Briefs and Comments

Center and GW Students File FTC Comment on Algorithmic Pricing Disclosures

February 23, 2026

The Center, with invaluable support from three law students at George Washington University Law School, filed a comment today on behalf of 15 national groups and law-school student organizations urging the FTC to open a rulemaking requiring disclosure of personalized algorithmic pricing. Policymakers and the public need a clearer picture of just how widespread this problem is.

“Debt Cancellation for Big Banks?” Advocates Say Shuttering the Consumer Watchdog Lets Wall Street Off the Hook While Families Pay the Price

February 9, 2026

February 9, 2026 | Washington, D.C. — Today, a coalition of dozens veterans and national, state, and local nonprofit groups submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in NTEU v. Vought, a case challenging efforts by Acting Director Russell Vought and the Trump Administration to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The full D.C. Circuit is poised to hear the case later...

Center Files Two Comments to the CFPB and FTC Advocating for Consumer and Civil Rights

January 28, 2026

Over the holidays, the Center filed comments with the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advocating for the preservation and promotion of important consumer and civil rights.

First, the Center submitted a comment on behalf of nine organizations opposing the CFPB’s proposal to roll back fair lending protections that allow consumers to prove that a particular lending practice has...

Sam Levine and CLASS Network Urge D.C. Council to Strengthen Consumer Protection Law

October 22, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In testimony before the D.C. Council’s Committee on Public Works and Operations today, two distinguished consumer policy professionals called on lawmakers to pass critical reforms to the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA).

Samuel Levine, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice and former Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, emphasized the urgent need to modernize D.C.’s consumer...

Sam Levine Testifies on NYC Hotel Junk Fees Rule

September 24, 2025

Sam Levine testified this week before the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection in support of the department's proposal to ban junk fees by hotels that operate in New York City or advertise to New York City residents. Also, the Center, CLASS, and the CLASS chapters at the law schools at UC Berkeley, Fordham University, St. John's University, and New York University submitted a...

42 Legal Services Groups, Veterans Rights Organizations, and Consumer Watchdogs Tell Federal Court of Appeals: The Administration Must be Stopped From Illegally Dismantling the CFPB

May 9, 2025

An amicus brief filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit says the Administration’s attempt to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is “an unconstitutional power grab” that will inflict enormous damage on ordinary Americans and the U.S. economy if the agency is shuttered. The brief––filed by the Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice at UC Berkeley, Tzedek...

FTC Issues Much-Anticipated Junk Fees Rule, Citing Center's Comment 10 Times

December 18, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission this week issued its long-awaited rule prohibiting hidden junk fees. The rule focuses on two industries in which surprise fees added at checkout have caused widespread frustration and outrage: ticketing for live events and hotel and other short-term lodging. Though the final rule is narrower than many advocates (including the Center) had proposed in their comments, the rule may as a result avoid some of the hazards -- including a hostile...

Published Justice Project Helps Ensure Precedential Victory for Elderly Victim of Home Solar Fraud

March 4, 2024

At the urging of the Center on behalf of nine legal services and consumer advocacy organizations, along with the plaintiffs, the California Court of Appeal has ordered publication of its recent decision in Jones v. Solgen Construction, LLC The previously unpublished decision – which may now be cited – provides guidance to courts and litigants in addressing the growing problem of fraud in door-to-door residential solar panel sales.

At...

Center Urges California Courts to Reject Restrictive Standing Requirement: Chai v. Velocity Investments

July 19, 2024

The Center and ten other organizations serving low-income consumers filed an amicus brief urging the California Court of Appeal not to import restrictive federal standing law into California’s state courts and instead to reassert California courts’ role as courts of general jurisdiction open to all litigants with a valid cause to assert.

Over the past several decades, federal courts have made it increasingly difficult for potential plaintiffs to...

Center Welcomes FTC's Auto-Renewal Rule

October 17, 2024

The Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice applauds the Federal Trade Commission for finalizing its landmark "Click to Cancel" rule. The final regulation will rein in predatory...