Many companies have used tax shelters known as Lease In Lease Out (LILO) and Sale In Lease Out (SILO) to claim deductions. A string of recent court decisions are being seen as a major victory for the Internal Revenue Service in its fight to outlaw the use of such tax shelter. The IRS designated LILOs [...]

In 1911, Dr. Miles Medical Co, a maker of relaxants and other medicines, sued a distributor, John D. Park & Sons Co., for selling at cut rate prices. The company lost the case when the Supreme Court held that it was trading too close to cartel-like trading. The judgment in the case Dr. Miles Medical [...]

Since a recent blog touched on the gold standard (plus an amusing crack about it being dropped 75 years ago), I thought it would be interesting to look back at history and how the gold standard has evolved legally over the years and possible current effects. History has not only altered the gold standard itself [...]

Law and economics – is there a connection between the two? The purpose of law is to regulate society in such a way as to provide, among other things, economic benefits. Economics provides fundamental organizing principles for the whole body of law and a scientific theory to study the effects of legal sanctions on behavior. [...]

After this term’s recent Supreme Court case ruling slashing the punitive damages award that Exxon had been penalized in the disastrous Valdez spill, tort and maritime lawmakers, corporate lawyers, and CEO’s around the world are paying attention. What started as a $500 billion award in punitive damages (compared to $287 million in compensatory damages) was [...]

I admit my heart sank when I read the news that on June 25 the United States Supreme Court reversed the $2.5 billion in punitive damages awarded to victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the worst and most damaging oil spill in history. The court decided that over the course of 19 years [...]