| Volume 99 Number 2 |
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Forward this news alert to your family and friends
Helpful Links
Texas Consumer Complaint Center
Credit Reports and Identity Theft
Your Guide to Small Claims Court
Contact Us
1-713-743-2168
The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Homeowner's insurance covers much more than you might think. Remember, insurance is a contractual agreement, so you must read it carefully. Was your computer, stereo, or other valuable possession stolen from your vehicle? Read your policy, you may be covered for this loss.
For more general information about the law, check out my website.
Click here for more.
Seattle Raises Minimum Wage to $15
The city of Seattle now has the highest minimum wage in the nation. Following a vote on Monday, workers in the city must now receive at least $15 per hour in pay. For many, that's a jump of more than $5 an hour. One McDonalds employee interviewed following the vote described the increase as life changing.
Critics of the increase insist it will lead to fewer jobs. Advocates say any impact on jobs would be insignificant, as many companies already run on the the appropriate staff to operate efficiently.
Will other cities follow Seattle's lead? With the President pushing for a higher minimum wage, could the nation be next?
Click here for more.
New Features for Apple iOS & OS X
Apple's next installment of operating systems will include some dramatic changes. With iOS 8 and the latest OS X, consumers will be able to track fitness activity from the Apple hub, compose audio replies to text messages, add more iCloud storage, and make calls from an iPad. Simply, Apple is responding to modern trends and consumer demands for the latest generation of computing.
What other upgrades should consumers expect with the latest Apple software?
Click here for more.
Check Your Home Security Regularly
Is your home alarm system actually working? For one couple, it certainly wasn't. Since 2007, they have been paying nearly $30 a month for their home security system. Every night, they set the alarm and heard noises indicating it was active. One day, the wind blew their door open. Although nothing was missing, they noticed the alarm never sounded. After a technician confirmed that the system was never properly operating after they activated the system, they sought reimbursement for the seven years of non-service. However, instead of paying back nearly $2000, Comcast (the security company) only offered a $20 credit. According to Comcast, it was the consumer's responsibility to test the system regularly. Once a television station got involved, the couple was offered a full refund.
Is your home security system working? Make sure you test it regularly!
Click here for more.
Your Money
What is the value of a call or put option?
Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Circuit court upholds Federal Reserve debit-card transaction fees.
The D. C. Circuit Court reversed a district court’s decision and upheld the debit-card transaction fees regulation enacted by the Federal Reserve.
The court stated:
Combining features of credit cards and checks, debit cards have become not just the most popular noncash payment method in the United States but also a source of substantial revenue for banks and companies like Visa and MasterCard that own and operate debit card networks. In 2009 alone, debit card holders used their cards 37.6 billion times, completing transactions worth over $1.4 trillion and yielding over $20 billion in fees for banks and networks. Concerned that these fees were excessive and that merchants, who pay the fees directly, and consumers, who pay a portion of the fees indirectly in the form of higher prices, lacked any ability to resist them, Congress included a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform act directing the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to address this perceived market failure. In response, the Board issued regulations imposing a cap on the per-transaction fees banks receive and, in an effort to force networks to compete for merchants’ business, requiring that at least two networks owned and operated by different companies be able to process transactions on each debit card. Merchant groups challenged the regulations, seeking lower fees and even more network competition. The district court granted summary judgment to the merchants, concluding that the rules violate the statute’s plain language. We disagree. Applying traditional tools of statutory interpretation, we hold that the Board’s rules generally rest on reasonable constructions of the statute, though we remand one minor issue—the Board’s treatment of so-called transactions-monitoring costs—to the Board for further explanation.
Click here for more.