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This week, drug lord and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was found guilty on 10 counts of drug trafficking and is expected to receive life without parole. But those 10 charges fail to encompass the decades-long career of a man who murdered rival cartel heads, escaped twice from Mexican high-security jails, and amassed an estimated $15 billion dollars in drug revenues. That got us thinking about other notorious drug traffickers, so here’s our list of five of the biggest kingpins of all time, and how they were brought to justice....

Triad’s tainted alcohol pads may be to blame for the death of 2-year-old Harrison Kothari, according to a lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents. Late last November, Harrison entered a hospital in Houston to have a benign cyst removed from his brain/spinal cord. Recovering from the surgery, he suddenly became very ill, eventually dying from multi-organ failure. The culprit? Bacillus cereus, an organism known for causing meningitis. The doctors were baffled....

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has put the brakes on the journey of the suit over Prop 8, California’s law banning gay marriage. On August 16, a three judge panel granted the motion for a stay by proponents of the law. This means that same sex marriages in the state will be on hold at least until the court of appeals hands down its own decision in the case....

Some jurors may be biased against fat women when they’re defendants in a trial, a new study has found. We’ve all heard that overweight women may face job discrimination and even discrimination in getting health care. But this study suggests that overweight women may tip the scales of justice – and not in a good way – simply by being heavyset. The results are alarming because instead of losing out on a job, obese women may actually be at a higher risk of losing their freedom....

Do your employees receive mandatory tips? If so, consider a recent article in the New York Post, which has restaurant patrons complaining about New York City waiters sneaking mandatory tips onto checks in situations where the restaurant’s policy doesn’t seem to apply. In one example, a patron complains about a waiter charging a 20% gratuity after counting two infants to reach the magical number of six. Another points out that her group ordered drinks at the bar, but was charged extra for joining a large table a while later....

Contrary to certain internet rumors, President Donald Trump hasn’t altered the U.S. Constitution. Yet. But could he if he wanted to? Trump has proposed constitutional amendments in the past and it’s no secret that there are provisions in our nation’s founding documents with which our new president disagrees. So the question with President Trump is not so much whether he would like to change the Constitution, but whether he can....

Can you back out of a settlement agreement? After agreeing to a settlement in your injury case, you may have a change of heart. Perhaps your medical bills have increased unexpectedly or the insurance policies involved are not enough to cover your treatment or recovery. Courts may strike down settlement agreements that were reached through fraud or misrepresentation, or even when they feel the terms are unfair. But by and large, courts are likely to enforce these agreements....

The former mayor of a Southern California city is being sued for an alleged DUI crash that injured four high school cheerleaders. Alan Long was still mayor of Murrieta when the accident occurred last month, reports KTLA-TV. Though he stepped down following the crash and his arrest for felony DUI at the scene, he was subsequently re-elected to a second term on the Murrieta City Council in the November election....

Although it may not always feel like it, students do have certain rights at school. These student rights are generally in line with the rights afforded to all U.S. citizens by the U.S. Constitution. But, when in school, students do have limitations to those rights. Right to Free Speech … Sort Of Free speech covers anything from actually speaking to wearing expressive clothing to protesting. As discussed above, students don’t automatically lose the rights afforded to them by the U....

The El Nino weather system is already wreaking havoc on the nation’s roads, and it’s just getting started. Some areas of the country are expecting historic amounts of rain and snowfall, and where there is that much precipitation, floods are sure to follow. So are you prepared? You should already have a homeowner’s insurance policy, but does that protect you and your home against floods and natural disasters? Before the Storm Flooding can take many forms: everything from hurricanes, torrential rain, and rising rivers to a burst pipe....

