Consumer Financial Protection and Human Rights

This summer the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would restrict the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer financial credit contracts. With the administration and Congress seemingly eager to pull back on consumer financial regulations, it is crucial to examine the rights at stake. Many financial institutions have agreed to protect and promote human rights, so pressure from consumers, human rights organizations, and consumer protection advocates may succeed even though Congress has declined to promulgate the CFPB’s proposed rule. This Article argues that the existing binding, mandatory arbitration system in consumer credit contracts is inconsistent with human rights principles, including property rights, rights to be free from discrimination, and due process rights. This Article then evaluates the CFPB’s rule from a human rights standpoint, and explores the CFPB’s role in mitigating human rights concerns triggered by arbitration clauses in consumer credit contracts

Prosecution Laches: How Should this Depth Charge to Submarine Patents be Applied?

Article published in the Michigan State University School of Law Student Scholarship Collection

Undocumented Debtors

Undocumented immigrants in financial distress are barred from seeking many forms of assistance. Bankruptcy is one tool that is, in theory, available to undocumented debtors because legal status is not a prerequisite to bankruptcy relief. This Article explores undocumented debtors\u27 interactions with the bankruptcy system. Undocumented debtors face both formal and informal barriers to bankruptcy filing, including fear of deportation, misinformation, and the legal requirement that the debtor produce financial records. It is both possible and desirable to ease many of these barriers. Bankruptcy relief facilitates the rehabilitation of debtors in financial distress, contributes to the economic well-being of the debtor\u27s family and community, and provides an orderly, equitable resolution of the debtor\u27s financial affairs. These values apply with no less force when the debtor is undocumented

Consumer Financial Protection and Human Rights

This summer the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would restrict the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer financial credit contracts. With the administration and Congress seemingly eager to pull back on consumer financial regulations, it is crucial to examine the rights at stake. Many financial institutions have agreed to protect and promote human rights, so pressure from consumers, human rights organizations, and consumer protection advocates may succeed even though Congress has declined to promulgate the CFPB’s proposed rule. This Article argues that the existing binding, mandatory arbitration system in consumer credit contracts is inconsistent with human rights principles, including property rights, rights to be free from discrimination, and due process rights. This Article then evaluates the CFPB’s rule from a human rights standpoint, and explores the CFPB’s role in mitigating human rights concerns triggered by arbitration clauses in consumer credit contracts

Targeting tobacco in a community-based addiction recovery cohort: Results from a computerized, brief, randomized intervention trial

Introduction. Nearly 80% of substance dependent individuals also use tobacco, and smoking cessation efforts during treatment for other substance use is associated with similar or even improved outcomes. However, smoking cessation is not routinely addressed during treatment for substance use disorders. The present study tested a computerized brief motivational intervention (C-BMI) for smoking cessation in an understudied population: a cohort recruited from a recovery community organization (RCO) center. Methods. Following baseline assessment, participants were randomly assigned to either a 30-minute C-BMI plus access to free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), or an information-only control group plus NRT access. Results. Reductions in CO were observed for both groups. Quit rates in the C-BMI group (5%-7%, vs. 0% for the control group) approximated those observed elsewhere for physician advice and minimal counseling. Participants in the C-BMI group were also more likely to express a desire to quit. Conclusions. Computer-delivered smoking cessation interventions within RCOs appear feasible. These organizations treat a wide variety of individuals, and C-BMIs for smoking in this context have the potential to reduce smoking-related morbidity and mortality

Evaluation of a brief tailored motivational intervention to prevent early childhood caries

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87108/1/j.1600-0528.2011.00613.x.pd

Online randomised factorial trial of electronic Screening and Brief Intervention for alcohol use in pregnancy: a study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Approximately 1 in 7 pregnant women in the USA report past-month alcohol use. Strong evidence connects prenatal alcohol exposure with a range of adverse perinatal outcomes, including the spectrum of conditions known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) has been recommended for pregnant women but has proven difficult to implement. This study will test the efficacy of single-session technology-delivered SBI (electronic SBI) for alcohol use in pregnancy, while simultaneously evaluating the possible additional benefit of tailored text messages and/or booster sessions in a 3×2 factorial trial. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: This full factorial trial will use online advertising and clinic-based flyers to recruit pregnant women meeting criteria for unhealthy alcohol use, and randomly assign them to one of six conditions crossing three levels of brief intervention (none, single 120-minute session and single session plus two 5-minute boosters) with two levels of tailored text messaging (none vs twice weekly messages). The primary analysis will test for dose-response effects of the brief intervention on alcohol abstinence, defined as no self-report of alcohol use in the 90 days prior to 34 weeks\u27 gestation, and negative results for ethyl glucuronide analysis of fingernail samples. Secondary analyses will examine main and interaction effects of tailored text messaging as well as intervention effects on birth outcomes. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was provided by the Michigan State University Biomedical and Health Institutional Review Board (STUDY00005298). Results will be presented at conferences and community forums, in addition to being published in a peer-reviewed journal. Intervention content demonstrating sufficient efficacy and safety will be made publicly available. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT04332172)

Key Intervention Characteristics in e-Health: Steps Towards Standardized Communication

PURPOSE: This paper reports expert opinion on e-health intervention characteristics that enable effective communication of characteristics across the diverse field of e-health interventions. The paper presents a visualization tool to support communication of the defining characteristics. METHODS: An initial list of e-health intervention characteristics was developed through an iterative process of item generation and discussion among the 12 authors. The list was distributed to 123 experts in the field, who were emailed an invitation to assess and rank the items. Participants were asked to evaluate these characteristics in three separate ways. RESULTS: A total of 50 responses were received for a response rate of 40.7%. Six respondents who reported having little or no expertise in e-health research were removed from the dataset. Our results suggest that 10 specific intervention characteristics were consistently supported as of central importance by the panel of 44 e-intervention experts. The weight and perceived relevance of individual items differed between experts; oftentimes, this difference is a result of the individual theoretical perspective and/or behavioral target of interest. CONCLUSIONS: The first iteration of the visualization of salient characteristics represents an ambitious effort to develop a tool that will support communication of the defining characteristics for e-health interventions aimed to assist e-health developers and researchers to communicate the key characteristics of their interventions in a standardized manner that facilitates dialog