A mom who hired strippers for her son’s 16th birthday party could be stripped of her freedom if she’s convicted on child endangerment charges. Police say Judy Viger, 33, of Gansevoort, New York, allegedly hired two female strippers to help celebrate her son’s big day. The party was held at a bowling alley, and the strippers performed lewd dances for partygoers as young as 14, reports The Times Union of Albany....
Every lawyer is a negotiator, and most have a story to go with it. Like Jackie, who was working for a financial instituion when she received a job offer from a bank to work in-house. It was for more than she expected, but she was still looking at a pay cut. “She went in asking for 20K more; they countered at 18K more than the initial offer, and she accepted!” Forbes related, adding, “Simply asking works....
Walking the tightrope of free speech, political opinions, and office culture is a challenging balancing act for any employer. Now imagine you’re the federal government. On the one hand, the Constitution’s First Amendment protections apply directly to you, more so than private employers. On the other, how do you keep politics out of anything you do? The goal is to at least provide the appearance that civil servants are politically neutral....
The Oscar Pistorius murder trial, which is being called the “trial of the century” in South Africa, began today with testimony from a neighbor of the Olympic track star. The neighbor told the court she heard “bloodcurdling screams” followed by gunshots the night Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steencamp, Reuters reports. The neighbor said she then heard a man screaming for help. While today’s court proceedings may have seemed similar to how American courts work, there are significant differences between the South African and U....
In taxpayer-partnership’s appeal from a tax court’s decision that it had jurisdiction over several partnership-level determinations regarding the taxpayer and that valuation misstatement penalties applied, the order is affirmed in part where the tax court acted within its jurisdiction when it determined that the taxpayer was not a valid partnership and should be disregarded for tax purposes. However, the order is vacated in part where the partnership’s outside basis was an affected item, not a partnership item, and therefore the tax court had no right to determine, or assess penalties based on the conclusion, that the partners’ outside bases were zero....
In the Secretary of Labor’s petition for review of a Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission decision that the Secretary lacked jurisdiction to regulate a private road operated by respondents, the petition is granted where the Secretary reasonably concluded that the road fell within the definition of “mine” in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. Read Sec’y. of Labor v. Nat’l. Cement Co. of Cal., No. 08-1312...
Martin Shkreli became the world’s most hated man last fall when he raised the price of a lifesaving medication by 5451 percent overnight. It was a role he relished, saying he only regretted not raising the price higher and taunting his critics on social media. Shkreli’s bad behavior also landed him in legal hot water. He was arrested in December on fraud charges related to previous stints as a hedge fund manager and at a biopharmaceutical company....
Can you feel that? Breathe it in. It’s the smell of panic, also known as the “holy [expletive] the biggest test of my life is coming up in two weeks and OMG WHAT THE [EXPLETIVE] AM I GOING TO DO?!?” I sympathize. I’ve been there. The only exam in my life where I thought, “I might fail” was the California Bar. Fortunately, I survived. So will you. Here are a few tips to ensure that, even if you do survive the test, you won’t have a massive stroke minutes after submitting the test materials....
The real winner of Super Bowl 50 wasn’t the Denver Broncos. It wasn’t even Beyonce. It was referee Cletus “Clete” Blakeman, at least according to the Internet. And no, the web wasn’t impressed with Blakeman’s sometimes controversial calls; it was more about his looks. Blakeman’s presence on the field sent hashtags like #hotref and #rippedref trending on Twitter. That’s a lot of unexpected attention for a personal injury lawyer from Omaha....
We all know drugs are bad, but did you know they can make you do stupid things? Real stupid things, in fact. We’re talking eating fecal-covered cocaine stupid. And cooking meth in Walmart stupid. Simply put – things that no human should ever do. In case you couldn’t tell, this edition of T.G.I.FindLaw! is all about the week’s most outlandish drug-related news. This is your brain on drugs. Drugs make you incapable of deciding when it’s appropriate to call 911....
