If you, like this blogger, idly admired the pretty paint job on actress Lindsay Lohan’s fingernails as she dried her tears in court on July 6, we all were missing something. Reports out today show that not only did Ms. Lohan have an attractive pastel manicure, but she had a message painted on one fingernail as well. The words on the Lohan fingernail are unprintable, but end in the letter u....
Nite Moves, a New York strip club, argued that lap dances are not taxable. Unfortunately for them, a New York court has ruled lap dances are taxable. Nite Moves had originally argued that the lap dances were “dramatic or musical arts performances” that would exempt the club from having to pay tax on the income, reports The Wall Street Journal. The club started its tax protest after it was slammed with a $124,921....
A Florida pharmacy has admitted that incorrectly-prepared medication was given to 21 horses that died before an international polo match last weekend. The story raises some interesting legal questions that arise when animals suffer harm and become the subject of injury lawsuits. CNN is reporting that Franck’s Pharmacy in Ocala, Florida is acknowledging that the strength of certain medication ingredients is to blame for the deaths of the horses, which “collapsed one after another in front of spectators at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida, while being prepared for a tournament Sunday....
Over 600,000 pounds of frozen “Buffalo Style Chicken Wings” sold at Kroger stores nationwide are being recalled, because the food may contain undeclared ingredients like milk, soy, and wheat. The recalled chicken products pose an obvious health risk to consumers who need to avoid those ingredients because of food allergies, although no related illnesses have been reported so far. The recalled “Buffalo Style Chicken Wings” are produced by Pilgrim’s Pride Corp....
New Voter ID laws and other voting restrictions have raised concerns and Obama has recruited a small army of attorneys to deal with potential voter discrimination. Since the 2008 election, a fair number of states have changed their voting requirements. Some states have put in ID requirements or ended same day voting registration. Others have added a proof of citizenship requirement and a few have restricted early and absentee voting periods....
If your business is engaged in retail sales, then it is a smart business practice to have a clear return policy. Customers appreciate clarity, and having a clear return policy might even lead to an increase in consumer confidence and thus an increase in sales. However, deciding on what the policy actually provides requires careful thought as returns can be rather detrimental to some businesses’ bottom lines. Also, making sure your policy complies with the law is important....
Each year over 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs, with about one in five bites requiring medical attention, according to estmates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a recent study from the University at Buffalo finds that dog bite incidents increase as the weather gets warmer, so now is a great time for everyone – dog owners, parents, and kids – to learn more about staying safe and preventing dog bites....
Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. There always seems to be plenty of advice at the end of the year about legal tasks that small business owners need to complete. Yet, if you are like most of my clients, December is too busy with holidays and vacations and January and February are equally hectic. OK, but no more excuses. Conduct employee evaluations: Make the beginning of the year your business' time to conduct annual reviews of employees....
Comedian Tracy Morgan has filed a lawsuit against Walmart, claiming the retailer should be held responsible for last month’s accident in which a Walmart truck rammed into Morgan’s bus, injuring three and killing one. As Morgan pursues his negligence lawsuit against the company, what will likely be the key aspects of his case, and what lessons can be learned about truck accidents in general? Here are three legal tips for plaintiffs in truck accident lawsuits:...
As a business owner, should you video-record your employees? Studies: Workers Better When Watched It’s not hard to imagine that most of our behaviors would improve if every act that we performed was exposed in the stark light of day. Writing for The Huffington Post, Harvard business professor Ethan Bernstein believes that the research on employee behavior matches this intuition. Cameras will not be terribly effective at helping employers catch bad behavior by employees, but the presence of the cameras themselves seems to curb poor choices....
A Pennsylvania appeals court has upheld a $187.6 million Wal-Mart verdict. The suit was filed by employees, who claimed that if you worked for retail giant Wal-Mart, meal breaks and rest breaks were regularly cut. The appeals court affirmed the lower court’s finding that Wal-Mart’s actions violated state wage and hour laws, Bloomberg reports. The class action represented about 187,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees who worked in Pennsylvania between 1998 and 2006, according to Reuters....
You hired a lawyer a year ago. Since then, he hasn’t returned your calls, answered your emails, or done any work on your case. (Most lawyers are more competent and conscientious than this.) What do you do? You’ve tried to communicate with him, but he won’t even meet with you. As a last resort, you want to file a bar complaint. How do you do this, and what happens next?...
A closely followed Yelp lawsuit in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., didn’t end with a clear winner. A jury found that a homeowner had indeed defamed a contractor by writing scathing reviews on Yelp and Angie’s List. But then came the surprising twist: Jurors determined the contractor, in turn, had also defamed the customer by responding to the customer’s comments with accusations of his own, reports The Washington Post. Yelp defamation lawsuits are becoming a reality for customers and business owners alike....
Nearly two dozen New Hampshire Boy Scouts were hospitalized after a lightning strike Monday night, when a storm forced the boys to seek shelter. Twenty-three Scouts were admitted for non-serious injuries including minor burns. The Scouts and their three Scout leaders all felt a tingling sensation following the strike, reports NBC News. Luckily these Scouts were not seriously injured. But what if your child is injured by a lightning strike, or some other calamity, on their next group camping trip?...
Baylor University’s Sigma Chi fraternity is being sued in connection with a Texas teenager’s alleged binge drinking. Megan Helal, 19, was found unconscious after a frat party and later died, Waco’s KXXV-TV reports. Helal, a freshman at Navarro College, was dating a Sigma Chi fraternity member at Baylor. The couple attended a frat party held at a bar, where Halal tossed back 10 to 17 drinks within a two-hour span, the lawsuit by her parents asserts....
Ben & Jerry’s has stepped definitively into the gay marriage debate by signing on to an Employers’ Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. Much like a formal legal petition, the amicus brief states various legal reasons why the High Court should take on the issue of gay marriage and once and for all lay down a consistent rule for same-sex marriage. Ben & Jerry’s now joins dozens of other well-known corporations that have signed on to this Employers’ Amicus Brief....
Attention IT employees, your days of getting overtime pay may be over if Congress passes a new recently-introduced bill. The bill expands the definition of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) exemptions for workers who are entitled to overtime pay. The law currently only exempts certain IT workers, including computer programmers or software engineers. The new bill would exempt “any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation.” This would greatly expand the number of employees that might fall under the exemption’s purview....
How much do you think its worth to have your leg run over by a golf cart driven by a roadie for Bon Jovi? Sally Allen, 39, said £250,000 or about $400,000. The UK woman was left with a broken leg, crushed foot and dislocated toe after roadie Kevin McDonnell sped by. Allen, who was a security guard at the time, spent a week in the hospital and says she suffered depression due to the event when she could not return to work....
Knowing a man who made threats against your family is being released from custody is a pretty good reason to have a home security system installed. Unfortunately for 64-year-old Michael Martin and 51-year-old Ricky Lee Anderson, the installation did not come soon enough. They were killed by Brandon Willie Martin (Martin’s son and Anderson’s nephew) in a vicious attack that also claimed the life of 62-year-old Barry Swanson, who, tragically, was at Martin’s house installing a home security system at the time....
It’s official, pot proponents can add one more state to their victory list - Delaware. Marijuana will now be legalized in the state for residents with serious medical conditions. Delaware’s SB 17, legalizing medical marijuana, was signed into state law by Gov. Jack Markell this week. The 16th state to legalize medical marijuana, the bill legalizes the use of marijuana for people diagnosed with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other diseases that have treatments with debilitating side effects....
