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The Research: Mindfulness as a Debiasing Strategy
January 17, 2014
Three researchers from the INSEAD business school and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania conducted three studies with the goal of reducing bias by encouraging mindfulness. The studies, covered by Psyblog, focused on the economic problem of sunk costs, or the tendency to try to justify past decisions by “throwing good money after bad.” It is a powerful psychological bias that I have written about recently. In the first study, the researchers noted that mindfulness as a trait...
January 17, 2014
Three researchers from the INSEAD business school and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania conducted three studies with the goal of reducing bias by encouraging mindfulness. The studies, covered by Psyblog, focused on the economic problem of sunk costs, or the tendency to try to justify past decisions by “throwing good money after bad.” It is a powerful psychological bias that I have written about recently. In the first study, the researchers noted that mindfulness as a trait...
Medicaid Secondary Payer Provision in Bipartisan Budget Undercuts Decisions on Allocation of Medicaid Secondary Payer Recoveries
January 17, 2014
On December 18, 2013, the U.S. Senate passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (H.J. Res. 59), which includes a provision that will fundamentally alter the way Medicaid Secondary Payer claims are resolved. Under the new legislation, Medicaid recovery of funds from a Medicaid beneficiary’s settlement or judgment will no longer be limited to that portion of the award that was intended to cover health care items or services. The Medicaid Secondary Payer statute (42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a)(25)) generally...
January 17, 2014
On December 18, 2013, the U.S. Senate passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (H.J. Res. 59), which includes a provision that will fundamentally alter the way Medicaid Secondary Payer claims are resolved. Under the new legislation, Medicaid recovery of funds from a Medicaid beneficiary’s settlement or judgment will no longer be limited to that portion of the award that was intended to cover health care items or services. The Medicaid Secondary Payer statute (42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a)(25)) generally...
Congress Slips In A Stealth Medicare/Medicaid Lawsuit Tax
January 17, 2014
Otto von Bismarck is credited with the saying, “Law and sausage are two things you do not want to see being made.” This might be unfair to current artisanal dry-cured meat producers, but it is still quite the case with Congress. Last month, without a word of debate, Congress tucked into the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 a change in Medicaid subrogation law that will deny millions of injured victims their fair compensation and will make it harder for defendants and insurers to settle cases....
January 17, 2014
Otto von Bismarck is credited with the saying, “Law and sausage are two things you do not want to see being made.” This might be unfair to current artisanal dry-cured meat producers, but it is still quite the case with Congress. Last month, without a word of debate, Congress tucked into the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 a change in Medicaid subrogation law that will deny millions of injured victims their fair compensation and will make it harder for defendants and insurers to settle cases....
Ninth Circuit Denies Motion to Compel Arbitration Where There Is No Contract
January 17, 2014
This case is fodder for Nancy Kim's work on wrap contracts. In 2008, Donovan Lee purchased an Internet background check and report from a company called Intelius. Lee confirmed this purchase when he clicked "yes" on Itelius's webpage, where its name was the only company name to appear. In fine print on that page, he was informed that by clicking yes and looking at the report he was seeking he was also agreeing to a seven-day free trial of a "Family Safety Report" for which he would be billed...
January 17, 2014
This case is fodder for Nancy Kim's work on wrap contracts. In 2008, Donovan Lee purchased an Internet background check and report from a company called Intelius. Lee confirmed this purchase when he clicked "yes" on Itelius's webpage, where its name was the only company name to appear. In fine print on that page, he was informed that by clicking yes and looking at the report he was seeking he was also agreeing to a seven-day free trial of a "Family Safety Report" for which he would be billed...
Fracking, Taxation, and Environmental Policy
January 17, 2014
Bobby D. Cheren (Squire Sanders, Cleveland), Fracking Bans, Taxation, and Environmental Policy, 64 Case W. L. Rev. ___ (2014): This Article investigates the tax bases of local jurisdictions that have imposed bans on horizontal slickwater fracturing, colloquially known as fracking. Local governments that draw little additional revenue from fracking are more likely to ban the practice because of environmental concerns. The correlation between the issuance of local fracking bans and the relative...
