| Volume 120 Number 12 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Overdraft protection is a great way to save money when you make a mistake and overdraw your account. But be careful, some overdraft plans can cost you as much as the bounced check fees. Talk with your bank about a plan with a low fee tied to another account or imposing reasonable interest on the balance until it is paid. Click here for more.
Big Verdict Doesn't Assure More Wins for Plaintiffs in Talc-cancer Cases
The $72 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a U.S. case alleging links between talc-based powder and ovarian cancer has prompted global headlines and calls to lawyers from would-be plaintiffs. However, the attention-grabbing judgment is no guarantee future plaintiffs will be compensated, because they might not be able to convince juries the company's products caused the illness. Click here for more.
Your Money
If you have a bank account, at one point or another, you might have had to deal with an overdraft fee. Reports for all four quarters of 2015 are now in. The banks that reported consumer overdraft and non-sufficient fund fee revenues for 2015 had a total of $3.87 trillion in consumer checking and savings account deposits as of December 31, 2015. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) is currently looking closely at overdraft practices and will continue to analyze this data to better monitor and understand overdraft programs in the market and the consumer experience. For now, CFPB has provided some tips to help you reduce or avoid overdraft and NSF fees. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Arbitration provision is unenforceable. A District Court in New Jersey court recently faced a type of online agreement that did not fit nicely into either the “clickwrap,” or “browsewrap” category. Where a contract, sent electronically but signed in hard copy, contains a hyperlink to a separate terms and conditions page, are those separate terms incorporated into the agreement? The court said no. A requirement to arbitrate disputes buried in the online terms and conditions page was not incorporated into a contract where the contract merely stated, “Download Terms and Conditions” near the signature line. Holdbrook Pediatric Dental, LLC, v. Pro Computer Service, LLC Click here for more.