This essay by David Ropeik (pictured to the right) explains that people often miscalculate health risks. Risk from flu (influenza) is far greater than from measles (particularly for certain age groups). Flu causes a lot of deaths and staggering economic costs, yet vaccination rates remain low. Get a flu shot.
As law school enrollment and job placement decreased, law schools considered many options to improve either or both. One proposal was a “two-year” law school, endorsed by President Obama. It was viewed as a quicker and cheaper alternative, and several schools began promoting their program. The plan was for students to go to school year […]
by Paul Alan Levy Last week the Seventh Circuit addressed several recurring issues pertaining to libel law in McCarthy v. Fuller, a case involving a falling out between by two sets of religious advocates pertaining to the holiness of certain alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary. (Choice characterization on Techdirt: “The details of the actual […]
Last week, the CFPB filed a motion in a D.C. federal district court seeking to unmask companies that sued the agency this past summer, in a case whose public filings bear the mysterious caption John Doe Company v. CFPB (No. 1:15-cv-1177, D.D.C.). The lawsuit was entirely under wraps until October, when the court unsealed the […]
As the NYT reported last week, The D.M.V. proposal would mandate that autonomous vehicles be operated by a licensed driver who could take over if necessary. That driver would also be on the hook for traffic violations. The manufacturers of self-driving cars would have to subject their vehicles to a third-party safety test. And they would apply […]
by Paul Alan Levy In a case litigated over the past few days, the Mall of America filed an action against several leaders of Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis who had called a demonstration, to be held inside the famous shopping mall, to protest a police shooting in the area. The TRO sought to bar […]
by Paul Alan Levy This morning I attended a hearing at the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment in a case relating to a neighborhood issue in which I have been engaged – an appeal by our local Advisory Neighborhood Commission of the issuance of a building permit that allows Bogdan Builders to “pop-up” a row […]
by Paul Alan Levy In a decision issued today, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sitting en banc overruled a 1981 ruling by the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and held that the portion of section 2(a) of the Lanham Act that forbids the Trademark Office from registering disparaging trademarks is […]
…..is the title of a New York Times article discussing how debt collectors use the courts to sue, but bar a subsequent suit by the debtor (or alleged debtor) based on an arbitration clause in the debtor’s original contract with the creditor. The article discusses several cases where individuals who either didn’t know about the […]
We told you in May that Public Citizen was representing Prof. Rebecca Tushnet of Georgetown Law in seeking to intervene and unseal court documents in a trademark dispute between Amazon.com and the maker of a dietary supplement called SeroVital. The district court denied summary judgment to Amazon this past spring, but key facts on which the […]