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George Zimmerman’s judge is biased and should be disqualified from any further role in his murder case, defense lawyer Mark O’Mara argues in a new motion filed Friday. Sanford, Fla., Judge Kenneth Lester showed his bias by making “gratuitous, disparaging remarks” about Zimmerman in Lester’s Order Setting Bail last week, Zimmerman’s Motion to Disqualify states. Lester also makes opinionated remarks about prosecutors’ evidence, threatens contempt proceedings, and “advocates for Mr. Zimmerman to be prosecuted for additional crimes,” O’Mara argues in the motion, which his legal team posted online....

Perhaps anyone signing on to work on a Tom Cruise film might expect it would be a ‘high-risk, action-packed motion picture.’ But a new lawsuit claims the star and producers of American Made took the film’s flying sequences too far, alleging “the demands of filming in Colombia, together with Cruise’s and director Doug Liman’s enthusiasm for multiple takes of lavish flying sequences, added hours to every filming day and added days to the schedule....

No matter what you think about cops, you have to admit it’s a tough job to enforce criminal laws – especially laws that some view as a waste of precious time and resources. Ever been curious about what kinds of crimes police dislike enforcing the most? A recent Forbes guest article offered some insight, and the topic has fueled Internet discussion by law-enforcement officers as well. Here are three types of criminal offenses that officers generally do not find fun to enforce, and how that can affect you:...

It’s safe to say that most Americans didn’t know what an emolument was before Donald Trump became president, and even fewer knew there was an Emoluments Clause in the Constitution. But as the legal case accusing Trump of violating that clause moves forward, we’re guessing more of us will brush up on professional ethics reading. A slew of subpoenas were issued relating to that lawsuit, so it’s probably a good time to remind you what the case is about, and what the subpoenas potentially mean....

Infections from brain-eating amoebas have claimed the life of a third victim. A highly dangerous organism to its human host, the amoebas are typically found in warm fresh water or hot springs. The fresh-water organisms, though rare, result in a 95% mortality rate in its victims. Most of the cases with the brain-eating amoeba, also known as Naegleria fowleri, occur in children or teenagers, according to CNN. While the affects of the amoeba on its victims are frightening, there are few known cases of the infection....

For some, the internet is a venue for people to air the thoughts they would never publicly say in real life. Others see social media as an escape from the bigotry they face on a day-to-day basis. Balancing the free speech interests of some with the safe space interests of others is often an impossible task. But the European Commission thinks it has an answer. The EU announced it is working with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, among others, to create a code of conduct for social media posting in an effort to curb online hate speech in Europe....

As we wrote about earlier in Findlaw’s Law and Daily Life Blog, the response for charitable contributions for the devastating earthquake in Haiti has been immense. Experts say that so much money has never been raised so quickly. But what about charity scam artists and Haiti relief efforts? How do you know what is a legitimate charity organization willing to help the people of Haiti and which ones are charity scam artists trying to make a quick buck off your good will?...

Over the weekend, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson introduced the Bush Administration’s $700 billion plan to stabilize Wall Street and rescue some of the country’s largest financial institutions, and Democrats and Republicans in Congress are debating how best to move the proposal forward. The “bailout” legislation proposed by the administration would allow the U.S. Treasury Department “to buy suspect U.S. mortgage loans from U.S. and foreign-owned banks, at a possible cost of as much a $700 billion,” according to the Washington Post....

Dick’s Sporting Goods has started off the New Year with a pair of product recalls. The company announced late last month the recall of the Fitness Gear Inversion table, a fitness device in which users are flipped upside down. The second recall, announced last week, also involves a fitness product: the Pro Performance SKLZ Recoil 360 All Position Trainer, an elastic band-type device used for resistance training. What led to these two product recalls and what should consumers who may have purchased these defective products do?...

