Did you purchase what you believe to be a “lemon” vehicle? How do you know? How does the law protect you? A “lemon”, technically, is when you purchase a new car that turns out to be perpetually defective or unsafe to drive, which can be a source of great angst for many car buyers. For a car to actually be considered a lemon under Missouri’s lemon law, it must satisfy a specific set of criteria. Under Missouri’s Read More

“Buyer beware.” It’s just about the oldest adage in the book when it comes to routine monetary transactions and consumer rights. Many people take this to mean that once they drive a car off the dealer’s lot and provide the down payment, they’re stuck with whatever happens next. Fortunately for car buyers, that’s not always the case.  In part 1 and part 2 of our series on non-disclosure disclosure, we gave an Read More

Before reading Part 2, please see Part 1 of our series on non-disclosure disclosure to get an idea of what the practice is and how some dealers use it to get cars off their lots. Bell Law has helped lead the charge against this deceptive practice and, in the process, collected stories of honest consumers who fell victim to so-called non-disclosure disclosures. Three stories below lay out the concrete perils for car Read More

Few professions in the U.S. are held in lower regard than car salespeople — particularly used car salespeople. While the vast majority are honest professionals with integrity, the stereotype of the slick salesman giving deceitful answers to questions from potential buyers did not come from nowhere. Despite the numerous state, federal, and common law protections afforded to car buyers, there are still plenty of auto Read More

We understand the financial pain so many Americans are going through as a result of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a sizable minority of workers losing their incomes due to the pandemic, only piecemeal relief programs have been instituted.  Those who still have their jobs may have seen their hours reduced. However, with bills still to be paid, some of these part-time workers have been tempted to apply Read More

It seems like there’s a massive data breach in the news every other day now, affecting major companies with whom there seemed to be a sufficient amount of institutional trust, such as Target, Equifax, and Marriott. With nearly every transaction moving online, though, there is, unfortunately, a greater chance of having your personal information stolen or exposed due to a security failure.  Just as companies adopt Read More

One of the more sweeping and powerful laws designed to protect consumers’ information is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This law, passed in 1996, is aimed at both modernizing and streamlining the flow of medical information and putting protections in place for patients as to their personal identifying information. The latter is what most people associate with the law; most everyone Read More

The issue of forced arbitration clauses in various types of contracts has been a hot-button issue for years. Forced arbitration provisions are, essentially, clauses in contracts that make it mandatory for one party to give up their right to sue publicly and, instead, force them to settle the issue in closed-door arbitration, which has little government oversight and is generally less likely to favor plaintiffs. This Read More

On March 9, right before the country’s collective attention was shifted to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit against Fifth Third Bank, alleging aggressive cross-selling that resulted in customers’ names and funds being funneled into unauthorized accounts and lines of credit. Specifically, the CFPB suit claims that: Employees opened bank accounts and lines of Read More

Here and there, the federal government (and some state governments) have instituted financial relief for consumers due to coronavirus. This has come in the form of one-time monetary credits that nearly all Americans have received and suspension of student loan payments, among other measures. This blog will relay the key points of both of those federal efforts, including ways you can fight back if you have not Read More