A week ago, I posted this about the largest jury verdict to date against talcum powder makers — $417 million — awarded to a woman who alleged that Johnson & Johnson's talc-containing baby powder caused her ovarian cancer. You may also be interested in this article by Laura McGinley. The thrust of McGinley's piece is that while results […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
As CFPB director Richard Cordray described it: Consumer financial protections are not confined within the 50 states. American Express discriminated against consumers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories by providing them with less-favorable financial products and services. They have ceased this practice and are making consumers whole. In particular, because they self-reported the problem and […]
The unanimous decision, by Chief Judge Wood, is Laurens v. Volvo Cars of N. America. Here's the beginning of the opinion, which sums things up quite nicely: The idea of a theme and variations is a common one in music. It should be in law, too. Here we return to the familiar theme of a defense effort […]
That's the topic of Partisan Balance With Bite by law profs Brian Feinstein and Daniel Hemel. It struck me as timely. Here is the abstract: Dozens of multimember agencies across the federal government are subject to partisan balance requirements, which mandate that no more than a simple majority of agency members may hail from a single party. […]
Does the talc in baby powder cause ovarian cancer? A California jury thinks so. And, by a vote of 9 to 3, that jury today told Johnson & Johnson to pay $417 million to a woman with ovarian cancer. Read about it here, here, here, and here. One report notes that Johnson & Johnson, "which faces 5,500 […]
Jeff's coverage of conservatives who support the CFPB's arbitration rule (for instance, here and here) includes his re-post of Dean Clancy's recent U.S. News piece. You might also be interested in Clancy's earlier article that looked at the Wells Fargo scandal through the lens of pre-dispute, mandatory arbitration clauses.
Read Why Limits on Contributions to Super PACS Should Survive Citizens United by Albert Alschuler, Laurence Tribe, Norman Eisen, and Richard Painter. Here is the abstract: Soon after the Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. FEC, the D.C. Circuit held all limits on contributions to super PACs unconstitutional. Its decision in SpeechNow.org v. FEC created a regime […]
After learning that the plaintiff in Spokeo v. Robins won on remand from the Supreme Court, I ran into Spokeo Misspeaks, an article by law prof Lauren Willis. Here's the abstract: Most commentators have critiqued the Supreme Court’s opinion in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins for failing to answer the question presented. But in important ways, the Spokeo opinion […]
Many of our readers will recall the Supreme Court's decision last year in Spokeo v. Robins in which the Court explained, in general terms, what it means for a plaintiff to allege a "concrete" injury sufficient to establish article III standing. The Court then remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit for findings on "concreteness" measured against […]
Following up on an earlier post, this Reuters story by Jonathan Spicer reports that Americans' debt level notched another record high in the second quarter, after having earlier in the year surpassed its pre-crisis peak, on the back of modest rises in mortgage, auto and credit card debt, where delinquencies jumped. Total U.S. household debt was $12.84 trillion […]