…is the headline of this week's NYT story about internal emails at the manufacturer whose airbags have been the subject of a recall after federal regulators recognized that they had the potential to explode and shoot debris at passengers. A taste of the article: “Happy Manipulating!!!” a Takata airbag engineer, Bob Schubert, wrote in one […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
It's been a while since we discussed the Facebook minors'-privacy case, a class action over Facebook's use of members' images in ads without their consent. Public Citizen represented parents who objected to the proposed settlement because it permitted Facebook to continue using their children's images in ads without parental consent — a practice that violates […]
From the Times: Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to announce on Wednesday a $15-an-hour minimum wage for New York City’s public work force that city officials said would be among the highest of its kind in the country. Under the mayor’s plan, which matches a similar increase for state employees enacted by Gov. Andrew […]
The Federal Trade Commission had a busy yesterday, settling charges in three separate matters, as described in these FTC press releases: FTC Secures $4.4 Million From Online Payday Lenders to Settle Deception Charges Dental Practice Software Provider Settles FTC Charges It Misled Customers About Encryption of Patient Data Lumosity to Pay $2 Million to Settle […]
The NYT reports: The Justice Department sued the German automaker Volkswagen in federal court on Monday, saying that the company installed illegal devices in nearly 600,000 diesel engine systems to impair emissions controls, increasing harmful air pollution. But despite a pledge by the Justice Department in September to go after executives responsible for corporate wrongdoing, federal […]
…is a Post feature from last week about the practice of structured-settlement purchasing. The story summarizes: Unlike traditional settlements, which are paid out in one sum, structured settlements dispense the payout in portions over a lifetime to protect vulnerable people from immediately spending it all. Since 1975, insurance firms have committed an estimated $350 billion to […]
From Pearls Before Swine. (HT: ContractsProf Blog)
This essay by David Ropeik (pictured to the right) explains that people often miscalculate health risks. Risk from flu (influenza) is far greater than from measles (particularly for certain age groups). Flu causes a lot of deaths and staggering economic costs, yet vaccination rates remain low. Get a flu shot.
As law school enrollment and job placement decreased, law schools considered many options to improve either or both. One proposal was a “two-year” law school, endorsed by President Obama. It was viewed as a quicker and cheaper alternative, and several schools began promoting their program. The plan was for students to go to school year […]
by Paul Alan Levy Last week the Seventh Circuit addressed several recurring issues pertaining to libel law in McCarthy v. Fuller, a case involving a falling out between by two sets of religious advocates pertaining to the holiness of certain alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary. (Choice characterization on Techdirt: “The details of the actual […]