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Syllabus A. Required Reading Materials Spanogle, et. al., Consumer Law Cases and Materials (West 2nd Ed. 1991); Selected Commercial Statutes (West 1993). Please consult our list of reading assignments. Specific reading assignments for each class will be announced during the preceding class session. The list of reading assignments is subject to amendment. B. Course Description Consumers are defined in most consumer protection legislation to be individuals who acquire and use credit, goods or services for personal, family or household purposes. Consumer protection is a very broad topic because of the vast array of goods and services available to individuals, the extensive use of consumer credit to acquire such goods and services, and the variety of forms of injury to which consumers are exposed. Because it is not possible (or even desirable) in a semester to learn all of the substantive law protecting consumers against injury, we believe it is important to pursue the learning by focusing on two major themes. First, we explore the pervasive question of how well our legal institutions respond to consumer protection concerns and how those institutions might be reshaped to respond more effectively. For example, we compare disclosure of information, intended to facilitate consumer choice in the market place, with regulation or prohibition of specific conduct, intended to assure either the presence or absence of specific behavior. We also compare different remedial systems and devices, including actions by administrative agencies, private dispute resolution, class actions and attorneys' fees. Second, because so much of consumer protection law is embodied in federal or state statutes, we stress and develop skills for statutory interpretation. Note that, for the most part, the materials which we will study involve neither the purchase or lease of real property nor personal injury or property damage resulting from defective products. These, largely excluded, topics pose important consumer protection issues. We exclude them because of time constraints and because they are addressed in substantial part by other courses in the curriculum. The resulting focus of this course, protecting consumers from economic loss in connection with goods, services, and credit, is typical to law school curricula. Nonetheless, the focus is in some senses arbitrary and we hope that you will build connections between the topics and issues we study and those we don't. We have selected a casebook which is conducive to development of our first theme. Almost any casebook would be conducive to the development of our second theme. Part I of the casebook explores issues relating to voluntary disclosure about goods or services by comparing private litigation for fraud with administrative agency or law enforcement regulation of disclosure under laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive business practices. The book then contrasts regulation of voluntary disclosure with mandatory disclosure required by the federal Truth in Lending law. Parts II and III explore the regulation of other vendor behavior (e.g. unfair sales practices, door-to-door sales, product warranties, prices). Part IV focuses on remedies. We find it useful to consider remedies for injurious behavior at the same time we consider the behavior itself. Thus, we depart from the organizational scheme of the casebook by distributing materials from Part IV of the casebook throughout the reading list. Occasionally this is awkward. For example, you may find some references in our Part IV assignments to material in the book which we have not yet considered. We ask your indulgence. C. Course Requirements and Grading There will be one written examination, a final at the end of the course. The examination will be open book, i.e., during the examination you may refer to your casebook, statutory compilation, and any other materials which you have prepared. We also intend to hold some small group discussions of specific problems ("tutorials") in which everyone is expected to participate. We expect regular class attendance and preparation for class discussion. Your grade in the course will be the grade you receive on the final examination, subject to adjustment upward by one mark (e.g. B to B+) for significant contribution to class and small group discussion or adjustment downward for excessive absenteeism or frequent lack of preparation. |
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