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Six months after the Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry, whether same-sex couples in Alabama can get marriage licenses remains an open question. That’s because Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy. S. Moore, either unconvinced by the United States Supreme Court’s ruling or unaware of the supremacy clause, has, for the third time, ordered probate judges in the state to cease issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples....

The families of two disabled elementary students won a settlement in excess of $337,000 from a the Kenton County Sheriff’s Office in Kentucky for a systematic practice of harmful and unconstitutional handcuffing. This comes after a federal district court ruled in 2017 that the punishment officers inflicted, notably handcuffing the biceps of disabled students behind their backs, was “an unconstitutional seizure and excessive force.” Prior to the federal court case, the Sheriff’s Office had been warned that their systematic punishment of disabled students at numerous local elementary schools was cruel and unusual....

Despite the recession and tough times facing homeowners across the country, a bill designed to help homeowners facing possible foreclosure was shot down in the Senate, reports the L.A. Times. One major feature that would have assisted homeowners facing foreclosure was a “cram down” provision that would apply in bankruptcy proceedings. That home loan measure would have allowed for bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal owed on a mortgage for a primary residence, which bankruptcy judges are alreadly allowed to do for vacation homes, cars, and boats....

The federal government is reconsidering the controversial education bill No Child Left Behind this week. What it will mean for your child is unclear at this point. But there is consensus across the country and across party lines that there is reason to be critical and that it’s time to revise the program. And it is likely that states will have more say in children’s education again after more than a decade of deep federal involvement....

Remember the notorious pepper-spraying cop? Ex-UC Davis police Lt. John Pike is now getting $38,055 in a workers’ compensation settlement from the university, The Sacramento Bee reports. A workers’ compensation claim typically provides employees with benefits or a remedy for their on-the-job injuries. Public safety personnel, like firefighters and police officers, are no strangers to work-related injuries. In Pike’s case, he infamously pepper-sprayed a group of “Occupy” protesters at a campus sit-in in 2011....

Elon Musk is extremely online. The Tesla founder and CEO has never been shy on Twitter, so it’s no surprise he jumped into the discussion concerning the rescue of 12 Thai boys who had become trapped in a cave last month. Musk had offered his help during the rescue, visiting the site and ordering his employees to build a “kid-size submarine” that rescue officials determined was “not practical for our mission” and declined to use....

The QR code is really catching on. If you have heard of QR, short for Quick Response, it’s currently being discussed as the next big thing. It’s a simple bar code that allows smartphones to scan them and quickly share content online. If there is a way to integrate it into your business practices and marketing, you should definitely give it a go. Checking out quick response codes is quite easy to do, even for free....

The Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Affordable Care Act is a momentous ruling, and not just because of its immediate effect. Chief Justice Robert’s majority opinion is a reminder to us all that the Supreme Court is not ruled by ideology. Justices’ opinions are not a product of politics, either liberal or conservative. Many Americans may be surprised that the man who delivered the swing vote was the “conservative” Roberts appointed by George W....

You’ve decided to put your wonderful business idea into practice. Now you have to deal with the practical realities of starting a business, starting with all the legal requirements. While you don’t always need to hire an attorney to review your business’ legal issues, you will at least need some basic understanding of the law – and know where to find help if you get stuck. Here are five legal subject areas that entrepreneurs will need to learn more about in order to properly start up a business:...

Shutting down your business may be one of the most difficult decisions you will ever make. You may be closing your business down for a variety of reasons such as financial, retirement, or because you simply lost interest. Regardless of the reason, you will need to meet certain legal steps to properly unwind your business. Here’s a general overview of the steps to follow to close your business: Sole proprietors do not need to worry about this....

An earlier post touched on the issue of whether the criminal justice system properly sentences juvenile offenders who commit serious offenses as “lifers” (i.e. offenders sentenced to life without possibility of parole). CNN today put out a related story about 33-year-old Joe Sullivan, a convicted burglar and rapist, who hopes that that Supreme Court will take up that very issue in his case. Sullivan committed his offenses back in 1989 when he was only 13 years old, and he now is challenging it by arguing that his sentence was “cruel and unusual punishment for someone who was barely a teenager at the time of his crime....

