The Affordable Care Act has taken some hits in the courts (but so far has survived the biggest attacks), and it is not terribly popular. But is it working as it was intended? Yes, according to this piece by Sarah Kliff. An excerpt: [I]f you look beyond the political fights, the picture looks very different [from […]
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Today the Supreme Court denied BP's petition seeking review of a case interpreting the company's multi-billion dollar settlement over its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company claimed (both in court papers and via a public relations campaign) that it is improperly being forced to compensate losses unrelated to the spill. Read […]
The state of the law on arbitration is undeniably titled against consumers, workers, and really anyone who is wronged by a corporation (including, sometimes, even smaller corporations). We've discussed on this site for years how arbitration undermines disputants' rights and favors the big repeat players. And we've discussed how far arbitration has extended under recent […]
As Forbes discusses, the D.C. city council has just passed a law to combat the abuses associated with civil asset forfeiture, the law enforcement practice of taking people's money or property and asking questions (such as whether they had the authority to do it) later. The Washington Post summarizes what asset forfeiture is: Civil forfeiture […]
Our site does its share (we hope!) of calling attention to dangerous and/or exploitative corporate practices, so it's only fair that we also mention when a company seems to be looking out for its consumers. Brian's post earlier today discussed a looming showdown over airbag recalls, with the manufacturer, Takata, refusing NHTSA's demand to broaden […]
With Privacy Basics, the social network site provides a sleek, interactive guide to your privacy options. Whatever you think of Facebook's record on privacy, the new policy seems to reflect a recognition on Facebook's part that their users do care about it. I don't know all the details of how the policy has changed over […]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently told Takata Corp. to expand its regional defective-airbag recall (in states that have high "absolute" humidity) to vehicles in the entire country. Takata just said no. Most recalls are voluntary — that is, the manufacturer agrees to do what the agency demands. Here, however, NHTSA will have to […]
Yesterday, I received an email from the Consumer Protection Branch at the U.S. Department of Justice with links to recent announcements from that office. Here is what DOJ's consumer lawyers were up to in November: November 21, 2014 – United States Files Enforcement Action Against Michigan Sandwich Company and Co-Owner to Stop Distribution of Adulterated […]
"Remember the robo-signers, those mortgage loan automatons who authenticated thousands of foreclosure documents over the years without verifying the information they were swearing to? Well, they’re back, in a manner of speaking," reports the Times. Read on.
We mentioned last week that fracking will be permitted in a national forest in Virginia, near the Potomac's headwaters. Now the outgoing governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley, says that he will open up lands in the western portion of that state to fracking, although he touts the stringent regulations he intends to impose. The Washington […]