For months now, we have covered the tobacco industry's First Amendment challenge to the FDA's new graphic cigarette package labels. In late August, we told you about a D.C. Circuit panel decision invalidating the labels. We noted that the case was likely on a fast track to the Supreme Court. A couple weeks ago, though, […]
Should government impose workplace health rules? As explained here, laws requiring smoke-free workplaces may significantly improve cardiac health. An excerpt: Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. looked at the number of heart attacks among residents of Olmsted County, Minn. that occurred 18 months before and after implementation of laws banning smoking in restaurants […]
The American Banker has the story here and here is the Chicago Tribune's coverage. The bill would require the CFPB, as well as other independent federal agencies, to jump through additional hoops before adopting regulations. Many consumer groups have also opposed the bill in a letter.
This Wall Street Journal piece explains that older and middle-aged Americans are saddled with a lot of student loan debt largely because they co-signed their kids' and grandkids' student loans and the kids and grandkids have defaulted.
Here. An excerpt: Lawyers believe Cordray will remain at the helm of the agency until his appointment expires in December 2013, though some predict he'll step down a few months early to run for governor of Ohio. As a result, the CFPB — at least initially — is likely to hold course. That means more […]
Last Thursday, In AP Optronics v. State of South Carolina, No. 11-254, the Fourth Circuit held that federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act ("CAFA") was lacking because the State of South Carolina (and not its individual citizens) was the real party in interest in South Carolina's state-law antitrust action against the manufacturers of […]
by Jeff Sovern The Times reports that many phone apps, including the Angry Birds game (and the flashlight apps that many who lose power because of the storm on the East Coast today may use), spy on their users–and usually without the users' knowledge. Sometimes they gather information from contact lists and even from photos. […]
This ProPublica article by Jesse Eisinger explains that, during the depths of the Great Recession, Freddie Mac would not lower consumers' interest rates because it wanted to keep its profits high. Here's an excerpt: Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, made it harder for millions of Americans to refinance their high-interest-rate mortgages for fear it […]
Recently, we've posted about the degree to which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should look out for the interests of the businesses it regulates (in a guest post by Rob Bramson) and the CFPB's assertion of jurisdiction over lawyers' activities in some situations (in a post noting the American Bar Association's opposition). Now, in […]
Shay Lavie of Harvard has written The Malleability of Collective Litigation, forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review. Here is the abstract: In Wal-Mart v. Dukes (131 S.Ct. 2541 [2011]), Wal-Mart avoided class action because employment decisions were made by local supervisors. However, it was Wal-Mart who chose to delegate discretion; by doing so, it […]