Amid the economic downturn, complaints about internet fraud and scams have steadily increased. Since 2007, complaints about Internet crimes have been on the rise, but a new report shows that last year especially complaints began to soar. According to the latest Internet Crime Complaint Center report, many Internet scams were tied to the poor economy and grew more 20 percent. The report by the center was produced in partnership with the FBI....
Rodney King’s autopsy will include toxicology tests to help determine what caused King’s death, which police believe was an accidental drowning. King’s fiancée called 911 when she found him at the bottom of his small backyard swimming pool in Rialto, Calif., about 5 a.m. Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Rescuers pulled King’s lifeless body from the pool, and he was declared dead at a hospital. Rodney King was 47 years old....
The economy may be on the slow mend going forward, but looking back to June paints a very different picture. Equifax reported that bankruptcy filings for small businesses rose 81% from the previous year for the country’s 25 million small businesses. To be sure–10,399 bankruptcies were filed in June 2009, compared to the 5,712 that were filed in June 2008. The Golden State was hit the hardest, with 10 California cities making Equifax’s list for most commercial bankruptcies filed....
Companies who have only limited links to environmentally contaminated property will have an easier time escaping liability for huge cleanup costs associated with the contamination, under a decision handed down Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case involves the cleanup of contaminated property at Brown & Bryant’s chemical distribution facility in Arvin, California, and the responsibility of Shell Oil Company to pay for cleanup of the property. Shell had sold the pesticide D-D to Brown & Bryant over a number of years, and that chemical played a role in the contamination of the property....
If you have a family business, then you know these can be explosive endeavors. Emotions run high among relatives, but bonds are also deeper than usual for people who work together. For fireworks display makers, the Fourth of July is a big day of the year. But according to Phil Grucci – who leads the family business – it takes sustained focus throughout the year, starting just the week after Independence Day, to make this unusual enterprise so stable....
If your city is being forced to make cutbacks, it may be choosing to cut back on your safety. And as evidenced by the number of tree fall injuries in recent years, New York City, it seems, is doing just that. In the last 10 years, there have been 10 lawsuits in New York City stemming from fallen trees. A detailed look at the city’s budget shows a decrease in the number of man hours spent inspecting, repairing and pruning city trees....
Union-backed groups have been leading protests at Walmart stores across the country in the last few weeks, and the retail giant is not happy about it. The strikes began in October at a store in Los Angeles and have spread to stores on both coasts and many places in between. Last week, employees walked off the job at several stores, and a nationwide protest is planned for Black Friday. In an attempt to block the protests, Walmart has called on the National Labor Relations Board....
As reported a few weeks ago here on Law & Daily Life, medical marijuana users face hurdles at their places of employment. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia currently permit medical marijuana use, but only two protect patients from being fired when they fail a drug test. To Walmart, medical marijuana flies in the face of its zero-tolerance policy for marijuana use amongst employees. Joseph Casias, who suffers from a brain tumor and sinus cancer, used to be one of these employees....
A Mississippi jury has awarded the largest U.S. asbestos verdict in history - $322 million. Thomas Brown Jr., 48, was awarded the sum to cover future medical expenses, pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages against the defendants, Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) and Union Carbide Corporation. Brown was a self-proclaimed roughneck from 1979 to the mid 1980s. His position required him to mix drilling mud on rigs in Mississippi and in the Gulf of Mexico....
It felt like another hot summer day in Kentucky. And then rain started. In Louisville over six inches of rain fell in a single hour. The President declared it a federal disaster. And after small business owners scrambled to higher ground, they waited to be able to return to assess the damages and worried about how they would be able to rebuild. According to Reuters, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has given its nod in approving upwards of $5 million in federal low-interest disaster loans for Kentucky homeowners, renters, and businesses who sustained damages from storms and flooding on August 4th 2009....
