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Lawyers, Food and Money
The first food litigation claims were filed a decade ago against McDonald's for obesity-related health problems. Pelman v. McDonald' s Corp., 2003 WL 22052778 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 3, 2003). As public-interest lawyer Joe Banzhaf said at the time, these personal injury claims were an “opening gun” meant “to make fast food companies bear ' some of the responsibility for the huge cost of the epidemic of obesity” in America. See J. Banzhaf, Who Should Pay for Obesity, S.F. Daily J. (Feb. 4, 2002). The number of potential claimants is staggering, given the dramatic increase in obesity rates in the U.S. over the past two decades. According to government statistics, more than one-third of adults in the U.S. (35.7%) and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children aged 2-19 years are obese. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Overweight and Obesity: Data and Statistics (Apr. 27, 2012). It has proved difficult for a variety of reasons, however, for plaintiffs to get food-related personal injury actions off the ground, not least of which is factual causation ' the need “to isolate the particular effect of McDonald' s foods on their obesity and other injuries,” as opposed to other causal factors. See Pelman, supra, at *11
Consumer-Fraud Class Action 'Food Fights'
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.