Privacy

Uneven Fight To Lift Cap On Suits – Prop. 46 foes spent $60 million to defend a decades-old limit on malpractice awards

November 9, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="loose"><span class="SS_L3"><span class="verdana">The election day drubbing of <span class="hit">Proposition</span> <span class="hit">46,</span> an initiative that would have increased limits on certain medical malpractice damages, marks a stinging defeat for the state's trial attorneys, who championed the measure.</span></span></p>

Readers Respond: Occupied Over Obamacare

November 6, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Gene Maddaus' look at Proposition 45 on the Nov. 4 ballot, and whether it could severely complicate the success of the Affordable Care Act, ("<a href="http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/10/28/in-california-consumer-watchdogs-prop-45-challenges-obamacare-from-the-left">In California, Consumer Watchdog's Prop 45 Challenges Obamacare — From the Left</a>" Oct. 31) — created both fury and gratitude. Enduris1 writes, "This article is so disingenuous.  Prop 45 does not 'ATTACK' (as the <i>L.A.

Voters Pass Props 1, 2 & 47, Reject Prop 45, 46 & 48

November 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>SACRAMENTO — Voters overwhelmingly passed the two state ballot measures pushed by Gov. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=politics&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Jerry+Brown%22">Jerry Brown</a>: A $7.5 billion water bond that will pay for water recycling and new storage systems but do little to bring relief to Californians affected by the drought, and a rainy day fund designed to cushion the state during financial hard times.</p>

Deaths of Author’s Children Sparks California’s Proposition 46

November 4, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Proposition 46 on Tuesday’s ballot would raise the limit on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, require random drug and alcohol testing of doctors and mandate health care practitioners consult the state prescription drug history database before prescribing certain controlled substances.</p>

Will Supreme Court Step In On Stem Cell Patents?

November 3, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>A nonprofit advocacy group has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that barred the group from challenging the validity of a controversial embryonic stem cell patent.</p>

Voters Are Left in the Dark on Campaign Spending by Corporations

November 2, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

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Can Scientists Patent Life? The Question Returns to the Supreme Court

October 31, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The thorny and unresolved question of whether life itself can be patented may come again before the U.S. Supreme Court, if it accepts <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/consumer_watchdog_petition103114.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a motion filed Friday</a> by Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog. (H/T to David Jensen's <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/consumer_watchdog_petition103114.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California Stem Cell Report</a>.)</p>

U.S. Supreme Court Action Being Sought in Major Human Embryonic Stem Cell Patent Case

October 30, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<div>The California-based  challenge to <strong>WARF</strong>’s patent on human embryonic stem cells is headed for the <strong>United States Supreme Court</strong>.</div> <div> </div> <div>The nation’s highest court is expected to be asked Friday to overturn <a href="http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.mx/2014/06/warf-triumphs-in-latest-chapter-of-hesc.html">an earlier appellate court decision</a> and allow two public interest groups to seek to cancel the patent held by WARF, the <strong>Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation</strong>.</div>

Stem Cell Patent To Reach Supreme Court

October 30, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="story-body"> <p>The U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to intervene over a controversial embryonic stem cell patent, opponents of the patent said Thursday.</p> <p>Jeanne Loring, a stem cell scientist at The Scripps Research Institute, said the court will be asked Friday to overturn a lower court decision and allow the opponents to seek cancellation of the patent held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF.</p>

Snail Mail Surveillance: Rules Are Weak – and Routinely Broken

October 30, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>An internal investigation revealed that the U.S. Postal Service has been doing some unwarranted mail tampering of its own. "The fact that the government is monitoring so many people without probable cause or judicial oversight is yet another reminder that the rules limiting government surveillance are both too lenient and too weakly enforced," said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer.</b></p>

Timm Herdt: Does This Insurance Market Work?

October 28, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="js-pagination" data-maxpages="1"> <div class="story__content__body "> <p>Of the 1.4 million Californians who purchased health insurance this year through the Covered California purchasing exchange, 94 percent bought their plans from just four insurance carriers.</p> <p>Outside of the purchasing exchange, in the private market for individual and small-business policies, about 80 percent of the market is controlled by the big four.</p> <p>Such is not the kind of market that produces a great deal of competition.</p>

Op-Ed: What Prop. 46 Would Fix

October 28, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong><span class="trb_sharelines_text" data-role="socialshare_sharetext">What will and won't happen if medical malpractice 'pain and suffering' awards are indexed for inflation</span></strong></p>