The Florida Supreme Court yesterday responded "yes" to this question certified to it from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh CIrcuit: DOES THE STATUTORY CAP ON WRONGFUL DEATH NONECONOMIC DAMAGES, FLA. STAT. § 766.118, VIOLATE THE RIGHT TO EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER ARTICLE I, SECTION 2 OF THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION? The Florida Supreme Court […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
Following up on yesterday's report on Target's failure to prevent its data breach, listen to this NPR story on the same topic.
That's the topic of this Bloomberg Businessweek article. Here's an interesting excerpt: On Saturday, Nov. 30, the hackers had set their traps and had just one thing to do before starting the attack: plan the data’s escape route. As they uploaded exfiltration malware to move stolen credit card numbers—first to staging points spread around the […]
That's the theme of this interesting article by Ashlee Kieler.
The Center for Effective Government has issued Making the Grade: Access to Information Scorecard 2014. This report grades the 15 federal agencies that receive the most Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) requests on their implementation of the Act. The report finds that the Act often is not implemented as Congress intended. Read a […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday named three people to senior posts: (1) Christopher D. Carroll as the Assistant Director and Chief Economist for the Office of Research in the Bureau’s Research, Markets, and Regulations Division; (2) Daniel Dodd-Ramirez as the Assistant Director of Financial Empowerment in the Bureau’s Consumer Education and Engagement Division; and […]
For a variety of answers, see an empirical study by Alan White and Carolina Reid called Saving Homes? Bankruptcies and Loan Modifications in the Foreclosure Crisis. Here is the abstract: Do homeowner bankruptcy filings work to delay or prevent home foreclosures, and how do they compare to voluntary loan modifications specifically targeted to mortgage relief? […]
by Brian Wolfman The major consumer credit scoring company, FICO, devised a model (first constructed in 1989) that produces what is known as a credit score. So, almost any consumer with any sort of credit history has what is known of as a FICO score. The basic FICO score ranges from 300 (very very bad) […]
Read this article by Kate Cox on the lack of competition in the broadband industry in the U.S. It's chock full of maps showing that, in many areas, there is no competition. Here's how Cox starts: When announcing Comcast’s intention to buy Time Warner Cable, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts called cable a “highly competitive and […]
The number of obese people has skyrocketed in recent years, which has focused some lawmakers on discrimination against obese people, including in employment. Some jurisdictions have enacted laws against this type of employment discrimination. In Legal Largesse or Big, Fat Failure: Do Weight Discrimination Laws Improve Employment Outcomes of the Obese?, Jennifer Shinall looks at […]