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This year’s most popular Injured posts entail a wide variety of personal injury issues, ranging from fatal bike and roller coaster accidents to the first deaths at Tough Mudder and Cirque du Soleil. Without further ado, here are the Top 10 posts from our Injured blog in 2013: Coach Dies in Freak Bike Accident at School: A popular track and field coach at a California high school died after being impaled by a partially open metal gate in the school parking lot, raising a slew of potential premises liability issues....

While many think of the law as a serious institution, it can have its quirks. And it’s always fun to learn about things you thought were against the law but are strangely legal – it’s like you’re getting away with something. Here are seven of our favorites, from our archives: 1. Is It Illegal to Mail Poop? Nope! Well, it depends actually. What was your intent when you sent feces through the mail?...

You see copyright and trademark symbols everywhere, but what exactly do they mean? Generally speaking, they put a stamp on your ownership. Each of these symbols provides notice to the world that you are claiming legal rights in the mark or work. A few may require you to actually register your mark or work with the government. Here’s an overview of what each of these symbols mean: For extra help on how to copyright or trademark your work, logos, or services, consult an experienced intellectual property lawyer in your area....

A Staten Island student who suffered from broken bones after an assistant dean threw him to the ground to stop a gym class altercation settled his lawsuit with the city for $400,000, reports Staten Island Live. Almost five years after the alleged incident, the city said that settlement was in its best interest. Brian Shane, a 15-year-old at a high school for students with special needs and disabilities, was in a scuffle with two other students during a gym class wiffle-ball game when the alleged incident occurred in March 2011....

Mighty is a new financing startup that lets people invest in personal injury lawsuits. The idea is that plaintiffs won’t be forced to settle fast because they need cash and that investors will profit from damages awards for which plaintiffs held out. But is this a service that is really needed? The company’s website says, “Mighty’s mission to empower plaintiffs to get a better deal from the justice system.” Mighty balances the power dynamic between litigants, allowing plaintiffs to go to trial when they might otherwise have to settle, according to Tech Crunch....

An Ohio panel affirmed its initial ruling that landlord Jamie Hein violated the state’s Civil Rights Act. Hein erected a “White Only” sign outside her duplex’s pool. Hein posted the sign last May. An African-American teenager had visited the complex to see her parents. The girl’s father, Michael Gunn, filed a complaint after he saw the sign. Hein claimed that the sign was an antique. She said it was given to her as a gift....

Approximately 1.7 million children are homeschooled in this country each year, and that number is on the rise. People homeschool for a variety of reasons, most notably providing a better education than local public schools, a better curriculum, or a difference in moral values. Education requirements are mandated by state law. Each state allows homeschooling, but in different ways. Some states specifically grant parents the right to homeschool their children, and provide a host of regulations regarding the manner in which the homeschooling is carried out....

To commemorate International Women’s Day, let’s discuss the myriad legal issues women face and the resources that are available at their fingertips. Despite significant gains in gender equality over the past century, women are still victims of harassment, assault, and discrimination in the workplace and at home. Here are five legal issues women grapple with and where they can turn for help: As Gloria Steinem sums it up, “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights....

CBS News is reporting that up to 60,000 homes nationwide may have been constructed with the contaminated drywall, primarily in southern states and in California. The problem drywall is composed of a combination of chemicals rather than the relatively pure gympsum mineral that most drywall is made from, and the presence of a sulphur-like rotten-egg smell in the home may indicate that your drywall is contaminated, according to CBS. And unfortunately, the only way to fix the problem is to remove all of the bad drywall – quite an undertaking since it was likely used to form most walls in the house – and replace any copper wiring and other materials that have been corroded....

If you think your business can’t be held liable for the criminal acts of employees, think again. A Philadelphia bar has pled guilty to criminal charges after its employees served an inebriated patron who was then escorted to her car. The patron ended up crashing her vehicle, killing herself and two others. The bar is now on the hook for $12,500 in fines and restitution. Head’s Up, Inc. owns the Lamp Post Inn in Middletown, where the driver was drinking the night of the crash....

