Administrative Law

Debt collector agrees to pay record FTC fine of $3.2M, stop calling individuals multiple times daily

The world’s largest debt collection agency has agreed to pay a record $3.2 million civil penalty to the Federal Trade Commission and eliminate abusive and harassing practices such as calling debtors multiple times daily. Expert Global Solutions, which is based in Texas, and its subsidiaries, have over 32,000 employees and…

Jul 10, 2013 2:10 PM CDT

Top regulatory counsel is off controversial case; four ‘reassigned’ lawyers are back on it

Following weeks of controversy over a disagreement between the general counsel for California’s utility regulator and four subordinate lawyers over the handling of an administrative case over a fatal gas explosion and fire in San Bruno, there has been a reversal of fortune. General counsel Frank Lindh, who at one…

Jun 27, 2013 6:30 PM CDT

General counsel is heckled by own staff during keynote speech at legal conference

The general counsel for the California Public Utilities Commission found he was talking to an unfriendly forum—his own staff—when he gave the keynote speech Monday at a legal conference his agency is hosting. Attendees from around the country watched as top in-house lawyer Frank Lindh was heckled during his speech…

Jun 19, 2013 8:40 PM CDT

US drops appeal over morning-after pill, paving way for sale without age restrictions

The United States won’t appeal a federal judge’s scathing ruling allowing unrestricted sales of the morning-after pill. The Justice Department announced plans to drop the appeal on Monday in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of Brooklyn, report the New York Times and the Washington Post. Korman ruled…

Jun 11, 2013 12:48 PM CDT

State lawyers may have stepped aside after disagreement over $2B fine sought in fatal gas fire

After news earlier this week of the reassignment of four leading lawyers who had worked for nearly three years on a California administrative case over a fatal 2010 gas explosion and fire in San Bruno, follow-up reports say they may have sought to be taken off the case over disagreement…

Jun 6, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

State legal team seeking $2B fine in fatal gas fire is reassigned; city calls for AG probe

The city of San Bruno is calling for the California attorney general to investigate a decision to reassign four lawyers leading a California Public Utilities Commission legal team. For the past three years, it has been pursuing an investigation of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s culpability in a 2010 natural…

Jun 5, 2013 11:00 PM CDT

Is the VA compensating too many veterans for sleep apnea? Lawyer writes his congressman

A Florida lawyer says he is seeing an unusual number of veterans receiving disability benefits for sleep apnea in his family law practice. Michael Webster, a lawyer in Shalimar, Fla., has decided that the boom in such payments is a scam, and he is asking his congressman to do something…

Jun 4, 2013 11:30 AM CDT

Will ‘pedestrian scramble’ make it safer to cross downtown Chicago intersection?

As anyone who walks or drives in downtown Chicago knows, crossing the street, even in a crosswalk on a walk signal, can be a hazardous activity, as motorists—particularly when making a turn—frequently don’t yield the right or way. Meanwhile, a frustration for drivers is the many pedestrians who don’t hesitate…

May 31, 2013 5:15 PM CDT

US government is ‘dangerously off kilter’ because of growing administrative state, law prof says

The administrative state is a growing fourth branch of government that is negating our constitutional system of checks and balances, according to George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. Writing in the Washington Post, Turley asserts that the federal government “is not just bigger, it is dangerously off-kilter.” The fourth…

May 29, 2013 10:40 AM CDT

5th Circuit parses runny-egg rule, issues sunny-side-up decision for nursing home

A Texas nursing home sizzling over severe penalties imposed after a state inspection found two residents had been served unpasteurized eggs that were inadequately cooked has presumably simmered down after the latest chapter in the runny-egg saga. Reversing an administrative law judge and the U.S. Department of Health and Human…

May 28, 2013 3:20 PM CDT

Lawmakers propose a ‘critter car’ for Amtrak

Four House members have proposed a bill that would make Amtrak pet-friendly. The measure calls for Amtrak, which currently only allows service animals that assist disabled train riders, to designate at least one locomotive car as pet-friendly, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. Allowing pet owners to pay a…

May 23, 2013 8:44 PM CDT

Using Airbnb to rent apartments for short-term stays violates law, says NY judge

A New York man who rented his apartment for a three-day stay ran afoul of the city’s hotel law, an administrative law judge ruled Monday. Hearings for a similar law are pending in San Francisco, CNET News reports. Both matters involve the website Airbnb, a site that connects travelers and…

May 21, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

‘Nude but not lewd’ airport protester beat indecency rap but is still fighting $1K TSA fine

A tech worker who took it all off at the Portland, Ore., airport last year as a protest of security measures, was acquitted at trial later in 2012 by a Multnomah County judge of the indecent exposure charge that resulted. But the celebration after John E. Brennan’s criminal court victory…

May 10, 2013 10:15 PM CDT

New NLRB rulings back bus driver fired over Web comments, limit hospital’s social media policy

In a new ruling in a hot area of employment law, the National Labor Relations Board has backed a tour bus driver fired for making comments critical of his employer in Facebook and email comments that also suggested fellow workers should unionize. The NLRB agreed with an administrative judge that…

May 8, 2013 5:15 PM CDT

911 call will earn $800K for couple bound and gagged by rogue ex-cop

A married couple bound and gagged in February by rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner stands to earn $800,000 for calling 911 and describing the former Los Angeles police department employee to authorities. “Had Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds failed promptly to escape their restraints and contact law enforcement, it is likely Dorner…

May 8, 2013 4:10 PM CDT