Posts

On December 2, 2016, tragedy struck at a warehouse that had been illegally converted into a mixed-use residential and workspace for artists. During a dance party event that was taking place on the second floor of what is being described as a labyrinth-esque warehouse space, a fire broke out on the first floor. Due to the way the interior structure had been built, every person who attended the event was trapped on the second floor as the fire consumed the building, eventually causing the roof to collapse, and killing 36 people....

Buying a house is a big decision. Huge! It’s where you’ll be spending everyday of your life for the foreseeable future. You’ll have a mortgage, and you’ll probably be spending the next 30 years paying it off. So, it’s understandable that some buyers may have cold feet. Can you leave the seller at the altar and back out of your contract? Offer and Counteroffer You found a house you liked, and you made an offer....

For most parents on Halloween, it’s not the costumes that scare them. Among the biggest fear that parents have on Halloween is that their child will be abducted or worse. The fear of kidnapping on Halloween seems rational as children are dressed in costume, are out in large numbers (often unsupervised), are out at night, and the whole holiday provides cover for would-be criminals. To help mitigate the concerns of parents, many states and localities have laws regulating the actions of sex offenders during Halloween....

Property owners often want to know how to keep trespassers off their land, while keeping themselves on the right side of the law. While there are many effective ways to keep trespassers away, land owners could potentially be held liable if their efforts at property protection cross the line. Here is a look at some of the most common legal ways to keep out trespassers: The classic “No Trespassing” or “No Trespassers” sign does not change the fact that knowingly trespassing onto private property is generally illegal....

The glass ceiling for women may finally be shattering, but not in the way you may think. A new survey indicates that more American women are now paying alimony and child support to their ex-spouses, Reuters reports. The survey was conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The group discovered that 56 percent of divorce lawyers surveyed reported seeing an increase in mothers paying child support over the last three years....

As the school year begins to wind down for most schools in this and upcoming months, this is a time when some families start to plan for possible out-of-state relocation so that they can get it done in between school terms. The planning of a move in and of itself is tough enough, but for divorced parents with sole or joint custody of their children, the issue of relocation may have an added legal dimension that they might have good reason to be concerned about....

According to a scathing Reuters investigation, tens of thousands of infection-related deaths are going unrecorded or uncounted, sometimes due to poor state and federal tracking programs and other times in an effort to mask the true cause of death. One mother was told her newborn died because of sepsis due to prematurity, when in fact her son was the fourth infant in the hospital’s neonatal ward to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA....

In a highly anticipated speech, President Barack Obama announced changes to the NSA’s surveillance practices that include scaling back the agency’s phone monitoring activities. As President Obama said, the proposed NSA reforms aim to “give the American people greater confidence that their rights are being protected, even as our intelligence and law enforcement agencies maintain the tools they need to keep us safe,” Reuters reports. Here are five of the president’s proposed changes to the NSA program:...

You might’ve been thinking shoplifters attacking your store were isolated thieves, acting alone and out of desperation. But that’s not always the case. Sophisticated shoplifting rings have learned that pooling your resources can lead to increased profits, and that certain consumer products become very valuable when they hit the street. Now small businesses have begun seeing coordinated attacks referred to as “organized retail crime,” or ORC, that are part of a criminal enterprise that functions “just like a Fortune 500 company....

Being seriously threatened with bodily harm is not only scary, it can be confusing. Whether you know the person making the threat or not, it may be difficult to assess when a threat requires you to take action to protect yourself. Also, credible threats can be made electronically through social media, which adds to the potential confusion. However, making threats, particularly threats of physical harm, is illegal, and aggressors could face criminal as well as civil consequences....

In this new age of the gig economy, many people have a side-hustle as a freelancer. At first it may seem like a great way to make a few extra dollars, but if you want to protect this fledgling career, you may want to consider hiring an attorney to protect your interests. Here a few issues in a freelancer’s life when an attorney comes in handy. As a freelancer, you’ve just found a new client....

It’s hot out and everyone is ready for a dip in the cool waters of the neighborhood pool. But the local swimming hole is actually your private property and you are concerned about liability if you let everyone use it. Good – you should be. You can be liable for all kinds of accidents that happen in your swimming pool, including drowning, even if you don’t invite people to use it....

Since last weekend, we’ve had headlines about the IRS coming after taxes owed for personal use of work issued cell phones. Now it looks like that tax may go the way of the dinosaur. Both the IRS and the Treasury Department have asked Congress to repeal it. Under the current tax code, work issued cell phones are considered taxable fringe benefits to the extent to which employees use them for personal calls....

In discussing allowable tax deductions, many people want to know exactly when they can – and can’t – deduct interest expenses. Although you can deduct interest in many cases, there are times when interest expenses clearly do not fall within the allowable tax deductions. When allowable, however, interest expense deductions can be a great way of reducing your income tax amount. So, what are allowable interest deductions available to the individual taxpayer, under federal income tax law?...

Bethany Storro, a 28 year old woman from Washington, is either incredibly lucky or incredibly misfortunate, depending upon your perspective. She was leaving a Vancouver Starbucks on Monday evening when a stranger approached her, and said “Hey, pretty girl, do you want to drink this?” and then threw a cup of acid in her face. The damage could have been life threatening, but Storro was spared in part because she was wearing sunglasses....

The California Assembly voted recently to ban the practice of open display of guns. This means open display of a weapon by gun carriers in public places would be banned. Assembly Bill 1934 would make it a misdemeanor, punishable by a $1,000 fine and six months in jail, to carry an exposed handgun in a public place, the Los Angeles Times reports. The bill crafted by Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, a San Diego Democrat, is aimed at prohibiting gun-toting protesters en masse in public places....

As trusts are becoming one of the most preferred means of passing on and preserving wealth, most Americans should know the difference between a revocable trust and irrevocable trust. On the most basic level, the difference between these two legal documents or instruments is control of the trust’s assets. Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know: A revocable trust is more commonly known as a living trust. This legal instrument is created during a person’s life and is used to hold things like real property, business assets, and investments for the benefit of that person and his or her family....

An Oakland, California man is under arrest for tossing his baby daughter into oncoming traffic late in the afternoon of July 10. An off-duty police officer says he saw 21 year-old John Taylor shake his 18 month-old daughter and then toss her into a lane of traffic on Fifth Avenue near East 15th Street in Oakland. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the little girl was hit by a car, but was pulled from underneath by the officer and a neighbor, Diana Castro, who had heard the commotion....

If you’ve read the news lately, it seems there are class action suits everywhere, from GM to Comcast to Vitaminwater. Usually, they have nothing to do with you or me. But, if you think you may have an injury or claim similar to the class action, how do you join? How can you find out if there is a class action lawsuit for your injury? Notices Class actions cases usually start out as a lawsuit filed by one plaintiff for a common injury that many other people may also have a claim for....

Nothing in life is free. No, not even Oprah-provided cars and Australian vacations. Bob Choate learned this the hard way last month when he received an IRS Form 1099 telling him he had to pay taxes on $927.61 worth of supposedly free doughnuts. During a 2010 Houston Astros Fan Appreciate Day, Bob Choate won a coveted prize: free doughnuts and coffee for a year. Excited at the prospect of daily glazed and jellies, he headed down to the office to collect his prize, explains the Houston Chronicle....