We posted in late November about the Supreme Court's unanimous per curiam Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) decision in Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard. There, the Justices held that, in light of an arbitration clause, only an arbitrator and not the Oklahoma courts could, in the first instance, hold contract provisions unenforceable. Now, in this article, Rochelle Broboff […]
I often hear people complain about their cell phones and their cell-phone service providers. But even if your cell phone doesn't work too well and your cell-phone company hides fees and taxes in fine print, having a cell phone is worth it, perhaps for a reason you never contemplated. According to this article by law […]
If you didn't get to take all the courses you wanted while in law school, Harvard has a deal for you. Harvard Law School is now accepting applications for its first online course via edX—a new online education venture between six leading universities. The 12-week copyright course begins on January 28 and will be open to […]
by Brian Wolfman On his first full day in office, President Obama issued a memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He quoted Louis Brandeis's famous line that "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" and directed federal agencies to "adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure." Less than two months later, […]
by Brian Wolfman The Impact Litigation Journal reports that The parties have announced a settlement in the Toyota sudden acceleration multi-district litigation pending in a Santa Ana federal court. Under the terms of the settlement, which must now receive judicial approval, Toyota will install a brake-override system in some 3.25 million vehicles in addition to paying […]
On Wednesday the Ninth Circuit gave Wells Fargo a belated Christmas present in Gutierrez v. Wells Fargo Bank, — F.3d —-, 2012 WL 6684748 (9th Cir. 2012), vacating the injunctive and restitution relief ordered by the lower court. The district court decision had held Wells Fargo's procedures for ordering debit card withdrawals unfair and fraudulent […]
by Paul Alan Levy I am pleased to note that the parties to the defamation action in Steubenville, about which I blogged earlier this month, have resolved the matter in the very sensible manner to which my blog post pointed: the young man whose nasty behavior spurred much of the commentary was allowed to apologize […]
by Brian Wolfman We explained recently that airlines may be misleading consumers into paying add-on fees for seats by tricking consumers in thinking that most of the good seats are sold out when they really aren't. And we've covered the issue of airline fees and prices generally many times (go, for instance, here and here). […]
by Jeff Sovern Regular readers of this blog will know that businesses use cookies, etc. to track consumer online behavior for marketing purposes. But what may be less well known is that businesses use the information they glean online to offer different consumers different prices. A recent paper makes the point. See Jakub Mikians, László […]