Category Archives: Latest In Consumer News
See How A Huge Utility Stonewalled Regulators After Its Fatal Pipeline Disaster
by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times
[PG&E’s] safety performance, which long ranked toward the bottom of the utility industry, has gotten worse. … This is a company that not only provides all utility service to almost everyone in Northern California but manages California’s only operational nuclear power plant. If PG&E staff couldn’t find it in themselves to act like grownups when its policies had caused the death of eight people and the destruction of an entire neighborhood, is there anything that would make them straighten up and fly right? Read More ›
For-Profit Colleges Lead The Way On Loan Defaults: Report
by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist
The current student loan debt crisis is largely concentrated among nontraditional borrowers who attended for-profit schools and other non-selective institutions. … For-profit college students represent a relatively small fraction of consumers seeking higher education – just 11% – but they represent about 44% of all federal student loan defaults. The authors say these rates lead them to believe it’s ultimately the quality of education at these schools that drive students to default, as they aren’t prepared to find employment that would allow them to pay their loans. Read More ›
Five Years After Deadly San Bruno Explosion: Are We Safer?
by Rebecca Bowe and Lisa Pickoff-White, KQED
The explosion and fire killed eight people and injured 58 while destroying 38 homes and damaging 70 others. The community is still recovering from the trauma. … “Really the most shocking part of this is the extent to which the [CPUC] was complicit in the negligence that led to the disaster here in San Bruno,” says San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson. “You had the leadership of the California Public Utilities Commission essentially in bed with the utility. Dining, drinking, vacationing — and making deals behind the scenes. Californians should be vitally concerned … ” Read More ›
It May Be A Long Time Before Many Corinthian Students Get Debt Relief
by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post
[A U.S. Education Department] team is reviewing claims where the “facts and law are clear,” such as the ones from students who attended Corinthian’s Heald Colleges in California, Hawaii and Oregon. Those schools were at the heart of a $30 million fine the Education Department levied against Corinthian in April for lying about job placement rates to students. Read More ›
Students Ask Education Department To Discharge College Debt
by Anne Flaherty, Associated Press
Almost 12,000 students are asking the federal government to discharge their college loan debt, asserting that their school either closed or lied to them about job prospects, according to government data released Thursday. … In the report released Thursday by the Education Department’s new “special master” for debt relief, Joseph Smith called the collapse of Corinthian [Colleges] a “landmark event” that triggered an immediate 1,000 “borrower’s defense” claims and contributed to a claims list that now surpasses 4,000. Most of the claims are from Corinthian students, although some are from other schools. Read More ›
Uber Drivers Granted Class-Action Status In Legal Battle
by Tracey Lien, Los Angeles Times
Uber now stands to lose far more than if the case had proceeded as a suit involving only three plaintiffs. In addition to potentially being on the hook for back wages, sick leave, expenses and benefits, the company could be ordered to pay gratuities owed to thousands of former drivers. “We’re talking about millions of dollars,” said Lonnie Giamela of labor and employment firm Fisher & Phillips. And that doesn’t even touch on what a loss would mean for Uber’s independent contractor-reliant business model, which has earned the company a $50-billion valuation. Read More ›
Plan To Require Unaccredited Law Schools In California To Disclose Dropout Rates OKd
by Jason Song and Corina Knoll, Los Angeles Times
A panel of the State Bar of California approved a plan on Friday to require unaccredited law schools to disclose their dropout rates, in an effort to improve transparency for prospective students. … California is one of a handful of states that allow students from unaccredited law schools to take the bar, the state’s legal licensing exam. About 1 in 5 of them pass the bar, according to state records. Read More ›
PUC Launches PG&E Probe As Agency Fails To Comply With Search Warrant
by Ivan Penn, Los Angeles Times
Meanwhile, the commission – beset by criticism that its officials have a too-cozy relationship with the utilities they regulate – failed to respond to a search warrant for records related [to] the California attorney general’s investigation of agency operations. A court document filed Aug. 7 states that “after multiple requests, and two months after the search warrant was served on CPUC, no records have been produced.” … The attorney general is investigating secret talks between the commission and Southern California Edison, the state’s second largest investor-owned utility. Read More ›
Auto Insurance Company GEICO Pays Out Multi-Million Dollar Settlement
by Tom Vacar, Fox 2 (KTVU Oakland)
The Consumer Federation of California charges that GEICO tried to discourage less preferable customers. Those include those not college-educated, not professional, not executive, a woman, an unmarried person, or those not currently insured. They would not be offered those lowest legal minimum [rates]. Read More ›
Geico Pays $6M To Settle Insurance Discrimination Claim
by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle
Geico will pay $6 million to settle a complaint alleging it illegally discriminated against women, unmarried people, blue-collar workers and those without four-year college degrees by showing them costlier auto insurance policies on its Web site than it showed other potential customers. “We believe the primary intent was to drive these folks away from Geico to someone else’s Web site or at least make sure they were paying a lot more money if they didn’t drive them away,” said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, the nonprofit advocacy group that filed the complaint. Read More ›
GEICO Pays $6 Million To Settle CFC Civil Rights, Deceptive Rate Quote Complaints
GEICO agreed to pay $6 million to settle a Consumer Federation of California complaint alleging the insurance giant violated civil rights and insurance laws by targeting low- and moderate-income women and unmarried motorists with deceptive and inflated automobile insurance rate quotes. “This is an important win for all California motorists,” said CFC Executive Director Richard Holober. “GEICO is paying a price for its unfair practices, and the settlement assures that all good drivers are treated equally, whether rich, poor, or in between. It sets a new industry standard for rate quotes that are accurate and transparent.” Read More ›
Uber Unleashes Lobbyists In California To Reshape Driver Rules
by Alison Vekshin, Bloomberg
Uber has spent almost a million dollars since 2013 on lobbyists in California. … Lyft, also based in San Francisco, has spent $362,000 on lobbying the legislature since 2013. … Some lawmakers say Uber is skirting rules that apply to similar businesses. “In California, we allow them to operate for free while we require many other businesses to pay for permits, franchising fees and licenses,” said Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, the sole vote against Low’s measure in May. “It’s beyond ridiculous what they’re getting away with.” Read More ›
Garnishing California’s Future: New Bill Seeks To Curb Wage Seizures
by Bill Raden, Capital & Main
Unable to keep up payments, loans fall into default and too often result in crippling court-ordered garnishments that claim up to a quarter of earnings. … “People’s lives are being ruined by these very high, 25 percent garnishments – the national maximum – being taken out of their check before they get it home,” [one expert said]. … [SB 501 would] eliminate the current law’s penalty against garnished workers who might want to work more than 40 hours a week. As the law stands now, every additional dollar above $360 a week is taken by the creditor. Read More ›