Whether your ex will be able to read your diary during a divorce will depend on a few factors, and might even require a judge’s order. During a divorce, the separating couple can actually learn quite a bit of private information about their soon-to-be former spouse. In addition to combing through the other side’s financial records during a divorce, personal matters can often be relevant when it comes to child custody, and potentially other issues if a fault based divorce is sought....

If you entered a legal dispute with, or were injured by, another person who left the country, you may be wondering what you can do. Your right to pursue a legal claim against the person does not just disappear if they leave the country, but there will be additional steps in the judicial process, and it will likely become more difficult to recover monetary damages. Generally, legal claims can be filed in state courts in the United States against individuals who have left the state and/or country....

Trooper v. EMT Encounter Results in Attorney Media Battle An Oklahoma state Trooper is under fire, figuratively anyway, after possibly picking the wrong vehicle to pull over. In an incident last month, Trooper Daniel Martin was responding to a call for backup when he says an ambulance failed to yield to him, and worse, Martin thought he saw the driver flip him “an obscene gesture”. So he pulled over the ambulance for failing to yield....

If you steal a candy bar, you may get scolded. Steal your employer’s trade secrets, and you may end up broke and in jail. That could be the fate of ex-Apple employee, Xiaolang Zhang, as he faces a maximum of 10 years in a federal penitentiary and a $250,000 fine for allegedly stealing Apple’s autonomous driving trade secrets, in violation of the 1996 Economic Espionage Act. Trade secrets are incredibly valuable to tech companies....

Justice Kennedy, who wrote the opinion found that, “Because the search of Quon’s text messages was reasonable, petitioners did not violate respondents’ Fourth Amendment rights, and the Ninth Circuit erred by concluding otherwise.” The ruling was issued on very narrow grounds as the Court was concerned that there was a risk of unintended consequences if it made broad new legal rules on a case involving new technology, though the case itself involved nearly obsolete two-way pagers....

Hooters is being sued by a former employee who says that she was bullied by management about her weight. Now with her attorney, Richard Bernstein, she is fighting back with a lawsuit in Macomb County, Michigan. Former Hooters waitress Cassandra Smith has filed a lawsuit against Hooters of America Inc., alleging discrimination involving their famous Hooters uniforms. Smith alleges that she had received good reviews and a promotion to shift leader, before a meeting where she was placed on “weight probation,” and told to join a gym and improve her looks....

There are quite a few considerations when hiring a personal injury attorney. You want someone who believes in your case and knows what they’re doing, all at the right price. Considering many injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis, what you really need from your legal counsel is experience. So how do you evaluate your personal injury attorney’s experience? And how much experience does he or she need? There are two types of experience when it comes to personal injury lawsuits: general torts experience and specialized practice area experience....

Hawking your wares on the internet gives you the potential for millions of new customers. Sadly, shipping and inventory mistakes can happen and not all of those customers will be satisfied with their purchase. So how do you do returns when the customer can’t walk through your front door with the product and a receipt? As it turns out, crafting a great (and legal) return policy for ecommerce isn’t all that different than putting one together for brick-and-mortar sales....

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report finding fraud and abuse within the Small Business Administration’s Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) initiative. The HUBZone program is designed to provide federal contracting assistance to small businesses located in economically distressed areas. In light of the GAO’s findings about businesses getting HUBZone benefits who shouldn’t, here is a quick refresher on who does qualify for access to HUBZone contracts. The GAO report found that 19 companies in Texas, California and Alabama received nearly $30 million in HUBZone contracts, despite not meeting the program’s eligibility guidelines....

Sixty-one year old Roy Lester, a fired lifeguard, says a Speedo swimsuit ended his career. The Long Island native says he was forced out of his job as a lifeguard at Jones Beach because he refused to don a skimpy Speedo during his annual swim test. Why did he refuse? Well, Lester himself probably put it the best when he said that “there should be a law prohibiting anyone over the age of 50 from wearing a Speedo,” the New York Daily News reports....