Category Archives: Uncategorized

Troubling report on financial adviser misconduct

The Post reports: Some 7 percent of advisers have been disciplined for misconduct, according to a working paper released this week by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Misconduct included selling clients investments that weren’t suitable or not consulting with them before making trades and other investment decisions. And contrary to what some […]

Miami Beach, on the front lines of climate change

CNN published this week an interview with Miami Beach's "chief resiliency officer" about the threat. Prefacing the discussion, the interviewer notes of the city, "a 90,000-person island municipality off the coast of Miami proper," that "At even 2 to 4 feet of sea level rise, the island will be considerably flooded. The National Oceanic and […]

Home loans and race in California

A recent report by the Greenlining Institute and the Urban Strategies Council, "Locked Out of the Market: Poor Access to Home Loans for Californians of Color," highlights the stark disparities between whites borrowers and borrowers of color when it comes to access to home loans. Among the report's findings: -In 2013, Hispanics were nearly 40% of CA’s […]

Reuters: Republican Marco Rubio winning Wall Street fundraising race

Here.  Excerpt:   The U.S. senator from Florida has received more than $4 million from the employees of banks and investment firms like Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) since launching his bid for the presidency last year, according to the analysis of individual donations totaling more […]

Self-help against non-disparagement clauses?

by Paul Alan Levy A comment to my recent blog post about Prestigious Pets, a Dallas pet care company that recently sued two of its customers for negative reviews, suggested an interesting approach for dealing with businesses that use non-disparagement clauses to block customers from posting accurate but unflattering reviews.  Although consumer advocates place hope […]

Second Circuit: First Amendment access to judicial documents applies to civil complaints

The court of appeals this week affirmed a district court's decision to unseal a complaint even though the case settled within two weeks after it was filed. Of note, the Second Circuit held that the public is entitled to access civil complaints not just under the common law right of access but also under the […]

FTC acts against debt-relief operation that targeted financially distressed homeowners and student loan borrowers

The Federal Trade Commission has charged a debt relief operation with falsely representing to financially distressed homeowners and student loan borrowers that it would help get their mortgages and student loans modified. At the FTC’s request, a federal court has temporarily halted the operation. The agency seeks to permanently stop the alleged illegal practices and […]

Working at a meat processing plant is really dangerous

We've previously discussed Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, the pending Supreme Court case regarding whether workers at an Iowa meat-processing plant can sue as a class over violations of wage-and-hour protections. For a bit of (unfortunately gruesome) context, check out this recent article from Buzzfeed, "America’s Biggest Meat Producer Averages One Amputation Per Month," about OSHA data […]

Court upholds NYC sodium warnings

As NPR reports this morning, a New York state trial court (misleadingly named the "New York State Supreme Court" apparently for historical reasons) upheld the City's requirement that restaurants label high sodium menu items. The story explains, "Mandated salt warnings on menus are intended to make New Yorkers more aware of the link between excessive […]