A Montana State University professor has filed a libel lawsuit against Walmart over the job description a Walmart employee entered on the professor’s fishing license application. Rather than list the professors actual occupation of college professor, the employee wrote “cleans toilets.” The following year, when the professor went to renew the license, the error remained despite the professor again informing the clerk of his occupation. When the professor showed his license to fellow MSU teacher, the other teacher made a joke, within earshot of other students, about the fact that “cleans toilets” was listed on the license....
A San Francisco restaurant called “Bacon Bacon” got shut down last Friday for, well, smelling like bacon. The aptly named restaurant may be able to reopen and resume operations, but not until a hearing is held in July. For now, while they remain closed, a huge stink has been raised on social media (mostly from fellow lovers of pork). On top of the outpouring of support, the news of the restaurant’s status going into the fryer has even received attention from national TV....
A Hawaii woman dubbed the “road rage lady” has turned herself in to police after video footage of her confrontation with another driver racked up nearly 1 million views on YouTube. Kimberly Ong reportedly became furious when Ryan Arakaki – the man who filmed and posted the video online – cut her off in traffic, reports Hawaii News Now. After being tailgated and honked at by Ong, Arakaki decided to begin recording video on his cell phone, capturing his confrontation with Ong after he eventually pulled to the side of the road....
These are strange times we live in. Slighted politicians, justices, and their supporters are turning to song parodies for solace after a Supreme Court ruling doesn’t go their way. After the “Call Me Maybe” parodies were completely overdone with the likes of President Obama, the Cookie Monster, and even Stars Wars chiming in, now people have turned to Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” to make a point. One can only hope that these tired copycats stop with these music parodies....
If there’s one universal goal among all students, especially law students who have to deal with “the Socratic Method,” it is not to look stupid in class. When I originally thought of this post, I was going to write it with 1Ls in mind, but then I realized that these lessons are applicable to all law students. It’s just that if you are a 2L or 3L, you may have learned some of these lessons the hard way....
For first year law students approaching their last final exams of their first year, the pressure and stress may be near paralyzing. However, remember if you made it this far, statistically speaking, you’ll make it all the way. You’ve made it through one round of exams already, and hopefully you learned something from that experience. Just keep calm and study on. And to help you keep that studying going, below you’ll find five important reminders to motivate you in the face of the adversity that is law school final exams....
In an action seeking indemnity following a settlement of a personal injury action, trial court’s summary judgment in favor of the underwriter is reversed and remanded as the parties responsible for the underlying plaintiff’s injuries were not insureds under defendant-insurance company’s liability policy. Read American Int’l Underwriters Ins. Co. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co. No. H033195 [HTML] Read American Int’l Underwriters Ins. Co. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co. No....
I learned something interesting yesterday. I had always assumed that my hiring at FindLaw was the product of my appropriate pedigree (English minor, law degree from Dubyanel, and background in blogging, web design, and HTML coding) seasoned with the helpful praise of a dear friend’s mother, who has worked at FindLaw for quite some time. Oh yeah. Self-deprecation is key. Or not. “Along the way, I’ve gained a few dollars, a little knowledge of SEO, and a lazy eye from spending far too much time in front of a computer screen....
The recent decision at the California Supreme Court in Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton LLP v. J-M Manufacturing, is likely to change the way business is done at large law firms. The big issue that might be making some BigLaw partners nervous involves general advanced conflict waivers in client agreements being used to invalidate those client agreements when conflicts exist. In short, the Court held that if there is an actual conflict at the time of retention, unless that conflict is specifically disclosed, a general advanced conflict waiver is not valid....
A Chicago car salesman fired for wearing a Green Bay Packers tie is upset that his termination came over a football necktie. John Stone wore the necktie in honor of his late grandmother who passed away, he told the Chicago Tribune. Alas, Stone worked for a car dealership in Bears country. His grandmother was a big fan of the Green Bay Packers who beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday in the NFC championship game to advance the Super Bowl....
