| Volume 141 Number 3 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
When your phone rings and it looks like a local call, you may be more likely to answer. Scammers count on this and can easily fake caller ID numbers. They even can match the first six digits of your own number, which is called “neighbor spoofing.” Click here for more.
More Oil from OPEC Could Mean Lower Prices at the Pump
A month ago, the national average gasoline price was pennies away from $3 a gallon. However, the cost of fuel has dropped in the last four weeks, and an OPEC decision could send prices even lower. While that's good news for consumers, gas prices may not respond immediately. Click here for more.
Your Money
Summer is in full swing which means hotter days and higher cooling bills. Here are three easy ways to rein in the increased expense. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
CFPB ruled unconstitutional. A New York federal judge has found the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be unconstitutionally structured, saying in a ruling Thursday that she disagrees with the D.C. Circuit’s holding to the contrary from earlier this year and isn’t bound by it. U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska reached her finding as part of her decision to axe the CFPB from a suit it brought jointly last year with New York’s then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accusing RD Legal, a New Jersey-based settlement advance firm, of scamming 9/11 first responders and NFL retirees with high-cost loans. Rejecting the D.C. Circuit majority’s January conclusion in PHH Corp. v. CFPB that the agency’s structure is constitutional, Judge Preska said she was siding with one of the circuit court judges who had dissented from that 6-3 ruling. “Respectfully, the court disagrees with the holding of the en banc court and instead adopts Sections I-IV of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent (joined in by Senior Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph), where, based on considerations of history, liberty, and presidential authority, Judge Kavanaugh concluded that the CFPB ‘is unconstitutionally structured because it is an independent agency that exercises substantial executive power and is headed by a single director,’” Judge Preska wrote. Click here for more.