Public Justice

June 24, 2013 In Updates

Brief Argues FINRA Not Preempted, Brokerage Firms Cannot Ban Class Actions

Public Justice has just partnered with the AARP and the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) on a brief challenging Charles Schwab’s position that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules. In October 2011, Schwab mailed out amendments to its investor…

June 24, 2013 In Updates

Third Circuit Rules Local Toxic Tort Suit Can’t Be Removed to Federal Court Under CAFA

In a published opinion stamped “PRECEDENTIAL,” the Third Circuit has held that, under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), four hundred residents of the Virgin Islands harmed by toxins from a bauxite refinery site should have their claims heard in state, not federal,…

June 20, 2013 In Blog

Worst Supreme Court arbitration decision ever

By Paul Bland, Senior Attorney So, today, in American Express v. Italian Colors, the U.S. Supreme Court said that a take-it-or-leave-it arbitration clause could be used to prevent small businesses from actually pursuing their claims for abuse of monopoly power under the antitrust laws. Essentially,…

June 19, 2013 In Blog

Pittsburgh citizens protest UPMC’s use of 14th Amendment to sue city

By Claire Prestel, Staff Attorney The outrage is building against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s unsavory claim that its civil rights are being violated by the City of Pittsburgh’s challenge to its tax-exempt status. A few weeks ago, I blogged about Pittsburgh’s lawsuit against…

June 18, 2013 In Blog

DNA collection not as intrusive as car search, says Justice Stevens at ACS

By Leah Nicholls, Kazan-Budd Attorney Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld a Maryland law providing that, as part of the police booking procedure, DNA samples should be taken from arrestees and run through a state database whether or not the arrestee was arrested for…

June 12, 2013 In Blog

EPA delays again on CAFOs: The continuing lack of regulation over one of America’s most dangerous industries

By Jessica Culpepper, Food Safety & Health Attorney Advocates looked for the long-awaited release of a National Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Rule this week — to no avail. As part of a settlement agreement in Fowler v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a case filed against…

June 7, 2013 In Blog

Global warming: The good news and the bad

By Richard Webster, Power-Cotchett Attorney As I keep up with the news on global warming, I find myself alternately pessimistic and hopeful. Most of the world is behaving like addicts. We prefer to pretend either that we don’t have a problem or that we don’t…

May 31, 2013 In Blog

Schwab prefers no regulation

By Amy Radon, Staff Attorney We talk a lot around here about the class action. How it’s a mechanism consumers sometimes need available to them to challenge corporate greed. The same holds true for investors. Securities brokerage firms have long resisted government regulation of the…

May 29, 2013 In Blog

The people of Pittsburgh vs. a giant corporate enterprise

By Claire Prestel, Staff Attorney Pittsburgh is a great city with a beautiful natural setting, vibrant neighborhoods, and an energetic and dedicated mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, who earned a lot of local respect early on by briefly changing his name to Steelerstahl before the 2009 Ravens-Steelers…

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…