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Health-conscious Californians have railed against perceived radiation risks from cell phones and wireless utility meters. Now Santa Monica’s new wireless parking meters are being challenged in a woman’s $1.7 billion claim. The new meters are sometimes called “smart” parking meters, because they can detect when a vehicle leaves its spot. The meter then zeroes-out the balance of that car’s remaining time, the Santa Monica Daily Press reports. But the meters’ wireless technology is making one woman sick – literally, according to her claim, which could potentially lead to a lawsuit....

We recently went over the story of Lacy T., a Raiderette who is suing the Oakland Raiders Club for violation of California labor laws. Well, the lawsuit is picking up steam as a second Raiderette joined the suit. Twenty-nine-year-old Sarah G. (last names aren’t disclosed for safety reasons) spent four seasons with the Raiders as a cheerleader but joined the lawsuit, claiming their contract with the Club was rife with illegal provisions....

Like lifting a book report from a Wikipedia article, getting legal advice from Reddit can seem pretty risky. After all, who’s behind this information? Is it accurate? And, if you rely on it, are you going to get yourself into more trouble? In the end, you’re probably better off reading the book yourself or talking to a real live lawyer. But, as a recent Vice profile highlighted, that’s where Reddit’s Legal Advice subreddit can be at its best: answering the most common legal question, “Do I need a lawyer?...

To the delight of some and the dismay of others, purchasing wild animals – lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my! – has been relatively easy in the United States. Private individuals, not just zoos and sanctuaries, were able to amass collections of exotic animals, sometimes with tragic results. But the days of stocking your mansion or estate with rare species may be over. Two new federal laws regarding the breeding, purchase, and sale of tigers in the U....

Is this what would happen if we had real gun control? Police in Irvine, California, are looking for two men suspected of robbing a convenience store – with a tree branch. It sounds amusing, pitiful even, but if you view the surveillance video, posted with the story by ABC 7 local news, the robber in charge of the branch looks pretty threatening, vicious even. And he swings that thing like a baseball bat....

It’s not unheard of for law schools to provide pro bono legal services through student clinics. Some provide legal services to community first-responders and to retired and even current military personnel. In the case of veterans, the lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed to in the military presents them with special challenges as they can no longer turn to the structure of the chain of command. Wake Forest University School of Law recently joined those ranks, with its nascent clinic....

It’s possible that Joshua Hanshaw was just a fan looking for some souvenirs when he broke into Appalachian Power Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliate, the West Virginia Power. After all, Hanshaw is wearing hitting coach Ryan Long’s jersey in his mug shot following his arrest. But that probably wasn’t the case, as the reportedly homeless Hanshaw looted the Power’s locker room for almost $4,000 worth of players’ personal items like sunglasses, shoes, and toiletries that had been pre-packed for the team’s upcoming road trip....

If you don’t want to hear any more about Brendan Dassey, you are not alone. Dassey, whose tale played out on “Making a Murderer,” was a 16-year-old with “intellectual deficits” at the time he was interrogated in the Wisconsin case. He confessed and was convicted with his uncle in the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. The case, unlike the Netflix documentary, has been going on for a decade....

Get laid on a work trip, collect worker’s comp. At least if you live in Australia, where a judge has ruled in favor of a government employee. The unnamed woman was on a business trip in 2007 when she decided to get down and dirty in her motel room bed. A wall-mounted lamp fell on her head. Not as embarrassed as she should have been, she filed a worker’s compensation claim....

Tamar Hage was horrified to learn that a bare-breasted photo of her had been used in Seattle alt weekly The Stranger’s ‘Drunk of the Week’ feature last December. Especially considering she had been 2,000 miles away at the purported time of the photo, celebrating her grandmother’s 90th birthday in Pittsburgh. So she did what anyone else in her position would do – she sued the magazine for invasion of privacy and emotional distress....

For years, law schools have been cutting class sizes and even shutting down in response to declining enrollment. Over the past five years, the amount of law students has plummeted 20 percent. There are now fewer law students than any time since 1977. It seems like America’s best and brightest youth had forsworn law school for investment banking, tech degrees, or a summer internship with ISIS. You know, careers with a future....

Valencia v. Smyth, No. B216753, concerned plaintiffs’ suit against real estate agents, title companies, and others, arising from a real estate transaction, claiming seven causes of action including, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair business practices, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. In affirming the trial court’s judgment, the court held that, based on the plain meaning of the arbitration provision, the parties agreed that the California Arbitration Act (CAA), not the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), would govern the arbitration....

The problem with maintaining a harem of female companions over the course of 30 years is that, eventually, you may grow attached to one of your companions. These things happen. Jacques Gaston Murray, a wealthy, 91-year-old business man, married three times. After his last divorce, he swore to never become emotionally involved in a relationship again. Murray is our Richard Gere/Edward Lewis character in this case. Murray conceded that he probably spent more time with Barrese than with the other companions....

You’re a billable hour machine. You’re killing it on all your cases and have even brought in some clients to the firm. You’re a top associate at your firm and on your way to making partner. You might just have. Now, if you are rocking a tat of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure your hiring partners might think you’re just committed to the law. At the same time, expressing yourself via piercings and tattoos can come at a cost....

A vampire epidemic is spreading across this country, touching courts from coast to coast. People are blaming vampires and vampire-related TV and movies for a lot of ridiculous behavior in this country. HBO’s True Blood may well be to blame for the biting of a 3-year-old boy on the neck. And for an Arizona “vampire” sentenced to three years of probation for stabbing his roommate after he refused him his blood....

A Florida DUI lawyer has sued a Miami strip club for getting him so drunk he became “temporarily unconscious” and ran up a $18,930 bar tab. Mark S. Gold, known in South Florida for specializing in traffic cases, sued the owners of the all nude strip club Gold Rush in Miami-Dade County Court, Courthouse News reports. Mark Gold, founder of The Ticket Clinic, filed the complaint pro se. He wants a refund from him drunken night at the nude club....

The days of outside counsel handling an entire case may be coming to their end. Instead, clients are increasingly unbundling legal services, assigning tasks piecemeal across multiple firms and lawyers, in order to find the most cost efficient legal services, according to a forthcoming paper in the Fordham Law Review. These changes, according to the paper, mark a shift in who controls litigation costs and tasks, moving from the lawyer to the client, and parallel similar developments in the rules of civil procedure....

Law schools excel at teaching the theory of law but not exactly its practice. You can spend years learning some of the nation’s most important legal precedents and discussing obscure points of jurisprudence, but if you want to put that knowledge in to practice, you’re going to need to get some experience. Thankfully, you don’t have to wait till you’ve graduated to start getting some experience in how law is actually practiced....

The jury may be out but the judge is in – in trouble, that is. Judge Diane Vettori-Caraballo is in deep deliberations after being charged with stealing at least $96,200 from a former client. She announced her resignation by voicemail to the Mahoning County presiding judge. In a press release, federal prosecutors said Vettori-Caraballo faces charges of fraud, making false statements to law enforcement, and other allegations. The release also said the charges are not evidence of guilt – as if that matters at this point....

Levi Miles said he was trying to impress his date. So he asked the valet for the keys to a yellow Ferrari parked at the hotel, and the valet gave them to him. “That’s not stealing,” Miles told police later in his best Ferris Bueller impression. “The valet gave me the keys.” Miles was charged with grand theft auto, but that was only the beginning of the legal drama. The Ferrari belonged to a lawyer who was stranded at the hotel....