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The Justice Department announced Friday that it would legally recognize gay marriages performed in Utah, despite the state of Utah’s refusal to do the same. Attorney General Eric Holder stated that the “federal government would grant federal marriage benefits” to more than 1,300 gay and lesbian couples who rushed to be married in Utah following a landmark federal court decision that cleared the way for same-sex nuptials in the state, reports The New York Times....

Maine’s Senate passed a bill legalizing gay marriage yesterday, Reuters reports, putting the state a step closer to becoming the fifth to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill reportedly redefines marriage as “the legal union of two people” (not limited to one between a man and a woman). However, the state’s House of Representatives still has to approve the measure, and even if passed, the legislation may face an uncertain future at the hands of Maine’s governor, Democrat John Baldacci....

While we wait for the Supreme Court to decide the extent to which cities and states can regulate guns, as of yesterday, Arizona allows concealed weapons in bars. As reported by the Arizona Republic, those with concealed weapons permits in Arizona may now take their guns into Arizona bars and other establishments licensed to sell alcohol, unless the bar has posted adequate signage forbidding guns. Gun toters are not allowed to consume alcohol while in the bars, however....

Personal computers are not the only thing putting Silicon Valley giant Hewlett-Packard in the news these days. The latest headline has nothing to do with computers, as the 53 year-old HP CEO, Mark Hurd, resigned after a sexual harassment claim investigation revealed an alleged inappropriate personal relationship between the CEO and a contractor. Mark Hurd was a well-regarded leader of the computer giant, and served as the company’s CEO for the past five years....

So the question becomes, as it so often does after these firings, were their employers legally in the right for firing them for merely being a neo-Nazi or attending a white supremacist rally? The General Rule Most employment in the United States is at-will; meaning that employers don’t need a good reason to fire an employee, they just can’t do it for an illegal reason. So, free speech and First Amendment arguments don’t work against private employers – those are protections against government censorship....

How “at will” is at-will employment, really? Can you, as an employer, fire your employee for literally any reason under the sun and face no repercussions for doing so? At-will employment is one of the most common forms of employer-employee relationship. It essentially means that an employee can be terminated without “just cause” (reasonable, articulable grounds) or warning, and that courts will typically deny the employee any claim for loss from the dismissal....

CNN reports that Nevada is legalizing domestic parterships in the state. The state assembly had to overcome a veto from Nevada’s governor Jim Gibbons, and did so in a 28-14 vote. The question that is probably on most people’s mind is whether this would have the same effect as legalizing same sex marriage. This might be particularly on people’s minds in light of last week’s court decision in California, which up held an amendment banning same sex marriage....

You’ve heard of employees tampering with their timesheets, but a New York McDonald’s employee claims his employer was fraudulently altering his time cards in order to cut his pay. Frustrated ex-employee Jeff Schuyler claims his bosses at the Syracuse-area McDonald’s modified his timesheets in order to avoid paying him overtime, reports The Huffington Post. His lawsuit seeks class-action status. As wage theft continues across the country, employers should take a careful look at the laws relating to time and wage requirements....

Today is National Doctor’s Day, so we are turning our focus to what a medical malpractice case can be like from the doctor’s perspective. Being sued for any reason can be a scary prospect, but when it’s a lawsuit regarding your professional performance, it can be doubly frightening. So here are a few legal and procedural elements doctors can expect when defending a medical malpractice claim. Show Your Role Many plaintiffs’ attorneys will attempt to exploit poor medical documentation in a malpractice case....

Connecticut lawmaker James O’Rourke will not face charges in a case where an intoxicated woman acquaintance, to whom he gave a ride to late at night, ended up being found dead of hypothermia after running away from his car, barefoot, and in the snow. First off, the report explained that for someone to be criminally negligent, someone has to have owed the victim a “duty” (or obligation) to protect them. In this case, the report found that O’Rourke didn’t have any duty to protect Sinsigalli as “[n]o Connecticut case has been found that states that a person assumes a duty to protect an intoxicated person by agreeing to drive that person home....