January 17, 2014
Bobby D. Cheren (Squire Sanders, Cleveland), Fracking Bans, Taxation, and Environmental Policy, 64 Case W. L. Rev. ___ (2014): This Article investigates the tax bases of local jurisdictions that have imposed bans on horizontal slickwater fracturing, colloquially known as fracking. Local governments that draw little additional revenue from fracking are more likely to ban the practice because of environmental concerns. The correlation between the issuance of local fracking bans and the relative...
40 More Maps That Explain the World
January 16, 2014
Maps seemed to be everywhere in 2013, a trend I like to think we encouraged along with August's 40 maps that explain the world. Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. You might consider this, then, a collection of maps meant to inspire your inner map nerd. I've searched far and wide for maps that can reveal and surprise and inform in ways that the daily headlines might not, with a careful eye for sourcing and detail....
January 16, 2014
Maps seemed to be everywhere in 2013, a trend I like to think we encouraged along with August's 40 maps that explain the world. Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. You might consider this, then, a collection of maps meant to inspire your inner map nerd. I've searched far and wide for maps that can reveal and surprise and inform in ways that the daily headlines might not, with a careful eye for sourcing and detail....
Why The NFL Concussion Settlement Wasn’t Approved – And Why It Might Never Be
January 16, 2014
Yesterday, Judge Anita Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, who oversees the consolidated NFL concussion litigation, issued an order denying preliminary approval to the $760 million (not including class action or MDL attorney’s fees) settlement reached last fall and detailed in a filing earlier this month. The settlement had already raised complaints that it was inadequate. Although the awards ranged up to $5 million (e.g., for a player who played for five years or more and was then...
January 16, 2014
Yesterday, Judge Anita Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, who oversees the consolidated NFL concussion litigation, issued an order denying preliminary approval to the $760 million (not including class action or MDL attorney’s fees) settlement reached last fall and detailed in a filing earlier this month. The settlement had already raised complaints that it was inadequate. Although the awards ranged up to $5 million (e.g., for a player who played for five years or more and was then...
GLOBAL K: Contrasting Attitudes towards Arbitration Clauses
January 16, 2014
The recent discussion of the December 2013 decision by the Ninth Circuit in In re Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Employment Practices Litigation calls to mind the contrast in attitudes between international and domestic practice. Mention “arbitration” among international practitioners and profs, and you are likely to get a bit of a swoon from most – arbitration, properly structured, rescues us from the risks and uncertainties of unfamiliar legal systems and provides a comfort level in terms of predictability...
January 16, 2014
The recent discussion of the December 2013 decision by the Ninth Circuit in In re Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Employment Practices Litigation calls to mind the contrast in attitudes between international and domestic practice. Mention “arbitration” among international practitioners and profs, and you are likely to get a bit of a swoon from most – arbitration, properly structured, rescues us from the risks and uncertainties of unfamiliar legal systems and provides a comfort level in terms of predictability...
Beyond International Commercial Arbitration? The Promise of International Commercial Mediation
January 16, 2014
Although international commercial arbitration has long been the preferred means of resolving cross-border business disputes, the international corporate community has become increasingly concerned about increasing costs, delays and procedural formalities. As a result, parties are looking for other means of resolving cross-border business disputes. One of the more popular alternatives is mediation. Advocates of mediation extol its many benefits, including its ability to resolve disputes more quickly...
January 16, 2014
Although international commercial arbitration has long been the preferred means of resolving cross-border business disputes, the international corporate community has become increasingly concerned about increasing costs, delays and procedural formalities. As a result, parties are looking for other means of resolving cross-border business disputes. One of the more popular alternatives is mediation. Advocates of mediation extol its many benefits, including its ability to resolve disputes more quickly...
California Mediation Confidentiality Statute Prevents Enforcement of Settlement in Federal Court
January 16, 2014
A federal court in California “reluctantly” held that even though the parties settled in mediation by accepting in writing...
January 16, 2014
A federal court in California “reluctantly” held that even though the parties settled in mediation by accepting in writing...
