AC Transit Counsel Goes from Bad to Worse

by Paul  Alan Levy Last week I explained the many fallacies in a contention by Jill Sprague, General Counsel of the Alameda-Contra Costa County Transit District, that Victoria Fierce, a candidate for election to the ACT Transit Board of Directors, has unlawfully posted photographs to her campaign web site that included busses and a route […]

Bay Area Transit District Attacks Candidate For Showing Its Logo

by Paul  Alan  Levy Much like the case of Jeremy Whittaker a few years ago, a demand letter from the general counsel of an elective transit district in the East Bay seeks to interfere with the political campaign of a candidate seeking to replace the lawyer’s bosses. The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District has threatened Victoria […]

Eleventh Circuit holds that class-action “service” or “incentive” awards for named plaintiffs are a no-no

Yesterday, in Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, the Eleventh Circuit held that so-called "incentive" or "service" awards to named class-action plaintiffs are unlawful. That is, in a class-action settlement, a named plaintiff may not be paid extra money (over and above money paid to all class members) as reimbursement/compensation for her efforts on behalf of the […]

Timothy D. Lytton’s Op-ed in The Conversation: Business liability shield is holding up another coronavirus bailout – . . . why immunity is unnecessary and even harmful

Here. Excerpt: As I document in my 2019 book, “Outbreak: Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety,” a handful of high-profile lawsuits against food companies have encouraged businesses at every link along the supply chain to improve their safety practices. That’s what happened after lawsuits against Jack in the Box over contaminated hamburgers in 1993 and Dole over E. […]

Why is Ridgeback Biotherapeutics Trying to Suppress Adverse Opinions by Issuing Frivolous Defamation Threats?

Over the past several months, I have posted a number of articles about the campaign of intimidating copyright demand letters from Mathew Higbee, who tries to extract money from individuals, nonprofits and small businesses by threatening to file frivolous copyright lawsuits. This is the first in what I expect will be series of articles about […]

Congress Should Outlaw Contract Clauses Waiving Liability for Negligently Exposing People to COVID

by Jeff Sovern That's the title of my post over at the ContractsProf Blog virtual symposium on contracts and COVID. Here's an excerpt:  The argument behind liability waivers as to normal risks is that people should be able to arrange their private affairs as they wish, but COVID liability waivers are not purely private.  Virus liability waivers […]

Chris Odinet Article: Predatory Fintech and the Politics of Banking

Christopher K. Odinet of Iowa has written Predatory Fintech and the Politics of Banking, Iowa Law Review (2021 Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: With American families living on the financial edge and seeking out high cost loans even before COVID-19, the term financial technology or “fintech” has been used like an incantation aimed at remedying everything that’s […]

CFP on Racial Capitalism

We've received the following Call for Papers, which overlaps with consumer law issues: Racial Capitalism: An Elaboration in Legal Scholarship As a journal dedicated to social, racial, and economic justice, the Journal of Civil Rights & Economic Development (JCRED) is soliciting articles for Racial Capitalism, an Elaboration in Legal Scholarship, our forthcoming symposium issue. This issue will explore the […]

Why “the FDA just had the worst day in its history.”

LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik explains why "the FDA just had the worst day in its history." Hiltzik says: During a White House event Sunday, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn stood by silently in the face of an unsupported attack on his agency from the worst threat to public health in the U.S. today, President Trump. The […]