Difference between revisions of "Nondisclosure Clauses"
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| − | --- | + | ==Vaccine Production Violations== |
| + | [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/us/covid-vaccines-emergent-biosolutions.html "U.S. Bet Big on Covid Vaccine Manufacturer Even as Problems Mounted,"] New York Times (2021) | ||
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| + | He added, “Any allegation that our safety, quality and compliance systems are not working or that we do not take these responsibilities seriously is false.” | ||
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| + | But four former company officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure agreements or feared retaliation, described an environment where top Emergent leadership tolerated and even encouraged the flouting of federal standards for manufacturing and marketing products. | ||
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| + | One of the former officials said that as the company scrambled to meet the heavy demands of vaccine production, a senior manufacturing supervisor often responded to reports of quality errors by asking: “Do you want me to make drugs or fix issues? I don’t have time to do both.” </blockquote> | ||
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==Arbitration As Secrecy== | ==Arbitration As Secrecy== | ||
Revision as of 06:48, 7 April 2021
I have thought of writing a law review article on such nondisclosure contracts. A few articles have been written on them in the context of sexually harassed women settling out of court for extra money in exchange for keeping quiet. The interesting legal question is whether such agreements are enforceable in court. There is a general doctrine in Contract that "contracts that violate public policy are void". For example, you cannot enforce your cocaine purchase contract in court. The King's court will not enforce contracts contrary to the health, safety, and morals of the realm. Thus, should a contract to keep crimes secret be enforceable? How about to keep secret conduct that is unlawful but not criminal--- breaching academic freedom and a tenure contract? As far as I know, this is untested in court.
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Scholastic-Gag-Orders.pdf and https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2021/01/the-ways-in-which-colleges-legally-silence-troublesome-scholars/
Vaccine Production Violations
"U.S. Bet Big on Covid Vaccine Manufacturer Even as Problems Mounted," New York Times (2021)
He added, “Any allegation that our safety, quality and compliance systems are not working or that we do not take these responsibilities seriously is false.”
But four former company officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure agreements or feared retaliation, described an environment where top Emergent leadership tolerated and even encouraged the flouting of federal standards for manufacturing and marketing products.
One of the former officials said that as the company scrambled to meet the heavy demands of vaccine production, a senior manufacturing supervisor often responded to reports of quality errors by asking: “Do you want me to make drugs or fix issues? I don’t have time to do both.”
Arbitration As Secrecy
https://www.brownehouselaw.com/arbitration-in-higher-ed/
The arbitration angle is interesting. Arbitration clauses per se are reasonable and are commonplace in business, to get quicker and more accurate results than from courts. Their legality is well established. What is not well established, though, is *secret* arbitration. Arbitration is not public like a court, but it doesn't have to be secret, either. What is is bad here is that the professor cannot, it seems, say publicly what happened in the arbitration proceedings. Whether that is legally binding is not so clear as that the money settlement in arbitration is binding.
Anybody know of caselaw on this, from university cases or business cases?
What we'd want to see is whether some student or professor whose case has gone to arbitration has talked about it publicly and gotten some kind of attempted punishment from the university. If nobody has yet, a test case should be brought, with careful preparation.
[https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=692102005081068102096015100001027077118020020019044006105026121064071098093031068105121035037038023004045071089093010067067070025085014061016066103016025004093068070050022000072001098120105111096023064004003015074017102116031071073015075090067068022&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE%7C Maureen A. Weston 2020 "Buying Secrecy: Non-Disclosure Agreements, Arbitration, and Professional Ethics in the #MeToo Era,"]
"Untangling the Privacy Paradox in Arbitration," Schmitz, Amy J., 54 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1211 (2005-2006).
"Assuming Silence in Arbitration," New Jersey Lawyer, p. 269, April 2011 Amy J. Schmitz
