In February 2016, a jury awarded a woman $10 million in compensatory damages and $62 million in punitive damages in a suit against Johnson & Johnson for causing her cervical cancer.  She died in 2015 after prolonged use of baby powder made by the company.

In its ruling vacating the judgment, the appeals court cited a recent Supreme Court ruling disallowing lawsuits in states where the plaintiff is not a resident and where the injury did not occur.  The plaintiff in this case is from Alabama and sued in Missouri.

“Jim Onder, who is representing many plaintiffs in the lawsuits, has argued that Missouri is a proper jurisdiction because Johnson & Johnson packages and labels some products in Missouri.”  According to the article, most research indicates talc, which is a soft mineral, has a minimum correlation to ovarian cancer.  In other lawsuits, jurors awarded plaintiffs more than $300 million combined, and the company intends to have all these rulings overturned.

Posted by Kayla Caveny.

The United States and Europe both have emissions standards for their vehicles. The standards are in place to limit the amount of pollutants the vehicle may make. However, there is a way to bypass those standards, illegal of course. This certain device is called a “defeat device,” which is any apparatus that unduly reduces the effectiveness of emissions control systems under conditions a vehicle may reasonably be expected to experience.

On September 18, 2015 U.S and European officials accused Volkswagen and Audi of installing these defeat devices within numerous diesel cars made between 2009 and 2015. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the cars that were tampered with “included software that circumvents EPA emissions standards for certain air pollutants.” The vehicles that were effected only release the EPA’s emissions standards when the car is actually being tested. The vehicle actually produces nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the “legal” standard. Because of these vehicles being tampered with over 11 million Volkswagen and Audie’s have now been subject to recall. Volkswagen did admit to not complying with governmental standards. However, the makers of Volkswagen and Audi told the owners of these cars that “this is an emissions issue, your vehicle is safe to drive.”

Volkswagen and Audi’s actions have now caused several lawsuits, especially within the state of Tennessee. Most of these lawsuits are against Volkswagen and many of the dealers within the United States. According to John Willis, a lawsuit in Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Federal Court included seven plaintiffs who sued Volkswagen’s parent company and a Tennessee based dealer for fraudulent concealment and violating Tennessee consumer protection law. They thought they were purchasing “green” vehicles that met or exceeded federal emissions standards.

The plaintiffs believe that once Volkswagen completes a government mandated recall to remove the illegal defeat devices, the cars will not perform as they were designed. In the end Volkswagen has a settlement of 10 billion for vehicle buybacks, lease terminations, and owner compensation, as well as a 2.7 billion dollars towards environmental programs to reduce polluting nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. Volkswagen must also spend another 2 billion to promote zero-emission vehicles, which is even more than what they had originally planned to spend on the technology.

Kayla is a marketing student at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2019.

References:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/faq-volkswagen-diesel-emissions-settlement.html

Posted by Kayla Caveny.

The United States and Europe both have emissions standards for their vehicles. The standards are in place to limit the amount of pollutants the vehicle may make. However, there is a way to bypass those standards, illegal of course. This certain device is called a “defeat device,” which is any apparatus that unduly reduces the effectiveness of emissions control systems under conditions a vehicle may reasonably be expected to experience.

On September 18, 2015 U.S and European officials accused Volkswagen and Audi of installing these defeat devices within numerous diesel cars made between 2009 and 2015. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the cars that were tampered with “included software that circumvents EPA emissions standards for certain air pollutants.” The vehicles that were effected only release the EPA’s emissions standards when the car is actually being tested. The vehicle actually produces nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the “legal” standard. Because of these vehicles being tampered with over 11 million Volkswagen and Audie’s have now been subject to recall. Volkswagen did admit to not complying with governmental standards. However, the makers of Volkswagen and Audi told the owners of these cars that “this is an emissions issue, your vehicle is safe to drive.”

Volkswagen and Audi’s actions have now caused several lawsuits, especially within the state of Tennessee. Most of these lawsuits are against Volkswagen and many of the dealers within the United States. According to John Willis, a lawsuit in Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Federal Court included seven plaintiffs who sued Volkswagen’s parent company and a Tennessee based dealer for fraudulent concealment and violating Tennessee consumer protection law. They thought they were purchasing “green” vehicles that met or exceeded federal emissions standards.

