Consumer Protection 326

CLASS SYLLABUS

Consumer Protection 326
Spring Semester 2018
Thursdays 5:30pm to 7:25pm, room 3

Learning Objectives 

Students will learn practical litigation skills to handle the most common types of consumer protection lawsuits in Oregon:

• Unlawful Trade Practices
  (corporate fraud, overcharges, false advertising)
• False Credit Reporting
  (identify theft, credit reports, data breaches)
• Unfair Debt Collection
  (student loans, home mortgages, medical bills)
• Unwanted Calls
  (spam texts, robo-calls)
• Tenant Rights
  (housing discrimination, retaliation, eviction defense)

Course Subject Matter

The class will focus on five consumer protection laws:

1. Unlawful Trade Practices Act
   (ORS 646.638)
2. Fair Credit Reporting Act
   (15 U.S.C. § 1681)
3. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
   (15 U.S.C. § 1692)
4. Telephone Consumer Protection Act
   (47 U.S.C. § 227)
5. Oregon Residential Landlord Tenant Act
   (ORS 90)

Course themes include class actions, attorney fee recovery, settlement negotiations, and litigation tactics. Guest speakers include Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon District Court Judge Michael Simon, and prominent consumer law attorneys including David Sugerman, Pilar French, and Justin Baxter.

Location and Office Hours

Consumer protection is a 13-week, 2-credit course held at Lewis & Clark Law School, room 3, January 11 to April 12, 2018. Students are encouraged to contact the professor at fuller@lclark.edu or 503-743-7000 with any questions, or to schedule an office appointment.  Announcements are made through the class listserv, which uses students’ @lclark.edu email addresses. Announcements are also posted at underdoglawyer.com/consumer.

Required Readings

Links to all required reading materials are found at underdoglawyer.com/consumer.

Optional Readings

Damages 3 by David Ball
Case Framing by Mark Mandell
Rules of the Road by Rick Friedman

Consumer Law Grading

Grades are based on a maximum of 100 points possible. Make-up points are available for missed attendance, participation, or assignments. Make-up points will not impact a student’s final exam score. Failure to demonstrate academic honesty may result in a failing grade. All reasonable requests for accessibility accommodations will be honored. Students seeking information about disability accommodations can speak to Libby Davis, the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, with any questions. Grades are assigned as follows:

Criteria / Max. Points

Attendance / 20 points
Participation / 20 points
Assignments / 20 points
Final Exam / 40 points

Total Possible / 100 points

Attendance

To earn attendance points, students should personally attend class having prepared at least one question for the guest speaker. Students can miss two classes without penalty. More than two unexcused absences will negatively impact a student’s attendance score. Students should let the professor know prior to class if they are unable to attend. Students must maintain the law school’s general attendance policies in addition to the criteria below.

Attendance Criteria / Max. Points

Attend all classes / 20 points
Miss one class / 20 points
Miss two classes / 20 points
Miss three classes / 15 points
Miss four classes / 10 points
Miss five classes / 5 points
Miss six classes / 0 points

Participation

To earn participation points, students must attend class having read the weekly materials, ready to engage in class polling, case reviews, oral arguments, and group discussions. Students may always “pass” if called on. However, more than two “passes” will negatively impact a student’s participation score.

Participation Criteria / Max. Points

Attend all classes, no passes / 20 points
One pass or absence / 20 points
Two passes or absences / 20 points
Three passes or absences / 15 points
Four passes or absences / 10 points
Five passes or absences / 5 points
Six passes or absences/ 0 points

Assignments

To earn assignment points, students must participate in class pop quizzes and be prepared to share their answers. Students may always “pass” if called on. However, more than two “passes” will negatively impact a student’s assignment score.

Assignment Criteria / Max. Points

Attend all classes, no passes / 20 points
One pass or absence / 20 points
Two passes or absences / 20 points
Three passes or absences / 15 points
Four passes or absences / 10 points
Five passes or absences / 5 points
Six passes or absences / 0 points

Make-up Points

Students can make up one missed attendance, participation, or assignment point by doing any of the following: (1) Sit in on an Oregon State Bar Consumer Law Section meeting, (2) Sit in on an Oregon Trial Lawyers Association Consumer Protection Section meeting, (3) Have coffee or lunch with an Oregon consumer law attorney, (4) Attend a meeting about consumer law legislation, (5) Write a short (no more than 1,000 word) blog post about a consumer law case, issue, or podcast, or (6) write a short (no more than 1,000 word) summary of a chapter of one of the books on the optional readings list.

Make-up points will not impact a student’s final exam score. However, in the event more than one student earns the maximum 100 points possible for the class, the student with the most make-up points will break the tie for the highest grade.

Consumer Law Final Exam

To earn maximum final exam points, students must answer all 40 multiple choice questions correctly. Each question is worth one point, for a maximum 40 points total. Final exam scores may be curved to ensure final grades comply with Lewis & Clark Law School’s GPA policies.

The final exam has eight questions on each of the following statutes: (1) the Unlawful Trade Practices Act, (2) the Fair Credit Reporting Act, (3) the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (4) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and (5) the Oregon Residential Landlord Tenant Act.

For each statute above, students should be prepared to answer questions about (1) the statutory private right of action for damages, (2) the claim elements, (3) the attorney fee shifting scheme, and (4) the statute of limitations.

The final exam will be open-book and unscheduled. Sample final exams are found at underdoglawyer.com/exam

 

READING MATERIALS

Consumer Protection 326
Spring Semester 2018
Thursdays 5:30pm to 7:25pm, room 3