0.2: Stop Your Engines
THIS WEEK: We bid a rowdy farewell to a NASCAR star’s lawsuit-riddled energy drink company, student loan repayment chaos, and an airline buyout doesn't make it off the tarmac.
Slingshot
For the last several months, NASCAR’s Kyle Busch and his beverage company, Rowdy Energy, have had lawsuits coming at them like a spider monkey. This week, the two-time NASCAR champ announced that they’d be shuttering operations.
“Like many other consumer brands, the headwinds have proven to be too strong, and it makes the most sense to end the journey so I can remain focused on my family and my racing career,” Busch wrote on X/Twitter.
Unfortunately for Busch and Rowdy Energy, those headwinds included a tandem of lawsuits. A proposed class action lawsuit was brought against the company in November alleging that its “preservative-free” Power Burn energy drink contains citric and ascorbic acid (pretty common lawsuit as of recent).
And then, like a Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton slingshot, the California Attorney General slammed into Rowdy Energy with a 60-day notice alleging that the company’s beverages contained unsafe levels of lead and mercury (no thank you, Mr. Busch, we prefer our drinks to be laden with millions of microplastics).
Although Busch didn’t cite the lawsuits as a reason for ceasing Rowdy's operati
ns, the timing seems to imply that they were a factor. It’s not clear if the class action will simply fade away, but Busch is sponsored by Morgan & Morgan (for the people) if he needs advice.
In any case, if you wanna go fast, you won’t be doing it with Rowdy Energy.
Restart Your Engines
Race car puns are in this week. So what happens when you fire up the engines on a machine that hasn’t been on in a while? In the case of the federal student loan repayment process, it sputters.
For borrowers (like me), it has been extremely bumpy.
According to a report published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this month, servicers aren’t sending bills on time, average customer service wait times are over an hour, and about half of the people who call simply hang up before being helped. According to the report, one person waited on hold for nearly nine hours.
Rohit Chopra, CFPB direction, said in a release, "If student loan companies are cutting corners or sidestepping the law, this can pose serious risks to individuals and the economy." Well said, Mr. Chopra.
And speaking of sidestepping the law, well, it happens. Just this week, Massachusetts reached a ~$2M settlement with Nelnet, one of the country’s largest student loan servicers for failing to alert borrowers about affordable repayment options. Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced this morning accelerated plans to cancel student debt for borrowers who meet certain criteria.
So this is the backdrop for going back to paying off our law school debt.
Should we walk across burning embers while we’re at it? I’ll go back to being willfully ignorant and wait for the inevitable lawsuit to sort the chaos out.
Joke Break
In the Air
You can turn the engines off; the Spirit and JetBlue buyout has failed. A federal judge blocked the deal after the DOJ asserted that the deal would drive up fares for price-sensitive consumers by taking the discount carrier out of the market.
As you would expect, Spirit’s stock took a nosedive soon after the decision was made.
So what does the future of this airline look like? Well, it’s up the air (ok, I’ll stop).
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Check out these new timesheets:
Microsoft - legal business program manager.
Pinterest - product and commercial counsel
Hinge Health - commercial counsel
*Have a job to post? Shoot us an email or message on social media*
A few 0.1s
What do your parents and the Securities and Exchange Commission have in common? Neither can be trusted on social media. The SEC’s X account was hacked this week apparently because of a rookie security mistake.
Amidst rumors of a return to the NFL, the Nevada Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Jon Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell. The NFL’s attorney, Kannon Shanmugam, said “there is no meat on the bones” to Gruden’s factual assertions.
Redemption! The Chrisley’s of “Chrisley Knows Best” fame have received a $1M settlement from the state of George for their lawsuit against a state tax official. They are, however, still incarcerated.
Pat McAfee announced that Aaron Rodgers would be taking a hiatus from his weekly appearances on his show, but then he was back on the show less than 24 hours later.