The Federal Trade Commission is ramping up efforts to enforce its fine-print disclosure guidelines for television and print advertising. As part of an aptly titled new initiative dubbed Operation Full Disclosure, the FTC sent warning letters to more than 60 companies that failed to make proper disclosures in their advertising. What prompted the letters and what are the FTC’s rules on fine print in advertising? According to the FTC’s press release, the warning letters – including letters to 20 of the 100 largest advertisers in the United States – were prompted by ads in which the disclosures required by the FTC’s advertising rules were in fine print or were “otherwise easy to miss, or hard to read....

Georgia’s so-called “guns everywhere” bill has been signed into law, permitting guns in bars, schools, churches, and government buildings, with some exceptions. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed House Bill 60 on Wednesday, worrying critics who had dubbed the bill “guns everywhere” for its broad scope, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The law, set to take effect July 1, has been praised by the National Rifle Association as “the most comprehensive pro-gun reform bill in history....

That store stole your corporate logo. Your neighbor keeps trimming a hedge in your yard. Whatever it is, you want it to stop, and you’re going to write a letter to make it stop. But unless you’re Jack Daniel’s, chances are you don’t know how to write a great cease-and-desist letter. Thankfully we’re here to help out with a few pointers: Don’t Hit “Send” OK, telling you not to send a cease-and-desist letter might not be the most helpful advice if you’ve already made up your mind, but maybe give it a second thought....

The short answer is, it depends. There are times that texting can be legally binding, and times that it cannot. One of the basic laws of contracts is that both sides have to follow a valid contract that has already been entered into. If a lease agreement states that certain things needs to be in writing, such as notice for landlord to enter or changes in rental fees, then this sort of communication must be done in writing....

First it was Moments. Then they traded out stars and Favorites for hearts and Likes. Now Twitter might be altering one of its original features, the 140-character limit on tweets. Twitter is apparently toying with the idea of upping that limit to 10,000 characters, and users are already up in arms. But could this be a good thing for your small business? So what will these novella-length tweets look like? According to Re/code, Twitter is testing a 10k character version of the platform that will maintain the same appearance for each tweet, but add a call to action (like a “read more” button) that will indicate there is additional content....

A New York woman’s lies to get on a jury may lead to a new trial, in a case that sheds light on what constitutes juror misconduct. Catherine Conrad of Bronx, N.Y., admits she lied to “seem more juror-marketable” in a tax-fraud case in 2011, the New York Daily News reports. Conrad was selected as Juror No. 1, and four men were convicted. Conrad, a suspended lawyer, insists she fulfilled her duty as a juror by deliberating without bias....

In a ruling that brought courtroom whoops and cheers, Bernard “Bernie” Madoff got himself a sentence of 150 years in prison today for his part in a “staggering” multi-billion dollar fraud known as a Ponzi scheme (read here for more on what a Ponzi scheme is). The AP reports that the sentence, which could assure that Madoff will live out the rest of his days in prison, was intended as “a symbolic message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment....

Small Business owners rejoice! The interest rate on SBA 504 loans, aimed at providing long-term, fixed rate financial assistance for the purchase of commercial real estate, has dropped below 5%. The interest rate for a SBA 504 loan is now at 4.93% to be exact – one of the lowest since the program began in 1968. Over the past 24 years, SBA 504 loans have funded $60 billion in small business loans....

In general, we want to encourage people to say, “I’m sorry” if they’ve made a mistake. It’s the decent thing to do and it can promote good will and closer relationships. But in the realm of litigation, admitting to a mistake may mean admitting to millions of dollars worth of civil liability. In an attempt to strike a balance between decency and legal protections, many states passed so-called apology laws, allowing physicians to express sympathy to patients and families without it being used against them in medical malpractice lawsuits....

Let’s be honest, many consumers don’t have a lot of faith in giant pharmaceutical companies right now. Between the constant barrage of television ads with never-ending lists of side effects to new stories every day about supposedly life-saving drugs that turn out deadly. And that’s without even mentioning the rampant price-gouging. While lawsuit based on a drug’s price are few and far between (and difficult to prove or win), lawsuits based on a drug’s danger are far more common....