by Brian Wolfman We posted in March when a state trial court in New York threw out New York City's ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. We have posted many times on the ban, including here, here, here, and here. On Tuesday, New York's appeal was argued in the New […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
In recent years, Supreme Court decisions have narrowed the circumstances in which class actions can be maintained under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. In "Walking the Class Action Maze: Toward a More Functional Rule 23," law professor Robert Bone says that because these Supreme Court decisions are interpretations of the federal rule, the rule […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued this study on bank and credit union overdraft practices. As explained in the agency's press release, the study raises concerns about whether the overdraft costs on consumer checking accounts can be anticipated and avoided. The report shows big differences across financial institutions when it comes to overdraft coverage […]
The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, though only in its infancy, is already supplying lawyers to law firms that represent the financial services industry, as described in this article by Jenna Greene. Greene says that the law firm Buckley Sandler, whose home page describes itself as "Legal Counsel to the Financial Services Industry," "nabbed Benjamin […]
In Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter, the Supreme Court today upheld an arbitrator's decision that a particular arbitration clause authorized class arbitration. Justice Kagan wrote the main opinion, which was unanimous. The standard of review of arbitrators' decisions under the Federal Arbitration Act is highly deferential. So "the sole question for us," Justice Kagan explained, […]
Read Senator Whitehouse's essay. Here's the intro: In recent years corporations have racked up significant victories before the U.S. Supreme Court — a corporate windfall that has come at the expense of Americans who are unable to win redress for their injuries. These decisions have also worked an often overlooked harm: They have made it […]
by Brian Wolfman As many of our readers know, the Dodd-Frank financial reform law authorizes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate consumer arbitration. Under that law, the CFPB must conduct a study of consumer arbitration and then issue a report to Congress before it does anything to regulate pre-dispute aribtration clauses in consumer finance […]
As you will recall, in late April, the Supreme Court decided McBurney v. Young, holding unanimously that neither the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV nor the dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution prevents a state from limiting the right of access to the state's public records to its own citizens. (For […]
We have posted frequently about the ramifications of the states' decisions to opt-in (or not) to the Affordable Care Act's massive medicaid expansion, including just a few days ago, when we noted the large number of states that have either decided not to opt in (19) or are still thinking about it (8). A new […]
My office just submitted an amicus brief in the Second Circuit that I thought our readers might find interesting. The brief on behalf of 15 leading national disability rights organizations and academic researchers in Authors Guild, Inc. v. Hathitrust, No. 12-4547, urges the court of appeals to uphold a district court ruling that the HathiTrust's efforts to […]