You Should Know

Republicans Block Another Obama Nominee, Consumers Suffer Another Blow

By WBE | 12.16.2011 | Columns, For Consumers, In The News, Ken Wexler, You Should Know
On Thursday, Dec. 8, in a 53 to 45 vote, Senate Republicans blocked the nomination of Richard Cordray as the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Despite Cordray’s backing by 37 ...
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New Law Prohibits the Sale of Expired Baby Food and Over-the-Counter Drugs

By WBE | 12.14.2011 | You Should Know
Most parents, including me, reasonably expect that, if a retailer sells them baby food or infant formula products, the items are not “expired” and unsafe for consumption or use.  Surprisingly, ...
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Finding a Work/Life Balance is Hard Enough: How to Fit Volunteering into the Life of a Busy Attorney

By WBE | 11.30.2011 | You Should Know
The daily life of many attorneys is really not all that glamorous – we have all worked until the wee hours of the morning and spent our weekends tied to our laptops and blackberries, caught up ...
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Stopping The Next Bubble: The Time To Reform Student Loan Debt Is Now

By WBE | 11.4.2011 | For Consumers, In The News, You Should Know
Student loans have been on the forefront of the news recently.  Protestors involved in the nationwide “Occupy Wall Street” movement (many of whom are unemployed recent college graduates) have ...
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Aqua Dots Revisited

By WBE | 11.2.2011 | For Consumers, Hall Of Shame, In The News, Public Victories, You Should Know
A few months ago, I wrote a short blog post to discuss my disagreement with a Northern District of Illinois decision that denied class certification in a case involving the sale of defective toy ...
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Do As I Say, Not As I Sue: Exposing the Lawsuit-Happy Hypocrites of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform

By WBE | 10.28.2011 | For Consumers, In The News, You Should Know
Would you be surprised to learn that there is a powerful force working every day to limit your access to the legal system?  It is the same force working to convince the American people that all ...
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Revisiting Swipe Fees

By WBE | 10.21.2011 | For Consumers, In The News, You Should Know
A few months ago, I wrote a blog piece analyzing the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law which authorized the Federal Reserve to impose a cap on debit card swipe fees. The ...
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Bifurcated Discovery in Class Actions: Two Reasons Why it Doesn’t Work

By WBE | 10.19.2011 | For Businesses, For Consumers, For Investors, You Should Know
A common weapon in class action defendants’ arsenals is the motion to “bifurcate” discovery, splitting the process into two phases: first, discovery as it relates to the elements of Federal Rule ...
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Five Hot Button Issues to Watch for as the Supreme Court Kicks Off Its Fall Term

By WBE | 10.18.2011 | In The News, You Should Know
The Supreme Court began its fall term on Monday, October 3.  Many of the cases the Court has already agreed to hear, and a few it is widely expected to weigh in on, involve politically charged ...
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The Supreme Court Gets One Right: Members of a Class that Was Not Certified Are Not Bound by Collateral Estoppel in Smith v. Bayer; Thorogood v. Sears Remanded for Further Consideration

By WBE | 10.14.2011 | For Consumers, You Should Know
With all the commentary surrounding the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dukes v. Walmart, two important decisions affecting class action litigants may have fallen under the radar this ...
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Your Seventh Amendment Rights Are Under Attack: What Are You Going to do About it?

By WBE | 10.12.2011 | For Consumers, Hall Of Shame, In The News, You Should Know
The Seventh Amendment provides that, in suits at common law, “the right of trial by jury shall be preserved.”  And yet, we live in a world where we are bound – whether we know we are or not -- ...
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Governor’s Job Creation Plans Good for No One

By WBE | 10.11.2011 | For Consumers, In The News, You Should Know
Perhaps lost under the glare of the spotlights on Wisconsin’s union law changes this year are several proposed changes in other areas of law which arguably will have an equally disproportionate ...
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