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Even if you read this story after the Halloween holiday, the costumes as well as the actions in it will spook you. A Pennsylvania debt collection agency was sued for holding phony debt hearings in a room decorated to look like a courtroom. The phony hearings came complete with phony judge, but the money they took was real. The Pennsylvania Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Unicredit America Inc., also known as the Unicredit Debt Resolution Center, according to the Associated Press....

Ever wonder who gets the house in divorce proceedings? Well, it might be no one. After nearly 5 years of living in a Brooklyn brownstone divided by a wall, a judge has finalized the divorce of Simon and Chana Taub, ordering the pair to sell their oddly constructed real estate. In August 2005, a judge ordered the separated couple to erect a wall through their house. The bottom floor was split with a drywall partition, while Chana Taub bolted a wood plank to a door to divide the second floor....

House party planners might want to consider an insurance policy before kicking off their next rocking residential rager. If the movie “House Party” has taught us anything (and it hasn’t), it’s that in any decade, a house party can be full of injuries, property damage, and hilarious hijinks. But real life is rarely as funny, and you could wind up in court for what happened at the party. So do you need insurance for a house party?...

If your business manufacturers a product, you may need to consider purchasing product recall insurance. Just like it sounds, product recall insurance protects your company if a recall is issued for one of your products. Policies are available for both first-party and third-party coverage. While nearly all manufacturers know that product liability insurance is essential, product recall insurance is often overlooked. Product liability insurance will cover losses sustained as a result of injuries or damages caused by a recalled product, but what about when a product is recalled without having caused injuries or damages?...

States and the federal government are increasing the penalties and prosecutions of domestic violence in an attempt to curb cases of domestic abuse. And it’s important for victims of domestic violence to report cases of abuse so they can seek protection and to address both specific violent episodes and to hopefully end the cycle of violence. But many people aren’t aware of what kinds of relationships are considered “domestic” when it comes to domestic abuse....

Ever wonder what happens to all the leftover, untouched food at that huge event you were at? Wouldn’t it be nice if the organization decided to donate the food to charity? It would be, except this is generally not done. This is not because these organizations and caterers are cold-hearted and actually enjoy seeing others go hungry. It’s likely because many charities are reluctant to accept leftover food donations, even with a federal law in place that’s aimed at shielding them from liability....

A change to the rule regarding employment authorization for H-4 visa holders could also bring benefits for employers. As part of President Obama’s executive action on immigration reform, the Department of Homeland Security will soon allow H-4 visa holders to apply for employment authorization. Under the old rule, H-4 visa holders, who came to the United States with their H-1B spouses, were not allowed to work here. Beginning in May, H-4 visa holders will be able to apply for employment authorization that would allow them to work anywhere in the country....

If you’re squirreling away money in an offshore account, 2012 may be the right year to come clean. The IRS’ amnesty program will be in full swing again later this year. The IRS started the voluntary program in 2009 and opened it again in 2011. The 2009 program has already collected around $3.4 billion. A total of more than 15,000 taxpayers came forward. The 2011 program brought in $1 billion. This figure is expected to grow as the IRS processes more cases....

While most of us will be around the grill for a barbeque or on the couch watching football, the Department of Homeland Security will on high alert this Labor Day weekend. The agency tasked with everything from immigration and border protection, to monitoring cell phone service, will be keeping a watchful eye on the nation’s railroads over the next few days. In addition to asking for increased public vigilance on a busy travel weekend, DHS and the Transportation Security Administration will be stepping up their presence on commuter trains....

If you are divorced with kids and either parent is contemplating remarriage, then you must be thinking about child support, too. You are wondering if the court will change the existing child support order or if a new spouse becomes financially responsible for the kids. The answer is generally no, remarriage does not change a parent’s obligations to their children. But child support orders are not fixed in stone, and there are limited situations in which a court will change support based on step-parent financials, or a change in parental status....