Surgery abroad may be the new study abroad, as higher medical costs and insurance payments are driving “medical tourists” to sign up for cost-saving surgical procedures outside the United States. But before you decide to book your flight to Panama for a cheap appendectomy, keep in mind these five legal risks of getting work done abroad: 1. No FDA Approval. If you’ve agreed to go to Argentina to get your hip replaced with one made of a futuristic sounding nano-metal or polymer, think twice about how safe that medical product might be....

The lawsuit that Travis Barker and DJ AM (also known as Adam Goldstein) filed against Learjet for the crash that they suffered injuries from September 2008 was amended to include a claim of wrongful death by the late DJ AM’s mother Andrea Gross. The lawsuit now claims that DJ AM’s death from an accidental drug overdose was directly related to the Learjet crash he and Travis Barker were in. According to Rolling Stone, DJ AM’s family claims that the medication that DJ AM took during his hospital stay as well as the mental toll the crash took on him were the reasons that DJ AM resumed his drug use after ten years of sobriety....

Two attempts to introduce cheaper prescription drugs into the United States failed this week. Two amendments that called for drug import from other countries failed to pass in the Senate. The Wall Street Journal reports that the proposed amendments to Senate healthcare legislation needed 60 votes in order to be adopted. The amendment introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) failed to pass with 51-48 in favor of the amendment. The second amendment which was introduced by Sen....

Once the provenance of hippies and hipsters, urban agriculture is becoming more and more popular across city-dwelling populations. Rooftop gardens, front-yard farms, and vacant lots-turned-vegetable patches are popping up every day. And whether you’re getting into urban agriculture because you’re health conscious, eco conscious, or money conscious, you should also be law conscious before you start growing, tending, or selling any produce. Let’s start small and work our way up. The first impediment to your budding urban agriculture endeavor will be your homeowners association....

Boilerplate contracts may be easy to find and convenient to use, but there are many legal issues that may come with them. First off, what are boilerplate contracts? Also known as standard form or template contracts, you can often find them online for free, or for a modest fee. Business owners are often tempted to use boilerplate contracts as a cost-saving measure, or as an alternative to hiring an attorney to draft a contract for you....

Today and in the next few days, you may read and hear a lot about “catfishing.” But unless you’re a teenager or happened to have seen the documentary “Catfish,” you may have no idea what catfishing really is. Here is a hint: In a story that’s shocking the sports world, Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o says that he met a girl online and they started an Internet relationship. The two apparently became a couple, and Te’o says that he was devastated when he learned that the woman had died this past fall....

According to the Insurance Research Council, one in seven drivers in the United States is uninsured. Usually, in a car accident, the party at fault’s insurance covers the damages. But, with nearly 14 percent of drivers uninsured, what do you do when you’re unlucky enough to run into one of them? What do you do if you’ve been hit by an uninsured driver? 1. Get as Much Information as You Can Even if the other driver is uninsured, you want to get as much information as possible....

Although spring is right around the corner, snowboarders are still hitting the slopes. So what factors can affect liability in a snowboarding accident? While snowboarding provides riders with an adrenaline rush, it can also result in injuries and even death. That’s unfortunately what happened to a 22-year-old snowboarder who died after crashing into a tree in an off-trail area in upstate New York over the weekend, The Associated Press reports....

Marry in haste, repent at leisure. The producers of The Bachelorette might disagree, but the vast majority of corporate founders would whole-heartedly nod their heads, and have five war stories to back it up. From the outset, founders are tempted to talk equity, which really is just power and money wrapped into one shiny ball. Whether it’s because they like the other founders and want to get the “uncomfortable stuff” out of the way, or because they feel it will create clarity in developing the business, there’s a feeling this needs to be one of the first decisions....