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When you travel abroad (for Spring Break or any kind of travel), you probably remember your passport, visas and vaccinations. These things are difficult to do while on holiday abroad, which is why you may want to consider setting up a power of attorney. You can give a trusted friend or family member the ability to take action while you’re in a foreign land. Many people mistakenly believe that a power of attorney is limited to situations in which a person becomes incapacitated....

It’s not often that teachers are bullying students but that’s exactly what happened at Salinas Elementary School near San Antonio, Texas. A kindergarten teacher sought help from a more experienced coworker on disciplining a perceived bully. Rather than suggesting the teacher contact his parents or speak to Aiden, age 6, about his behavior, she gave an unorthodox suggestion. Have the other students hit him to “teach him why bullying is bad....

Ever wake up next to your fiancé and suddenly realize that you can’t bear to spend the rest of your life with them? A broken engagement can turn into an emotional fiasco. Financially, it can also be a nightmare if you already shelled out thousands of dollars for that piece of jewelry. This might make you start to wonder whether or not your ex is required to return the engagement ring....

New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Monday requiring teens to get parental consent for body piercings. The law applies to those under 18 who want a piercing somewhere other than their ears. New York already had similar requirements for tattoos and tanning, so what prompted them to increase the restrictions on teen body piercings as well? The real issue was health and safety, according to a statement by Governor Cuomo....

Hoping to deal a knockout blow to an historical injustice, the AP reports that John McCain and others are stepping forward seeking a rare posthumous presidential pardon for the country’s first black heavyweight boxing champ, Jack Johnson, who was convicted of violating the Mann Act in 1913. But just what is the Mann Act, and why is it still making headlines? One NPR article broke down the history of the Mann Act (originally entitled the “White Slave Traffic” Act), noting the Act was “designed to combat forced prostitution....

Not all surgeries or medical procedures go the way we planned, but your injuries may not be the doctor’s fault. Sometimes medical devices and implants can be poorly designed, fail, or become damaged over time, causing serious health risks and even death. Lawsuits based on defective medical devices can be complicated and face significant legal hurdles, but can be necessary to hold device manufacturers accountable for flaws in design, manufacture, or warnings....

Whether your’re already facing employment issues or you’re are trying to avoid them by getting your legal ducks in a row, you may be considering hiring a lawyer who focuses on employment law for businesses. But what should you know before you do? A lawyer will have plenty of questions for you at an initial consultation; you should be sure to have a few of your own to ask as well....

With the housing market in a slump, high unemployment and a disturbing amount of student debt, there’s no question that more and more people are turning to the rental market. Got to live somewhere, right? It’s not uncommon for first-time renters to feel overwhelmed by the prospect. It’s a lot to take in – the hunt, the move-in, the possibility of bad neighbors and horrible landlords. Now, we can’t promise you won’t land in rental hell....

The state of Alabama has never taken too kindly to the Supreme Court’s rulings on civil rights. When the Court said the Constitution does not allow for racially segregated schools, then-Governor George Wallace blocked the doors of the University of Alabama. And now that the Court has ruled that the Constitution gives same-sex couples the fundamental right to marry, some Alabama judges are turning to segregation-era laws to avoid issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples....

Authorities say the new texting while driving ban in Georgia will be difficult to enforce. It will be up to police officers to observe violations by drivers and then explain exactly to the judge what they saw, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. The new law goes into effect on July 1, making it illegal to read, type, or send a text message while driving. As previously discussed, Georgia now joins the nearly 30 other states with laws banning texting while driving, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association....

The recent Oscar Grant settlement of $1.3 million has been made with Wanda Johnson, Grant’s mother. The decision of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to settle with the family, however, is not an admission of guilt by the transit agency. Grant, 22, was killed on a BART train platform on January 1, 2009. The responding BART officers had gone to the station after there were reports of a fight, reports CBS News....

A California county District Attorney is taking a rather extreme step in addressing budgetary shortfalls in his office, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Contra Costa County District Attorney Robert Kochly announced that the county will no longer prosecute “[m]isdemeanors such as assaults, thefts and burglaries”. Not only that, but added to the list of budget-saving measures are felony drug cases involving low quantities of narcotics, plus misdemeanor drug charges....

Maybe you got into a fender bender abroad. Maybe you blogged about a foreign national and they’re not happy with what you wrote. Maybe an ex is filing for divorce from another country. Whatever the case may be, it is possible to be sued in a foreign country. So what does that mean for you? Out of (Foreign) State, Out of Mind? First off, other countries have court systems that, while not exactly like ours, allow citizens to bring lawsuits against foreign citizens or even foreign countries....

The very last step of a real estate transaction, when the sale finally closes and keys are provided, may seem like a simple event. But getting to that closing often involves quite a bit of legwork. Buying or selling a home is an involved process that is regulated by nuanced and complicated state laws that vary from state to state. While most states do not require an attorney to be physically present on the day you sign the papers and get the key, hiring one beforehand can help make sure you make it to and through closing....

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is shouldering much of the responsibility for the decision to charge the Christmas Day terror suspect in the civilian system. According to the Associated Press, US Attorney General Eric Holder’s letter was the latest in response to the public criticism that the arrest and FBI interrogation of the Detroit suspect was a mistake that cost a chance to learn important information. Holder said the decision by the Department of Justice is consistent with earlier practices from the previous administration....

A former Georgia Tech student has been found guilty by a judge of “conspiring to provide material support to terrorism in the United States and abroad”, reports CNN. However, Syed Haris Ahmed’s dad feels his son was convicted based only on what was going on in his mind. CNN reported the father’s take: The word conspiracy usually makes people think of furtive planning and scheming, and for that reason people sometimes imagine that conspiracy offenses simply involve groups’ plots of one sort or another....

A falling tree killed two young children in Illinois when it fell onto their family’s tent. The family filed suit, alleging the campground deaths were the result of a failure to act on the part of the property owners. They recently settled for $1.25 million. The victims, 4-year-old Dustin Stuebs and his sister, 9-month-old Savannah Stuebs, were on an outing with their family in 2008 when tragedy struck at the Indian Trails Resort....

North Carolina farmworkers are embroiled in a legal battle with the state legislature over whether an anti-union law adopted in 2017 violates civil rights laws. That law made it illegal for farms and labor unions to negotiate settlements involving union contracts, as well as for farmworkers to directly transfer parts of their paycheck to the union as dues, even if they agree to it. North Carolina is a “right to work” state....

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a federal lawsuit against one of the largest private and federal student loan servicing company, Navient Corp. The lawsuit alleges Navient of “systemically and illegally failing borrowers at every stage of repayment.” Basically, they are alleged to have regularly deceived borrowers into choosing higher cost options. Navient’s Deceptive servicing According to the lawsuit, Navient deceived borrowers by: Providing bad information Misapplying payments Creating systematic obstacles for borrowers to reduce their payments Failing to respond to complaints Reporting that veterans that had their loans forgiven had defaulted on their loans Navient services over $300 billion in student loans, spread out amongst 12 million borrowers....

Who says guns and alcohol don’t mix? Certainly not the Powder Springs City Council in Georgia, which approved a liquor license for a proposed shooting range that will serve alcohol. The owners of a gun shop came up with the idea of opening a $3.5 million indoor gun range complete with its own bar, reports NBC. But the owners do note that patrons who visit the bar will be flagged and prevented from returning to the firing range....