This year, New York City passed a law requiring all private employers with 15 or more employees to provide annual, interactive anti-sexual harassment training to certain employees. And while the law may not apply to all employers – or even every single employee or contractor – the city’s requirements can be a model for other cities or states or any business that wants to reduce or eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace....

As your business grows, you may consider having a lawyer “on retainer” to handle any legal curveballs that come your way. But what exactly does that mean? Instead of using different attorneys on an ad-hoc basis, the idea is that you can retain the services of an attorney whom you trust with your business’ affairs. Here are three things your business should know about retaining an attorney: 1. A True Retainer Is for Exclusivity....

Though Facebook provides a wealth of information for debt collectors, one Florida collections firm has found out that use of the social network isn’t without regulation. As part of a lawsuit by a woman who alleges that creditors contacted her and her family over Facebook, a local judge has ordered the collections firm to stay off of the plaintiff’s Facebook. Melanie Beacham fell beyond on her car loans after losing her job, so it was no surprise when she was contacted by MarkOne Financial....

You signed the contract. You agreed to it. So, now you’re stuck with the provisions of the lease regardless of whether or not they violate your rights! Luckily for tenants, that’s not true. Leases are contracts, so they must abide by contract laws. Unconscionable or illegal terms of a contract are unenforceable, regardless of the fact that the tenant signed the contract. Here are some common unenforceable lease terms: No Jury Trial Clauses that prohibit jury trials in disputes between the landlord and tenant are unenforceable in Georgia and California....

While silicone breast implants have been around since the 1960s, for a rather long stretch in the US, they were prohibited. However, after decades of debate and research, the government declared silicone implants to be safe for medical research use in 1992, and finally in 2003, for individual use. Despite silicone implants being considered safe to use, there are still associated risks involved for individuals who choose to get them. Apart from the risks involved with the surgical implantation itself, complications can arise many years later....

Lawsuits arising from DWI are generally against the driver of the vehicle. But in this case, the suit is against a strip club in Texas that served the driver, Erasmo Ramirez, too much alcohol. Ramirez left the club with a blood alcohol level of at least 0.295 on the night of the accident. That could be a violation of Texas’s Dram Shop law which prohibits licensed alcohol vendors from serving visibly intoxicated patrons....

An undocumented-immigrant day laborer hit the jackpot Thursday, when a jury declared him the owner of a winning lottery ticket in a dispute with a Georgia businessman. Jose Antonio “Tony” Cua-Toc, 27, of Guatemala, sued business owner Erick Cervantes over ownership of the winning lottery ticket worth $750,000, The Sun News reports. Cua-Toc and Cervantes offered dueling stories about who purchased the winning ticket. But store surveillance video ticket clearly showed who the rightful winner was, jurors said....

Most drivers have probably heard the term “speed trap” and likely haven’t heard very complimentary things about them. But what exactly is a speed trap? And more importantly perhaps, are speed traps legal? Here’s what drivers need to know: Different Types of ‘Speed Traps’ A speed trap is the general term used by motorists to describe enforcement of speeding laws that involve some element of stealth or concealment. A marked road trap is a section of road that has been marked or otherwise used to measure a vehicle’s speed by the time it takes to travel that distance....

Come payday, the only thing anyone is really looking forward to is a nice boost to their dwindling bank account. This is why, when your boss forgets to pay you, your initial reaction is probably somewhere close to pure ire. Calm down. If your boss forgot to pay you (or just doesn’t have the money), you are not without legal recourse. There are laws in every state that protect employees who are sadly disappointed come payday....

The first Tuesday in November is Election Day, and while most of the country is looking forward to next year’s presidential election, many Americans are headed to the polls for everything from state laws, to local ballot initiatives. Voting laws in the United States have a long, storied, and sometime sordid history, from the “Vote early and vote often” days of the early 1900s, to Bush v. Gore in 2000. Here are three voting and election laws you may need to know on your way to the polls....