The New Jersey “tanning mom” accused of child endangerment has been banned from a chain of tanning salons, the New York Daily News reports. Tanning mom Patricia Krentcil denies she took her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth, which is unlawful in New Jersey for a child under 14. Public attention and ridicule have led one tanning-salon chain to bar Krentcil from its premises. But is it legal to ban a particular customer from your business?...
Injury can be compensated through insurance claims or with a damages award after a lawsuit if you can prove the defendant or defendants were negligent. Although neither method guarantees recovery and nether is pain-free, there are substantial differences in the processes and the expense of attempting to recover in one context versus the other. In most accident or injury situations it’s wise to first attempt recovery for injury through insurance. Filing a lawsuit is a good idea after an insurance claim has been denied, or after extremely grave injuries where extensive compensation will be needed for a long time or even a lifetime....
The phrase, if you can’t beat them join them, immediately comes to mind after perusing the latest airport body scanner privacy products. Part mockery, part protection measures, the new items such as a strategically placed fig leaf underwear and “flying pasties” are being marketed as a chance to keep your dignity while going through the new measures at the airport body scanners. The most obvious problem with the body scanner products is that while they try to avoid a privacy intrusion, they may actually be inviting more intrusions....
Is child support tax-deductible? In the same vein, is alimony tax-deductible? While the dissolution of a marriage is undoubtedly personally difficult and emotionally draining, there’s no doubt that it can also create a strain on a person’s finances. And, it can raise some serious questions as to what should go on your tax return and what shouldn’t. Federal Taxes: Don’t Deduct Child Support For federal tax purposes, if you pay child support, it is not deductible on your federal tax return....
A common complaint amongst gym goers everywhere is that it’s really difficult to cancel a gym membership once you’ve signed up. Unfortunately, if you sign a gym contract with a term longer than a month, you’re generally bound for its duration, requiring you to pay fees, accept auto-renewals, and cancellation charges. However, you still may be able to cancel a gym membership via lawsuit if there is evidence of one of the following defenses....
The U.S. Supreme Court has seen fit to stop a number of socially abhorrent institutions in the last century, but it doesn’t seem likely to put a stop to NSA surveillance. Still, lawyers for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) are hoping that they can succeed in dismantling the National Security Agency’s system of monitoring phone records, particularly through Verizon, by appealing directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, reports CNN....
Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Casey (D.-Pa.) took aim at Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin last week. The Brazilian-born entrepreneur says he renounced his U.S. citizenship to help facilitate a permanent move to Singapore, where he has been living since 2009. But the Senators don’t believe him, and have accused him ditching the U.S. in an attempt to avoid paying post-IPO taxes. Upset by this, they’ve introduced legislation known as the Ex-PATRIOT Act....
The holiday season always approaches fast. First Thanksgiving. Then Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. And then right on into New Year’s Eve and Day. A time for celebration, sure. But a time for crime as well. There a natural spike in crime around the holidays, from the intentional – targeting vacant homes and overstuffed businesses – to the unintentional – one too many beers or egg nogs before driving. Shoplifting may be up (surprise, surprise) as well as domestic incidents brought on by family or financial stress....
Being part of the Facebook generation is apparently not a requirement for venturing into inappropriate picture territory on the site. At age 48, Mark Musarella posted a photo of Caroline Wimmer on his Facebook page. She was dead at the time, and he was the EMT sent to the scene. Now Wimmer’s parents are suing Facebook over that photo. Facebook vows to fight. In 2009, Caroline Wimmer was strangled with a hair dryer by a man who believed she informed his girlfriend about his infidelity, reports CNN....
Florida’s same-sex marriage ban was struck down Thursday by a federal judge, who stated that the law violated constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle found Florida’s gay marriage prohibition unconstitutional because it denies gay couples the fundamental right to marry without any legally defensible justification. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Hinkle is the fifth judge to rule against Florida’s gay marriage ban in the past six weeks; however, he’s the first federal judge to do so, and his ruling is the first to have statewide effect....
