According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, adults over the age of 65 accounted for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and 18 percent of all pedestrian fatalities in 2008. It likely comes as no surprise that the same study shows that fatality rates in the over-65 population generally increase with age. So, is there ever a point where an older driver is just too old to be driving? It’s certainly a matter of ongoing debate....
Breaking up may be hard to do, but it is even harder if one side can’t support itself after the separation or divorce. And that’s where paying alimony comes in. Alimony is payment made by one ex-spouse to another to help support them during divorce proceedings and afterward. It is usually ordered when the judge finds that the divorce caused unfair economic consequences for one ex-spouse. Below are the 5 types of alimony that most state courts recognize:...
A gap in the Illinois law is part of the reason why most sex offenders living in nursing homes aren’t listed on state police’s online registry. An investigation by the Chicago Tribune found facility administrators don’t have to divulge the identities of sex offenders living in the homes. Instead, the law only requires homes to inform people of the state police online registry, which allows them to search for sex offenders by name (if known), city, county and ZIP code....
Winter brings many special joys: ice, snow, salt damage to your car, and plenty of potholes. But what are you going to do about it – sue the government? Well, actually, that’s not such a ridiculous idea. After all, they’re the ones in charge of the roads. There’s no one else to hold accountable for the potential dangers of a poorly paved and pothole-laden highway. The catch is that you can’t just file a lawsuit against the government whenever you feel like it....
Four of the country’s largest tobacco companies have filed a cigarette label lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration, challenging its implementation of a law that requires the placement of graphic and disturbing images on tobacco packaging. The group contends that the images, one of which depicts a pair of diseased lungs, violate their free speech rights, forcing them to urge consumers not to buy their products while also disseminating the government’s message, which they claim is highlighted in an emotional, non-factual way....
Father’s Day is a great time to recognize the hard work and abundant rewards of being a father. But it’s also a great time for dads of all ages to take stock of their legal situation and to remember the great responsibility that comes with being a dad. For this Father’s Day, here are our Top 10 legal tips for dads: If you’re looking for more ideas, information and tips for dealing with the legal issues in your daily life, be sure to check out our legal planning home page....
The mother of a Utah man killed in a DUI crash is suing a Salt Lake City-area music venue for at least $1 million, claiming bartenders over-served her son at a Megadeth concert. Tanya Wallace of West Jordan, Utah, brought the suit after her son Joshua died in a crash after leaving the Great Saltair, a concert venue on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. Wallace alleges that Great Saltair employees violated state dram shop liability laws and could have prevented her son’s death....
Every breath you take. Every move you make. Every bond you break. Every step you take. I’ll be watching you. –The Police Has no one ever thought that song was creepy? Who wants someone stalking every step they take? Myrna Arias, former employee of Intermex, definitely did not want her boss monitoring every move she made 24 hours a day. Last week, Arias filed a lawsuit in California against Intermex for invasion of privacy, wrongful termination, and unfair business practices....
A woman who fought off an attempted rape in Manhattan is suing a scaffolding company for creating conditions that allegedly allowed her attacker to hide in the shadows. The 21-year-old woman, from Great Neck, N.Y., claims she was attacked on West 75th Street, where Eagle Scaffolding Services had erected blue walls outside a construction site, the New York Post reports. The walls blocked the light from a street lamp, which made the area “a danger and a hazard and a trap,” the woman’s lawsuit claims....
The charitable trust doctrine assumes that a gift given to a charity will be used for charitable purposes. As a manager of a charity, a violation of that rule can cost you. It’s certainly costing author Greg Mortenson. The author of the best-selling novel “3 Cups of Tea” must pay back $1 million to the very charity he founded, reports CBS News. After 60 Minutes investigated Mortenson last year, they found that the author and philanthropist had been “mismanaging and personally benefiting from the funds of his charity,” CBS reports....
A sentence of 100 years in prison was handed down for mentally disabled Texas teen Aaron Hart after he pleaded guilty in his sexual abuse case. The case has raised some serious questions not only about the length of the sentence, but as to whether a viable alternative was available, too. The AP provided background on the story as follows: Sex offenses against children are amongst the most heavily punished crimes in the books, generally speaking, but even the jury in this case apparently didn’t expect what was eventually handed down to Hart....
It’s not uncommon to hear shoppers blame retailers for marking up prices before starting sales. A recently-filed lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Macy’s, Kohl’s, JCPenny, and Sears gives some credibility to those outlandish claims. The lawsuit couldn’t have been filed at a worse time for the retailers as the negative publicity could impact their holiday shopping season. The lawsuit claims that the retail behemoths all misled consumers by listing fake original prices when displaying and advertising sale prices....
You blog and know that content is the biggest buzzword in marketing, followed by storytelling. But you aren’t a marketing expert and it’s not always obvious to you what kind of topics to post about on your business blog. You need a to-do and not-to-do-list. So, here are four tips, adapted from a list by the marketing group Adhere, that will minimize your anxiety and customer alienation, and maximize your business’s web presence....
Supervisors and employees often work closely together and may even develop friendships, but this is no excuse to tolerate sexual harassment in or out of the workplace. Because of their positions of authority, supervisors can often coerce their employees into not reporting or simply tolerating inappropriate conduct and behaviors. But employees do not have to remain silent. Here are five inappropriate behaviors that employees should not have to tolerate from supervisors:...
It has often been said in economic circles that a rising tide lifts all boats. The same could be said of a falling tide (in this case, a severe recession in the absence of easy credit), which can maroon even the most ship-shape of operations, since businesses are more interdependent than they may realize in good times. Most businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to collect overdue balances from their customers, which causes otherwise balanced books to dip into the red....
Statistics have shown that the size of the rental market has been steadily increasing, much in part to the number of Baby Boomers renting smaller homes and apartments in response to limited retirement incomes and empty nests. Coming from a generation of homeowners, many Baby Boomers may be renting for the first time in decades, unaware of just how much renting differs from owning a home. If this is your situation, the following are four key things that you should remember....
Amid allegations that she stole from the poor, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has stepped down from her post. Her decision to do so ends a three-year tenure and is part of a plea deal struck with prosecutors to avoid Dixon being thrown out office. According to the Associated Press, Dixon 56, was convicted on a single charge that she stole $500 in gift cards intended for the needy. She entered an Alford plea, basically acknowledging there was enough evidence to convict her but she did not admit guilt....
As a business owner, you know you have to stay on top of a lot of different things. But how much thought do you give to electronic security and scams? If you are not considering this now, you might have to when you find yourself separated from a lot of valuable data while the information is held ransom by hackers. According to the Associated Press, electronic ransom is all the rage, with hackers increasingly demanding bitcoin payments from unwary users who open their “ransomware” and have to fork over to access their files....
Most of us don’t enjoy going to the doctor. Between the cost, the wait times, and the related fear about our physical or mental wellbeing, many of us only seek medical treatment when we absolutely need to. But what if you refuse treatment even then? Can the government compel you to get medical care? The answer will depend on your age and the type of care. For the most part, adults can decline medical treatment....
People always complain how hard it is to achieve a good work-life balance, and to keep business and personal matters separate. At no time is that more true than when your small business gets sued. All of a sudden you’re wondering what you could lose if your business loses the lawsuit. Depending on the corporate structure of your small business, you could be personally liable for business debts, including legal judgments....
