Category Archives: Uncategorized

FDA proposes rule to authorize generic drug manufacturers to update labels to provide new warnings (just like brand-name manufacturers are authorized to do)

In Wyeth v. Levine (2009), the Supreme Court held that the FDA's approval of the labeling for a brand-name prescription drug generally does not preempt a personal-injury state-law tort claim premised on the manufacturer's failure to warn about the drug. But, later, in PLIVA v. Mensing (2011), the Supreme Court held that state-law failure-to-warn claims […]

CFPB gets going on debt collection

by Brian Wolfman The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took two steps yesterday in the debt-collection realm. First, it began adding complaints about debt collection to its public consumer-complaint database. Second, it began the process of rulemaking for the debt-collection industry. The agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking data on many issues, including the […]

The intersection of Obamacare and open government

This story from NPR's Morning Edition this morning discusses various states' efforts to handle consumer questions regarding the implementation of Obamacare. Several states are outsourcing the operation of call centers to companies like Maximus, but most of the states won't make public how much they are paying for the service; for instance, Connecticut's contract with […]

More “Reform” from John Beisner and the Chamber

In connection with its "Legal Reform Summit" last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform issued a new paper written by John Beisner and his colleagues at Skadden Arps with new proposals for legislation to limit class actions and expand federal jurisdiction over both class actions and individual actions. Entitled A Roadmap for […]

The ACT and the College Board sued over alleged unlawful sale of test-takers’ private information

As Emily Babay of philly.com explains The companies that administer the SAT and ACT college entrance exams are being sued over their sales of students' personal information to outside parties. A lawsuit filed this week contends that the College Board, which  runs the SAT, and ACT, Inc., sell identifying information about the hundreds of thousands […]

Report: cash-for-clunkers (CARS) program not terribly efficient

by Brian Wolfman Remember the Obama Administration's early "stimulus" program known as cash-for-clunkers? The Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009, or CARS, was meant to encourage people to trade in their gas guzzlers and buy new fuel-efficient cars. You traded in the gas guzzler, and the federal government funded a $3,500 to […]

Victims or fraudsters?: Telling them apart in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis

That's the name of this post published by Daniel Colbert in the American Criminal Law Review. Colbert's piece examines United States v. Phillips, a recent en banc decision from the Seventh Circuit that deals with the intersection of criminal law and mortgage fraud. Here's the piece:   By Daniel Colbert, ACLR Featured Blogger                     […]

Jon Stewart on the JP Morgan mortgage securities fraud settlement

Last week, we posted about JP Morgan's tentative agreement with the federal government to pay $13 billion to settle claims that it knowingly sold faulty mortgage securities that contributed to the financial crisis. The Wall Street Journal's editorial page and other members of the conservative press responded to the agreement by calling it a shakedown by […]