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For some small business owners, hiring a business attorney may seem excessive. After all, many entrepreneurs are used to handling most of the facets of their companies without external help. So why would business legal help be any different? For you stubborn employers out there, here are five things a small business attorney can do that you probably can’t: 1. Represent and Externalize. If you have an attorney on retainer for your business or have someone in-house, one of the main things they can do is to represent you....

When we advise small business owners to consult with a local attorney about their companies, it’s for good reason. Many states, cities, and municipalities have some obscure and head-scratching statutes that only someone familiar with the area will know about. And while you might be inclined to write these legal oddities off as unenforced historical outliers, the last thing you want is your small biz grinding to a halt because of an arcane ordinance you overlooked or ignored....

A gas explosion lawsuit has been filed on behalf of six employees hurt in a blast that leveled a Kansas City restaurant last month. The lawsuit was filed against Missouri Gas Energy and four other companies connected to a cable installation project that is believed to have caused a natural gas line to rupture, reports The Kansas City Star. The blast at JJ’s Restaurant injured the six plaintiffs in the lawsuit....

A New Jersey bill, passed in 2014, took effect this year to unseal over seventy years worth of adoption records. This enables adopted children to look up their biological parents. Since 1940, in the state of New Jersey, unless parents who were giving their child up for adoption agreed to an open adoption, they were guaranteed confidentiality by the court. The confidentiality that was promised no longer exists today, unless the parent filed the appropriate paperwork before December 31, 2016 to have their child’s birth certificate redacted....

As the economy slowly shows signs of recovery, many wonder what steps should be taken in order to speed things up. While some see a bright future ahead, other economists are concerned about a double dip recession. “While maintaining appropriate prudence, lenders should do all they can to meet the needs of legitimate, creditworthy borrowers … Encouraging lending to small businesses that are well positioned to pay is a positive, not a negative, for the safety and soundness of our banking system....

Workers’ compensation is theoretically available for any injury caused by your job, including frostbite. The extent to which you can ultimately recover will depend on how severe the injury is and how much time and expense it costs in lost work and healthcare. The specifics vary from state to state, and certain industries follow special standards, so you will have to look into the particular law that applies to you. But here are the basics on workers’ compensations claims, using frostbite as the example injury....

In light of high-profile divorce and custody cases such as Jon and Kate, non-reality star families in similar situations may wonder where they can learn more about child support, how it is affected by the recession, and ways to calculate how much is owed and how much is due. Over the past months, FindLaw’s Law & Daily Life has been reporting on various aspects of child support. Whether you have just recently had to think about child support, or have been grappling with the issue for weeks or months, take a look at these posts and attached resources to get a better understanding of what you know, what you don’t know, and how to fill in the gaps....

When anyone gets arrested and charged with a crime, it can be a very traumatic experience. One of the first things that may cross their mind is whether they should call an attorney for help (at least, if they’ve watched any TV show or movies). If someone is a celebrity or simply loaded, it’s pretty much a no-brainer to bring in an attorney, but for the average person in the midst of the current economic downturn, it might not be such an easy decision....

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that supervisors are those individuals empowered by an employer to make “tangible employment actions” for purposes of Title VII suits for harassment. In a 5-4 decision in Vance v. Ball State University, the Court determined that businesses could not be held strictly liable for employee harassment where that employee had no ability to hire or fire, reports the Associated Press. For business owners, this means more protection from Title VII suits for harassment due to employee misconduct....

On the heels of the 9th Circuit’s decision to uphold the preliminary injunction limiting enforcement of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 immigration law, the state of Georgia has jumped into the immigration game. The state legislature passed its very own Arizona-like law late last Thursday, citing the failure of the federal government to prevent illegal immigration. Amongst its most controversial provisions, Reuters reports that the Georgia immigration law permits law enforcement to question criminal suspects about their immigration status....

