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The National Park Service is temporarily banning the use of drones over land and water administered by the agency while it crafts rules that may severely limit their future use in national parks. The move comes after national parks such as Yosemite began enforcing individual bans on the use of unmanned aircraft amid increasing numbers of visitors using drones to shoot video or observe wildlife in the parks, reports The Huffington Post....

As has been widely covered in tech news, Twitter executives were recently victims of a hack-and-send job in which confidential documents were not only accessed but distributed to media outlets and have begun to be posted online. The ease and simplicity in which the hacker compromised Twitter’s private docs can make any small business owner evaluate the safety of their online information. What is an entrepreneur to do? Complicate the issue....

Cities including Phoenix and Portland are considering streamlining their approvals and permitting processes for small businesses. Keeping in mind the significant hurdles zoning and permits can represent to small businesses, basic zoning tips are useful to those making a move and those just starting out. As the Arizona Republic reports, Phoenix is considering making it a bit easier for small and medium sized businesses to get through the arduous planning and permitting process required to legally do business in the city....

You have sued for personal injury and the case hasn’t settled. Now you need to decide whether you want a judge or jury trial for this civil suit. Your lawyer says a jury is the way to go but you just don’t know. Isn’t a judge better-equipped to understand the issues? Why rely on the response of a bunch of strangers who know little about the law? Can a jury of your peers possibly understand the issues in your case?...

Well yeah, right? Of course you want an attorney with trial experience. But when it comes to personal injury attorneys, trial experience isn’t everything, especially when it’s the wrong kind of experience. There are a lot of reasons to hire a lawyer, and trial experience can be one of them. So find out how to assess that experience before hiring your personal injury attorney. When considering a potential injury lawyer’s trial experience, you want to make sure it’s the right kind of experience....

Stem-cell therapy uses undifferentiated biological cells to treat or prevent injuries and disease. The most common type of stem-cell therapy is bone marrow transplants. Like any medical treatment, stem-cell therapy doesn’t always work. But that didn’t stop one controversial California clinic from touting a 100 percent customer satisfaction rating, a rating some of its less than satisfied customers claim they relied upon when shelling out up to $15,000 for ineffective treatments....

If you ask, most teachers will tell you their job is much more difficult than it looks. Most will tell you they feel underpaid and under-appreciated. However, a lawsuit filed in California on Thursday, August 5, takes those difficulties and pushes them to the level of exploitation, at least according to the claims of the plaintiffs. This class action suit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of plaintiffs claims that 350 Filipino teachers were lured to the U....

As summer vacation draws near, travel awaits – along with potential airline and TSA complaints. So what are the most common reasons for customer complaints? We can only guess, as most complaints probably go unreported. But for those who take the time to file official complaints, the U.S. Department of Transportation is listening – and they’ve compiled the data in public reports posted online. While the latest report was released in September 2012, it covers complaints filed in July 2012, providing a snapshot of what travelers may endure this summer....

Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. Business owners can make the mistake of believing that one attorney can meet all of their business needs. Yes, you should have one attorney that you trust with the majority of your legal issues. He should know your business in and out. And he should be the attorney you call with questions or when issues arise. But all attorneys are not equal. They have different skill sets and add different value to your business....

After a car accident, you may not think that you need an attorney. After all, car accidents happen all the time, and your insurance company’s going to handle everything anyway, right? Don’t count on it. Being self-reliant can be a virtue, but in many cases a car accident victim’s lack of knowledge about applicable laws and refusal to reach out to an attorney can affect how much compensation a victim receives....

Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. It is very common for businesses to provide their customers with an invoice to request payment for goods or services that have been provided. In so doing, you are trusting that your customers will pay the amount requested. You are also trusting that they will pay on time. But customers don’t always pay their invoices as requested. And this can be detrimental to your business....

The penalties for selling alcohol to a minor can be as stiff as a shot of absinthe. Fortunately, there are a variety of legal defenses available to business owners when they either mistakenly sell alcohol to a minor or allow a minor to consume alcohol on your premises. Here are the most common defenses to selling alcohol to minors: For more information on potential defenses to selling alcohol to a minor, you may want to speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney in your area....

In personal injury cases, car accident police reports can be useful tools to determine the circumstances of the accident and get a preliminary assessment of fault. Car accident police reports are often used by insurance companies, as well as by parties involved in mediation or settlement negotiations. But are the car crash police reports admissible in court as evidence? The answer depends on many factors. Here are a few you’ll want to consider:...

Employees already complain that going to work is a pain, especially when they have to stand up for long hours. Many workers are fed up, and have filed a host of class action lawsuits to gain the right to use a chair to sit during their shifts in instances where it is work appropriate. Take a Seat – Going to Trial Recently, a federal judge ruled that a trial is necessary to decide whether Walmart cashiers are entitled to take a seat while doing their jobs....

As more and more consumers use review sites to choose everything from restaurants to contractors to daycare, businesses rely on the positive reviews posted on those sites to attract more customers. And they lament the negative ones. Most businesses probably expect a few negative customer reviews. But what if an ex-employee writes a bad review? Do you have to just put up with everyone’s right to voice their opinions, or do some go too far?...

When an employer files an I-140 form on an immigrant employee’s behalf, the last thing that employee may be concerned about is having the I-140 petition revoked by that employer. However, it is important to know that the employer does have the ability to revoke the petition. Generally, an employer will only seek to revoke the petition in a few limited circumstances, including but not limited to: Misrepresentation by the employee Fraud by the employee The employee quits or is terminated The circumstances that prompt the revocation are significant for the petitioning employee....

Flying has become less and less of a pleasant experience. But what usually makes the biggest difference between a tolerable experience and one that causes you to question your faith in humanity, is the other humans on board. Some are delightful, but others have a special penchant for being astoundingly rude. It appears that one woman and her children had to deal with the latter type as they made their way from Nigeria to Canada, by way of the States....

In life, mistakes happen. Sometimes a little mistake can be corrected, other times, even a little mistake can be unforgivable. Luckily, there’s divorce. But what happens when your divorce lawyer makes a mistake? In a legal case, like in life, when an attorney makes a mistake, sometimes it matters, and sometimes it just doesn’t matter, legally, financially, or in the grand scheme of things. However, when it’s your divorce case, no matter how inconsequential the mistake may be in reality, any mistake is a big one....

Lawyers are taking action in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal at Penn State. Civil suits may soon be filed against Sandusky, his charity The Second Mile, Penn State, and anyone who failed to report the abuse – including former head coach Joe Paterno. Civil lawsuits are usually heard after criminal cases are concluded. Though civil suits may take years to play out in court, they could result in multimillion-dollar judgments for sex abuse victims, one lawyer told The New York Times:...

Bad news for business owners everywhere: disgruntled employees lawsuits are on the rise. The cause of the discontent varies but the end result is always the same – a lawsuit that costs both time and money. According to the EEOC, the average discrimination lawsuit costs $235,000. Employment practice liability claims can include: age discrimination, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, disability discrimination and retaliation. Racial discrimination comprises the majority of claims, 36% in total....