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Teaching Schools About Title IX
Public Justice client Kamaria Downs ensured pregnant students’ rights were respected at her college In an NBC News story today, former Claflin University student Kamaria Downs tells her story of being kicked off campus for being pregnant while attending Claflin University, a South Carolina college…
Updates
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August 12, 2016 In Updates
Anne McGinness Kearse Becomes Public Justice President
Public Justice’s new President, Anne Kearse, began her path to becoming one of the country’s leading plaintiffs’ attorneys on the front lines of the public interest movement researching and advocating for the New York Public Interest Research Group while working on her undergraduate degree in Consumer Studies.
Later, she worked as a litigation researcher and paralegal, first, for law firms representing school districts and building owners in litigation to remove deadly asbestos-containing products from their buildings. She then represented workers who developed deadly diseases as a result of working with these asbestos-containing products— a job that was both personally fulfilling and helped to build and hone her litigation skills.
Public Justice’s 10th Appellate Victory of 2016 Helps Employees Fight Racial Discrimination Case Together
In a case with important impacts for employees who are battling racial discrimination at their job site, the California Supreme Court has ruled that an employer’s arbitration clause does not prevent employees from seeking to arbitrate their case together as a class.
July 25, 2016
In Updates
Cases Regarding American Money Bail System and Financing of Terrorism Awarded Public Justice’s 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award
Public Justice’s 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year award was awarded to two legal teams: one that won a historic settlement regarding financial institution funding of terrorism, and the other that ended the use of unconstitutional money bail systems in four cities. The award was…
Public Justice Files Motion to Protect Workers at Hanford Nuclear Site from Serious Illness
Public Justice, on behalf of Hanford Challenge, UA Local 598 Plumbers and Steamfitters, and alongside WA Attorney General Bob Ferguson, has asked a federal court to compel the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, to provide vapor monitoring, supplied air, and other enhanced safety measures in order to protect the health of workers at the Hanford Nuclear Site in southern Washington State.
Paul Bland Comments on Takata Airbag Recall
Paul Bland recently spoke to the Sinclair Broadcasting Group about the Takata airbag recall, which affects over 17 million cars. In some airbags, the device becomes defective and causes sharp shards to explode in the face of the passenger during a crash. These airbags have been linked to 13 deaths and more than 100 injuries.
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June 8, 2016 In Updates
Public Justice Announces Finalists for 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award
The five finalist cases for Public Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year Award include landmark cases dealing with workers’ rights, the horrifying consequences of product defects, America’s money bail system, financial institution funding of terrorism, and civil rights.
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Public Justice Speaks Out for Consumer Rights and the CFPB on Capitol Hill
Two weeks ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unveiled a new rule that would prohibit lenders from including forced arbitration clauses with class action bans in their lending contracts. Today, Public Justice’s Executive Director, Paul Bland, will testify in front of the House’s Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee in support of this rule.
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New Rule: Fighting the Fine Print
After years of discussions and debates, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unveiling a major new rule that will prohibit lenders from including forced arbitration clauses with class action bans in their lending contracts.
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Public Justice Files Suit to Clean Up Coal Ash Contamination at Utah Plant
Public Justice has filed suit, on behalf of HEAL Utah and the Sierra Club, to ensure the cleanup of millions of tons of toxic coal ash waste at a central Utah power plant following decades of mismanagement. The suit comes after an October letter asking PacifiCorp to address a litany of problems that have contaminated land and water at the Huntington coal-burning power plant.
According to the complaint, PacifiCorp’s mismanagement in handling, transport and disposal of the coal-ash waste “have caused extensive contamination of local ground and/or surface waters, which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment.”
Perhaps most egregious, the suit alleges that one of the plant’s tactics for skirting its responsibilities under the Clean Water Act was the creation of a “fake farm” adjacent to the plant where alfalfa and other crops were irrigated as a means to disposing of the plant’s wastewater.