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Two OxyElite Pro lawsuits have been filed after a nationwide recall. Hawaii residents Everine Van Houten, 33, and Kenneth Waikiki, 22, allege OxyElite Pro caused severe health problems, Honolulu’s KGMB-TV reports. Van Houten had to visit the emergency room every week for two months before it was confirmed that she had liver damage. Waikiki, on the other hand, fell into a coma and then required a liver transplant. What will these alleged victims need to prove in order to win their lawsuits?...

The legendary Babe Ruth had an employment contract like any other employee, but his had a few extra conditions you might not have considered. A 92-year-old contract between the New York Yankees and George Herman “Babe” Ruth is up for auction, and it reveals some interesting bits about the strings attached to his career. TMZ Sports reports that the Great Bambino was paid $52,000 per season, but he couldn’t “stay up later than 1 o’clock A....

Your home is your castle. When your castle starts to crumble, it’s time to call in a contractor. Before you begin fixating on bathroom fixtures, prepare yourself. Hiring a contractor means entering a binding agreement that impacts a major investment: your home. So take a look at these five legal tips for getting the job done right. 1. Licensing Start your research with your state’s licensing requirements. Many states regulate contractors, requiring them to be registered professionals who adhere to certain standards....

As employees (slowly) return from their Labor Day holiday weekends, employers may be thinking about goal-setting for the rest of the year. Among the things you should never neglect are changes to employment laws that may require some sort of action by business owners. To prevent your business from getting caught with its proverbial pants down, employers will want to keep these three kinds of employment law changes in mind:...

An avalanche of pelvic mesh suits has prompted the FDA to seek stricter safety rules for makers of the problematic implants. Pelvic mesh, also known as transvaginal mesh, has been used for more than 15 years to repair patients’ pelvic walls in cases of pelvic organ prolapse – where organs slip through the pelvic wall and into the vagina. This condition can occur in older women and post-pregnancy, and it can lead to “embarrassing bladder leaks,” reports The Associated Press....

Following up on the trial of Allen Andrade for the 2008 murder of transgender teen Justin “Angie” Zapata, CNN reports that Andrade has been convicted of first degree-murder. In addition, 32-year-old Andrade was also convicted of committing a bias-motivated crime. As discussed in a prior post, this could represent the first time someone has been prosecuted (and convicted) under Colorado’s bias statute for having committed a crime against a transgender individual....

As discussed in a prior post, California’s biggest for-profit health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, recently proposed a major rate hike of up to 39% which would affect its individual policy holders in California. This announcement drew the attention of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as well as California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Today, the Los Angeles Times reports that Poizner’s office is alleging over 700 violations of California law by Anthem Blue Cross over the last several years....

Executions have been on hold in California for nearly four years but may resume in the near future as the California Department of Corrections has offered its new lethal injection procedures. The revised execution guidelines make changes in the death chamber procedures and address concerns that the three-drug procedure is “cruel and unusual,” the Los Angeles Times reports. As previously discussed, California has the nation’s largest number of death row inmates with a record of now just over 700....

It may not be illegal or unethical, but it is one of the favors a lawyer probably shouldn’t do for a client. Of all the fee agreements and financial arrangements an attorney can have with his or her client, lending money is one of the most problematic. So even in cases where your lawyer can lend you money, there are serious concerns about whether he or she should lend you money....

Chicago’s new speed cameras are barely a month old, but they’re churning out a red-hot number of tickets. More than 2,700 tickets and 324,000 warning notices have been issued during the first month of enforcement, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But has the system had a meaningful impact on Chicagoans with lead feet? According to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, the camera system is successfully prompting speed demons to slow down. Speeding dropped by more than 65 percent from the first week of warnings until the third week of ticketing....

One New York City woman has filed a lawsuit against the Midtown Manhattan restaurant Johnny Utah’s after being injured by the establishment’s biggest feature: a mechanical bull. The lawsuit alleges that Jocelyn Burmeister was visibly intoxicated when restaurant employees allowed her to ride the bull. In attempting to do so, Ms. Burmeister fell and tore her ACL. Her lawsuit seeks damages related to the medical care incurred and other damages she suffered....

The big issue in an Illinois divorce case, which has been going on for two years, isn’t who gets the family home or custody of children, but rather: Who gets the dog? Paul Barthel says he merely wants visitation rights with Pepper, the black lab/German shepherd mix that the he and his estranged wife Susan owned together, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. But Susan claims Paul’s attempts to win pet visitation rights are merely a ploy to prolong the case and increase her costs....

As an employer, sometimes you’re left with no choice but to fire a worker. However, firing a worker improperly can come back to haunt you in the form of a wrongful termination lawsuit. And while you can’t control a former employee’s decision to pursue legal action, you can certainly make the prospect significantly less appealing by decreasing the odds of any such suit being successful. Here are three simple tips that may keep fired employees from firing up a lawsuit against you:...

Winter has come, which means snowy sidewalks, icy highways, and a whole host of winter weather-related injury risks. Not only should you be concerned with keeping yourself safe out there, but you could be liable for someone else’s injuries if you allow adverse weather conditions make your property dangerous or detract from your driving ability. No one wants a lawsuit on their hands to ruin their holidays, so here are five seasonal injury risks, and how to avoid them....

From the Mueller investigation to Donald Jr.’s alleged contact with Russians to the Stormy Daniels fiasco, the Donald Trump administration is demonstrating how powerful emails can be when made public. Thus far, no one has gotten into any legal trouble for acquiring or leaking those emails, though they’ve certainly gotten the president in some hot water. Chances are, you don’t have such incriminating emails sitting in your inbox, but could you get in trouble for “leaking” them anyway?...

A lawsuit was filed yesterday by whistleblower Kenneth Abbott, a former project control supervisor contracted by BP. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Houston, alleges that BP failed to analyze engineering designs for the operation of a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. On 60 Minutes Sunday night and in an interview last week with ProPublica, Abbott alleges that BP failed to review thousands of final design documents on the BP Atlantis platform....

Employers have to rate their employees’ performance. That’s just a fact of the working world and a pretty effective way of incentivizing employees and rewarding them for their efforts. But there are all kinds of rating systems out there, and, as creations of imperfect managers and executives, they can be subject to misuse. That’s what one former Yahoo manager is alleging in a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in California this week....

The US Chamber of Commerce-fueled controversy over greenhouse gas emissions, which the Environmental Protection Agency has indicated it plans to regulate, proves that there is room for divergent opinions on environmental issues among US businesses (The New York Times). While the EPA is asking businesses that emit the largest portion of greenhouse gasses to pay for the environmental costs (Science Daily) of potentially rising oceans and changing climate patterns, the Chamber claims that climate change regulation would stifle the economy and curb job growth at a time of global fiscal crisis....

Last year was a busy time for small business owners. Between federal action on tax and immigration to state action on minimum wage and family leave, it might’ve seemed like you spent more time trying to keep pace with legal updates than running your small biz. Well, here’s the bad news first: 2018 isn’t likely to get any simpler. But the good news is we’re here for you, highlighting the new laws and legal trends you’ll need to keep an eye on this year....

Workers’ compensation is federally mandated and administered by states, but some employers may opt out if they have an alternate plan. When that happens, it can be more difficult for individuals hurt on the job to get compensation for their medical claims, as was highlighted in a feature on National Public Radio. The story revealed the difficulties of Rachel Jenkins, 33, who was injured caring for a disabled man and denied benefits by her Oklahoma employer’s private plan....