A 29 year old refugee from Laos in jail on a vehicular homicide conviction may actually have been a victim of sudden acceleration and problems with his ‘96 Toyota Camry brakes. Koua Fong Lee is serving 8 years in prison for a fatal accident he claims was never his fault. In 2006, his 96’ Toyota Camry crashed in Minnesota, killing three people. Lee, who didn’t speak much English, always maintained that his brakes were not working....
We’ve come a long way baby, since the days of blaming the victim for inexcusable behavior like sexual harassment. But maybe not quite far enough. Ex-offshore basketball player and model, Otis Duffy, feels he was the one punished for the inappropriate and upsetting behavior of his female colleagues. Last Tuesday, Duffy filed a $3 million sexual harassment suit against his former employer Bosley, one of the largest hair-transplant companies in the country....
While the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had already ruled that gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees were protected from discrimination in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the majority of courts had not followed suit. Until now. This week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) held Title VII’s prohibitions on sex discrimination in the workplace extend to discrimination based on sexual orientation, thus protecting gay and lesbian employees from workplace discrimination....
Many cosmetic surgery procedures are perfectly safe, and clients are healthy afterwards and happy with the results. But any surgery is dangerous, and not all plastic surgery operations leave us looking the way we expected or were promised. If you are injured due to the negligence of a plastic surgeon or their staff, you could have a valid medical malpractice or other legal claim. How much that claim could be worth depends on many factors, including the extent of injury you’ve suffered and the type of lawsuit you are filing....
Even for those of us who went to law school, legalese can be confusing. That’s where FindLaw’s Legalese From A to Z series comes into play. This week, we explain in plain English five legal terms that begin with “C.” While you may be familiar with some common terms like contract and civil case, here are a few other “C” words that only lawyers would use, that you may not be familiar with:...
In this economic downturn, charities have increasingly attempted to find alternative ways to help fund themselves. Sometimes these charities have thought outside the box. They have spun off into for-profit organizations that help fund their charitable ventures. But what is so special about these small businesses? They are small businesses that are embracing green initiatives. These small businesses are part of a larger demand for greener products and policies for consumers....
Attorneys for a New York family have announced that they have settled a birth injury lawsuit for $5.3 million. The suit, filed against New York Presbyterian Hospital, accused medical staff of failing to provide the mother with adequate care. On several occasions, the mother had visited the hospital for observation and treatment while pregnant. Still, she gave birth at 32 weeks, and the baby was diagnosed with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. The lawsuit asserted that “not enough steps were taken to prevent this premature birth....
New Jersey couple Heath and Deborah Campbell made headlines when they gave their three children Nazi-inspired names, including one son that they named “Adolf Hitler.” The state had their three children removed two years ago. The other two children bore names like JoceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. They have remained in foster care. Their fourth son, named Hons Campbell, was removed last Thursday at Hunterdon Medical Center after Deborah Campbell gave birth....
The fight over Indiana’s school voucher program has just begun. A lawsuit filed by teachers in the state claim that school vouchers are unconstitutional with respect to the Indiana Constitution, and that school vouchers are not legal. The school voucher plan would allow low and mid-income families to use public money towards enrolling in private schools, reports the Chicago Tribune. But, is it constitutional under federal law to allow public, state funds to be given over to private schools - many of which are religious institutions?...
Springing up in cities across the nation, superheroes now walk the streets to fight “crime and injustice” wherever they find it. No, these real life superheroes have not mutated into their current superhero forms, nor were they subjected to some laboratory mishap. These are apparently simply ordinary folk trying to do something extraordinary to help their respective communities. A WLWT story gave the break-down on one superhero in Cincinnati calling himself “Shadowhare” (he would not reveal his identity), who explained what he and others like him do:...
Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. Parents are worried about their children’s safety on the internet. And for good reason. Facebook currently prohibits children under the age of 13 from using its site. But children are smart enough to know how to lie about their age to gain access. Facebook’s general prohibition keeps it from having to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) mandate that parental consent be obtained prior to collecting personal information from a child under the age of 13....
Several states already have laws on the books to keep sexual predators off MySpace and Facebook. Now, CA sex offenders could get banned from social networking sites too. According to the Orange County Register, state lawmakers are proposing a new law that makes it illegal for registered CA sex offenders to use any social networking site including Facebook and MySpace. Assemblywoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona) is author of the proposed law AB 2208....
In a 6-3 decision today captioned Flores-Figueroa v. US, the Supreme Court has ruled that in order to establish the crime of aggravated identity theft, the government must show that a defendant knew that a form of ID they used actually belonged to another person (as opposed to, for example, being just a randomly picked set of numbers for an SSN). The ruling applies to a federal aggravated identity theft law that imposes an additional penalty on defendants who use, transfer, or possess fake IDs in connection with certain felonies....
There are ways to contribute to a startup or small business that go beyond the standard 9-to-5. And there are ways to compensate for those contributions beyond the bi-weekly paycheck. For instance, while some partners will make financial investments in a company in hope of future success and return on that investment, others will put in the work to grow the company with the same goal in mind. And while cash might be tight in a startup’s early days, you may want to compensate those efforts through shares or ownership stakes in the business....
Texas strip clubs may soon get a little more expensive. A so-called “pole tax” on Texas nudie bars was upheld last week by Texas’ Third Court of Appeals. The strip clubs had challenged the $5-per-patron fee as an unconstitutional occupation tax in the latest legal challenge since the law was passed in 2007. What was the legal thrust behind the clubs’ latest challenge? And where does this leave Texas’ “live nude entertainment” industry?...
As kids and their parents get back into the swing of school, it’s important to keep traffic safety in mind. Drivers should remember that as the new school year begins, kids will be walking, crossing streets and maybe even horsing around a bit on their way to school. Parents should also talk to their kids about getting to and from school safely. Here are 10 tips for adults and children on back-to-school traffic safety:...
Your neighbors are a lot like your family. You can’t choose them. As a result, you will often have to deal with legal issues relating to neighbor disputes. Here are five common disputes you may have with a neighbor, with tips on how you can resolve the disputes legally, and civilly. Neighbor Dispute No. 1: Boundary Disputes If you want to put up a fence, but are unsure where your property ends and where your neighbor’s begins, you will want to undergo a property survey....
The July confrontation in Utah made headlines nationwide: a University Hospital nurse standing off a Salt Lake City police officer, refusing to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient involved in a car crash. Alex Wubbels correctly pointed out to Detective Jeff Payne the patient was not under arrest, Payne did not have a warrant to obtain the blood, and that he could not obtain consent from the unconscious man....
The fight against voter ID laws is heating up all over the country as the nation gears up for the November election. Some of those laws have been found unconstitutional, such as the ones in Wisconsin, Texas, and South Carolina, although those cases will likely be appealed before November. In other states, such as Pennsylvania, the battle still rages on. This election season, a majority of states will have some kind of voter ID requirement for citizens going to the polls....
Tattooing is an ancient art that spans many cultures and has experienced an amazing resurgence in recent years. The rare traditional rite has become quite commonplace, and so too have tattoo lawsuits. Tattoo parlors can be liable for anything from injury to ink that stinks, but only if the artist is somehow negligent. The ways to be negligent are many, but the one key is that you prove all four elements of the claim....