If parents are separated, but not necessarily going through a divorce, or unmarried, they may still need to make decisions about child custody. Even without all the emotions and vitriol of a divorce, child custody decisions can be fraught with many of the same complications. While there may be some minor differences between a custody dispute during divorce and one between unmarried or separated parents, for the most part, the process is the same and the court will be looking at the same factors....

North Dakota’s gay marriage ban was challenged in federal court Friday, leaving no state in the union with an unchallenged same-sex marriage ban. Seven same-sex couples joined a federal suit filed in U.S. District Court in Fargo, North Dakota, alleging the state’s laws denied them their constitutional rights. The Associated Press reports there are now gay marriage cases pending in all 31 states with gay marriage bans; the other states have legalized gay marriage....

Last year, news broke that Wells Fargo salespeople had been setting up fraudulent accounts for customers for years in order to meet sales quotas, and charging customers fees on those accounts as well. The victims included small businesses as well as individuals, and employees even sued the bank over the fraud. On top of that, a new lawsuit claims that Wells Fargo used “predatory and unlawful practices” to defraud members of the Navajo Nation, to the tune of $50 million....

There have been major concerns regarding the intermingling of President-elect Donald Trump’s business and family relationships, and how those might change once he takes office. When Rudy Giuliani addressed these recently, he said that taking the Trump businesses away from the Trump children “would be putting them out of work,” highlighting that “they can’t work in the government because of the government rule against nepotism.” The rule might be especially important when it comes to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who acted as a close advisor during the presidential campaign and who Trump is rumored to have tabbed for a senior spot in his White House....

Clearly, being a good corporate citizen has its advantages. Beyond helping your fellow man or doing good in the world at large, creating a positive image around your small business’s brand can only help with customers. So you would think, considering the past month or so that Uber has had, that its largest competitor would be flying high. But Lyft – whose president just told Time, “We’re woke. Our community is woke, and the U....

A gun manufacturer is being sued for injuries to a shooting victim. New Yorker Daniel Williams was shot nearly a decade ago. In an unusual lawsuit, he then sued Ohio-based gun manufacturer Beemiller, distributor MKS Supply, and the dealer of the pistol used to shoot him. Lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors are relatively rare because there’s a federal law that insulates them from such liability, reports Reuters. However, a New York appeals court overturned an earlier decision and allowed Williams to go ahead with his lawsuit....

Typically a lawsuit involving a pot dispensary is initiated by the federal government. But this time around Oakland is suing to stop federal officials from shutting down a dispensary. Harborside Health Center is the largest dispensary in the city and it brings in a lot of tax money along with the three other dispensaries licensed in Oakland. Melissa Haag, the U.S. Attorney assigned to the case, says Harborside violates California law because of the amount of business it does....

Celebrity chef Paula Deen has been fired by Food Network, which is declining to renew her contract when it expires at the end of this month. The news, of course, stems from leaked court documents that revealed Deen’s use of derogatory slurs, including the N-word, among a whole slew of other offensive behavior and language. Deen’s firing comes almost two years after the 66-year-old celebrity chef’s other “scandal,” wherein she revealed her Type II diabetes – but only because she was a paid spokeswoman for an insulin company....

Cell phone tracking, a method more prevalent than GPS and wiretaps, sometimes doesn’t require authorities to take out a search warrant. This means that in some cases, individuals don’t even know their cell phone has been tracked until location evidence is lodged against them during a criminal trial. Some might wonder if this is even legal in the first place. Cell phone tracing has become a mainstay in law enforcement authorities’ tool belt, but the legality of their use without a warrant is unclear....

The Prop 8 hearing for the case known as Perry v. Schwarzenegger is expected to have numerous experts give courtroom testimony on things such as the nature of homosexuality and the history of marriage. This marks the first time a trial for gay marriage rights will have such courtroom testimony. The move to actually involve testimony has convinced both sides that it will make their case more compelling. Los Angeles Times quotes Proposition 8 campaign attorney Andy Pugno as saying, “Actually putting witnesses on the stand has never been done before in any lawsuit claiming a right to same-sex marriage....