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Contrary to popular belief, medical treatment that does more harm than good isn’t necessarily cause for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Medical malpractice laws are actually medical negligence laws, meaning that a patient’s claim is only actionable if a medical provider or facility negligently provided care that resulted in injury or death. Putting aside the issue of faulty medical devices, medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors and facilities must usually be based on one of the following....

In Texas, about the only thing as loved as high school football, is someone’s faith in Jesus Christ. So when Kountze High School cheerleaders started putting Bible verses on signs and banners, almost everyone in town embraced it. Well, almost everyone. One parent was not so keen on the signs with religious statements and filed a complaint with the school district. The school superintendent checked with legal counsel and decided to impose a ban on the religious signs....

Amnesty has been granted to Haitians immigrants living illegally in the United States before last week’s earthquake that rocked the Caribbean country. Temporary protected status (TPS), however does not apply to Haitians who may try now to get into the U.S., officials said. According to the Wall Street Journal, TPS has been granted to refugees from other countries including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Somalia and Sudan. But TPS has never been granted to Haitian refugees despite calls for relief following hurricanes and civil strife....

Are GPS devices the answer to finding fault in bike and car accidents? With an overwhelming number of cases providing no evidence other than participant statements, finding and analyzing GPS data in bike and car accidents appears to be the next big thing in personal injury law. With the devices recording speed and location–and in the case of cyclists, pedal rates and heart rates–investigators can piece together a sometimes significant amount of information....

Your small business debts have outgrown your ability to operate, but you’re not ready to call it quits on your entrepreneurial dream. So before debt collection turns into a nightmare, you might consider Chapter 13 bankruptcy. As opposed to other forms of bankruptcy, Chapter 13 may allow you to repay and discharge your debts over time, avoiding a liquidation of business assets and possibly allowing your small business to remain open....

Recently, Henry Nicholas III, co-founder of Broadcom was arrested in Las Vegas for drug trafficking. Police found a large stash of meth, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin in his hotel suite. This brings about an important question for all guests, not just ones that are worth over $3 billion. What if I have drugs in a hotel room and a maid or housekeeper comes across them? What will, or at least, should, the housekeeper do about it?...

What do off-campus student housing and running a brothel have to do with each other? Good question. Students at Northwestern University are asking the same question due to the enforcement of an old Evanston law regulating the number of people living in a house, which threatens to leave students without a place to leave. The “brothel law” zoning regulations would bar more than three unrelated people from living in the same house, NBC Chicago reports....

We have been following the ongoing debate, and gridlock, facing the national health care reform movement. And now the grandmaster of change himself is preparing to reveal all. President Obama will be addressing Congress next week in a primetime delivery aimed at outlining a plan that he supports. The speech is anticipated for Wednesday evening, just a day after the House and Senate reconvene after August recess. Currently there are plans in both Houses that endeavor to reform healthcare in the U....

Customer testimonials can be a great tool for small businesses with limited marketing budgets. After all, what better way to show customers you can get the job done than ringing endorsements from previous customers? But if you’re thinking of using customer testimonials for your business, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Here are five legal tips for using customer testimonials in your marketing materials: Testimonials must be truthful....

On March 2, the Senate finally passed the much needed job benefits extension bill, held up for the last week by Kentucky curmudgeon, Sen. Jim Bunning. Curmudgeon may be a strong word, but any Senator who flips off ABC News crews, probably has it coming. The bill is a stopgap measure, good only for one month while lawmakers debate longer term solutions. Unemployment benefits for many expired Feb. 28, and the Labor Department said 400,000 would have seen their checks reduced within weeks if Congress hadn’t acted....

California’s ‘parent trigger’ law saw its first success on Friday in Adelanto, north of Los Angeles. Superior Court Judge Steve Malone ruled that the district must accept a petition from parents. The parent trigger law went into effect in 2010 to allow parents to force changes in underperforming schools. If parents can collect a 50% majority on petitions to the school board, their proposed changes must be put into effect....

One of the most contentious issues in the U.S. immigration debate involves the provision of public assistance to immigrants. Recently, during a rally, President Donald Trump riled up his crowd by stating that he planned on passing a law preventing immigrants from receiving welfare benefits for their first five years in the country. This statement not only drew cheers from Trump’s crowd, known to be anti-immigration, but it also drew much criticism....

In a fantastic testament to the human spirit, people who choose to drink are increasingly more aware of drinking and driving. And the ride-sharing companies of the world thank you for that. But what about the new scooter rental companies? Can you legally drive a scooter while intoxicated? And the answer to that is, it depends. As tempting as it may be to grab that Bird rental scooter outside the bar you just stumbled out of to get home quickly, safely, and cheaply, just say no....

Can you fire employees on leave? The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that applies to many businesses. The FMLA leave law mandates certain minimum requirements and rights for employees who take unpaid leave. The FMLA only applies to certain businesses – and to certain leaves. First and foremost, you should find out if the FMLA applies to you. Typically, the FMLA does not apply to all employers or employees....

As a divided nation waits for the Supreme Court to tackle Arizona immigration law S.B. 1070, many are giving thought to what will happen once the justices make their decision. If the Court upholds Arizona’s immigration law, will more states pass similar legislation? Will the nation suddenly have 50 different sets of immigration rules? Or will Congress step in and prevent this from taking place? Democratic Senator Charles Schumer hopes for this last option....

You’ve been served with a summons and complaint. If you just ignore it, will it go away? Unfortunately not. You do have to respond to the lawsuit. If you ignore this problem, you risk losing the case by default. Deadlines to respond vary depending on the context of the case, your location, and whether the case is filed in federal or state court. But usually you have 20 to 30 days to file an answer....

The city of Costa Mesa, California, has just become the next in a long line of cities whose anti-solicitation ordinances aimed at day laborers have become the subject of a lawsuit. According to the Los Angeles Times, this will be the eighth federal suit in California alone over these ordinances in the last 12 years. The preceding suits have been settled or won by the laborers. One case is still awaiting a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals....

Like any experienced music festival attendee, Michael Ryan, of Panama City Beach, Florida, purchased VIP tickets for the Gulf Coast Jam country music festival in 2014. That gave Ryan access to unlimited quantities of free alcohol in the VIP area. And like any experienced litigant, Ryan doesn’t explicitly admit to consuming any of that free booze before he fell off a platform in the VIP section, “causing him to suffer severe and permanent injuries resulting in loss....

A new lawsuit claims that California’s failure to regulate the fracking operations in the state has disproportionately endangered the health of Latino children. Rodrigo Romo has sued Governor Jerry Brown and California’s Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources, seeking to invalidate recent fracking legislation and bar current fracking operations. Romo’s claims center on the proximity of fracking wells to schools – specifically the school his daughters attend, Sequoia Elementary School, which sits just half a mile from three wells....

A gay couple from Oregon may take legal action after an airport shuttle driver told them to sit at the back of the bus for holding hands. Chris Bowers, 38, and Ron McCoy, 47, of Metzger, Oregon, had flown to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to attend the city’s gay pride events in June. But their airport shuttle driver told them that their “inappropriate behavior” was the reason they needed to move to the back of the bus, reports The Huffington Post....