If your business has an office party or company picnic coming up, you might want to think twice before topping off that guy with bloodshot eyes who reeks of Jägermeister. Your state may have laws that make party hosts liable for over-serving guests. Depending on what state you’re in, social hosts who serve or otherwise provide alcohol to someone who is visibly drunk can be liable for injuries caused by the intoxicated person....
A leak is believed to be the cause of a gas explosion that leveled one house and shook an entire Boston neighborhood on Wednesday morning. The blast, which occurred about 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 3, destroyed the home of Michael Burns. No one was at home at the time of the explosion and no injuries were reported. According to The Boston Globe, however, Burns and his partner who share the home, have lost everything....
Three women in Stockton, California, were having a fun girls’ night out until they saw the insults on their receipt at Chilly D’s Sports Lounge. At the top of the receipt where the customer’s name is supposed to go, the bill said “Fat Girls.” When the women questioned their server, he blamed another server who had conveniently left the building. The manager wasn’t much help either, although he offered the women a 50% discount, the Los Angeles Times reports....
Can a person talk trash about someone else on YouTube by posting vulgar and insulting remarks about them anonymously? Carla Franklin, former model and Duke biology and psychology major, as well as Columbia business school graduate, has asked a court to force Google to disclose the identity of an online commentator who called her a “whore” on YouTube. Franklin had recently appeared on YouTube videos posted by Columbia Business School that documented her travels to Africa and featured her offering advice to future MBA students....
With new times come new laws. Often the changes are a step forward, though businesses may be concerned that they hurt their bottom line too much. The new laws requiring mandatory breastfeeding areas are no exception. Breastfeeding is considered a healthy practice for mothers of growing children. However, while most mothers start off breastfeeding after taking parental leave, many of them stop earlier than doctors recommend. According to studies, one of the reasons is a lack of accommodations at work, MSNBC reports....
A car dealership in Virginia sold a Chevrolet Traverse for way below the asking price to customer Danny Sawyer. Realizing its mistake, the dealership then tried to get Sawyer to pay the difference. When that didn’t work, they had him arrested for theft. Getting a great deal from a car dealership is not a crime, and the criminal charges for theft were dropped, reports ABC. Now, the car dealership is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit brought by Sawyer....
Moving into a new apartment can be a lot of fun. Everything is different and it can be exciting to turn a unit into your own cozy home. Moving out, however, can be a hassle. And nowhere is this more evident than fighting to get back security deposit deductions. Not every landlord is an honest person. Sometimes, even if you clean a place from top to bottom, your building’s owner will still find a way to take cash from your deposit....
A benzene lawsuit has been filed against Shell Oil and BP by the estate of a late teacher, Debra Ochs. The leukemia lawsuit was filed by Jeffry Ochs, her husband, and on behalf of their daughter. Debra Ochs, a teacher at the Roxana School District in Illinois, died of leukemia in 2008. She had fought the disease for five years, reports The Telegraph. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has been monitoring benzene levels in recent years, trying to detect the chemical....
An enormous Illinois tax increase is making news and has some wondering if other states will follow suit. Legislators approved a massive Illinois tax increase on income tax, Reuters reports. The Illinois House passed an income tax increase that is aimed to help the state tackle its $13 billion deficit. The measure passed by a tight margin of 60 to 57 and was sent to the Illinois Senate where it’s predicted to pass, according to the Wall Street Journal....
Ellen Pao is suing venture firm Kleiner Perkins for sexual harassment and gender bias in a case that is generating a lot of buzz in Silicon Valley. Pao has worked for Kleiner Perkins since 2005 as a junior partner in the Silicon Valley office. In her claim, she alleges that the company did nothing when she suffered sexual harassment from a coworker with whom she had previously had a romantic relationship....
Teddy Bears may soon go the way of dinosaurs. No, we don’t mean those cuddly stuffed ones your kids have given up for cell phones. Teddy Bears are black bears, native to Louisiana, and named after President Theodore Roosevelt. He famously refused to shoot one tied to a tree, claiming it wouldn’t be in good sport. Call It a Comeback? Or Victim of Malpractice? The historic population of the Teddy Bear had decreased 99%, and its habitat 97%....
Like most estate planning tools, a living trust may require revisions or amendments from time to time. Fortunately, modifying a revocable trust is often fairly straightforward. Similar to revising a will, the exact laws for amending or revising a living trust may vary from state to state. Generally however, there are some basic guidelines for how to go about make changes to your living trust. So how do you revise or amend a living trust?...
Naming has power. To name a thing is to bring it to life and to give it a shape, whether it is living or inanimate. That is why, when people’s lives change or they grow up and are old enough to have power over their own names, they sometimes change them. There are many reasons to go through a legal name change, most of which fall under a few general categories we’ll consider here....
The AP reports that Neil Havens Rodreick II, a sex offender who posed as a schoolboy to get into schools got himself some schooling by a judge today, specifically, a sentence of 70 years in prison. Judge Thomas Lindbergh scolded Rodreick, “I find your conduct appalling – these were volitional choices you made, consistently deceitful, dishonest, manipulative…I think you represent a danger to the community; you in particular are dangerous to children....
The fight over a New York City policy that bars church services in public schools took another legal twist this week. A federal appeals court held the ban did not violate the right to free exercise of religion, reversing a lower court’s ruling. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the ban did not compel NYC officials to make decisions that “constitute excessive entanglement with religion,” as a lower court had found....
Less than a year after approving a transgender female’s petition to change the gender listed in legal documents to “non-binary,” an Oregon judge has signed off on another resident’s request to change their gender to “agender.” “I don’t consider myself non-binary because that’s an umbrella term for anything that isn’t binary, which is gender identity,” Patch, nee Patrick Abbatiello, told the Associated Press. “I never felt like I fell within any part of the gender spectrum....
It happens all too often. A person hires a lawyer right after an accident, then months later when the medical treatment is all done, the lawyer they hired decides they no longer want the case. Don’t read into it too much. Some lawyers only handle cases if they are of a certain value or above. So unless your lawyer has ceased communicating with you, there are a few steps you can take to make sure your case can be smoothly transitioned over to a new attorney....
Say it ain’t so! SkyMall, the ubiquitous in-flight shopping catalog, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday. While seat-back pockets will never be the same, the company’s ordeal offers some legal lessons for business owners. SkyMall’s parent company, Phoenix-based Xhibit Corp., “suspended its retail catalog operations” last week, Reuters reports. Staff layoffs, meetings with creditors, and court hearings are on the itinerary as the company makes its way through the bankruptcy process....
Going through your credit card bill, you find a $400 charge at McDonalds in Bangkok. Wait! When did you go to Bangkok, and what would you buy for $400 at McDonalds? Chances are, your credit card information was stolen, and there’s been some fraudulent charges on your account. Usually, the process of disputing those charges is relatively painless. You call your credit card company and make a report. They freeze your card, give you a refund, and send you a new card....
Injuries on the job happen. That’s when workers’ compensation laws and insurance become vitally important. But what counts as a workers’ comp injury? It depends. But as an employer, you should become familiarized with what is covered. Typically, workers’ comp laws cover a variety of different injuries that happen at work. The law is meant to ensure injured employees receive compensation if something does occur. Remember, workers’ compensation laws vary depending on what state you are in....
