Whether you’re following the latest celebrity trial or dealing with a lawsuit or criminal charge yourself, you may be wondering why legal cases take so long to resolve. And sadly, there’s no way to fast-forward to the end to find out the answer. While there are some time limits on when charges or claims can be brought (see statutes of limitation) and how long a case can take (the right to a speedy trial), there are also opposing forces that can delay cases....
Hiring immigrants is not limited to one or two sectors or industries. From farms and factories to hedge funds and startups, businesses are being run by immigrant entrepreneurs and staffed by talented immigrants. Therefore, any new statute, order, or court decision relating to immigration will have ripple effects throughout the business community, right up to your small business’s front door. Here are three recent developments that could have a substantial impact on your small business....
Even though we live in a free market, business is highly regulated by wage and hour laws, tax laws, intellectual property laws, anti-discrimination and harassment laws, etc. While asking forgiveness instead of permission may be a good policy elsewhere, you do not want to do that with your business. Operating your business in violation of any of the myriad of laws could cost you thousands, even millions, of dollars. Protect your business and your hard work....
It’s a global economy out there, and to keep up, more and more small businesses are turning to the foreign market to find service vendors and product suppliers or manufacturers. Particularly with how easy placing orders across the ocean has become thanks to the internet, even individual consumers are frequently making direct purchases from overseas companies. However, small businesses that work with foreign vendors and manufacturers need to be careful about their legal remedies if business, or a transaction, goes bad....
Social media can be a great tool for sharing your emotions to the world, but it can also end up sabotaging your injury claims. Just last week, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson posted a photo of the car crash his mother and cousin survived on Instagram, along with a caption expressing his emotions about the incident. Although many of his words were heartfelt, Johnson did mention that his first reaction was to “find the person who did this and do unrelenting harm to them,” reports The Huffington Post....
We sign so many things every day that it’s almost inevitable that you will sign a contract – and then later want to get out of it. In general, consumers should be very careful when signing on the dotted line. But there are some legal options available if you need to cancel a contract. For those times when either life or your mind changes, here are five tips for getting out of a contract:...
It is the late 1950’s. A Caucasian man proposes marriage to his future wife, a part-African American, part-Cherokee woman in Virginia. The two decide to wed in the country’s capital before settling down in their home state. Instead of congratulation and celebration, their marriage is met by arrest and lawsuit for violating state law prohibiting interracial marriage. The couple, Mildred and Richard Loving, briefly relocated to Washington D.C. to escape with stipulation of their sentences before returning to Virginia to fight the state’s interracial marriage ban and make history in the process....
“If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would be drowning.” “I met someone the other night who’s 28 years old, and he hasn’t worked a day since he left college because he’s pursuing a dream he’ll never, ever realize: He thinks he’s a great singer. Actually, he’s crap.” -Simon Cowell The hosts of American Idol have been known for this kind of tough criticism....
Have you tried to get funding for your small business, only to get met with denials from banks and other big lenders? Peer-to-peer loans, or person-to-person loans, are a new and rapidly growing area where businesses can get some starter funding. If you’ve heard of microfinance, the idea behind peer-to-peer loans is fairly similar. A large network of “lenders” come together to help borrowers raise money for various purposes. Hundreds of lenders can ban together to help raise money....
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives some employees the right to up to 12 weeks time off work should certain personal or family health issues arise. But contrary to popular opinion, not all employers have to give their employees FMLA leave regardless of the seriousness of the health issue. In addition, not all employees are FMLA eligible regardless of who they work for. So how do you know when you have to give your employees FMLA leave?...
You run an efficient business. When you sign contracts, you expect them to be completed as agreed upon in the time period allowed in the contract. So, what can you do if you get apples when you asked for oranges? Or, what happens when you ask for your bread delivery at 5 a.m. but don’t get it until 7 a.m.? If the other side breached a contract, what can you do, and when can you do it?...
There seems to be no one solution for cost cutting measures to help California’s prison system. Amongst other changes, this will likely mean job cuts at inmate rehab programs at CA prisons. That’s the latest effort by the state to slash prison costs by laying off hundreds of workers who run rehabilitation programs. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, over the next several months, laying off prison workers is expected to cut $250 million from rehabilitation spending in prisons....
Legal questions can often be split into two parts: whether you can do something, and whether you should. And the answers to those aren’t always the same. Such is the case with the latest blip in pseudo-political outrage over Nike making former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of its latest “Just Do It” campaign. The move angered many (although apparently not its customers or investors), causing some to mutilate or burn already purchased Nike apparel and even led to rumors of businesses banning employees from wearing Nike at work....
What’s in a name? After a contentious divorce, your married last name may be a painful reminder of a relationship you’d rather forget. That’s why you may want to change your kids’ last names as well. If you have custody of your children, and have changed your last name, it may make sense to change your children’s names to match. But unlike changing your own name, it can be more complicated to change your children’s last names, as your former spouse may get to have a say in the matter....
It’s unfortunate, but it seems that our new reality is that school violence can happen at any school and at any time. But, there may be certain actions we can all take to reduce, and maybe even eliminate, such tragedies from occurring. In fact, the California Supreme Court has ruled that colleges have a duty to protect their students from foreseeable violence in the classroom. A Foreseeable Attack? With its ruling, the California Supreme Court reversed the decision of an appeals court, which had decided that UCLA didn’t have a duty to protect a student, Katherine Rosen, who was attacked with a knife by her classmate, Damon Thompson....
In March 2015, a division director in the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services ordered 60 residents of the Pueblo Regional Center to be strip searched. The residents were developmentally disabled patients of the center, and DHA officials never sought consent from the patients, their families, or legal guardians. According to a lawsuit filed later, the aggressive strip searches included hands-on genital manipulation of the patients, many of whom had histories of physical and sexual abuse....
On September 16, a doctor was shot by a gunman at 11:15 local time at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Johns Hopkins Hospital is one of the leading hospitals in the nation and has patients from all over the country, and all over the world. After shooting the doctor, the gunman took refuge in a room in the hospital where he took his own life and that of another, possibly a relative, after a two hour stand-off with police....
CNN recently got a hold of a leaked confidential memo from the FBI notifying its workers of problems with employee sexting. Some FBI employees are issued BlackBerries and apparently a few workers were using these government-issued devices for reasons other than checking emails. As a result, the federal agency disciplined several employees for acts like sending dirty messages and even one instance of a woman sending a nude photograph of herself to an ex-boyfriend’s wife....
Vaping, or using e-cigarettes, seems to be continually increasing in popularity as the technology continues to improve. However, the number of e-cigarette explosion injury claims are also on the rise. In 2015, national headlines were made when a jury returned a $1.9 million verdict for a woman injured by an exploding e-cigarette. Generally, the cases involve an individual who is injured as a result of an e-cigarette’s battery exploding during charging or use....
Since the recession is in a very long, slow recovery, we are all still facing circumstances that can be difficult. Many small business owners are dealing with the fallout from a shaky economy and its effects on everything from production to hiring (or lack thereof). One thing small businesses may now have to deal with, even if they never have before, is business debt collection. Since money is still tight for so many people, business owners may have to push for payments from clients or customers they never thought they would....
