You’ve seen those FBI warnings at the start of a movie when you pop in a DVD. The warnings tell you that unauthorized reproduction is illegal. But what is “unauthorized reproduction,” and when can it land you in hot water? Is it legal to burn a DVD that you own? The answer to that lies in the eternal question: Is it illegal if you won’t ever get caught? Here’s the lowdown on this....
A twenty two year-old Miami Heat dancer has been killed in a motorcycle crash in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Nicaragua native and member of the Miami Heat dance team, Nancy G. Lopez-Ruiz was operating her Suzuki GSX R when she was knocked off her bike by another car. According to FOX Sports, the dancer was pronounced dead on the scene of the fatal motorcycle crash. The accident occured around 9:15 pm when a trailing car hit the meridian of the road, and then struck Lopez-Ruiz’s motorcycle, causing Lopez-Ruiz to go flying off her bike....
What is the tip policy in your restaurant? Do your servers share tips with the busboys? Do you charge a set amount for parties of eight or more? Do you want to get rid of the headache of tips? A growing number of restaurants are doing away with the concept of tipping completely. Bar Marco, an upscale Pittsburg restaurant, abolished their tip program opting to pay employees a base salary with health care benefits and stock shares instead....
A malfunctioning New York City traffic light is the focus of a potential personal-injury lawsuit. But laws about how to sue cities may stop the suit in its tracks. A broken traffic signal gave green lights in all directions at a busy Bronx intersection in March 2011, the New York Post reports. A car and a cab crashed at the intersection, both facing a green light. Jonathan Diaz, 31, was driving the car and suffered a spinal injury that left him disabled....
In August 2008, the life of Eugene Robinson changed dramatically. The plumber, in his late fifties, spent 5 months in jail after he was falsely accused of rape due to a widely publicized police mix-up. The city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay him $85,000. Returning home from work, Eugene Robinson was informed by his neighbor that police were looking for him, reports CNN. Plastered in the “Week’s Most Wanted” section of the Philadelphia Daily News was his photo, accusing him of rape....
In October 2017, President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, surrendered to the FBI after being indicted on a litany of charges, including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, and making false and misleading statements in documents filed and submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The FBI, in an investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, was looking into connections between possible links and financial ties between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 presidential campaign....
A federal judge’s Plan B ruling is finally being accepted by the Obama administration. The Department of Justice is abolishing age restrictions on the sale of emergency contraception pills, making the morning-after pill available to women and girls without a prescription, reports The Washington Post. This is a big step for the government, which previously decided that only women and girls age 15 and over would be able to buy the Plan B “morning-after pill” without a prescription....
A class action lawsuit threw everything but the kitchen sink at a group of restaurateurs. At the heart of the suit was a tipless policy that defendants had instituted at their various east and west coast restaurants. Defendants claimed that they instituted the policy, along with increasing prices 20 percent, in order to better address issues of rising costs, tip sharing, employee retention, and sustainable income. No-Tip Policy – Does It Protect or Hurt Workers?...
Skeletal remains of Mitrice Richardson have been found in Malibu Canyon. Richardson, a California women, disappeared last year. As we reported in June, Latice Sutton, mother of Richardson, filed a wrongful death suit against Los Angeles County and officials at the Sheriff’s Department. The lawsuit alleged negligence in the way Richardson was handled by the police following her arrest after she exhibited signs of mental illness. She was allegedly released without a car, phone or purse....
It’s summer. Maybe school is just about to start, or you’ve got a few weeks of vacation that you’d like to use up. What better way to close a summer than with a road trip? Safety, however, should also be on your mind. Do you know if you’re legally able to drive with an out-of-state-license? What other safety tips should you keep in mind before embarking on a long, cross-country trek?...
Citing federal immigration law that ’exudes deference’ to the president and allows him ‘broad discretion to suspend’ the entry of noncitizens into the United States, the Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s much-maligned Muslim travel ban this morning. Several federal courts had blocked multiple versions of the ban from going into effect, citing “significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus driving the promulgation of the Executive Order” that “plainly discriminates based on nationality” in violation of federal law....
It’s a new year, and for many of us, that means starting a small business. Starting a business is something that comes with a lot of excitement and apprehension. To that end, we’re here to offer you our top three tips for starting a small business in 2011. Create a business plan: You need to have a plan in place for your business from the beginning. Who are your potential customers?...
Lynsie Murley’s TSA breast exposure lawsuit’s settlement documents has been revealed after a Freedom of Information Act request. The price that the TSA had to pay for revealing Murley’s breasts at a Texas airport? $2,350. Murley, 24, sued the TSA for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress after her humiliating run-in with TSA officers at the Corpus Christi airport in Texas in May 2008, reports the Daily Mail. TSA agents singled her out for extended search procedures and then pulled down her top in front of other airport security and guests, according to Murley....
The Virginia Tech lawsuit filed by the families of two of the students killed in the Virginia Tech shootings can partially proceed with gross negligence claims. The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports that Visiting Circuit Court Judge William Alexander made the decision to let the $10 million dollar Virginia Tech lawsuit proceed because the families presented enough facts that the university may have acted with gross negligence. He ruled that the families can proceed with claims against the university, president Charles Steger, former executive vice president James Hyatt, and three employees of the university’s counseling center....
Demurrer is a legal way of rejecting a claim without addressing the factual allegations contained within it. To demur to a civil lawsuit, a defendant essentially argues that even if the allegations are true, there is no legitimate legal claim. This legal device is being used by comedian Bill Cosby in response to a woman suing him for allegedly molesting her as a child 40 years ago. Cosby’s attorney filed a demurrer to the woman’s lawsuit, claiming that regardless if the allegations are true, there is no legitimate legal claim....
You know what a durable power of attorney is, and the potential advantages of having one if you’re ever incapacitated. (If not, check out Part I of our two-part series.) So now that you’re familiar with some of the basics, what else do you need to know? Today we cover the whens and hows: When a durable power attorney starts, when it stops, and how to best go about getting one drafted....
There are a variety of ways that the government tries to reduce and prevent crimes. One example is by having a gang database, which basically lists people who are members of known gangs. Sounds good in theory, but unfortunately, there appear to be many issues with implementing gang databases. The Problem With Gang Databases Even though many people in law enforcement see gang databases as a breakthrough in policing, civil rights lawyers find these databases to be problematic....
Proximate cause is an important element in negligence lawsuits, but it can also be a requirement in other types of legal actions, like getting restitution under federal law. Generally, proximate cause refers to actions that are reasonably foreseeable to lead to the injuries suffered by a plaintiff. So what does proximate cause actually mean? Actual cause or cause-in-fact is the act or failure to act that without which the harm wouldn’t have occurred....
Some lawyers are as annoying, pedantic, and greedy as every lawyer joke suggests. Unfortunately, as a result, for unrepresented parties, persistent or aggressive attorneys can often be mistaken as bullies or harassers. What’s worse though, is that, sometimes, attorneys cross over the line of acceptable persistence and aggressiveness. For lawyers and non-lawyers alike, knowing when an attorney crosses that line of acceptable conduct generally is not too difficult, but does involve taking a step back and evaluating the conduct objectively....
If a school or teacher suspects your child is being abused or neglected at home, state laws generally require that the teacher or school administrator report the suspected abuse to authorities. It is a requirement of their jobs to spot the signs of abuse or neglect, and make the report. What Happens When Child Abuse Is Reported? Once the report is made, a social worker and/or police officer will make a home visit, unannounced....
