7/17/2015 Deputy administrator David Friedman, who oversaw the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) through the majority of its most challenging year ever, left the agency on Friday to take a position at the U.S. Energy Department. Former NHTSA head David Strickland left the agency in January 2014 to join Venable LLP, a law firm
7/17/2015 Republican support of the Supreme Court has sunk to a historical low. Overall however, more Americans currently approve of the Court’s actions, 49 percent, than oppose, 46 percent. In a Gallup poll of 1009 adults nationwide taken from July 8th through July 12th, only 18 percent of Republicans approve, while an equally-staggering 76 percent
7/16/2015 On Wednesday, Toyota announced that it was recalling over 625,000 hybrid vehicles, the large majority of them Prius models, due to a flaw in the software that controls the power converter. The defect could cause the vehicles to shut down and come to a complete stop. The recall affects the Prius V wagon/minivan, which
7/16/2015 Three non-profit groups are suing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in D.C. Appeals Court for its failure to comply with a 2011 court order requiring the agency to write formal rules regarding its controversial body scanners. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, which marked the four-year anniversary of the order. The same court ruled
Hawaii has long followed the Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 402A (1965) which sets out the elements a plaintiff must prove in a strict products liability case as: 1) A defect in the product that rendered it unreasonably dangerous for its intended or reasonably foreseeable use; 2) A causal connection between the defect and the
7/15/2015 According to Ryan Smith of ABC News, New England Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) plan to file a challenge in federal court if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell does not overturn the four-game suspension he handed Brady in the aftermath of the Deflategate investigation. Brady was suspended on May
7/15/2015 The Obama administration quietly launched the Open Government initiative last week by requiring seven agencies to publish documents they furnish via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) online. By publishing this information, the public will be able to view the same documents that have been requested via the FOIA online form or through the
7/15/2015 Biotech manufacturer Celgene is making an earnest push to become one of the industry’s leaders following a wave of transactions aimed at increasing long-term sustainability. Celgene’s current success is largely based on the popularity of its breakthrough cancer drug, Revlimid; however Celgene is attempting to set itself up for future growth when Revlimid’s patent
7/14/2015 A week after reaching a settlement agreement with six Occupy Wall Street Protesters for conduct that occurred in the early days of the 2011 protest; New York City agreed on Monday to give the Estate of Eric Garner $5.9 million. Garner was killed last July in Staten Island after being detained by police after
7/14/2015 Following a month of monumental Supreme Court decisions regarding Obamacare and gay marriage, both battles which saw federal authority win out over state sovereignty, the ceaseless tug-of-war between the two levels of government has increasingly focused on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority over state regulators. On Tuesday, representatives for state-level enforcement, as well