The plaintiffs believe that once Volkswagen completes a government mandated recall to remove the illegal defeat devices, the cars will not perform as they were designed. In the end Volkswagen has a settlement of 10 billion for vehicle buybacks, lease terminations, and owner compensation, as well as a 2.7 billion dollars towards environmental programs to reduce polluting nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. Volkswagen must also spend another 2 billion to promote zero-emission vehicles, which is even more than what they had originally planned to spend on the technology.

Kayla is a marketing student at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2019.

References:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/faq-volkswagen-diesel-emissions-settlement.html

Toys R Us entered Chapter 11 recently causing panic among toymakers. The company owes millions to suppliers.

Toys R Us owes $14.06 million to Jakks, which last year posted a profit of $1.2 million, making the California-based toy supplier one of more than 100,000 creditors sideswiped by the toy chain’s bankruptcy in the run-up to the all-important holiday season. In total, Toys R Us owes $7.5 billion to a group that includes virtually every major toymaker in the country: Mattel (owed $136 million), Hasbro ($59 million), Spin Master ($33 million), Lego ($32 million), Radio Flyer ($12 million), Crayola ($2.6 million).

Companies such as Lego, who are working with Toys R Us, expect their own sales to decline. Small “mom and pop” companies that make things like fidget spinners “rely heavily on Toys R Us for visibility and sales, and often spend months customizing items to the retailer’s specifications.” These companies have “little hope” they will receive part of what they are owed.

Toys R Us received “$3.1 billion from JP Morgan and others to help pay for inventory and company investments.” Some suppliers believe the money can help keep the company in business, but others are not so optimistic.

In February 2016, a jury awarded a woman $10 million in compensatory damages and $62 million in punitive damages in a suit against Johnson & Johnson for causing her cervical cancer.  She died in 2015 after prolonged use of baby powder made by the company.

In its ruling vacating the judgment, the appeals court cited a recent Supreme Court ruling disallowing lawsuits in states where the plaintiff is not a resident and where the injury did not occur.  The plaintiff in this case is from Alabama and sued in Missouri.

“Jim Onder, who is representing many plaintiffs in the lawsuits, has argued that Missouri is a proper jurisdiction because Johnson & Johnson packages and labels some products in Missouri.”  According to the article, most research indicates talc, which is a soft mineral, has a minimum correlation to ovarian cancer.  In other lawsuits, jurors awarded plaintiffs more than $300 million combined, and the company intends to have all these rulings overturned.

Posted by Abdullah Almohammadi.

51-year-old Steven Croman is a landlord with more than 141 apartment buildings in Manhattan. In 2016, was arrested for the allegations of obtaining loans fraudulently and committing tax fraud. Croman pleaded guilty for giving false business records, grand larceny, and criminal tax fraud. He was sentenced to one year jail and a five million fine.

The case came from the investigation of the allegations that Mr. Croman was harassing his tenants. He was alleged that he pushed rent-regulated out of their apartments. He also withheld the state payroll taxes to earn a bonus for forcing the rent-regulated tenants.

He was taken to court on Tuesday but declined to address the court. Justice Jill made a judgment stating that he was given time in jail to think about the people he has harmed. As he left the court in handcuffs heading to prison, an elderly tenant, Carol, stated that his apartment was in bad condition since Mr. Croman had refused to clean the apartment. Another elderly tenant by the name Cynthia suggested that the public ought to be protected from such a person as Croman forever. This indicated that Mr. Croman should have life jail term. On the other hand, Mr. Croman lawyer believes that Mr. Croman will behave appropriately in jail which will make him be released after eight months instead of one year.

Abdullah is a graduate accounting student at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.

Source:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/03/nyc-landlord-sentenced-to-year-in-fraud-case.html

Posted by Xiangni Meng.

There have been at least 16 deaths caused by a ruptured Takata air bag inflator worldwide. The first U.S. death report of a Takata inflator is a 17-year-old high school senior, who died in Texas in a moderate speed crash. The most recent death in the United States was confirmed by U.S. safety regulators. A 50-year-old California woman died in a Honda Civic that was first recalled in 2008 because of a defective airbag.

The problem is that “[t]he defective air bag inflators deploy with too much force sending metal fragments flying.” This accident spurned the search and recall for noncompliant vehicles. This deficiency covers more than 60 million air bags in vehicles from BMW, Ford, Honda, Tesla, Toyota, and 12 other corporations. That is one of every five cars on the road in the U.S. The biggest recall could affect more than 100 million vehicles around the world.

