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No, not like an unexciting company; like the Boring Company, Elon Musk’s serendipitously-named tunneling company. The same company that just got approval from the Hawthorne City Council to build a shaft from a local residence that would go down to part of the company’s tunneling laboratory, a shaft that would one day house an elevator which could lower a car down into the tunnel without leaving the garage. Pretty exciting stuff, right?...

Sure, you may have been daydreaming about Batman when you signed your first apartment lease, and that’s okay. But, when it comes to signing your first ever commercial lease for your business, there’s quite a bit more to consider. Courts are much less flexible when it comes to commercial leases compared to residential ones, particularly for the lessees. Generally, this is due to the fact that there are fewer statutory protections for lessees in business/commercial leases, and the legal issues don’t involve an individual’s, or family’s, home....

Criminal prosecutors in Maryland are trying to crack down on growing gang violence. To do that, they say it will take tougher anti-gang laws. Currently, a slew of new gang-related bills are being considered by lawmakers to help better identify, track and prosecute known gang members. Under current law, nearly every jurisdiction has a different definition for gang members, making census counts and data-sharing nearly impossible. Revisions to the 2007 Maryland Gang Prosecution Act would close loopholes....

As an employer, you likely go to great lengths to budget payroll. You calculate just how much you have to spend and schedule everyone accordingly. But everyone has that one employee who works off-the-clock even though they weren’t asked to. Or that employee who overstays their daily welcome, triggering overtime wage laws. What can you do? Do you have to pay unauthorized overtime? Generally speaking, yes. If you are aware that the employee worked off-the-clock or longer than she was supposed to, you are responsible for any related wages....

You know better than to text while driving, but what about when walking? Distracted walking accidents are reportedly on the rise. Petextrians – pedestrians who text – are partly to blame. Pedestrian injuries due to cell phone usage are increasing. As we become ever more reliant on the technology, researchers are focusing on unfocused walking. Distraction Nation According to Ohio State University researchers, using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, from 2005 to 2010, the number of cell-phone-related walking injuries more than doubled to 1,500 – even while pedestrian injuries on the whole dropped....

Have you ever worried about taking alcohol breath tests? Well, it looks like the 400 people rounded up by the Washington D.C. police had a good reason to. Many of them, including half that went to city jails, were convicted of driving while intoxicated based on inaccurate results collected in the fall of 2008 from breath test machines, the Washington Post reports. As a result, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickels began notifying drivers, which prompted at least one lawsuit....

Some Florida school districts still use corporal punishment, choosing to spank misbehaving students with paddles. But at Holmes County High School in Bonifay, administrators have gone one step further. They have students make the paddles in woodshop class. Though some may be offended by this practice, it’s completely legal. School corporal punishment may have been banned in most of the country, but Florida is one of 19 states that still allows the practice....

If you use part of your home for your business, you may be able to deduct expenses for the business use of your home. The home office tax deduction is available for homeowners and renters, and applies to all types of homes. The best part is that the IRS has now simplified the method for determining the home office tax deduction. But do you qualify for the simplified deduction? If you own your business, there are two basic requirements for your home office to qualify as a tax deduction:...

Sometimes you may want to sue a blogger for what they write about your company or your products. Obsidian Finance did just that, and prevailed. They sued blogger Crystal Cox. During the trial, Obsidian alleged she defamed the company with some of her Internet posts. Obsidian won $2.5 million in damages last year. Cox had accused the company of criminal behavior. But Cox wasn’t done fighting yet. She sought a new trial in January....

For boozehounds and wine enthusiasts alike, here is a breakdown of the most common state regulations on shipping wine: Unfortunately for wine lovers, state laws regulating alcohol are always subject to change – sometimes even by court decisions – so it is important to stay current on your home state’s laws. As of October 2013, according to the Wine Institute, about 40 states allow some form of shipment to consumers in their states from out-of-state wineries....

