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Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law yesterday a bill that makes it a felony for any health professional to provide an abortion if the mother’s choice is based on the sex or race of the fetus. The Arizona abortion law, which is the first of its kind in the nation, also allows the father to bring a civil action for monetary damages against offending providers. Republican lawmakers feel that there has been an increase in abortions based on a fetus’ sex or race, reports The Wall Street Journal....

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rex Heeseman has agreed to approve a $4.6 million settlement reached between former Los Angeleno Melanie Hall and Miltex Inc., the medical device company she feels is responsible for her son’s botched circumcision. The lawsuit alleged that a defective circumcision clamp led her son’s doctor to remove 85% of the tip of his penis as opposed to just the foreskin. He requires surgical and psychiatric care perhaps for the rest of his life....

Suicide among youths is extraordinarily disturbing to read about. When a child who is even younger than a teenager commits suicide, the tragedy is all the more confounding. Sadly, child suicide is often the result of external factors, such as embarrassment, bullying, or school pressures. Although people often know that schools can be held liable for the injuries students sustain on school grounds, many wonder whether a school can be held liable for self-harm that occurs after school and not on school grounds....

When U.S. car-making giant Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection last month, the impact was felt immediately by car dealerships and employees. But closer scrutiny of Chrysler’s bankruptcy plan shows that car owners who are injured from vehicle defects and faced with warranty problems could also lose big. That’s because under Chrysler’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan, plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits against the company are seeing their cases frozen as they wait in a long line of unsecured creditors, and car owners’ rights in future suits may be limited, according to the New York Times....

Are hookah bars legal? That’s the real question you should be asking, as the law treats hookah smoking and cigarette smoking the same, as they are both tobacco products regulated by the same statutes. As cigarette smoking decreases, hookah use seems to be rising, particularly amongst the younger generations, possibly contributing to the perception that hookah bars are legal while cigarette smoking is not. This is actually not the case, as many hookah bars operate illegally....

Concerts generally provide a safe environment where attendees can have a good time and see (and hear) some great music. Unfortunately, attending a concert can also sometimes result in an injury. Though these injuries are typically minor, concert injuries can also be severe, such as the Alabama man who suffered a debilitating brain injury at a Kid Rock concert last year after being attacked by another concertgoer. In that case, the man and his family filed a $150 million lawsuit against the venue and the concert’s promoters....

Is an environmental conservation law actually a clever racist attack? Shark fin soup has been a Chinese delicacy for nearly 2,000 years, making its way onto menus even today. It can cost as much as $50 per person, as the collapse of an important shark population has put the price of shark fins near $500 a pound. In response to the collapsed shark ecosystem, the federal government banned shark finning in U....

Sometimes a fun day with the family turns into a horrific nightmare, and suddenly your life is turned upside down. That is what happened to an Omaha mother who took her daughter to a carnival for Cinco De Mayo and is now fighting for stricter ride regulations. Brace yourself. What happened to her little girl, Elizabeth Gilreath, 11, is truly horrific. The child’s scalp was partly ripped off after her hair got caught in the ride – it was torn from her eyelids to the back of her neck....

The CDC looked at data from falls reported from 2001 to 2006, and found that an estimated 86,629 fall injuries per year over that five-year period could be linked to dogs and cats. Overall, walking dogs and chasing the family pet (cat or dog) were associated with the most falls, and pet owners over the age of 75 were most likely to suffer an injury. The most common pet-related fall injuries were contusions/abrasions and bone fractures....

An appeals court yesterday breathed new life into a lawsuit challenging Denver’s ban on pit bulls. The case and the ban itself stir emotional debate on all sides because it places owners with deep emotional bonds to their dogs squarely in the crosshairs of those concerned over the safety issues posed by an allegedly dangerous breed. Denver, in response to such safety concerns, passed an ordinance in 1989 banning ownership of dogs generally described as “pit bulls” (using breed descriptions from the AKC) ....

Planning to propose to your significant other over the holidays? You’re in good company: About one-third of all engagements happen between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, as The Washington Post has reported. So if you’re one of the smitten ones ready to pop the question during this especially celebratory time of year, congratulations! Assuming your partner says “yes” (fingers crossed!), here are a few tips to prepare for what comes next:...

Obesity and custody. Custody and obesity. They don’t seem to go hand in hand, but according to the Wall Street Journal, they do. Spouses caught in child custody battles are increasingly using diet and weight to show that one parent is unfit to be the primary caregiver. They point to processed fast food and a lack of physical activity as reasons to be concerned. There’s no doubt that obesity leads to health problems, but should it factor into the court’s decision?...

A fight between golfers ended when a man was allegedly stabbed with a broken golf club and nearly bled to death on the green. Victim Clay Carpenter, 48, is now likely teeing up for a lawsuit. The fight broke out about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at a golf club in Tarrant County, Texas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Carpenter and two friends wanted to play through a group of slower golfers ahead of them....

Uber is going back to court once again. The mother of a 13-year-old girl is suing Uber and one of its drivers after the driver was convicted of sexually assaulting the young girl. Isagani A. Marin is a driver for Uber. Between October and November of last year, Marin drove a young girl (named Child Doe in the case) from her home to her middle school 10 to 20 times. According to the lawsuit, Marin made several inappropriate sexual comments, offered to buy the girl panties, and asked her to not get another boyfriend....

Employees who must travel to different work sites, or to different customer locations during the work day, generally must be paid for their travel time. But how employee travel time is calculated can be a bit complicated. In general, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act controls issues regarding wages and hours, and describes when employees must be paid for work-related travel. Here are some general guidelines: Travel During the Work Day in General If an employee’s job requires her to travel between different work sites or customer locations during a workday, the employee must generally be paid for her travel time....

Last year, same-sex marriage, legal marijuana, and Black Lives Matter made the most legal headlines. But what about in 2016? Many new statutes are set to go into effect this year, and in January alone, the Supreme Court is hearing cases on labor rights, free speech, and double jeopardy. So which new laws are going to make the most news in 2016? We’ve got a few guesses: On the one hand, you have President Obama taking executive action tightening gun control laws....

O Christmas Tree Tax! O Christmas Tree Tax! Much pleasure thou can’t give me! The Christmas tree industry is taxing itself. Or shall we say, it is passing a 15-cent self-imposed tax onto consumers. And all with the government’s approval. The Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA) has created a new industry-funded Christmas tree promotion program, which places a 15-cent tax on each produced or imported tree. The money will be used improve the public’s perception of real, live, trees....

Every time your child goes on a field trip, participate in a school sport, join a summer camp program, you sign a liability waiver. Kids can get hurt, and many businesses do not want to take responsibility for your child if he or she gets injured. However, liability waivers are not the perfect shield against lawsuits. Here are three things you should know about liability waivers: 1. You Can’t Claim You Didn’t Read It Don’t deny it....

If you’re an entrepreneur in a state that has legalized recreational marijuana sales, you want to get the word out about your product. And you might not want to limit your market to just your state. After all, pot users live everywhere, and if they live in a nearby state that doesn’t allow legal weed, they might be eager to give your dispensary a visit. But hold on – before you start placing newspaper ads in neighboring states or firing off TV or radio spots aimed at out-of-staters, you should know that even states that allow marijuana sales have restrictions on how marijuana can be advertised....

While not specifically listed in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has recognized that certain reproductive rights are fundamental. But exactly what those rights are, and to whom and how far they extend, is still a matter of intense legal, moral, and political debate. Here is where the law on reproductive rights stands now, and we’re sure there are a few rights you may not have known about. There are some reproductive rights that are shared by both men and women:...