Brian argues, based on Justice Kagan's excellent dissent (which is quite good and worth a read), that Genesis won't have much effect. My view is different. Justice Kagan effectively skewers the majority opinion for its failure to address the crucial threshold premise that underlies its decision: i.e., that an unaccepted Rule 68 offer moots an […]
by Brian Wolfman Scott posted earlier on today's Supreme Court decision in the Genesis HealthCare. I want to dissent from the idea that the decision is necessarily "quite bad" for people seeking to vindicate their rights under the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). Today's ruling is premised on the assumption that an unaccepted offer from […]
This morning, in Genesis HealthCare v. Symczyk, the Supreme Court held that defendants in a Fair Labor Standards Act case can defeat the certification of a collective action by making an offer of complete relief to the named plaintiff before she obtains certification for the collective action. According to the court, the offer makes the […]
Dustin A. Zacks of King, Nieves & Zacks PLLC has written Robo-Litigation, 60 Cleveland State Law Review 867 (2013). Here's the abstract: The recent housing crisis increased demand for attorneys to process foreclosures through state courts. This increase in demand was coupled with a desire for the fastest and cheapest legal services available. As a […]
by Paul Alan Levy Med Express, an Ohio company that sells over eBay, is trying to maintain a perfect seller rating by suing a South Carolina woman who had the audacity to describe a problem she had with one of their deliveries — a photographic accessory that arrived with $1.40 postage due. The customer found […]
by Paul Alan Levy In a brief opinion issued today, Judge Richard Seeborg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California awarded Christopher Recouvreur more than $46,000 in attorney fees and expenses for having had to defend himself against a series of wild and baseless threats of suit for trademark infringement […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, I was on a panel at the Annual Meeting of the American Council on Consumer Interests, along with Dr. Yilan Xu, a professor at the University of Illinois in agricultural and consumer economics. Dr. Xu's talk concerned a natural experiment in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland had enacted an anti-predatory lending ordinance which was […]
Today, Public Citizen, working with co-counsel at Thomas & Solomon LLP of Rochester, N.Y., and O’Hara, O’Connell & Ciotoli of Fayetteville, N.Y., filed a petition to appeal the class certification denial in Roach v. T.L. Cannon Corp., a wage-and-hour class action. The appeal will be among the first to test the scope of the Supreme […]
A group of organizations including the Union of Concerned Scientists, Breast Cancer Fund, and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families yesterday sent a letter to major retailers asking them to phase out the use of more than 100 chemicals used in hundreds of products, including wrinkle-free clothes, shampoos, sofa cushions, and food packaging. The retailers include Walmart, […]
by Brian Wolfman A good bit of important congressional legislation is justified under the Constitution's so-called Spending Clause. Key programs in the environmental, education, and public benefits areas, for instance, are Spending Clause programs. The idea of much of this legislation, put simply, is that the legislation offers money to states to implement joint federal-state […]