(Relatively) small student debts for most borrowers, but a large problem

Read this article by Susan Dynarski. Here's an excerpt: Politicians who complain about college costs frequently cite two numbers: one trillion and seven million. Student borrowers owe more than $1 trillion, and seven million borrowers are in default, according to the latest Department of Education data. * * * In many people’s minds, the so-called […]

Med Express faces $20,000 sanctions award for frivolous libel suit against eBay buyers

by Paul Alan Levy Med Express, a Medina Ohio company that faced serious and widespread online obloquy during the spring of 2013 for filing a libel suit against two eBay users who posted mildly negative (but entirely truthful) feedback, has been ordered to pay nearly $20,000 in attorney fees and expenses for the work of […]

Second Circuit to consider First Amendment challenge to GMO labeling law

Guest post by Julie Murray (Public Citizen Litigation Group) Some states have recently adopted, and dozens of others have considered, laws that require food manufacturers to disclose whether their products have been made through genetic engineering (GE). These laws would at least give consumers useful information to guide their purchasing decisions amid the federal delay […]

U.S. adult smoking rate appears to have hit new low

Jonathan Cohn reports that smoking in the U.S. has hit an historic low. He explains: New survey data, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday morning, suggests that just 15.2 percent of American adults are now using cigarettes on a regular basis. That smoking rate is nearly 2 percentage points lower […]

Does Louisiana Lawyer David Groner Have the Right to Have His Mistakes Forgotten?

by Paul Alan  Levy Louisiana lawyer David Groner has made a few mistakes.  Which was the most serious? David Groner's Misconduct Toward Clients At some point time before January 18, 2007, one of Groner’s associates filed a lawsuit on behalf of some clients in the wrong venue; the defendants moved to dismiss. Groner’s firm nevertheless […]

As Supreme Court considers contraception mandate petition, a district court chimes in — with an injunction

We discussed last week the pending petitions in the Supreme Court regarding Obamacare coverage for contraception. Yesterday, Judge Richard Leon of federal district court in D.C. ruled in favor of contraception-mandate challenger March for Life (a pro-life, non-religious non-profit) and enjoined the federal government from enforcing the mandate against it, ruling that the mandate violated […]

Airline mega-merger antitrust suits mount

…reports The Consumerist. We all know the background: airlines have been consolidating into fewer and fewer airlines in recent years. Since July, no fewer than 75 complaints have charged that the airlines violated federal antitrust laws; according to The Consumerist, United, American, Delta and Southwest now account for 80% of all domestic air travel. Here's […]

Drobac: The Myth of ‘Legal’ Consent in a Consumer Culture

Jennifer Ann Drobac of Indiana's McKinney School has written The Myth of 'Legal' Consent in a Consumer Culture in FACETS OF CONSUMERISM IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY (Anand Pawar, ed., Twenty First Century Publications, 2015).  Here is the abstract: This Essay challenges the legal default of unquestioned human capacity for consent. It posits that legal capacity […]