On Friday, we told you about FDA's proposal to authorize generic drug manufacturers to update labels to provide new warnings, just like brand-name manufacturers have been authorized to do since 1982. Janet Woodcock, the head of FDA's drug research and evaluation division, has written an essay in FDA Voice explaining why the agency wants the […]
We've been asked to post the following RFP: Suffolk Law School and the National Consumer Law Center are convening a Research Symposium on Student Loans in Boston on April 10th and 11th. The goal of the Symposium, which is invitation-only, is to bring together the nation’s top experts, including academics, attorneys, industry representatives, consumer advocates, […]
by Jeff Sovern Recently I heard an industry lawyer say that to know what regulators will do next, you should listen to consumer advocates. The only individual consumer advocate he mentioned was Peter Holland. So what is Peter Hollland calling for? He wants debt buyers, when suing a consumer, to disclose the agreement they entered into to […]
In Wyeth v. Levine (2009), the Supreme Court held that the FDA's approval of the labeling for a brand-name prescription drug generally does not preempt a personal-injury state-law tort claim premised on the manufacturer's failure to warn about the drug. But, later, in PLIVA v. Mensing (2011), the Supreme Court held that state-law failure-to-warn claims […]
Shauhin A. Talesh of Irvin has written How the 'Haves' Come Out Ahead in the Twenty-First Century, 62 De Paul Law Review .519 (2013). Here is the abstract: This paper attempts to bridge and link the “speculations” in Marc Galanter’s seminal article in 1974 regarding how repeat players influence public legal institutions by playing for […]
This article by Sabrina Tavernese explains: The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed measures that would all but eliminate artificial trans fats, the artery clogging substance that is a major contributor to heart disease in the United States, from the food supply. Under the proposal, which is open for public comment for 60 days, […]
Vikram Jambulapati of MIT's Sloan School of Management and Joanna Stavins of the Boston Fed have written The Credit CARD Act of 2009: What Did Banks Do? Here's the abstract: The Credit CARD Act of 2009 was intended to prevent practices in the credit card industry that lawmakers viewed as deceptive and abusive. Among other changes, […]
by Deepak Gupta We've blogged before about Mount Holly–the Supreme Court case about the future of disparate impact in housing and lending discrimination. (My firm represents current and former Members of Congress in the case). All along, it's seemed possible that Mount Holly would settle before the December oral arguments. This morning, that's looking even […]
by Brian Wolfman The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took two steps yesterday in the debt-collection realm. First, it began adding complaints about debt collection to its public consumer-complaint database. Second, it began the process of rulemaking for the debt-collection industry. The agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking data on many issues, including the […]
This story from NPR's Morning Edition this morning discusses various states' efforts to handle consumer questions regarding the implementation of Obamacare. Several states are outsourcing the operation of call centers to companies like Maximus, but most of the states won't make public how much they are paying for the service; for instance, Connecticut's contract with […]