Articles

In Brott et. al. v. United States, a group of Michigan property owners have brought suit against the United States for a violation of their rights under the Fifth Amendment. They contend that the federal "rails to trails" program has resulted in a taking of their private property without payment of just compensation. But this case presents a much m ...

Article III of the United States Constitution allows federal courts to hear only "cases or controversies," defined as cases brought by plaintiffs who have suffered actual (not speculative) harm that can be redressed by court action. What if a plaintiff's asserted injury, however, is nothing more than that the defendant violated a statute? That is, ...

Thomas Robins, an unemployed man, sued Spokeo Inc., which runs a website that collects and publishes consumer "credit estimates," for willful violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), because it published false information, such as Robins was married, had a graduate degree, and was wealthy.  Publication of any false information is prohibi ...

Florence Pacleb sued Allstate Insurance for calling him on his cellphone in violation of anti-solitication laws.  Allstate offered to pay the damages Pacleb demanded and his attorney's fees.  Most courts hold that once a defendant offers to fully satisfy a plaintiff's claims, the plaintiff's claims become moot, meaning that there is no longer a con ...

Largely lost in the hullaballoo yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed First American v. Edwards as "improvidently granted."  It did not give any reasons for the dismissal. This case asked whether a plaintiff who suffered no injury whatsoever from a defendant's technical violation of statute could pursue a class action in federal court.  Article I ...