by Brian Wolfman On his first full day in office, President Obama issued a memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He quoted Louis Brandeis's famous line that "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" and directed federal agencies to "adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure." Less than two months later, […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
by Brian Wolfman The Impact Litigation Journal reports that The parties have announced a settlement in the Toyota sudden acceleration multi-district litigation pending in a Santa Ana federal court. Under the terms of the settlement, which must now receive judicial approval, Toyota will install a brake-override system in some 3.25 million vehicles in addition to paying […]
by Brian Wolfman We explained recently that airlines may be misleading consumers into paying add-on fees for seats by tricking consumers in thinking that most of the good seats are sold out when they really aren't. And we've covered the issue of airline fees and prices generally many times (go, for instance, here and here). […]
The Supreme Court has in recent years famously struck down laws that barred corporate electioneering on First Amendment grounds. But the Court has had little problem with laws that demand disclosure about who is contributing to elections and how much (though the Court protects anonymous speech in other contexts). With that in mind, read this L.A. […]
by Brian Wolfman Earlier this year, we told you (here, here, and here) about eBay's terrible new arbitration clause that bars its customers, both sellers and buyers, from participating in class actions against the company. The new clause came with a cynical twist: eBay allowed its customers to opt out of the clause within a […]
Consumer advocates generally believe that federal judges nominated by President Obama are more likely to decide cases favorably to consumers than are judges nominated by the President's recent Republican predecessors. So, how has the President fared with his nominations? Bob Barnes of the Washington Post has penned this article that discusses the President's judicial nominations. […]
The Consumer Federation of America provides tips for safe holiday food use and preparation here.
Paul Levy gave us his perspective on Robert Bork last week. Historian Stanley Kutler, known for his works on Richard Nixon, now gives us his. Kutler thinks little of Bork's judicial philosophy of original intent (finding it at odds with what history tells us about the Founders' intent), but he thinks history has treated Bork unfairly […]
We told you last June that a panel of the D.C. Circuit had largely upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas rules issued after the Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts v. EPA demanded regulatory action on greenhouse gases. The panel's 82-page opinion, written by Judge Per Curiam (Sentelle, Rogers, and Tatel), was pretty comprehensive. Yesterday (nearly […]
We posted yesterday about a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that authorized non-class members to intervene for the purpose of objecting to a district court's certification and settlement of a class action that might affect their interests. Class action lawyer Rob Bramson has made an interesting comment on […]