Actually, about 11.4 million inflators in the United States have been fixed, while more than 20 million were left unrepaired. Takata spokesman Jared Levy said the “tragedy underscores the importance of replacing those airbag inflators that have been recalled by automakers.” However, owners can be difficult to find. Even Honda has mailed letters, placed Facebook ads, made telephone calls, and in some instances visited owners, but some owners just refuse to get it repaired. “Safety advocates have called for laws banning the sale of any vehicle until recall repairs are made, or a national requirement that recalls be done before license plates can be renewed.” Spokesman Bryan Thomas said, The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) doesn’t have legal authority to order those recalling steps.

A Senate investigation and personal injury litigation have turned up company documents suggesting that Takata executives ignored their own employees and hid the potential danger from Honda, their biggest customer, as well as from U.S. regulators. It is said Takata is seeking a financial investor to help pay for huge liabilities from the world’s biggest auto recall. Also, Takata could face $200 million fine over faulty airbags.

Xiangni is a marketing major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2017.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/29/business/ap-us-air-bag-danger.html?src=busln

http://fortune.com/2016/10/21/takata-air-bag-deaths/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-06-02/sixty-million-car-bombs-inside-takata-s-air-bag-crisis

Posted by Chenglu Xia.

In his article, “Bitcoin Will Be Taxed as an Asset: Israel Tax Authority,” Samburaj Das states that Israel government will have a new regulation on cryptocurrency. The official tax authority is making a change, transferring bitcoin’s role from the cryptocurrency to an asset. However, Israel’s official authority is not the only one that regards bitcoin as an asset. The IRS also did the same thing; it admits the importance of bitcoins, but the precondition is that bitcoins should play a role of asset rather than cryptocurrency and should be taxed proportionately. I believe this change can make bitcoins market legal, which will also benefit the worldwide economy. If any transaction of bitcoins will be taxed, it will lead to stronger and more sustainable economic growth without some illegal transactions.

Nowadays, bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency around the world. It has two main characteristics. Primarily, it’s a kind of digital currency rather than fiat currency, such as USD. Moreover, it’s decentralized which use a process called mining. This process use advanced technology with some complex mathematic formulas to produce specific codes. At the beginning, most investors prefer to use this kind cryptocurrency to avoid taxation.  Meanwhile, they can exchange bitcoins with fiat currency, also goods and services; and, it is difficult to track those transactions, which encourages the black market to use this cryptocurrency to carry on illegal transactions.

However, I’m considering about bitcoins’ credibility. There is no guaranteed operating organization. Bitcoin is just a virtual currency and there is no regulation when it first appeared on the Internet. I am wondering why there is an increasing number of people using this currency. In China, I heard that most people just buy bitcoins for investment. It is the similar situation with the investment in stocks, which means that most people do not regard bitcoins as a currency. They only invest in it because of high profits, although it comes with high risk. Personally, I believe that there are some organizations which use bitcoins to do illegal transactions, making high profit. Thus, bitcoin becomes a tool used for illegal purposes, which attracts the attention of national legislature. Thus, it’s profound, meaningful and effective to make the decision of taxing transactions of bitcoins.

Chenglu is an accounting major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2019.

Sources:

https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-will-see-taxation-asset-not-currency-israel-authority/

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/040515/are-there-taxes-bitcoins.asp

Posted by Basbibi Kakar.

According to American and European officials, United States and Iran’s are closing in on a historic agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program. But the parties are facing problems, including when United Nations sanctions would be lifted and how inspections would be conducted.

President Obama is strongly against an agreement with Iran without curbing nuclear weapons in such a dangerous region. He also wants to reassure the world that all options would be available if Iran ultimately cheated. In an interview with New York Times, Obama said that America has Israel’s back, and he also said that he can accept a vote in Congress as long as it did not block his ability to carry out the agreement. The President said that he would make sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. America also will send a clear message to Iranians that if anybody messes with Israel, America will be there.

Under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, the Congress has power to provide for the common defense and general welfare; Congress also has the power to declare war. Congress can provide for organizing, and arming the United States. The Congress can also decide to ratify the agreement with Iran thereby restricting them or stop the process of creating the Nuclear weapon. America can go to war with Iran, since Congress has the power to organize and arm soldiers.

