Category Archives: Consumer Law
Rory Van Loo, ‘Consumer Agents’
ABSTRACT In the twenty-first century economy, individuals need market help that they are not getting. The technology has long existed for a browser plug-in that would filter out toxic social media content or a virtual shopping assistant that would find and even purchase the best deals online without having to go to many different websites […]
Adam Levitin, ‘The Death of Consumer Contract’
ABSTRACT Fifty years ago Grant Gilmore published his famous book, The Death of Contract, which argued that modern American contract law was the creation of a handful of judges and academics, rather than a reflection of the real evolution of caselaw. Contract law was, in Gilmore’s words, an ‘ivory tower abstraction’ that lived ‘in the […]
Michael Conklin, ‘The Arbitration Web Ensnaring Every Consumer: The Next Evolution in Corporate Strategy to Compel Arbitration’
ABSTRACT This first-of-its-kind Article uses a novel hypothetical to explore the expanding role of compelled arbitration. The hypothetical involves numerous large corporations agreeing to cross-reference each other in their arbitration agreements, thus attempting to create a massive arbitration web ensnaring nearly every American and allowing corporations to compel arbitration against parties they never interacted with. […]
‘Equity in the Common Law Courts – and the Motor Finance Litigation’
The Supreme Court will hear Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd and its conjoined cases on appeal from [2024] EWCA Civ 1282 on April 1-3 2025. The case raises a dizzying number of issues relevant to this core case: A consumer purchases a motor car from a dealer, who arranges loan finance, but also takes a […]
Procaccia and Zamir, ‘The Missing Remedy: Restoration Damages for Dark Patterns and Other Precontractual Manipulations’
ABSTRACT Manipulation in contractual negotiations – whether through deception, undue pressure, marketing ploys, or digital ‘dark patterns’ – undermines bargaining integrity and distorts the terms of the resulting contract. Courts recognize these tactics as wrongful, yet existing remedies often fail to provide adequate redress. The prevailing approaches – compensating victims for out-of-pocket losses or the […]
Mark Lemley, ‘Protecting Consumers in a Post-Consent World’
ABSTRACT Privacy scholars are moving beyond the ‘notice and consent’ paradigm that has dominated privacy law for a generation. They are right to do so. The evidence shows that it does very little to protect privacy. The problem with the notice and consent paradigm isn’t limited to privacy law. It is a problem with contract […]
Srivastava and Witzleb, ‘What’s the Gig? Tort Liability of Platforms for Physical User-to-User Harm’
ABSTRACT This chapter explores the liability of digital platforms under tort and consumer law in common law jurisdictions for user-to-user harm in circumstances where the platform has facilitated physical interaction between users. Examples of such scenarios include personal injuries arising from an Uber ride, an Airbnb stay, and a Tinder date. The chapter explains the […]
‘“Young promise” or just a consumer? CJEU in C-365/23 [Arce]’
Today the Court of Justice has delivered a truly remarkable judgment that I am eager to share with readers of this blog (available here, even though for now only in French and Latvian). The decision concerned a contract concluded between ‘A’, a professional in the business of offering career development services for sports talents, and […]
‘Big Mass Arbitration Decision from the Ninth Circuit’
Skot Hellman and others (Plaintiffs) bought tickets to concerts promoted by Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC (collectively Defendants). When they did so, they were provided with terms, which call for arbitration by New Era ADR (New Era). When Plaintiffs filed their putative class action in the District Court, the Defendants moved to compel […]
Carr and Halliday, ‘Reforming the Public and Private Law of the Tenement’
ABSTRACT This article critically examines the law of the tenement in Scotland, encompassing both its private and public law dimensions. Traditionally regarded as a domain of private law focused on individual owners’ property interests, the law, through statutory intervention, has evolved significantly over a long period of time, augmenting the role of local authorities, granting […]