Off-label [that is, non-FDA approved] drug use is controversial. Some drug sellers, doctors, and patients think that cautious unapproved drug use advances medical science while helping to mitigate and cure disease, while some consumer advocates thinks it kills and injures patients. Law professors Fazel Kahn and Justin Holloway have written "Verify, then Trust: How to […]
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A federal judge in Kentucky approved last week a $40 million class-action settlement between Skechers USA Inc. and consumers who bought Skechers' toning shoes from August 2008 – August 2012. The Skechers' ads made unfounded claims that the shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen muscles. Consumers with approved claims will be paid up […]
As explained in this New Republic essay by Si Lazarus, a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act is nearly as threatening to its viability as the now-rejected challenge to its constitutionality. Here's an excerpt: After the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act last June, Senator Jim DeMint and Representative Michele Bachmann wrote Republican […]
That's the name of this article by law professor Linda Mullenix. Here's the abstract: Professor Redish has both anchored the modern class action in American political and constitutional theory, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of this procedural device for resolving aggregate claims. Professor Redish’s major insight is his argument that the courts and litigants […]
That's the name of this article by law professors Myriam Gilles and Anthony Sebok. Here's the abstract: Class actions are in decline, while arbitration is ascendant. This raises the question: will plaintiffs’ lawyers skilled in bringing small-value, large-scale litigation – the typical consumer, employment, and antitrust claims that have made up the bulk of class […]
Rebecca Tushnet’s 43(b) blog reports today on the recent district court decision in Mason v. Nature's Innovation, Inc. (S.D. Cal.). The plaintiff sued the manufacturer of a skin care product for injunctive relief, alleging claims under California consumer statutes and warranty claims based on misrepresentations on the product’s label and website. The court found that […]
[Note: This item was posted a few minutes after the another posting on the case. It contains some additional information on the case. HT on the overlap to Andrew Kaufman.] The Supreme Court yesterday granted cert in Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg, a case about whether the Airline Deregulation Act's preemption provision, 49 U.S.C. 41713(b), preempts […]
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari in Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg, which will give the Court yet another opportunity to address the preemptive scope of a federal statute. In 2005, Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg, a long-time customer of Northwest Airlines, earned the highest level of membership benefits in Northwest’s customer loyalty […]
by Brian Wolfman For a long time, the case law under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) has been bad for plaintiffs who want to be in court rather than in arbitration. And it's been getting worse in recent years. Class-action bans laundered through adhesive arbitration clauses are strictly enforced, even when they are unconscionable under […]
by Brian Wolfman Last Friday's Third Circuit ruling in Abraham v. St. Croix Rennaisance Group considered whether the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) provides federal "mass action" jurisdiction over a suit against a plant that continuously exposed nearby residents to toxic chemicals over an extended period. First, some background. CAFA provides jurisdiction in federal district […]