The novelist Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird and last summer’s release Go Set a Watchman – died last week at age 89. She reportedly died peacefully but her passage doesn’t put to rest the controversial questions surrounding Lee’s most recent publication and whether she was of sound mind, giving her permission to publish. It only makes them more pressing. Lee was a private woman who led a solitary life, out of the spotlight for decades....
If you’re looking to improve your luck, you may want to seek out Timothy Yost. This homeless Texas man recently found a large sum of money - while walking through the park. Yost found a bag partially buried near the Colorado River in a park in Bastrop, Texas. When he kicked it, he realized it was full of money, almost $77,000 in various currency. But for the last few months it wasn’t clear if the city would let him keep the money....
A federal district judge has overturned an FDA ban that prohibited women under 17 from purchasing the popular Plan B “morning-after” pill without a prescription. Judge Edward Korman directed the Food and Drug Administration to make the contraceptive pill available over-the-counter to people of all ages. In doing so, he called the FDA’s ban “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable,” reports The Washington Post. Currently, Plan B One-Step is available to teens under 17 by prescription only....
The “B” in B Corp doesn’t stand for “business.” And it most certainly doesn’t stand for “bank.” It stands for “benefit,” as in public benefit corporation, and it means the company is as committed to social change, charity, or serving the public interest as it is to making money. Kickstarter could’ve taken the path chosen by a majority of tech startups and angled for a sale, acquisition, or IPO. Instead, the online fundraiser stuck to its altruistic guns and became a B Corp....
Two women “mistakenly” shot by LAPD officers during the Dorner manhunt reached a $4.2 million settlement with the city of Los Angeles this week. Maggie Carranza, 47, and her mother Emma Hernandez, 71, will receive the settlement as compensation after LAPD officers opened fire on their truck with the two inside, reports the Los Angeles Times. The officers were on the lookout for ex-cop Christopher Dorner, who was the subject of an intense manhunt in February....
Los Angeles prosecutors have already filed criminal charges against the Southern California Gas company, alleging they failed to report a huge methane leak near the city that spilled some 80,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere over the course of the past three months. And the California Attorney General joined a slew of city and county agencies suing SoCalGas in civil court. But what about the thousands of residents of the area that were sickened and forced from their homes during the gas leak?...
A lawsuit filed this week accuses a Missouri tannery of producing a chemical sludge that contaminated local farmlands, and allegedly caused tumors in a number of residents of Cameron, Missouri. The Missouri Lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that sludge produced by Prime Tanning Corp. – and later used as agricultural fertilizer on farms across four neighboring counties – contains unusually high levels of hexavalent chromium, a carcinogenic chemical compound, according to the Kansas City Star....
What would you call a $12,000 overdraft fee? The North Dakota Supreme Court called it “reasonable.” You might call it: “outrageous, atrocious, barbaric, contemptible, corrupt, criminal, disgraceful, egregious, flagitious, flagrant, heinous, horrendous, horrible, ignoble, inhuman, malevolent, monstrous, odious, opprobrious, scandalous, scurrilous, shameless, shocking, sinful, unbearable, ungodly, unspeakable, villainous, wanton or wicked.” But did I mention that the bad-check writer had amassed 842 bad checks over the course of four years? Of course not....
Life in a nursing home is rarely any person’s ideal living arrangement, and when things go wrong, it can often leave nursing home residents confused about their legal remedies. Nursing homes are like a mix between hotels and hospitals, which can both be held liable, like any premises’s owner, for a slip and fall injury if it involved negligence. Cases against nursing homes often present challenges and obstacles outside the legal variety of proving that it happened....
Facebook use in the workplace is a mind-boggling issue for employers. On one hand, employers don’t want to come across as controlling “Big Brothers” who don’t trust employees to get their work done. But on the other hand, well, your employees may not be getting their work done. But from a productivity standpoint, should you ban Facebook at work? And would doing so raise any legal concerns? Just how much time are employees spending on Facebook at work?...