The holidays are upon us, and they may affect your credit scores. One’s credit score could take a hit during the holidays in a number of ways. You may see a less than festive dip from overcharging and not paying your credit card bills in a timely manner or by being the victim of credit fraud. Your credit score can follow you almost like a criminal record, and it can make big, important purchases – like houses or cars – much more difficult than they should be....

Outlawing the criminalization of homelessness just got a little clearer in the Western United States. A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is unconstitutional to prosecute someone for sleeping on public streets, at least for the most part. More on that later. The Court of Appeals sided with the Boise, Idaho homeless residents, holding that prosecuting homeless people for sleeping on public streets when they had no other viable indoor choices violates a person’s Eighth Amendment....

Opioid addiction has reached epidemic levels in the United States, with the powerful prescription painkillers becoming more deadly than car accidents. In order to feed their addiction (or to obtain drugs for resale) many people will engage in “doctor shopping,” going to multiple physicians and convincing them to prescribe more and more opioids. (Some have even been caught doctor shopping at veterinary clinics.) So is doctor shopping actually illegal? And can doctors get in trouble if they’ve been duped?...

The spotlight on actress Lindsay Lohan at the MTV Awards just got a little bit brighter as the alarm on her alcohol monitoring bracelet went off alerting authorities. The incident drew attention to Lindsay Lohan at the MTV Movie Awards, when Lohan’s alcohol monitoring bracelet alarm went off, alerting the device monitoring company, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Times, the monitoring company reported the incident to the Los Angeles County Probation Department and the Superior Court judge in Beverly Hills who is handling Lohan’s case....

Monday night was an unpleasant one for Aaron Stefanski and Jessica Clark of Fort Wayne, Ind. The pair was pulled over by a U.S Marshal who had noticed four kids strapped to the hood of their car. Minutes before the arrest, a witness had called local police to report the couple. The witness had watched them strap the kids to the car while they were parked in a liquor store parking lot....

The young father behind a DUI crash that led to the amputation of a motorcyclist’s leg was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday. Angel Morales, 22, of Claremore, Oklahoma, had pleaded guilty to DUI in the 2013 crash, reports the Tulsa World. In addition to the DUI charges, Morales was also charged with three counts of child endangerment for having three of his children in his relative’s Cadillac Escalade at the time of the crash....

While experienced criminal defense attorneys are essential to your success, you may run into various ways in which attorneys wish to be paid their fees. Criminal lawyers may charge a flat fee for something like a basic DUI, or they may charge an hourly rate that requires a substantial down payment. If you’re a repeat offender or facing charges that are likely to go to trial, you may be looking at some steep attorney’s fees....

Most of us don’t think too much about the price of canned tuna. It’s generally pretty cheap, and if we’re not penny pinching we’ll likely go with the recognizable label on the shelf. You know, the blue can with Charlie Tuna on it? But in an effort to squeeze more pennies out of its customers, StarKist, perhaps the most recognizable brand of tuna on the market, got itself into some costly trouble....

The federal government will begin distributing the first economic stimulus rebates on Monday, four days ahead of schedule, President Bush announced today. The rebates, part of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, can amount to as much as $600 for a single person or $1,200 for a married couple. “On Monday, the Treasury Department will begin delivering the first of these tax rebates by direct deposit,” President Bush stated during today’s announcement....

“A man’s house is his castle.” Lord Edward Coke’s was probably speaking about an actual castle back then, but nowadays our homes (while less likely to be palaces) are still often the most valuable asset we own. So homeowners insurance is a crucial way to protect your home from disaster. Unfortunately, homeowners insurance does not cover everything. With the holidays upon us, it’s worth asking: Just which holiday mishaps are not covered by homeowners insurance?...

A California appeals court handed down a mixed bag of a decision this week. A pediatric dentist filed a libel suit in Santa Clara County over a bad review by the father of one of her patients that was placed on the review website Yelp. The dentist, Dr. Yvonne Wong, sued Yelp, the father, Tai Jing and his wife Jia Ma for libel. The suit against Yelp was dismissed as were the claims against Ma....