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The wife of deceased triathlete Jared Bynum was recently awarded $4 million in the wrongful death lawsuit stemming from his fatal bicycle accident in 2012. The case was filed against both the motorist that struck and killed her husband as well as the developer of the highway. While the driver alleged that the sun was in their eyes, the developer, with the support of public investigators, claimed that Mr. Bynum should never have been on the roadway....

Nothing ruins a festive holiday season like an ice-cold apartment with no working heater. While there’s not a whole lot that the law requires from your landlord as far as amenities are concerned, adequate heating during cold weather is one of them. Getting your landlord to fix the heat might be as simple as asking him or her, but just in case, here’s a quick legal guide: Sometimes the simplest solution is the most successful....

A 4 year-old girl who was kidnapped from her own front yard on July 5 was found yesterday, July 6, at a car wash 90 miles away. Alisa Maier was seen by witnesses wandering alone around the car wash. At first, the adults who spotted her thought she was a boy since her hair had been cut short. It was soon discovered, though, that she was the missing girl her family, friends and police had been looking for....

Kids download the darndest things. That’s just one reason why the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) wants to teach kids about piracy and copyright law, as early as elementary school. The MPAA is supporting efforts by a nonprofit group called the Center for Copyright Information to create a new copyright curriculum for children. The group’s proposal is still being drafted, the Los Angeles Times reports. But will early anti-piracy education really cut down on kids and young adults’ illegal downloads?...

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from “abridging the freedom of speech.” But what does this freedom of speech encompass? Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), freedom of speech doesn’t necessarily mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want to. When might your freedom of speech be limited? Here are five examples: If you believe your constitutional right to freedom of speech has been violated, an experienced constitutional law attorney can explain your legal options....

Stop yawning and perk up: It’s National Public Sleeping Day! There are a variety of creative ways to get your Z’s on in public spaces to celebrate the occasion. But is sleeping in public ever illegal? The answer may surprise you and be quite the rude awakening. There are certain situations when you can get into legal trouble for drifting off into la-la land. Here are three ways you can snooze your way into legal trouble:...

Sunday is America Recycles Day and many of you will be out this weekend at recycling drives, demonstrations, and events. There are almost 10,000 curbside recycling programs across the country and Americans recycle about a third of all waste, which is great. But, like anything, there are rules and regulations regarding recycling, covering everything from plastic bags and restaurant grease to economic incentives for small businesses going green. Here are a few of our favorite recycling laws:...

South Carolina’s gay marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional today by a federal judge. The ruling was stayed until November 20 to allow South Carolina a chance to appeal, but that seems unlikely given a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in late July which ruled for gay marriage in Virginia. Both Virginia and South Carolina are governed by the laws of the 4th Circuit, so it may be a short time before same-sex couples are marrying in South Carolina....

A cyclist in La Jolla, California, will be receiving a $235,000 settlement after filing a lawsuit over injuries she sustained as a result of hitting a pothole while cycling. This was no ordinary pothole though, as it measured approximately 3 inches deep and 15 inches wide. The cyclist, Cathleen Summerford, injured her head, pelvis and lower back after hitting the pothole and flipping over her handlebars. One critical fact in this case was that the City and County of San Diego, where La Jolla is located, had been provided with multiple complaints about potholes on the roadway that Ms....

Small business borrowing is at the highest it’s been in six years, according to the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index. This suggests “[t]here is some optimism returning to small businesses,” which “are responding to some demand,” PayNet’s president tells Reuters. The index, which measures the volume of financing to small companies, rose 11 percent in July. The level has not been this high since August 2007. With that said, here are some general tips to consider for small business owners who are looking for financing:...

The Supreme Court will hear two cases involving gay marriage next year. But what exactly are these cases about? Hollingsworth v. Perry is a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which created a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same sex marriage. The second case, Windsor v. U.S., is a legal challenge to a specific section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which says that the federal government will only recognize heterosexual marriages....

Beyond the decision whether to sue a company or corporation for injuries, there is the decision of where to sue a company or corporation. Is it where you live? Where the company is headquartered? Where the injuries occurred? Those options got whittled down considerably yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that a Texas-based railroad company couldn’t be sued in Montana for injuries that were sustained elsewhere. The decision could have a significant impact on future personal injury cases....

Recently the fight for equal pay has targeted a seemingly innocuous question on just about every employer’s application or interview outline: “What is your salary history?” Pay equality advocates claim this question – and employers’ reliance on its answer when making compensation decisions – can lock employees into discriminatorily low wage scales for the entirety of their careers. In response, states like California and cities like Philadelphia have attempted to prohibit prospective employers from inquiring about salary history....

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in hot water for using a personal email account for work purposes. What can business owners learn from this news? During her time at the State Department, Hillary Clinton broke protocol and used a personal email account rather than a government email account to conduct her correspondence. This may have violated a federal requirement that all official correspondences must be retained as government records, CNN Money reports....

20-140=0. If you think there is something a bit off about this equation, you are correct. One hundred and forty characters is all it took for CNN senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, to leave her position of 20 years. After a 4th of July tweet by Nasr seeming to express sadness for the death of Muslim cleric and Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Nasr will not continue her work at CNN....

It’s hard to plan your final wishes. That’s why many Americans put it off. But what exactly happens if you die without a will? Where do your assets go? It all depends on the laws of intestacy in your jurisdiction. When you die without a will, you die “intestate.” That’s why a state’s intestacy laws exist. Intestacy laws will pass down your assets to your heirs as the statute mandates. All 50 states in the nation have intestacy laws....

You are staying at The Ritz Carlton and loving it … until you slip and fall in the hotel lobby and hurt your back. Can you sue? Yes. Hotels are responsible for reasonably foreseeable injuries on their premises caused by their negligence. But not all injuries happen due to negligence, or are foreseeable, so let’s take a look at the elements of a claim and what you will have to prove to get the Ritz to pay for your hospital stay....

Earlier this year, President Obama lifted restrictions put in place by the Bush Administration, making it easier for American citizens to legally travel to Cuba. Though access has increased, it is not unlimited. Most U.S. citizens cannot spend money in Cuba, or engage in travel-related transactions to and from the country. They thus can’t legally travel to Cuba, even if they go through Canada or Latin America. It is only those who are granted a general or specific license by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that may travel to Cuba....

All the damage relief in the world won’t bring back Doris Tyler’s eyesight. Tyler became blind after undergoing a stem cell procedure for Macular Degeneration (MD), a disease that affects about 10 million Americans. Though her vision was fading, she could still function and enjoy life. She wanted her full eyesight back, and was willing to take some chances. She was told by her doctor the worst that could happen was the treatment wouldn’t work....

Nature enthusiasts were disappointed to learn that last week Yosemite National Park announced the change of some building names on its land due to a trademark dispute with Delaware North, the former park concessioner. Called “a fairly pedestrian contract dispute” by Mother Jones, the case has grown important to many because a beloved national park is at the heart of this matter. It feels to many like an attack by business on a sacred space....