by Brian Wolfman Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration issued this proposed order regarding tanning beds. The FDA is proposing to reclassify these ultra violet devices to require more warnings — including that minors not use them at all — because they are a cancer hazard. The proposal would also require the products to meet […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
That's the name of this article by Si Lazarus and Doug Kendall of the Constitutional Accountability Center. "Broken circuit" is Lazarus and Kendall's characterization of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. They point to "[a] new breed of activism on the .. the D.C. Circuit — for environmental cases second in importance […]
Read this post by Paul Bland, which contains a example of how the Supreme Court's decision in AT&T v. Concepcion is keeping consumers out of court and without any remedy. Here's Paul's synopsis: In Betts v. McKenzie Check Cashing, after a two-day evidentiary hearing that was essentially a trial of the payday lender’s arbitration clause, […]
by Brian Wolfman As you may have read, the FDA is beginning to look into possible regulation of caffeine when used as an additive to foods and drinks, including foods and drinks marketed to kids. How about some caffeine with your marshmellows or nuts? Yes, indeed, these foods sometimes have caffeine thrown in. Read this interview […]
Sunday's New York Times has a nice article discussing a recent study prepared by Lee Epstein, who teaches law and political science at the University of Southern California; William M. Landes, an economist at the University of Chicago; and Judge Richard A. Posner, of the federal appeals court in Chicago, who teaches law at the University […]
Many of our readers are interested in using and benefitting from federal and state freedom of information laws. With that in mind, you may want to read the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Coleman v. DEA, which has a buch of good things to say about two federal FOIA topics: exhaustion of administrative remedies and […]
Today Public Citizen filed objections to the proposed class action settlement in Fraley v. Facebook, which concerns Facebook's practice of using the images of their millions of users, without their knowledge or consent, to sell advertising. Specifically, through Facebook's "Sponsored Stories" program, whenever a user clicks the “Like” button, Facebook may use that interaction to […]
Law professor Howard Erichson says no in his new article "The Problem of Settlement Class Actions." Here is the abstract: This article argues that class actions should never be certified solely for purposes of settlement. Contrary to the widespread “settlement class action” practice that has emerged in recent decades, contrary to current case law permitting […]
Senator Franken today sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission urging it to "promptly exercise its authority under Section 921 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to prohibit the use of mandatory arbitration provisions in customer service agreements." His letter and press release are posted here.