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Fans of the new Arizona immigration law, SB1070, are apparently undeterred by the fact that a large part of it was recently blocked by a Federal judge who issued an injunction that prevented the state from allowing police to question people about their immigration status. Now Florida AG Bill McCollum and State Representative Bill Snyder, a republican, have introduced a draft of an immigration law modeled after Arizona’s SB1070. Under SB1070, police are expected to “make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested” if the arresting officer has a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an illegal immigrant....

Ins and outs of 50 or more employees. FMLA applies topublic agencies, public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies which have 50 employees or more for at least 20 weeks in the current or previous calendar year. For a small business with a fluctuating work force this calculation may not be completely straightforward. What if the company has averaged 50 employees but has experienced a few months with lower employment, does FMLA apply?...

About 70,000 Hewlett-Packard notebook computer batteries are being recalled because of a risk that the batteries can overheat and cause fires and burn injuries, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today. The affected lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are used in certain models of HP and Compaq computers – including HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario models – sold at computer and electronics stores nationwide, from August 2007 through March 2008 (battery packs were also sold separately), according to CPSC....

This week Jessica’s Law, which was designed to keep convicted sex offenders from living near parks or schools, is coming under review by the California Supreme Court. The law severely restricts where sexual offenders can live after they are released from prison. Those convicted of rape or child molestation or even misdemeanor indecent exposure cannot live within 2,000 feet of a school or a park under its provisions. The state Supreme Court is looking at the cases of four ex-convicts as it considers whether the residency restriction contained in Proposition 83 is so broad and intrusive that it violates the constitutional rights of registered sex offenders, the San Jose Mercury News reports....

Before the sound of (your) wedding bells can start ringing, remember that you need to apply for a marriage license. So exactly how do you apply for a marriage license? Getting “married” without a license can lead to all sorts of unnecessarily complicated legal issues – problems that can potentially be avoided by taking the right steps. So with that said, here’s a general overview of the steps you’ll need to take before you walk down the aisle:...

Right in time for Mother’s Day weekend, Madlyn Primoff, the mother/attorney from New York who decided it would be a good idea to discipline her bickering children by kicking them out of her car, got good news today. The AP reports that a judge in White Plains “said he would dismiss the child-endangerment charge against her in six months if she stayed out of trouble.” This particular result wasn’t too much of a surprise, as there were probably a number of parents who at least sympathized with Primoff (perhaps even, secretly, admired her?...

Personal injury is a subset of torts law, which is a word derived from French for ‘a wrong.’ Torts are wrongs caused by the negligence of another, and often they are compensable. In a personal injury suit, you must prove all the elements of negligence. If your claim is successful, you will be awarded damages. Of course, knowing some common terms is not enough to handle a lawsuit on your own....

As recently discussed in Findlaw’s Decided, Wednesday was a day of consequences for the residents of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. The Lower Ninth took one of the major hits in the Katrina disaster and is still figuratively, if not literally, under water. U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval, Jr. did his best Wednesday to throw a life preserver to the Lower Ninth and give a push to the New Orleans recovery....

The IRS is announcing that beginning in 2011, a new practice may make it more difficult for income tax preparation companies to provide tax refund loans to their customers. In the past, the IRS had supplied lenders and tax preparers with a “debt indicator” for each taxpayer. This digital indicator would allow lenders to discover if a taxpayer’s refund was going to be held by the government for payments on debts such as back taxes, child support, or delinquent student loans....

Voter fraud and voter intimidation. Both terms get thrown around quite a bit during election season. But how much is hype and how much is for real? Confirmed instances of voter fraud are few and far between, though such allegations are constant. Minority voter intimidation is another matter. While the examples of confirmed minority voter intimidation are limited, there is plenty of behavior that walks the line between legal and illegal....

Should you friend or follow employees on Facebook and Twitter? Do you let them friend or follow you? If you haven’t yet encountered these questions, it’s bound to happen sometime soon. Everyone wants to be friends these days–even with their boss. Social media can build a friendlier working relationship and help you assess your employees’ needs. But it can also lead you to act intrusively and aggressively, causing a few legal problems along the way....

It’s January, which for small business owners means it’s W-2 time. This year, W-2 forms are due in by March 2 for those small businesses filing by mail, or March 31 for those who choose to e-file; of course, employees must be provided copies of their W-2 forms by January 31. But what else do small business owners need to know about W-2 forms? Here are five legal reminders: Find more tax tips for small business owners at FindLaw’s Learn section on Business Taxes....

The Supreme Court today reversed a Colorado Court of Appeals decision finding that a bakery owner discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to make a cake for their wedding based on religious grounds. While the Court did not rule that wedding vendors and other business owners have a right to refuse service to same-sex couples, it did say the state agency reviewing the case violated the baker’s First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion....

In the wake of a housing market that left many homeowners with a foreclosed home, a potential home buyer may expect to find abandoned homes – especially in some of the nation’s hardest-hit real estate markets. So is making an offer on an abandoned home the right move for you? Before you take that step, there are a few issues you’ll want to consider. First, take a look at the 10 cities with the highest percentage of abandoned homes in the nation....

Ah, the TSA diaper incident. Over the weekend, social media was up in arms after hearing the story of a 95-year-old woman who was reportedly forced to remove her adult diaper before being permitted to pass through security. Well, it turns out that, while the woman’s daughter did remove her diaper, it wasn’t exactly forced. No, in some ways, it was a choice. If you ask the TSA whether its agents acted properly, it would vehemently deny any wrongdoing....

Good Morning America’s unclaimed money story has informed Americans and given many hope about finding missing money. It’s kind of like a modern-day treasure hunt, except you’re hunting for your own lost treasure - and there’s actually a realistic likelihood that you’ll find a few bucks. There’s at least $32.877 billion dollars of unclaimed property and missing money being safeguarded by state treasurers and other agencies, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators....

The “flashmob.” It used to be cute, or at the very least, humorous. In the past, a flashmob was a spontaneous gathering of the young to have a massive pillow fight or maybe a disco dance-off on a random street corner; a type of performance art, if you will. But the city of Philadelphia is reportedly no longer amused by the flashmob phenomenon, now that it has tended to turned violent....

What is the difference between a lease and a license? They may sound like the same thing, and you may have heard the terms used interchangeably. However, a lease and a license are two separate legal concepts that offer different rights and duties. A lease is an agreement between a landlord and a tenant that gives the tenant an exclusive interest in a property. A license is permission from the owner to a licensee to do something on the owner’s property....

The city of Stockton, California, is eligible for bankruptcy protection, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling rejected creditors’ arguments that the city was not truly insolvent when it sought protection and failed to seek pension concessions. The city fully paid its obligation to California’s retired workers pension system, but imposed losses on bondholders and bond insurers, reports Reuters. Stockton will now be permitted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, making it the largest U....

A suicide is a tragedy, and after someone takes their own life, we look for reasons why. Most often, those reasons fall to the person’s own unhappiness or mental illness. But that is not always the case. In some situations, it appears that a person has been pushed to commit suicide, or become more suicide-prone than he or she normally would be. In these cases, could someone else be liable for a person’s suicide?...