1) The attack on high interest title loans

2) Thesis Title loans can be voided and provide a valuable income stream for an attorney if they attack them on unconscionable contract grounds. Theory goes like this If the contract is unconscionable then enforcement of its terms rises to the tort of conversion- torts have punitive damages available payday acquired.3) Definitions

a) What is a title loan

b) What is Unconscionabilityc) What is conversion4) Prevalence

a) Where to get one

b) Who gets them

5) Effects on society

a) Loss of essential vehicles for low-income livelihood these loans are primarily available in states with out effective mass transit systems.

b) Loss of employment

c) National security- high prevalence around military bases6) Legal argument three state frame work with multiple models SC, VA, GAa) SC- essentially unregulated

b) VA- Regulated - hardest to make theory work because of legislated interest rate.

c) GA- Pawn Broker Model

7) A contract with a sufficiently high interest rate with a known near guarantee of breech is not negotiated in good faith, is usually made under duress, and is therefore unconscionable. An unconscionable contract is void at its formation. The standardized arbitration agreement, is unenforceable due to the unconscionability of the initial contract. Thusly, the enforcement of a facially unconscionable contract rises to the tort of conversion.

a) Requirements for contract

i) Duty of good faith

b) Defenses against formation

i) Duress

(1) Financial Duress

ii) Undue influence

(1) American understanding

(2) Common Global understanding

(a) (1998) 194 CLR 395, [1998] HCA 48c) Defenses against performancei) Contracts of adhesion(1) 210 second contracts restatement - Where the other party has reason to believe that the party manifesting such assent would not do so if he knew that the writing contained a particular term, the term is not part of the agreement. Minority viewii) unconsionability

(1) Absence of meaningful choice on the part of one party due to one-sided contract provisions, together with terms which are so oppressive that no reasonable person would make them and no fair and honest person would accept them." (S)

iii) Unclean Hands

iv) Contorts

(1) From contracts to torts conversion through contract(a) How to make the leap

(b) The establishment of a cause of action in conversion requires the plaintiff to prove: (1) Legal ownership or an immediate superior right of possession, and (2) Exercise by defendant of an unauthorized dominion to the exclusion of the plaintiff's rights.v) The Federal Arbitration act

(1) Does bad faith negate an arbitration requirement? Esp. Important in VA because they legislated a maximum interest rate of 22%/month leaving only a bad faith argument. The unconscionable interest rate argument dies with the law.

(2) Can you arbitrate bad faith?

(a) a bad faith action exists separately from an action in contract. Tadlock Painting Co. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 322 S.C. 498, 502 (S.C. 1996)