Author Archives: Brian Wolfman

United Airlines Sues Website Critical of United Airlines

by Brian Wolfman One of the nice things about the Internet is that it brings down the cost of communicating with the public, potentially democratizing free speech. At fairly low cost, consumers can establish websites that criticize big businesses. Sometimes those big businesses don't like that and sue the owners of the critical websites. Often […]

EPA Bans BP From Future Federal Contracts

As explained here, the Environmental Protection Agency has banned BP from future federal contracts in light of the company's "lack of business integrity" evidenced by its misconduct surrounding the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The ban is temporary and will be lifted when BP, according to the EPA, "can provide sufficient evidence […]

Major Ruling in Federal Tobacco Litigation

Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court in D.C. has issued this this major opinion imposing corrective remedies in the federal government's 13-year-old RICO suit against the tobacco industry. Judge Kessler has issued a separate order mandating that the tobacco companies publish "corrective statements" on five topics "on which the Court found they had […]

What Should Be Done About Underwater Mortgages?

In case you missed it, last week the Washington Post had this interesting article describing a meeting between President Obama and seven of the world's most prominent economists. The meeting took place over 13 months ago. Nearly all of the economists told the President that the government hadn't done enough to effectively forgive the mortgage […]

Supreme Court Hands Down Per Curiam Federal Arbitration Act Decision

The Supreme Court handed down a unanimous per curiam decision this morning in Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Eddie Lee Howard. The Court ruled that an Oklahama Supreme Court's decision nixing contract provisions was a decision for an arbitrator (not the Oklahoma courts): State courts rather than federal courts are most frequently called upon to apply the […]

Drug Industry Influence on Medical Journals and Medical Research

Nearly a year and a half ago, we covered the topic of drug industry influence on medical journals and research. The lead story in yesterday's Washington Post treats the topic in detail, noting that even the most prestigious medical journals have trouble avoiding bias in favor of the industry. The Post piece focuses on a […]