Last Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit issued a 2-to-1 decision in Rittman v. Amazon, holding that Amazon "last-mile" delivery drivers are transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce under 9 U.S.C. § 1 and, therefore, are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act's enforcement provisions. As law prof Adam Steinman explains here, Rittman follows a recent decision from the […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
Law prof Daniel Hemel (@DanielJHemel) has posted a detailed series of tweets skewering the tort-deform provisions in the Republican-sponsored coronavirus relief bill. I recommend reading these tweets. Hemel begins with the statement that "[t]he liability provisions in McConnell’s 'HEALS Act' do not reflect a serious attempt to address problems with the tort system" and then […]
As the world races to find a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19, note a study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study reviewed all vaccines approved by the Food & Drug Administration for the 20-year period ending December 31, 2015. The study's finding: Over a 20-year period, vaccines were found to […]
I thought our readers might want to look at an interesting new decision from the Third Circuit about common-law nuisance under Pennsylvania law. The decision is Baptiste v. Bethlehem Landfill Company. The first two paragraphs of the opinion offer a synopsis: Robin and Dexter Baptiste brought an action against the Bethlehem Landfill Company on behalf […]
Law prof Mark Budnitz has written The Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts: The American Law Institute's Impossible Dream. Here is the abstract: The American Law Institute has been attempting to write a Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts since 2012. The proposed Restatement has gone through ten drafts and has generated considerable […]
Lots of folks are using hand sanitizer these days. Sometimes it is hard to find hand sanitizers on the shelves or on-line, and there might be an inclination to buy any brand you find. Because there are a bunch of dangerous brands on the market containing methanol (which can be toxic, even life-threatening when ingested), […]
This article by Renae Merle discusses in detail the impending eviction crisis as eviction moratoriums begin to expire. Something has to be done to help tenants in crisis, and it can't be extending the patchwork of moratoriums, which doesn't deal with the underlying problem: that people out of work can't afford the rent.
The Trump campaign infamously demanded a liability waiver from people attending Trump's rally in Tulsa last weekend. Now, law prof Heidi Li Feldman has penned an op-ed for the LA Times entitled Your college may ask you to sign a waiver for harm inflicted by COVID-19. Don’t do it.
Read The Trump Administration’s Attacks on Regulatory Benefits by law prof RIchard Revesz. Here's the abstract: For the last four decades, benefit-cost analysis has been a mainstay of the U.S. federal regulatory process and, under Executive Orders in effect since 1981, such analysis must generally be used to justify significant federal regulations. While administrations of […]
As has been widely reported, if you want to register for tickets to attend Trump's June 19 rally in Tulsa, you have to say that you won't hold the Trump campaign and others liable for Covid-19-related injuries. Go here to read the entire order form. The purported waiver reads as follows: By clicking register below, […]