| Volume 141 Number 89 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
It’s Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week – a terrific time to get up to date on protecting yourself from identity thieves who try to claim your tax refund and imposters who pretend they’re from the IRS to get your money. Click here for more.
Despite government shutdown, economy produced 304,000 jobs in January
January was another good month if you were looking for a job, as employers increased their payrolls by 304,000 positions, according to the monthly report from the Labor Department. At the same time, the government revised December’s very strong hiring report sharply downward, from 312,000 jobs to 222,000. The unemployment rate edged up to 4 percent, mainly for technical reasons. Unemployed people who reported they were temporarily laid off rose by 175,000, largely due to furloughed federal workers who were idled by the government shutdown for most of January.
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Your Money
Achieving financial freedom doesn't have to be a goal reserved for extreme personal finance obsessives. Instead, individuals can use this financial concept as motivation to boost savings, reduce spending and create a financial safety net. Financial independence is often associated with the FIRE movement, which stands for financial independence, retire early. In this movement, practitioners save and invest with the goal of quitting their jobs and careers well ahead of traditional retirement age. But even if you don't want to quit full-time employment or adhere to the more rigorous frugal- and investing-related practices of FIRE, you can still learn some solid financial habits. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Violation of FDCPA sufficient to establish standing under Spokeo. In Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 194 L. Ed. 2d 635 (2016), the Supreme Court considered whether a plaintiff alleging a violation of a regulatory scheme—the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 ("FCRA")—had standing to pursue his claim. The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona considered whether a phone call leaving the following message was sufficient under Spokeo to confer standing: "We have an important message from RSI Enterprises. This call is from a debt collector. Call 602-627-2301. Thank you." The court agreed with the consumer’ conclusion, “that she suffered an injury upon listening to RSI's initial voicemail because it infringed upon her concrete interest in being reminded that any future communications with RSI will be adversarial in nature.” The court found this violation of the FDCPA to satisfy Spokeo. Click here for more.