A California woman’s nearly $10,000 small-claims judgment over her Honda hybrid’s mileage has been overturned on appeal. A judge Wednesday ruled in favor of American Honda Motor Co.’s appeal of Heather Peters’ $9,867 small-claims judgment, the Associated Press reports. Peters, an ex-lawyer, argued Honda overstated the fuel economy of its hybrid cars when she won her small-claims case in February. But on appeal, another judge arrived at a different conclusion....

Should children be coddled in bubble wrap and protected from every bump and scrape? Or, should children be allowed to climb Mt. Everest or sail around the world solo? Jordan Romero was 13-years-old when he climbed to the top of Mt. Everest. Jessica Watson was 16-years-old when she sailed around the world by herself. Peter Lenz was 13-years-old when he fell of his motorcycle at the U.S. Grand Prix Racers Union, and was run over and killed by another 12-year-old driver....

Would you want to give your soon-to-be ex-spouse your Facebook password? Probably not. But if you ever go in front of Connecticut’s Judge Kenneth Shluger, you may have to. Judge Shluger has ordered Stephen Gallion and his wife Courtney to exchange Facebook and dating site passwords. Once received, their attorneys are free to research online behavior and use private communications in the divorce. One little password may ultimately influence whether Stephen receives full custody of the couple’s children....

This week, after a decade as a part of the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s study, the first to attempt to link autism with the MMR (measles, mumps rubella) vaccine, has been withdrawn from that publication. Dr. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, has said, “It’s the most appalling catalog and litany of some the most terrible behavior in any research and is therefore very clear that it has to be retracted....

On January 5, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency for the city of Flint and the surrounding Genesee County based on the ongoing health and safety concerns surrounding the city’s water supply. Extremely elevated levels of lead have been found in residents’ drinking water and in their blood, causing a number of serious health problems and the possibly contributing to a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. State officials have announced a “thorough, exhaustive and independent” investigation into the crisis, and the first class action lawsuits against the governor and other state and city officials have already been filed....

From the looks of one court’s take on a dine-and-dash lawsuit, employers may want to think twice before forcing servers to cover losses from customers who don’t pay their bills. In a recent dine-and-dash class action case, the Minnesota Supreme Court sided with 750 server and bartender plaintiffs who sued over the practice of employers passing on the loss from dine-and-dash restaurant patrons. The case now goes back to a lower court to determine how much money the servers should get in damages....

Two recent mass toxic injury settlements out of Montana are a stark reminder of the dangers of exposure to asbestos dust. The $24 million is the result of two distinct settlements and resolves asbestos related injury and illness claims for over 1,000 individuals. Asbestos is a mineral that, despite the dangers, is mined and used in all sorts of products ranging from consumer goods to industrial construction materials. Products containing asbestos include automotive brakes and home and commercial insulation and fireproofing....

Divorce and custody battles go hand-in-hand but what many don’t know is that includes pet custody arrangements as well as child custody ones. Pets are generally considered property in most jurisdictions but many states also recognize that both parties in a divorce may have a significant relationship with their companion animal. A pet isn’t something that can be easily replaced or paid for, so courts may be willing to entertain the idea of a custody arrangement....

As every parent knows, kids are accident prone. Each time your child leaves a playground without a broken bone or a scraped knee, you can count it as a victory. But sometimes accidents are bound to happen. Playgrounds might seem like innocent symbols of childhood, but the potential for injuries are great. From minor scrapes and bruises to painful cuts and bone breaks, more than 200,000 children are treated for playground-related injuries each year....

Before getting a divorce, most couples never really grasp the fact that marriage is a contractual arrangement that basically joins finances and legal responsibilities in a similar fashion to a business partnership. When a spouse starts exploring divorce, they’re often left with questions about how it will affect their finances. For example, if you’re about to get divorced, you may be wondering whether you will have to pay alimony or child support, whether you will have to move out, and whether the maxed-out credit card will be your responsibility....