How does the U.S. Supreme Court actually work? Most Americans may be in the dark about what goes on behind the scenes. As the first oral arguments of the Court’s 2013 Term get underway today, it might be a good time for a quick refresher. Here’s an overview of how the U.S. Supreme Court chooses which cases to take, who will write the opinions, and how cases are decided: Every year, the U....
Being sued over maternity leave or a worker’s pregnancy is an employer’s nightmare, and can end up costing you in terms of money and time. How can you avoid such lawsuits in the first place? Cases alleging pregnancy discrimination at work are more common than you may think, as are maternity-leave lawsuits. So this Mother’s Day, business owners may want to give their maternal employees an incredibly useful gift: clear communication about maternity leave at your workplace....
In June 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled that states should impose some sort of remote tax laws on local retailers that sell their wares online to people out of state, tossing out the old legal threshold of “physical presence” designed for the pre-internet era. However, the Court purposefully left the ruling vague, leaving states with a degree of freedom to move forward with what suited them. Laws vary greatly by state, and so it is very important to be familiar with your state’s laws prior to Cyber Monday, or you could find yourself in some hot water and red tape....
A final attempt at a settlement is delaying the scheduled start of the $300 million estate trial of the late Huguette M. Clark, the reclusive heiress to a copper mining fortune. The New York attorney general’s office is trying to broker a settlement, but Clark’s distant relatives, who are challenging her last will and testament (which leaves them out entirely), have not been able to find common ground with the named beneficiaries....
Apparently, handbags made of python skin have been all the rage for a while now. And also soccer shoes made of kangaroo. But be careful if you want to sell them in California. Unfortunately, trends in luxury goods and performance footwear don’t always coincide with state specific laws governing animal based goods. This can apply to certain culinary “delicacies” as well. California merchants, and out-of-state businesses wanting to sell in California need to be aware of sometimes poorly publicized product prohibitions....
Normally after a mass shooting (and how awful is it that there is a ’normally’ attached to ‘mass shooting’), victims and their families are the ones that file lawsuits – against the shooter, the gun-maker, the police, or the owner of the location. But in the wake of the horrific shooting at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last year, the tables appear to have been turned. MGM Resorts International, which owns Mandalay Bay and the concert venue where the victims were gunned down, has filed federal lawsuits asking judges to declare the resort company free from any liability in the shooting....
So much for the Paycheck Fairness Act. The bill which was designed to put an end to wage discrimination died an unceremonious death, when the bill came up two votes short of moving forward. The bill received 58 votes, but needed 60 in order to survive the cloture vote. Senate Republicans are taking credit for blocking the measure. Cloture is a parliamentary procedure, which is used to move a debate along to a vote....
You do not have to pay an attorney’s full fee up front. Many lawyers will work with clients on a payment plan. Make regular installments, as agreed, and you should have no problem. Not all lawyers or types of cases work the same way, however. So, let’s look at a few kinds of cases and what goes into lawyers’ fees, briefly. Examples of Paying a Lawyer in Installments Many personal injury attorneys work on contingency and only earn a fee if the case succeeds....
A recently filed lawsuit that involves the Hooters restaurant chain, sex discrimination, and retaliation, has been making headlines. But unlike the discrimination and retaliation lawsuits against Hooters we’ve become accustomed to seeing as a result of the adult entertainment aspect of the establishment, the restaurant isn’t actually being sued here. Rather, a biomedical company is in the hot-seat due to a senior vice president’s request to hold a meeting at a Hooters restaurant....
States are required to keep tabs on registered sex offenders. That means states need to be informed about where sex offenders live and where they’ve found a place to call home. For example, California’s Megan’s Law requires law enforcement agencies to track where sex offenders live and provide community notifications. Individual states decide what information is available and how the public can access it. In some cases, the information is available through a toll free number, the police station, newspapers or a public sex offender web site....
The Stolen Valor Act may be heading for reconsideration in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California and to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado. Then, experts say the law may go next to the Supreme Court. The Stolen Valor Act, passed by Congress in 2006, makes it a crime to falsely claim to have won a military medal. The crime is punishable by up to one year in prison, reports the Associated Press....
One of the bigger stories out of San Francisco of late is Twitter’s planned move into the Tenderloin–a blighted area riddled with shuttered restaurants, graffiti, and crumbling facades. Considering a move into the suburbs, Twitter managed to brokerage a deal with the city wherein it promised to move into the Tenderloin if the city would provide tax breaks. While the majority of the debate in San Francisco was about gentrification, the fact of the matter is that sometimes, if it cleans up an area and increases safety, gentrification is a good thing....
Depending on how a child is injured, a parent may want to explore the legal remedies their child has for their injury. While children are generally resilient and can bounce back from most injuries, there may be times when that is not the case. Regardless, a child, like an adult, has the right to live life free of being injured due to the negligence of others, and when they are injured as a result of negligence, they possess a legal claim for damages....
Hundreds of former Tesla employees found themselves jobless this month, but the company was insistent that the cuts were not layoffs. “As with any company, especially one of over 33,000 employees, performance reviews also occasionally result in employee departures,” a Tesla spokesperson told the Mercury News. “Tesla is continuing to grow and hire new employees around the world.” But that’s not how several current and former employees describe the cuts, claiming those fired had little or no warning, with some being notified by email or phone and told not to come into work the next day....
PayPal is planning “aggressive changes” to its user terms and conditions, along with its overall fraud management operations, reports CNNMoney. But will these changes be good for your small business? So far, there’s little information out about these policy changes. However, according to PayPal’s senior director of communications, they will signify a “fundamental shift” in the way the company has been doing business. Here’s why many business owners have high hopes for the PayPal policy change:...
Twitter disclaimers are not magical mithral chainmail for your tweets. Even with such disclaimers, you can still get fired for “your own” salacious opinions in tweet form. NYU professor Geoffrey Miller almost learned this the hard way after tweeting that “obese PhD applicants” wouldn’t finish their dissertations if they lacked the “willpower to stop eating carbs,” reports Forbes. Although Miller did some quick damage control and saved his job, we aren’t all college professors....
A new type of “flash mob” is targeting small businesses, and struggling retailers couldn’t be happier. “Cash mobs” are drawing hundreds of new customers, and creating buzz at the speed of social media. “Flash mobs” are made possible in part by Twitter and Facebook. People send out a call to converge in the same place at the same time for the same purpose. Famous flash mobs have led to huge public pillow fights, mass-choreographed dances, and surreal sights like people “frozen” in mid-movement....
Harvey Weinstein might’ve dominated the headlines this year, but the sexual assault allegations against the disgraced Hollywood producer were just the tip of a very large iceberg. Revelations of sexual harassment came to light from coast-to-coast and from industry-to-industry. Here are the major workplace sexual harassment and assault stories from 2017: Few brands had a worse 2017 that ridesharing app Uber. And when you need to bring in a former U....
In addition to the obligatory personal New Year’s resolutions, it’s a good idea for small business owners to set some fresh goals for their companies in the New Year as well. After all, businesses, like people, need to grow over time. And any mistakes, missteps, and missed opportunities made in 2014 should serve as motivation for business owners to improve going forward in 2015. To that end, here are five New Year’s resolutions for small business owners:...
Some of us dream about the day we get to retire, others dread it. Either way, you’ve got to plan for it. Maybe you want to travel. Perhaps you’d like to keep working a little while collecting your pension. Or maybe you’re so in debt that you think you’ll have to work until the day you die. Whatever your situation, here are five important questions to ask a lawyer before retirement....
