{"title":"The Origins and Evolution of Consumer Dispute Resolution Systems in Europe","authors":"N. Creutzfeldt","doi":"10.4337/9781782546917.00018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/9781782546917.00018","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter provides an overview of various trends in the development of alternative models of consumer dispute resolution in the EU. The current ADR landscape in the EU is a paradox: one of great differences but at the same time considerable similarities. This is a result of different paces of EU and national regulation as well as sectoral developments.","PeriodicalId":246136,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic)","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121710452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Letters from Vienna: Reflections on the Coffee House Debate on Whether Arbitration is Appropriate for the Resolution of Mass Claims in the Aftermath of the US Supreme Court Decision in At&T Mobility V. Concepcion","authors":"Cornel Marian","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2077379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2077379","url":null,"abstract":"Just ten days before the US Supreme Court rendered its decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, a panel of distinguished arbitration practitioners met in Vienna on 17 April 2011 to debate hypothetically whether 'arbitration is appropriate for the resolution of mass claims.' The ICDR and SCC jointly-sponsored event successfully tackled 'the proliferation of mass claims systems' and subsequent efforts by legislators and arbitration institutions 'to provide models for the resolution of mass claims.' This paper annotates the debate and provides a commentary on the expected developments after the seminal decision rendered by the US Supreme Court.","PeriodicalId":246136,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117343171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Expert Recommendations and the Evolution of European Best Practices for the Treatment of Overindebtedness, 1984-2010","authors":"J. Kilborn","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1663108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1663108","url":null,"abstract":"A series of European experts have weighed in over the past twenty years on the proper way forward for preventing and treating consumer overindebtedness. This paper applies these expert recommendations in an analysis of the multitude of laws establishing (and revising) formal debt adjustment systems in Europe, from the first, in Denmark in 1984, to the most recent, in Greece at the end of July 2010. It first traces and describes in detail the context and content of the various expert recommendations with respect to best practices in treating overindebtedness. Then, it identifies their shared core and tracks their correspondence with the evolving contours of European laws on debt adjustment and overindebtedness relief. The most common shared recommendations are broken into conceptual parts, with detailed examples of how national laws have taken action, advertently or inadvertently consistent with the experts' views, especially in cases where the original laws failed to heed potential dangers and were later reformed to address emerging problems. Areas where some national laws still lag behind the experts' suggestions are pointed out, as well, in order to \"hold their feet to the fire\" and challenge the makers of lagging legal policy to update their laws to the state of the art. Like many of the recommendations that it examines, this paper is designed to inform and guide future policy makers as overindebtedness law continues its rapid and dynamic evolution, both within Europe and beyond.","PeriodicalId":246136,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic)","volume":"211 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116155145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Necessity of an 'Opt-In' Approach to Class Arbitration","authors":"K. Knutson","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1299867","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1299867","url":null,"abstract":"While the policy favoring arbitration has fully matured in the United States, the question of the propriety and feasibility of class-wide arbitration remains unresolved. However, another and perhaps more critical question is whether class arbitration should be an \"opt-in\" or \"opt-out\" matter. This article argues that an \"opt-in\" approach to class arbitration is necessary both to ensure a capable resolution and to preserve the rights of prospective class members. Mr. Knutson raises the difficulties of an \"opt-out\" approach to class arbitration. Specifically, the article discusses the rights of absent class members, the enforceability of the award, the availability of arbitral immunity, and offers a solution in the form of an \"opt-in\" approach. The \"opt-in\" approach ensures that everyone bound by the award and any resultant judgment has affirmatively chosen to participate. This approach thereby alleviates concerns over fundamental fairness, the contractual rights of absent class members, the validity of their arbitration agreement, and the prospect of collateral attacks.","PeriodicalId":246136,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic)","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128091320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Receiverships and Other Shark Tales","authors":"Dana J. Lesemann, Peter B. Zlotnick","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1672148","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1672148","url":null,"abstract":"Receiverships are the Federal Trade Commission's way to shut down scams, using court-appointed receivers to marshal assets and to identify, preserve, analyze, and forensically copy electronic information to develop evidence of fraud. Each receivership has its own story, and each story has important lessons for all litigators — not just those litigating with the FTC or agencies with similar authority such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Even litigators dealing with bankruptcy fraud or electronic discovery outside the context of regulatory agencies can learn from receivership stories. This article details the statutory provisions relating to the imposition of receiverships under the FTC Act and issues that can arise when cases are litigated.","PeriodicalId":246136,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic)","volume":"93 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127616874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"'I Want My Money Back' – Problems, Successes and Failures in the Price Regulation of the Gas Supply Market by Civil Law Remedies in Germany","authors":"N. Reich","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2587686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2587686","url":null,"abstract":"The paper discusses the – seemingly successful - actions of German consumer associations against unjustified gas price increases by the dominant suppliers of so called “special clients”. The clauses in the standard contract terms of the suppliers were condemned either as intransparent or/and as unfair by the German Federal Court (Bundesgerichtshof–BGH), supported and extended by the well-known RWE judgment of the CJEU of 21.3.2013 ruling on the scope of Dir. 93/13/EEEC on un fair terms in consumer contracts. However, the actions of individual consumers for getting their money back after having been illegally overcharged have proven to be much more difficult because of a number of restrictive conditions imposed on restitution by the BGH which, in the opinion of this author, clearly violate EU law but have not yet been up to scrutiny before EU jurisdictions. The author makes a number of suggestions in this direction to help consumers, based on EU and/or corresponding German law, in particular Art. 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.","PeriodicalId":246136,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic)","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122891499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}