Obama gave new details about how international inspectors would inspect Iran’s covert nuclear sites and about how they would lift the sanctions. Obama hopes that security will be transformed in Middle East, however, the Middle East was never secure. America’s main focus is to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.

But Iran never stopped working on their nuclear weapon. Since Iran has promised before that they would stop working toward a nuclear weapon, they have broken contract law. Contract law could be enforced and their rights to continue working the plant could be taken away. The alternative is Congress could exercise their authority under Article I to resolve the problem.

Basbibi is an economics and international trade and development major at Montclair State University, Class of 2017.

Posted by Shahrani Bhatti.

On January 30th of 2018, U.S. regulators made it known that they feel Congress should expand regulation of the bitcoin as well as a growing number of other cryptocurrencies. Their reasoning being that the currency is not subject to investor-protection laws. The chairmen of the SEC and the CFTC told senators that the exceedingly popular cryptocurrency has surmounted state regulation. This is only one of a growing number of concerns, as U.S. banks are taking a step forward and stopping credit card purchases of bitcoin in addition to bitcoin prices dropping dramatically as governments in China, India and South Korea have placed restrictions on cryptocurrency trading.

The chairmen continued, saying that in order to regulate cryptocurrencies and protect investors, Congress would need to become involved as the SEC and the CFTC hold no power in regards to the market of products like bitcoin. At a testimony earlier this year, Christopher Giancarlo of the CFTC said that if they were given jurisdiction in this situation that it would be a, “dramatic expansion of the CFTC’s regulatory mission.”

Both market regulators have also halted illicit operations that have attempted to capitalize investors’ growing desire for returns similar to that of bitcoin’s skyrocketing $17,900 in only December of last year. The SEC has also stopped initial coin offerings, a fundraising method that has accumulated billions from investors in exchange for the issuance of new digital currencies like the bitcoin, as the demand for them continues to grow. Chief of the SEC, Mr. Clayton said that unlike the bitcoin, however, that these other issuances leave the issuer vulnerable to federal anti-fraud and investor-protection laws. Because of unregulated exchanges, Chief Clayton says, market prices can intensely rise.

While the bitcoin is still mainly unregulated, its derivatives are continually inspected. The CTFC has examined how these tokens should be allotted for trading. Mr. Giancarlo has come up with a new process for other duplicate tokens of the bitcoin, which consist of intensified information sharing agreements between exchanges and the CFTC, and agreements by exchanges to coordinate launches with CFTC’s staff.

I believe cryptocurrency regulation is a necessity at this time. Investors need to be protected from fraud. If the U.S. begins to regulate these currencies, then other countries may also follow suit. The cryptocurrencies may also grow and lead to an increased number of jobs which can only benefit the U.S. economy. If this benefits the U.S. economy, a larger standard of living will persist and the U.S. will become a more powerful country — as a high standard of living among people, high GDP and a good economy are the defining features of powerful countries. Cryptocurrency may give the current U.S. national currency a run for its money, but in the long run, the benefits will outweigh the costs as cryptocurrencies are easier to manage and track as the exchanges are basically exclusively carried out online.

Shahrani Bhatti is an economics major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2020.

Toys R Us entered Chapter 11 recently causing panic among toymakers. The company owes millions to suppliers.

Toys R Us owes $14.06 million to Jakks, which last year posted a profit of $1.2 million, making the California-based toy supplier one of more than 100,000 creditors sideswiped by the toy chain’s bankruptcy in the run-up to the all-important holiday season. In total, Toys R Us owes $7.5 billion to a group that includes virtually every major toymaker in the country: Mattel (owed $136 million), Hasbro ($59 million), Spin Master ($33 million), Lego ($32 million), Radio Flyer ($12 million), Crayola ($2.6 million).

Companies such as Lego, who are working with Toys R Us, expect their own sales to decline. Small “mom and pop” companies that make things like fidget spinners “rely heavily on Toys R Us for visibility and sales, and often spend months customizing items to the retailer’s specifications.” These companies have “little hope” they will receive part of what they are owed.

Toys R Us received “$3.1 billion from JP Morgan and others to help pay for inventory and company investments.” Some suppliers believe the money can help keep the company in business, but others are not so optimistic.