Fighting a speeding ticket when the officer uses a radar gun is difficult, but not impossible. As with other instruments like Breathalyzers, a radar gun is not without its potential flaws. Here are three possible ways you may be able to challenge radar gun evidence in court: Like Breathalyzers and other automated devices which law enforcement use, radar guns must be calibrated in order to have their readings accurately reflect the actual speed of a vehicle....

The Magic Kingdom is not so magical when you get bitten by a rat while visiting. Unless it turns you into a princess or cooks you a seven-course dinner – then it’s still magical. Unfortunately for one park-goer, his rat bite ended in medical bills and disfigurement instead of riches and a crown. Now he’s suing Disney for damages as a result. A Rat Run Amok According to the lawsuit filed on March 19, Galen Haldeman, 59, and his wife Carol had just ridden the Buzz Lightyear ride when he was bitten by a rat in a nearby store....

FBI statistics show that arrests of female drunk drivers have risen by almost 30% between 1998 and 2007. Though drunk driving is still dominated by men, the same time period saw a decrease in males arrested for it. Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off a nationwide crackdown on impaired driving. In particular, he drew attention to the rise in arrests of female drunk drivers over the past decade. According to the FBI’s numbers, in 1998, 126,119 women were arrested for driving under the influence....

“Operation Fast and Furious” has led to a potential “Fast and Furious” lawsuit over the death of a border patrol agent. Agent Brian Terry was murdered in Arizona by weapons involved with the “Fast and Furious program.” “Fast and Furious” is a weapons trafficking program run by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), reports Fox News. The operation let guns be sold and transported to Mexico....

More and more people are their own boss these days. Startups, freelancing jobs, and the gig economy only make self-employment easier. What isn’t so easy is navigating the legal implications of self-employment – the tax, retirement, and health insurance implications of being out on your own. So consider this your legal start kit for self-employment; it’s like a list of must-read information for your “nano” business of one: Little Business, Big Tax Implications The most important, and possibly most time-consuming, aspect of being self-employed is figuring out how your tax liability will change....

Parents and caregivers will have an easier time choosing a child seat that will be a good fit for their vehicles, and car seats will undergo more rigorous crash testing under a new program being developed by federal safety officials – a key part of a comprehensive mandate to improve child passenger safety in vehicles and strengthen federal standards for child car seats. Based on the findings of a task force of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) experts, the agency “will institute a new program beginning with the 2011 model year to make it easier for parents to choose child safety seats....

Can a parent be arrested when a kid misses school? There are more and more stories about such arrests, with the latest coming out of Lake County, Fla. Elizabeth Marrero’s daughter, who should be in high school, hasn’t yet graduated from middle school. She’s missed two years of classes despite the school district’s attempts to get her back on campus. When the state attorney found out, Marrero was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor....

But, there is something that you can pick up from following a celebrity nuptial. And that is signing a prenup. Take the latest “Mr. and Mrs.” to grace magazine covers and television info-tainment programming, Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian. The couple, who said their “I do’s” in a ceremony in late-September, reportedly finalized a prenuptial agreement this week bringing them closer to being officially married. Now though the Kardashian-Odom prenup reportedly includes provisions for a luxury home, high-end ride, and spending provisions to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, a multi-million dollar bank account is not a prerequisite for signing a prenuptial agreement....

The holy month of Ramadan can mean certain religious obligations for Muslim employees, and employers should be educated about their legal obligations to reasonably accommodate Ramadan’s observance. What are reasonable accommodations for the month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend? J.B. Swift: Be Consistent With Accommodation Policy In 2010, Muslim workers at two J.B. Swift meat-packing plants filed lawsuits alleging religious and national-origin discrimination based on incidents that unfolded during the month of Ramadan....

A bicyclist from San Diego will soon be receiving a little bit of justice in the form of a check for nearly $5 million. After being severely injured due to a crash caused by poorly maintained city sidewalks, the cyclist will likely require a lifetime of medical care and incur other costly expenses, which the large settlement will go a long way toward providing. The injury cyclist was bicycling to a friend’s home when he rode over a cracked sidewalk that the lawsuit described as a “launching ramp....