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Top 10 Articles
Economics /Business /Finance
A Victory in D.C.
Travis Kalanick's Uber helps city dwellers get rides on demand in luxury cars, and he wants to launch a cheaper service, one closer in price to taxis. But Washington, D.C., Councilmember Mary Cheh proposed a law that would have imposed a price floor on such services -- and effectively prohibited the new service.
So Kalanick fought back: He called on customers to email the D.C. Council -- and one council member said he got 5,000 emails about the issue.
A Victory in Missouri
I'd like to take a moment to applaud the Pacific Legal Foundation and the legislature and governor of Missouri for putting an end to that state's certificate of necessity law for moving companies. The law gave established moving companies "the privilege of basically vetoing" a newcomer's application for a license, PLF says.
One Man's Loophole
As the SEC produces yet more regulations, the New York Times gives us a striking quote:
One man’s loophole is another man’s livelihood.
The speaker is Bart Chilton, a Democrat on the SEC who advocates regulation and opposed this regulation for having, in a Times blogger's words, "loopholes wide enough for Wall Street to exploit."
Congress Snuffs Out a Legal Niche
Here comes the government, like some red-white-and-blue monster, crushing people’s livelihoods and aspirations almost without noticing: a typical political horror story.
EEOC Sues Cafe Over Disabled Employee
If the notion of forcing Netflix to tailor movies for the deaf and blind or making banks replace their ATMs with audio-equipped versions sounds bad, take a moment to consider what the Americans with Disabilities Act does to employment.
Must Netflix Tailor Movies for the Deaf and Blind?
A deaf person and two deaf-advocacy organizations are suing Netflix for making movies available for instant online viewing without providing closed captioning. Failure to provide captions -- which may cost hundreds of dollars per movie -- is a form of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, they argue. (H/T Walter Olson.)
Johnson & Johnson to Pay $1.5B+ for Marketing Drug
Johnson & Johnson -- the company that helped you shampoo with "no more tears," fight acne, and heal pretty much every wound t
ATMs, Accessibility, and Human Needs
Robert Jahoda, a blind man from Pennsylvania, is sole named plaintiff in a batch of lawsuits seeking to force banks to bring their ATMs into compliance with regulations on blind-accessibility issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That is, he's trying to make them spend a load of money making sure that if he and others like him want to use the banks' services, they can, even though the banks presumably don't think it's worth the expense -- or wouldn't, except they don't want to be sued.
Gupta Convicted
The federal government has succeeded in getting Rajat Gupta, under whose leadership McKinsey and Co.
Gupta Prosecution, Defense Offer Closing Arguments
Summarizing their cases before the question of Rajat Gupta's guilt or innocence goes to a jury, the former Goldman Sachs director's lawyer argued that the federal government had nothing but indirect evidence, but the prosecution argued that when it was added up, it was overwhelming evidence against Gupta.
