Dan Reaser
Regulators are not immune from misapplying the law they are appointed to enforce. In many instances, through informal cajoling, the government can be convinced of its error. When that effort fails, a frequent lament posed by business owners is why can’t we get a judge to tell the regulator how to follow the law. As …
Continue reading "Justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied"
Democracy Awakening, Heather Cox Richardson's 2023 "Notes on the State of America" is a worthy 253-page read. Richardson marshals our past to provide context to the last decade. She prods us to explore our future in a different light. Among the most poignant lessons in Democracy Awakening may be our struggles, notably in the mid-Nineteenth …
Continue reading "A Book Report: Richardson’s Democracy Awakening"
During the Second World War, the Supreme Court of United States established the rule that a government agency is bound by the explanation it gives for a decision in the record at the time made. This tenet prevents the government from making up reasons or facts later to justify a determination or action that was …
Likely, you learned in high school civics or government class that the United States Constitution and the various state constitutions prohibit “cruel and unusual punishments.” Thus, the government may not torture prisoners or inflict upon convicts punishment that is arbitrary or "degrading to human dignity.” The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution also disallows …
Most business people understand that if they are involved in a lawsuit, the final outcome is binding. What is not universally appreciated is that contested matters decided by government agencies can have a very similar result. The Supreme Court of Nevada has enforced what are called the doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata to judicial-like proceedings of administrative agencies …
Can a state, county or city government enter a contract with a private business and then call a "King's X" by passing a law that changes the deal. Fairness says this cannot be right. The answer is not that simple.The United States Constitution limits the ability of state and local governments to impair contractual obligations. …
