Public Justice

May 23, 2013 In Blog

For those with criminal histories, a second look may be a second chance

By Victoria Ni, Senior Attorney An alarming government study predicts that 1 in 3 African-American men and 1 in 6 Hispanic men will spend time in prison during their lifetimes. For Caucasian men, the rate is 1 in 17. In 2010, 28 percent of all…

May 21, 2013 In Blog

In groundbreaking opinion, Third Circuit sends mass environmental tort back to Virgin Islands court

By Leah Nicholls, Kazan-Budd Attorney Before last week, no federal court of appeals had addressed the question of whether defendants could remove mass environmental torts alleging an ongoing harm to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). But that changed on Friday when…

May 20, 2013 In Blog Anti-Bullying

Guilty bystanders: Why school officials must try to stop bullying

By Adele Kimmel, Managing Attorney Far too often, schools are not doing what the law and their own anti-bullying policies require to protect our children from bullying. In fact, eight out of every ten times that a child gets bullied at school, no adult intervenes….

May 14, 2013 In Blog

15-year Spruce mine litigation bends regulatory arc toward environmental justice

By Jim Hecker, Environmental Enforcement Project Director It is not often that the trajectory of a single case provides a barometer for regulatory change, but Public Justice’s 15-year battle to stop a huge mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia does. When we first sued the…

May 13, 2013 In Blog

Taking the cake: Best Buy’s non-equitable estoppel argument in Masters v. DirecTV

By Spencer Wilson, Brayton-Thornton Attorney Do principles of fairness require duped consumers to arbitrate their claims against a corporation even when it is undisputed the parties never agreed to arbitrate? That is what Best Buy argued last week when the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in…

May 7, 2013 In Updates

Two Important Environmental Victories Against Mountaintop Removal Mining

Public Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Project recently notched two important victories against mountaintop removal mining. First, the D.C. Circuit reversed a district court decision and ruled that the EPA has the power to veto the permit for Spruce No. 1 Mine. Pictured below, it is the…

May 6, 2013 In Blog

It’s now a little harder to access public records

By Leah Nicholls, Kazan-Budd Attorney Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held, unanimously, that states can limit access to their public records to citizens of that state. The case was McBurney v. Young, and it challenged a provision of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act providing…

May 6, 2013 In Blog

See no evil, hear no evil: Why America needs to know what goes on inside factory farms

By Leslie Brueckner, Senior Attorney When I was a kid, steak was a luxury. A pork roast was a treat. Even chicken wasn’t cheap. Meat was something special, and prices reflected that fact. The reason meat and poultry cost real money back then is because…

May 3, 2013 In Blog

Supreme Court breaks the rules to cut classes

By Arthur Bryant, Executive Director In high school, I knew classmates who broke the rules to cut classes. Unfortunately, five members of the U.S Supreme Court just did the same thing. After briefing and argument were complete in Comcast v. Behrend and Genesis Healthcare Corp….

May 1, 2013 In Blog

Class actions against payday lenders show how Concepcion has been used to gut state consumer protection laws

By Paul Bland, Senior Attorney Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court, by the usual 5-4 vote, decided in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that the Federal Arbitration Act requires courts to enforce previously illegal contract terms banning consumers from joining together to sue businesses that…