemaking and civil penalty authority.

The CFPB comment, which can be read here, argued in opposition to several recent proposals from current CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney. For example, drawing on clinical experience at Berkeley’s Consumer Rights Workshop and East Bay Community Law Center’s Consumer Justice Clinic, CAPS argued that Mulvaney’s proposal to remove the Bureau’s publicly accessible Consumer Complaint Database would harm consumers and impede the direct legal services model.

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The Spring 2018 issue of the Berkeley Law Transcript featured an article recently about the Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice. The article features Ted Mermin, the Center’s Interim Director, and Elizabeth Cabraser, renowned litigator and founding donor for the new Center.

https://issuu.com/berkeleylaw/docs/transcript.spring2018/10

The California Law Review has recently published an article about the East Bay Community Law Center’s Consumer Justice Clinic. The piece was authored by CAPS faculty adviser Ted Mermin, who helped create the the Consumer Justice Clinic. The article can be accessed here: http://www.californialawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/8-Festschrift_Mermin.pdf.

The “Corporate Crime Reporter” recently featured an interview with CAPS faculty advisor Ted Mermin about Berkeley’s new Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice. You can find the article here: https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/ted-mermin-berkeley-center-consumer-law-economic-justice/.

Recent Berkeley Law graduate & former CAPS leader Nate Brown was quoted in a recent CNN article about law firms' use of mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts. Read the article here: 

http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/18/news/companies/mandatory-arbitration-law-students/index.html.

On Thursday April 19, 2018, CAPS & Berkeley's new "Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice" co-hosted a discussion amongst leading privacy experts about California's upcoming ballot initiate, the "California Privacy Act of 2018." The California Privacy Act of 2018 is a statewide ballot initiative that seeks to provide Californians with greater control over their personal information. With the potential to drastically upend the business model of much of Silicon Valley, the initiative is likely to be one of the most contentious issues on the ballot this Fall.

The panel includes Mary Ross - President of Californians for Consumer Privacy; Professor Chris Hoofnagle; and Professor Lothar Determann. You can view the video of the event here: https://youtu.be/IIMN9NfKFcE?t=60

In celebration of National Consumer Protection Week and the launch of Berkeley's new Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice, Berkeley Law hosted preeminent consumer advocate Ralph Nader for a discussion on consumer law and public service.

You can watch Ralph Nader's lecture here: https://youtu.be/OyVW9e9vC98?t=156

In honor of the beginning of National Consumer Protection Week, CAPS & the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT) co-hosted FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn for a discussion on the Trump Administration's recent repeal of net neutrality. You can read more about the event here: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/fcc-commissioner-shares-far-from-neutral-views-on-net-neutrality/

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/major-gift-launches-new-berkeley-center-consumer-law-economic-justice/

Cristina Mathews '19 is writing an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court in Black Sky Capital v. Cobb, on behalf of Housing and Economic Rights Advocates,seeking to protect home equity loan borrowers from being sued (or hounded by debt collectors) after foreclosure for a “deficiency” if the home is sold for less than the amount of the mortgages.

Berkeley Law student Brady Williams and Professor Ted Mermin have submitted an Amicus Brief on behalf of leading consumer protections organizations in a key California Supreme Court unconscionability case. Joining the brief were the Center for Responsible Lending, Public Good Law Center, National Association of Consumer Advocates, and Public Citizen.

The case, De La Torre v. CashCall, is about whether the doctrine of unconscionability should apply to loans whose interest rates are not subject to a statutory interest rate cap.

Click here to read the Court's ultimate opinion in the case. To read the amicus brief, click here or see below:

CashCall Unconscionability Amicus Brief

In all of three weeks, Sophia Ton'Nu drafted an amicus brief on behalf of the American Heart Association and a dozen other public health and medical organizations in the Ninth Circuit in American Beverage Association v. San Francisco, arguing that the First Amendment does not preclude governments from requiring scientifically accurate disclosures and warnings on advertisements for potentially harmful products.

California Senate Bill 298 (2017), the brainchild of Consumer Justice Clinic Director Sharon Djemal, would have reformed California's bank levy process for low-income debtors. CAPS members were involved in drafting/advocating for the bill, as well as creating a supporting website for the bill (www.casb298.com). Although the bill did not pass during the 2017 legislative session, the bill took a necessary first step in prompting a discussion of the need for California to reform its bank levy process.

Daniel Contreras drafted an amicus brief on behalf of the Public Good Law Center in the D.C. Circuit in Soundboard Ass’n v. FTC, arguing that the use of advanced digital technology to deceive consumers into believing they are talking to a human being is a prohibited form of “robocalling,” and that the First Amendment does not protect such manufactured speech.

In just two weeks, MJ drafted, revised, and filed an amicus brief in the Northern District of California on behalf of the Public Good Law Center and several other consumer protection organizations in support of the Federal Trade Commission’s case against DIRECTV for allegedly misleading customers by hiding the increased cost of the second half of a two-year contract and the actual cost of “free” premium service.

Robin filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in Henson v. Santander, on behalf of the East Bay Community Law Center and law clinics at Notre Dame and Yale, arguing that the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers banks that are acting as debt buyers. She is also writing an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court, on behalf of EBCLC and a raft of other legal services providers around California, arguing that California law requires debt collectors to make their witnesses available for trial rather than having them appear only through affidavits. Both cases involve crucial tools used by legal services clinics on behalf of low-income consumers to hold abusive debt collectors accountable.