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Having thoughts of filing for divorce? Did you know that January is divorce month? No, it’s not like an official holiday or anything. January is just a very big divorce month. Once the holidays are over, New Year’s Resolutions are made and clean starts abound. And divorce lawyers report big surges in January. In fact, now some people use the term “Black Monday,” as a reference to the Monday after the New Year, when divorce lawyers see an increase in clients filing for divorce....

Getting trademarked has never been so easy! You just need to say it, have someone hear it and it’s yours! Not quite. But a little know fact about trademarks is that a slogan doesn’t need to be registered for you to have the rights to it, according to a recent Forbes piece. It’s like that old philosophical question – if a tree falls and nobody’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?...

There’s a brand new webpage in town created for small business, and brought to you by the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Small business champion, Senator Mary Landrieu and fellow colleague Olympia Snow announced the launch this week along as a “valuable tool” for entrepreneurs that would be “one-stop shop” for small businesses to interact with government agencies and research resources to grow and expand their ventures....

Patents, and other forms of intellectual property, are meant to encourage creativity and innovation. That’s why if you suspect that someone has infringed on your patent, you have the option of filing a lawsuit against that person. However, there are entities – referred to as patent trolls – that make money by suing or threatening to sue businesses for patent infringement. The Target These patent trolls used to target large companies because they do business in multiple states, which allowed patent trolls to sue them in any state they did business....

A Pennsylvania widow is suing furniture manufacturer Safavieh as a result of her husband’s fatal shower accident. The lawsuit makes various product liability claims and alleges that the manufacturer’s ceramic garden stool was defectively designed, that the furniture maker failed to test their product for safe use, and failed to warn consumers of potential dangers. The lawsuit is seeking damages for wrongful death on behalf of the deceased’s estate as a result of the death caused by the defective stool....

A tragic, ugly incident in Atlanta is nearing a resolution. In 2006, a police drug squad executed a “no knock” warrant and kicked in the door of Kathryn Johnson, a 92 year-old woman. The police were there based on the tip of an informant who said he bought drugs there. A no knock warrant is issued by a judge and allows police to enter without knocking. The rationale behind a no knock warrant is that evidence can be destroyed while the police wait for the door to be answered, or it could provide the resident to time to get armed....

Restaurant chain Chickie’s & Pete’s has agreed to settle with the Department of Labor and some of its current and former employees over alleged wage, tip, and overtime violations. If the two settlements are approved, the Pennsylvania-based company will pay a total of $8.5 million to more than 1,200 employees it allegedly short-changed, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Department of Labor called its probe of Chickie’s & Pete’s “one of the largest tipped-employee investigations in recent years....

When you first graduated from school, the last thing you probably thought about was giving what little money you had back to your school. But now that you are doing better in life, you may be considering donating to your alma mater. Giving back may seem like a win-win for you and your school, since your charitable donation (in most cases) is tax deductible. But how can you be sure your money is actually going toward something that you deem worthwhile?...

Donald Trump has made the dreaded words, “You’re Fired’ his catch phrase on his reality show, The Apprentice. Outside the bright lights of television, getting fired from a job is never a welcome event. Financial strain and job-search stress are just two of the issues that the newly unemployed face. Companies and work situations are as different as the jobs themselves. Where there is some consistency is when it comes to an unlawful termination....

Forever 21, the popular clothing retailer, is going on the legal offensive against Adidas, the athletic clothing and shoe goliath, which they have accused of being a trademark bully. Forever 21 recently filed a federal lawsuit, seeking declaratory relief against Adidas, after receiving another letter threatening to sue them over a trademark dispute related to the famous three stripe Adidas pattern. Last month, Adidas threatened to sue Forever 21 if the chain refused to stop making and selling a few particular garments that had four stripe patterns....

You work hard and try to pay all your bills on time, but it happens that you fall behind on one. Maybe this happens a few times. Before you know it, you’re all messed up and you just missed some child support payments! Are you going to jail? Probably not. Mothers and fathers who fail to pay child support do face punishments of all kinds, including fines and jail. But the idea is to ensure that kids have what they need, so except in egregious cases, parents who are in arrears on child support are not incarcerated....

Mortgage fraud victims can sue. But be warned, these are complex cases. In the context of real estate fraud, it is imperative to speak to a real estate attorney who is comfortable with complicated financial transactions. Mortgage fraud often involves sophisticated con artists – people who necessarily know more about obtaining property than you. If you have been the victim of such schemes, you are not alone … and you should not go it alone....

A jury awarded D.C. man Charles Singletary $2.3 million in damages for the 10 years he spent in prison after his wrongful parole revocation. Singletary previously spent time in jail on an armed robbery conviction. He was released but later arrested in 1995 for his role in a murder. The murder charges against him were dropped, but the D.C. Board of Parole relied on hearsay evidence and revoked his parole....

Is a school yoga class teaching healthy behavior or does it promote religion? Some parents at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School in Encinitas, California, are afraid it’s the latter and they want it out. Students participate in yoga classes under what the school calls physical education. But one mother, Mary Eady, decided to keep her son out of it after visiting one of the classes. She’s worried yoga’s Hindu roots can’t be untangled from its practice in her son’s class....

No matter what your small biz does, you want eyeballs on your website. Whether you’re trying to sell your products or services online, or trying to sell ad space on your pages, more eyeballs equals more revenue. Just make sure those eyeballs are the human kind. Website traffic bot scams are rampant, defrauding small businesses and advertisers of millions each year. Here’s what you need to know. If you’re unfamiliar, a bot is a computer program that performs automated tasks....

In a DUI crash lawsuit, victim compensation can be based on a number of different factors. For example, 23-year-old Cole Jolley of Texas has been struggling his entire life to recover from a brain injury he suffered as an infant when his family’s car was hit by a drunken driver, as Dallas’ WFAA-TV recently reported. The possibility of a lifetime handicap is just one of many factors courts will use to balance compensation for DUI crash victims....

At what age does a schoolyard scuffle shift to criminal assault and battery? A case in Edmond, Oklahoma presents an interesting question after a fight among two 10 year-old boys has led to a charge of assault and battery. The two boys were practicing football and had an altercation. Eyewitnesses say that after practice was over, one of the boys punched the other, unprovoked, KFOR Oklahoma reports. The alleged puncher, who is facing misdemeanor charges, says he was standing up for himself after being bullied earlier by the other boy....

Many parents think that child support ends when a child turns 18 or graduates high school. And most of those parents would be right. But a few of them may be shocked to learn that they are also on the hook for post-secondary child support, also known as “college tuition.” Certain states allow courts to award post-secondary or post-minority support beyond the age of majority (18 in most states). So how are these awards determined?...

The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA) has completed its investigation into the stage collapse at the August Indiana State Fair. Fines were levied against three organizations, including the company responsible for building the stage. The tragic event occurred during a Sugarland performance, and left 58 injured and 7 dead. A number of lawsuits have since been filed, many of which will be bolstered by the agency’s report. In a press release, IOSHA laid out the following fines:...

Alongside the many well-known benefits of using a credit card to make purchases – being able to pay over time, earning airline miles, or other rewards – credit cards also offer unique protections for consumers who may feel like they didn’t get what they bargained for in a purchase. Credit card companies are generally obligated by state and federal law to offer customers chargebacks for disputed charges. Chargebacks function as a refund for purchases made by consumers who have a valid dispute as to the charges associated with the purchase....