claim: The current consumer debt litigation system is failing due to prevalent unmeritorious claims and consumer inability to defend themselves. He proposes "Adminization," where an administrative agency acts as a cost-effective gatekeeper, using sampling and AI to audit lawsuits and levy large fines against those filing baseless claims. This aims to deter abuse, enhance judicial efficiency, and provide meaningful oversight, offering a more just and economically viable solution than existing...

evidence_quote: [p. 1] Arbel_Galley (Do Not Delete) 1/2/2018 4:17 PM Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts Yonathan A. Arbel* Large companies and debt collectors frequently file unmeritorious claims against consumers. Recent high-profile actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against J.P. Morgan, Citibank, and other large debt collectors illustrate the breadth and importance of this phenomenon. Due to the limited financial power of individuals, consumers often do not defend against such baseless claims, which results in the entry of millions of default judgments every year. To combat this problem, policymakers and scholars have explored a variety of court-based solutions that...

citation: Yonathan A. Arbel, Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts, Vanderbilt Law Review (2018).

confidence: machine-linked

limitations: Machine-linked claim. Use the evidence quote and PDF before treating it as a quotation or as a complete statement of the paper's position.


claim: Because large companies and debt collectors file numerous unmeritorious claims against consumers who lack resources to defend themselves, leading to millions of default judgments and rendering courts ineffective, he proposes "Adminization"—an administrative agency acting as a cost-effective gatekeeper that samples cases and levies large fines for baseless claims to deter such wrongful behavior.

evidence_span: [p. 1] Arbel_Galley (Do Not Delete) 1/2/2018 4:17 PM Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts Yonathan A. Arbel* Large companies and debt collectors frequently file unmeritorious claims against consumers. Recent high-profile actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against J.P. Morgan, Citibank, and other large debt collectors illustrate the breadth and importance of this phenomenon. Due to the limited financial power of individuals, consumers often do not defend against such baseless claims, which results in the entry of millions of default judgments every year. To combat this problem, policymakers and scholars have explored a variety of court-based solutions that...


claim: An introductory anecdote about Margaret Donnelly, an elderly widow facing severe legal repercussions for a small, unnotified debt, illustrates a systemic problem where vulnerable individuals are caught off-guard by consumer credit legal actions, highlighting a fundamental flaw in the justice process for these cases.

paper_title: Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts

evidence_quote: [p. 46] Arbel_Galley(Do Not Delete) 1/2/2018 4:17 PM 166 VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW [Vol. 71:1:121 require a higher bar of evidence in all eight million consumer credit cases. Other types of proposals offer conflicting recommendations on the choice of venue. While in the past small claims courts have been proposed as a solution, today some call for the transfer of cases to the general civil courts, where a higher standard of proof might deter creditors from filing.192 But this is similar to requiring more evidence, and, as just argued, more evidence is unlikely to be the solution to the problem. Others suggest that federal courts will provide a better solution, due to their fee-shifting...


claim: A significant crisis exists with millions of consumers facing abusive debt collection lawsuits, many lacking merit or concerning already settled debts, particularly targeting those unable to afford legal representation; this is worsened by consumer difficulties in accessing courts, resulting in numerous default judgments with minimal judicial oversight.

evidence_quote: [p. 3] Arbel_Galley(Do Not Delete) 1/2/2018 4:17 PM 2018] ADMINIZATION 123 Admittedly, even if she had, there was little she could do, as hiring a lawyer would overextend her budget. This is despite the fact that the case had no merit whatsoever: the debt was paid in full many years ago and, in any event, no evidence was brought to support the claim.3 Worryingly, the lawsuit was part of a pattern of abusive lawsuits filed by a local law firm that targeted over one hundred thousand consumers, a practice facilitated by the difficulty consumers like Ms. Donnelley face in accessing the courts and challenging these unmeritorious lawsuits.4 A large body of evidence shows that millions of others...


claim: The current system for consumer debt disputes is broken, evidenced by penalties against financial institutions for filing false affidavits and pursuing fraudulent debts; to combat this, he proposes "Adminization," where a gatekeeper administrative agency would audit a sample of debt collection cases pre-litigation and issue large fines for fraud, deterring wrongful behavior.

evidence_quote: [p. 4] Arbel_Galley(Do Not Delete) 1/2/2018 4:17 PM 124 VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW [Vol. 71:1:121 affiliates were ordered to pay $11 million and forego the collection of $34 million in consumer debt for the filing of false affidavits which misstated both the size of the debt and its age.11 J.P. Morgan Chase reached a $136 million settlement for its role in selling debts that were legally uncollectable to debt buyers.12 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) also recently took action against a large debt buyer who was ordered to pay over $2.5 million for its attempt to knowingly collect on “fraudulent debts, debts that consumers had paid or settled, and debts that were so old that...


claim: Under his proposal, consumer protection agencies would be notified of all incoming lawsuits, using administrative powers to audit a small fraction and fine abusers. Case selection would initially be random to ensure all creditors face potential detection, similar to IRS practices, but could later be enhanced by machine learning to target statistically high-risk cases.

evidence_quote: [p. 5] Arbel_Galley(Do Not Delete) 1/2/2018 4:17 PM 2018] ADMINIZATION 125 consumer protection agencies (the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) or the CFPB); state attorney general offices and state level consumer agencies; or some combination thereof.16 More important than the institutional locus is the process itself. In a nutshell, the agency would be notified of every incoming lawsuit.17 Using its administrative powers, the agency will select claims to be audited by competent agency investigators; where wrongdoing and abuse are found, the agency will use its statutory powers to levy fines against wrongdoers.18 To manage the millions of cases that are filed every year, the agency will...