Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, was quoted in the DealBook blog of the New York Times this week, concerning the possibility of federal antitrust action against the online retailer Amazon. The issue is in the news again because President Trump this week tweeted his view that antitrust scrutiny is needed.

You can read the post here.

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, spoke with various media recently about ongoing antitrust suits involving the pharmaceutical industry. He discussed with Bloomberg the Federal Trade Commission’s first-ever suit against a branded drug-maker’s use of FDA “citizen petitions” to delay the entry of a generic competitor. In particular, he discussed the implications of the district court’s initial dismissal of that action on novel ground’s relating to the Commission’s statutory jurisdiction.

Sagers also spoke with the trade newsletter Law 360 about a closely watched reverse-payments case, involving the drug-maker Impax. The case was of keen interest, because it would have tested an important, unresolved question under the Supreme Court’s seminal 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis. Shortly after the article appeared, the parties in the Impax case settled.

On March 22, 2018, C|M|LAW and Levin College Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson did an on-camera interview for WEWS Channel 5 News for their story on the Cleveland Water Department’s multiple violations of Ohio EPA’s safe drinking water statutes and regulations.  The story aired as the lead story on the 6 p.m. news.  To watch it, click here.

Professor Kalir was recently quoted by the New York Times. The article, entitled “Transgender Workers Gain New Protection Under Court Ruling,” quotes Professor Kalir who – together with Professors Green, Kowalski, and Broering-Jacobs – wrote an Amicus Brief to the Sixth Circuit on behalf of Equality Ohio. The Brief was cited by the Court, and now professor Kalir was asked to comment on the decision, as well as on the odds it will be overturned by the Supreme Court. The article can be found here.

Professor Sandra Kerber recently participated in Judge4Yourself interviews of judicial candidates running for Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in the May Primary. The candidates’ ratings will be released prior to the absentee ballots being available. The ratings are based on the candidates’ answers to the comprehensive questionnaires that are used to vet the individual’s judicial qualifications.

Professor Carole Heyward served on the planning committee for Externships 9: Coming of Age that was held at the University of Georgia’s Law School on March 9-11, 2018. In addition to serving on the planning committee, Professor Heyward participated in a panel discussion titled Training Fieldwork Supervisors: Foundations and Innovations — An Empirical View.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio is serving as a peer reviewer for the Yale Law Journal.  Professor Sterio is reviewing a piece entitled “From Catalonia to California: Secession in Constitutional Law.”

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, appeared this week on “Air Talk,” a public affairs program on KPCC, a National Public Radio affiliate covering Los Angeles and Southern California with nearly a million listeners. During the segment , Sagers debated Curt Hessler, a lecturer in antitrust and communications at the UCLA School of Law, about the government’s antitrust challenge to the pending merger of AT&T and Time Warner, Inc.

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich is the principal drafter of the Report and Recommendations of the Cuyahoga County Bail Task Force. The report, released on March 16, 2018, calls for significant reforms to the way courts across Cuyahoga County set bail and conditions of pretrial release. According to the report, the courts “should transition from a bail system based on bond schedules, which vary widely from one court to the next, to a centralized, consistent, and comprehensive system of pretrial services initiated immediately after arrest.” The report notes that setting bail through bond schedules often results in the unnecessary detention of defendants simply because they are too poor to afford bond. Instead of bond schedules, the report recommends that courts “assess each defendant’s risk of non-appearance and danger to the community using a uniform risk assessment tool. If money bail is considered, courts should evaluate each defendant’s risk of non-appearance and ability to pay, and then tailor money bail accordingly.” The report also calls on Cuyahoga County to invest in centralized pretrial services, which will enable the courts to conduct individual assessments of each defendant, also also provide monitoring and oversight of defendants who are released pretrial. The Bail Task Force has been studying Cuyahoga County’s bail systems for over a year. The Report and Recommendations reflect current best practices in bail and pretrial release, and are consistent with bail reforms that have been enacted around the country in recent years.

The Report has received significant media coverage: for the Plain Dealer story regarding the Report, click here; for the Ideastream report, click here; for the WKSU story about the Report, click here.