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal challenging Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate based on a corporation’s asserted right to the free exercise of religion. With nearly 100 lawsuits filed challenging this mandate in federal court, the High Court’s decision to take this case – stemming from a suit by craft store Hobby Lobby – may serve to answer whether Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate is enforceable against businesses, CNN reports....
A Muslim woman filed the third Abercrombie & Fitch headscarf lawsuit on Monday in a San Francisco federal court, alleging that she was fired after she refused to remove her hijab while working. The incident, which took place in one of the company’s Hollister stores near San Francisco, was deemed to be an illegal firing by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has also reportedly filed its own lawsuit against the company....
76 year-old Tony Alamo, the Southern preacher accused of taking underage girls across state lines for sex, was convicted and sentenced to 175 years in prison last year. The latest drama to come from Tony Alamo concerns a string of lawsuits that pits former members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries against each other. According to Jack Times, six members of Alamo’s church are suing each other over allegations that the other party knew or should have known about illegal sexual activity Alamo was engaging in, and did nothing to stop it....
Today is National Bike to Work Day – a great way to both cut down on your carbon footprint and get some exercise by biking to work. However, there are a few laws to keep in mind anytime you hit the road on a bike. Here are our Top 10 legal tips for National Bike to Work Day – and pretty much any other day of the year: Have a safe National Bike to Work Day!...
It’s more exercise. It’s less pollution. It’s more fun. It’s less traffic. Whatever reason you have to be on your bike, you’re in good and growing company: the number of people working out and getting to work on bicycles grows every year. Unfortunately, with more cyclists come more cycling accidents. Bike injury lawsuits can be tricky, especially when you’re trying to prove what happened and who’s at fault. Here are a few of the bigger questions, and some answers, regarding bicycle injury lawsuits, from our archives:...
Obamacare subsidies are being discussed as the open enrollment period approaches. But what are these subsidies exactly, and are you eligible for one? It’s true, Obamacare will provide subsidies for many Americans’ individual health insurance premiums. But some participants in the health insurance exchange will not qualify. Here’s what you need to know about how Obamacare’s subsidies work, and what factors may affect your eligibility: MORE FROM THIS SERIES: What Is Obamacare?...
A California bill making its way through the legislature is stirring up controversy both locally and nationally. The controversy is over the proposed sanctuary state bill, SB54, which would make the entire state of California a sanctuary state for immigrants. While there are already some protections in the state for immigrants from federal immigration enforcement, the new bill seeks to expand those protections. In short, the bill would require state law enforcement agencies, including police departments, sheriff departments, state prisons, and county jails, to not assist in, or commit resources to, federal immigration enforcement actions, except in very limited scenarios....
Every winter, when the roads get icy, accidents happen. Cars and ice just don’t mix, especially if you throw a hill into the equation. However, when the cause of two cars colliding is an icy road, the driver that slides is likely to find out that they can blame it on the ice but they can’t escape liability (financial responsibility). This is due to the way that the legal theory of negligence works, which is the most frequently used legal theory in lawsuits stemming from auto accidents....
For people with irregular heart rhythm, hypertension, or another valvular heart condition, blood thinners can help prevent dangerous and potentially deadly blood clots. But as with any medication, there are risks of side effects. One such blood thinner, Xarelto, is a popular treatment for adults undergoing hip and knee replacement surgeries. But some patients have suffered from severe internal bleeding after taking Xarelto, sometimes resulting in death. And the lawsuits against the drug’s manufacturer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, are starting to pile up....
The families of two of the fifty people killed in the Continental Connection Flight 3407 crash in Buffalo, New York, in 2009, have settled their wrongful death lawsuits. The families of passengers Darren Tolsma and John G. Roberts III settled with the defendants in the suit, Continental Airlines Inc., Pinnacle Airlines Corp., Colgan Air and plane manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace Corp. The exact terms of the settlement were undisclosed. The Continental crash occurred on approach to Buffalo on Feb....
