by Brian Wolfman Last October, we told you that California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that establishes a regulatory framework for allowing self-driving cars on California roads. If self-driving cars work as planned they will greatly reduce crashes that kill and maim tens of thousands of people every year. They'll improve fuel economy too. […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
by Brian Wolfman After the Supreme Court last summer held (7 to 2) that the Affordable Care Act's medicaid expansion could not be forced on the states under the Constitution's so-called Spending Clause, it was left to the states to decide whether they wanted the expansion. Medicaid expansion under the ACA is broad, providing coverage […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Richard Cordray announced today that the agency has enhanced its Consumer Complaint Database to include state-by-state information. The CFPB also added complaints about money transfers and credit reporting to the database. “This data puts valuable information in the hands of consumers to help them understand what is happening in their […]
As explained in this article by Ylan Mui, "American households have rebuilt less than half of the wealth lost during the recession, leaving them without the spending power to fuel a robust economic recovery, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve."
Law professor Janet Alexander has written "To Skin a Cat: Qui Tam Actions as a State Legislative Response to Concepcion." Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s decision in Concepcion is widely regarded as heralding the demise of small-claims class actions whenever contracts of adhesion are involved in the transaction — which means for virtually […]
As our readers know, on April 25, 2013, the Solicitor General petitioned the Supreme Court to review the D.C. Circuit's Noel Canning decision, which held that three putative recess appointments made by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board were, in fact, not proper recess appointments and were thus invalid. Here's how the the […]
This article by Lori Montgomery explains that, according to a a new Congressional Budget Office report, The 10 largest breaks in the U.S. tax code will save taxpayers more than $900 billion this year, with a little more than half the benefits flowing to the richest 20 percent of households …. Whether that's a good or […]
In Hooks v. Forman, Holt, Eliades & Ravin, No. 12-3639-cv (May 29, 2013), the Second Circuit has held that a debt collector's collection notice violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by stating that the plaintiffs could only dispute the validity of a debt in writing. The court's ruling is consistent with earlier Ninth Circuit […]
The Class Action Fairness Act provides jurisdiction in federal district court (originally and by removal) for most minimally diverse class actions and for "mass actions." Under CAFA, a mass action is any civil action (except a civil action within the scope of [28 U.S.C.] section 1711(2)) in which monetary relief claims of 100 or more […]
As states begin implementing the Affordable Care Act, will they offer a range of options at prices preferable to what is available today? Chad Terhune has written this article about what California is doing. Here's an exceprt: After weeks of negotiations, California said it has selected 13 health plans for a new state-run insurance marketplace […]