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If you’re a small business owner pondering bankruptcy, you have a few filing options. While some would mean an end to your entrepreneurial dream, others may let you continue to operate your business while paying off your debts. And if you’re not willing to say goodbye to your small business yet, you may consider filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Generally, Chapter 11 is intended for the reorganization of businesses with significant debt, and may allow your small business to propose a plan for profitability post-bankruptcy and continue to operate while temporarily keeping your creditors at bay....

Try as we might, no person is perfect. And some of those non-perfect people are our family members. This leaves us non-criminal family members with some tough choices to make. Does a daughter need drug therapy? Should you call the cops on your cousin? Is it time to consult with a lawyer? Here are just a few of the legal considerations you should keep in mind if you’ve got a family member who is in involved in criminal activity....

Another former staffer has dirt to spill on President Donald Trump. And the president again promises legal action, claiming the staffer violated a confidentiality agreement. While Trump is notorious for threatening lawsuits that never materialize, and his administration’s non-disclosure agreements have been deemed potentially unenforceable and illegal, could this be the time that Trump actually sues, and the alleged NDA is enforced? Here’s a look. “Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House” was written by former Trump administration communications aide Cliff Sims, and released this week....

The holidays are a wonderful time of year, filled with plenty of cheer. Gift givers and receivers delight in the surprises that those brightly wrapped and decorated boxes contain. However, there are some gifts that you might want to be extra careful about giving. Below you’ll find a list of 7 types of gifts that might have some unexpected legal consequences. Giving the gift of guns, knives, and bb guns, may seem like a great idea if you’re shopping for a hunter or weapons enthusiast, but you may want to think twice and research the law in your state....

Adding live music can be a great way to liven up the atmosphere at your bar, restaurant, or any other place of business. Differing musical tastes aside, sometimes even the most talented band can lead to major headaches – legal and otherwise – for those fail to properly prepare. Add a raucous audience to the mix, and you could have a recipe for disaster. To help you avoid any potential problems, here are seven legal tips for hosting live bands at your business:...

Things aren’t going so well for Here Comes the Bride, a New Jersey bridal shop featured last week on Free Enterprise when its manager refused to sell a wedding dress to Alix Genter on the grounds that she is marrying another woman. As a result of the widespread media attention, hundreds of outraged citizens posted nasty reviews on the shop’s Yelp page, calling the store’s actions immoral and urging patrons to shop elsewhere....

Kymberly Wimberly graduated from McGehee Secondary School, a school within the McGehee School District in McGehee, Arkansas. She graduated with one of the highest honors a high school student can have: valedictorian. But, Wimberly ended up sharing the honor of being valedictorian with another student, and is now filing suit in federal court, reports CNN. The reason behind her suit? She’s claiming discrimination. Wimberly is African American, and the co-valedictorian that she shared the honors with is Caucasian....

The organizers of Burning Man have filed a federal lawsuit against a Nevada county to prevent an ordinance from taking effect that would have the effect of buttoning up the popular arts festival. Pershing County has an ordinance in place that could require Burning Man participants to wear clothing and enable sheriff’s deputies to regulate activities they consider to be “obscene, indecent, vulgar, or lewd,” reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal....

Government funding can provide the means for sustenance for non-profit organizations. And any non-profit would agree that the thought of it being yanked could pose a substantial setback. Non-profit or not, it’s not easy being ACORN these days. And the House of Representatives’ resounding vote to deny federal funding to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) this week is case in point. And, with votes totaling 345 to 75 in favor of the funding cut, the numbers also signal a deliberate effort by the government to distance itself from the longtime community organizing institution....

Knowledge is power. But knowledge can also affect the balance of power, and the delicate balance in a courtroom may be in play when cameras enter federal trial courts starting as early as this month. Announced recently by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, the 9th Circuit has approved a pilot program to place cameras in the federal trial courts in the nine western states within the circuit’s jurisdiction. For now, not every federal trial will be filmed....

A foreign guest staying at the posh Miami Epic Hotel has died of Legionnaires’ disease. CBS reports that as a result of the death coupled with two other guest contracting the disease since October has forced the hotel to voluntarily relocate more than 400 hotel guests and residents. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Legionnaires’ disease is caused by breathing in vapor or mist that has been contaminated with the Legionella bacteria....

If you’re running a tax exempt nonprofit organization or a charity, you need to understand some of the implications of the estate tax repeal because of its potential effects on the funding of nonprofits. Under a logical thought process, one would assume that less taxes would mean more money and therefore, more money for people to give to charity. Right? If only it were so. Unfortunately, tax policy is never the product (or effect) of such linear logic....

After former engineer Susan Fowler published a blog post detailing numerous instances of sexual discrimination and harassment during her time at Uber, the company knew it had to get the investigation and response right. So it turned to the man who was once America’s former top prosecutor, former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran, his partner at the Covington & Burling law firm. Axios is reporting that Holder has completed his investigation and the results could be presented to Uber’s top brass sometime this week....

Sometimes you hit a bad run of luck, which is what happened to Southern Californians with homes in foreclosure who were also bilked by their lawyers. Two Orange County law firms are accused of depriving distressed homeowners of $15 million in fees in one year alone, while providing few if any legal services. The firms – Brookstone Law and Advantis Law, both with multiple offices in Orange County – targeted vulnerable clients and hooked them with false promises, guarantees that lawyers ethically cannot make....

This Saturday is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. While the name may sound a bit silly, the nationwide event aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible way for people to legally dispose of prescription medication that is either expired or unwanted, according to the Office of Diversion Control. Although most people are aware of the dangers of medication abuse, not everyone knows that improperly disposing of drugs can harm the environment....

We all like to have a good time, and for the most part we can tell when a good time will turn into a not-so-good time. But what about when we can’t? We’d all like to think we know best when it comes to drinking, and we can be responsible for our own buzz. But if we’re too far gone to know when we should stop drinking, is it a bar’s responsibility to cut us off?...

Apple is poised to announce the new iPhone 5S and 5C on September 10, and with every new smartphone comes a new opportunity to review your mobile carrier contract. Even if the new iPhone is only a blue or champagne colored version of its predecessor, reports Gizmodo, most cell phone service providers will offer a discounted rate when pre-ordering the shiny tech newness – so long as you renew your contract....

Former NBA star Jayson Williams might finally be doing some jail time, and it may be due to his recent behavior as much as the convictions hanging over his head. Briefly recapping the sad, long-running story of Jayson Williams, he was accused of aggravated manslaughter in the fatal shooting of his driver, Costas Christofi, in 2002 (the AP story has more of the details). Although Williams ended up getting acquitted of that charge, he did get convicted for covering up the fatal shooting, and there was a mistrial on a reckless manslaughter count....

Johns Hopkins Hospital has agreed to settle with thousands of patients over claims that a gynecologist secretly recorded office visits for years. The class-action suit has more than 9,000 plaintiffs and accuses Johns Hopkins of being responsible for the recording and inappropriate behaviors of former Hopkins gynecologist Nikita Levy. The Los Angeles Times reports that Levy is alleged to have used hidden cameras during pelvic exams, including a camera pen he carried....

The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a central portion of the Voting Rights Act, effectively ending the practice in which some states with a history of racial discrimination must receive clearance from the federal government before changing voting laws. The decision to render the 48-year-old federal law ineffective is a major blow to civil rights activists. Far from unanimous, the vote was 5-4, with conservative-leaning justices in the majority and liberal-leaning justices in the minority, reports The New York Times....