Category Archives: Uncategorized

Is enforcement of a security interest (e.g. a foreclosure) “debt collection” under the FDCPA?

Yes, says the Sixth Circuit, in Glazer v. Chase Home Finance, issued yesterday. This is good news for FDCPA plaintiffs, who have had to contend for years with a district court consensus that the enforcement of a security interest is not subject to most of the provisions of the Act. An odd type of split […]

Chamber of Commerce Doesn’t Want SEC to Require Public Companies to Disclose Their Campaign Contributions

Should public companies be forced to disclose to their shareholders — and thus to the world — their campaign contributions (rather than funnelling them secretively through third parties, such as the Chamber of Commerce)? The SEC is considering a disclosure rule, but the Chamber of Commerce is opposed, as explained in this article by Sue […]

Alabama Court holds patient injured by generic drug can sue brand-name manufacturer

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Friday in Wyeth v. Weeks that a patient who took a generic version of a drug may sue a brand-name drug manufacturer for failing to warn about a drug’s risks. In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Pliva v. Mensing that injured patients' state-law failure-to-warn claims against […]

How Should Businesses Deal with Online Criticism?

by Paul Alan Levy   I often write in this space about baseless lawsuits brought by businesses to suppress criticism, although at the same time I have acknowledged that, sometimes, litigation may be a sound response to baseless attacks that are having a genuine untoward impact on reputation. In this interesting blog post on a web […]

The Supreme Court’s Mootness Ruling in Already v. Nike

This week, the Supreme Court decided Already v. Nike. There, in a trademark suit instituted by Nike, Already counterclaimed that Nike's trademark on its "Air Force 1" sneakers is invalid. Applying the Court's standard for when a once justificiable case becomes moot under Article III's case-or-controversy requirement — “a defendant claiming that its voluntary compliance […]

Ninth Circuit Holds “Parallel” Failure to Warn Claim Not Preempted by Medical Device Amendments

In an en banc ruling released today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the federal Medical Device Amendments do not preempt a patient's tort claim alleging that that manufacturer violated its state-law duty to warn of dangers when it did not report "adverse events" to the FDA, as required by […]