Annual Meeting

At the annual meeting Carolyn Bernstein accepted the gavel from Ian Lyngklyp as the new chair and we elected new officers: John Roy Castillo, chair-elect; Mary Grace McCarter, treasurer; and Laurin' Roberts Thomas, secretary. We welcome two new council members. Lynn Shecter, a committed consumer advocate, is in private practice in Bloomfield Hills, and Kathy Fitzgerald works in consumer affairs in the Attorney General's office. Both have already made valuable contributions to the section and are proving to be capable leaders.

The section created the Frank J. Kelley Consumer Advocacy Award three years ago to acknowledge advocates, both in and out of the legal profession, who have made significant contributions to the cause of consumer protection. Ian Lyngklyp presented this year's third annual award to Esther K. Shapiro, former director of the City of Detroit Consumer Affairs Department, for her dedication to consumer issues for more than two decades. Ms. Shapiro has been nationally recognized for her work in establishing the agency she headed and several educational and advocacy programs that exist today.

A lively panel discussion on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, identity theft and privacy issues ensued with panelists James Fishman, a New York consumer litigator, and Tracy Sonneborn and Terrence Berg of the Michigan Attorney General's Office. The panel discussed the responsibilities of credit reporting agencies under the FCRA and reviewed some of the key issues in current credit reporting litigation. Terrence Berg and Tracy Sonneborn previewed new state statutes targeting information crimes and provided accounts of how identity theft occurs and how it affects consumers.

Planning for this fall's annual meeting is well under way and will feature speaker Paul Bland, a Washington DC advocate who will discuss ways to challenge arbitration clauses in consumer contracts and recent developments in arbitration caselaw.

The section publishes the Consumer Law Newsletter and this year one issue has been produced and a second is forthcoming in the summer. The March issue focused on new caselaw under, and the recent amendment of, the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. Like many new bills, the MCPA amendment was passed without advance warning or public input. It came at the exclusive bidding of insurance lobbyists to the detriment of consumers in that insurance transactions are now entirely exempt from the act. The March issue also followed up on the identity theft theme initiated at the annual meeting and provided updated information on building a consumer practice through cooperation with local legal aid offices.

A summary of the MCPA and how to use the act to build a consumer practice written by Clarence Constantakis was distributed at the annual meeting. Mr. Constantakis is also instrumental in helping build our brief bank in cooperation with the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association.

The council met with Josh Ard, a member of the Elder Law and Advocacy Section who is also working with the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee and the Probate and Estate Planning Section, to discuss support for the production of a public service radio announcement on the risks of do-it-yourself trust kits. We hope to review a script soon that focuses on educating consumers on how to evaluate the kits and resist high-pressure sales tactics.

The section continues to maintain our listserv as a method of tapping into the expertise of our members and mobilizing them into action. For example, we convinced Judge Hillman of the U.S. Western District to publish a pro-consumer decision on MCPA emotional distress damages by encouraging our members via the listserv to contact him to plead for publication. To join the listserv, send an e-mail message to consumerlaw@lists.michbar.org You must be a member of the section to join.

The pro bono committee has been instrumental in helping the legal aid community clarify and maintain consistent standards for handling and referring consumer cases. Some legal aid agencies were erroneously rejecting all consumer cases because their Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funding prevents them from seeking attorney fees. However, the restriction does not prevent the agencies from accepting such cases when no fees are sought or from co-counseling cases in which the private co-counsel seeks fees. Nor does it prevent the agencies from referring cases where there are strong attorney fee claims or where a class action is required to obtain full relief. A memo clarifying the rules was distributed to all pro bono coordinators in the hope that representation of consumer issues will improve and appropriate consumer referrals will increase.

The pro bono committee sent Mary Grace McCarter to speak at the Statewide Pro Bono Coordinators Council in April. Finally, the committee was responsible for the section council's decision to link our next Access to Justice donation to the creation of a consumer position by the Michigan Poverty Law Program. While the small donation would not suffice to fund the position, the section hopes the gift will strengthen MPLP's applications for grants that would fund the position. And if the position cannot be created by September, then the donation will go to the Access to Justice's general fund and we will review the matter next year.

The legislative committee reviewed and analyzed several bills regarding consumer amendments including, for example, contractor licensing regulations, home solicitation sales, increasing the minimum price for contracts subject to the statute of frauds, and the consumer pricing act.

The education committee is in the process of determining what types of consumer trainings or meetings our members want the most. The section is considering several options, such as an overnight open discussion or panel conference to allow our members to meet and share information. Another option is a more structured substantive consumer training session in association with ICLE. Many council and section members already appear annually at the MPLP Roadshow as consumer trainers for legal aid and UAW Legal Services Plan practitioners. The education committee is also continuing work on the practitioner's guide to handling consumer cases and has ideas for generating interest in consumer affairs by non-legal advocates through an essay contest.

Finally, the by-law committee drafted changes to be considered by our members at the annual meeting with an eye toward allowing speedier votes by the council to adopt legislative positions or take other action, by implementing electronic notice and voting rules. The recommended changes also contain officer term restrictions to foster broader council participation among our members. The full draft of proposed changes can be found elsewhere in this issue.

I want to thank all the section and council members for their hours of service and commitment to the cause of consumer protection. In September I will be passing the gavel to John Roy Castillo of the Consumer Affairs office in Detroit. We have had a productive year and look forward to expanding our activities next year.

Submitted By: Carolyn Bernstein, Chair