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Summit Entertainment has filed another Twilight lawsuit, this time over a website called Twilight.com. The movie studio alleges that the website misleads consumers into thinking it’s an authorized, official website. But, think about it this way. If you’re a prepubescent teen looking to get your fix of Edward and Bella, (the main characters of the Twilight movie and book series) what site would you direct your browser to? Well, besides just using a search engine to find the official site, maybe you would just go to Twilight....

Which is better, a Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal or the toy inside? Soon, any debate on that question will be a moot point in Santa Clara County, California. There, lawmakers have passed a bill that sets required nutritional standards for kids’ meals. Restaurants, such as McDonalds are prohibited from giving away Happy Meal toys unless they are given with a meal that satisfies nutritional standards. Depending upon who you ask, the law is either a long-overdue way to reduce childhood obesity, or another example of unwanted nanny-state interference....

Actress Jill Quigg was made famous for her role in the film “Gone Baby Gone”. The Boston native, who grew up in a housing project near the site of the movie’s filming, was a success story among her neighbors. Now it looks like Quigg really is gone baby gone … to jail that is. 35 year-old Jill Quigg was arrested in Boston and charged with stealing a television and computer printer from a her neighbor’s apartment....

If you’re charged with a drug crime, you could always choose to go it alone as a pro se defendant or take the public defender who may be provided to you by the court. However, you may also choose to work with a criminal defense attorney who’s particularly knowledgeable about handling drug crimes, such as the offense you are being charged with. What makes hiring a drug crimes lawyer worth the money?...

The blizzard of 2013 may have a cute name – Nemo – but that doesn’t mean it will do any less damage. For those in its path, it’s important to prepare for the worst. Nemo is expected to hit the East Coast hard and dump a significant amount of snow. That means people will be housebound and potentially without power while the mess is cleaned up. You’ll need to be prepared to get through it....

California’s definition or rape could change thanks to the recent case of Brock Turner, sometimes referred to in the media as “The Stanford Rape Case.” But that is technically a misnomer, as Turner was not charged with or convicted of rape. Rather, he was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and what he did was not rape under California law. That’s one reason why lawmakers are talking about changing the definition of rape in this state, according to CBS News in Sacramento....

The United States is the fattest nation in the world. We’re also the most litigious. It’s time for these two giants to meet. Two recent studies related to childhood obesity point to new hope for health-related lawsuits against “Big Fat” companies, like McDonalds, KFC and other makers of fast-food. In particular, junk food advertising may be on the chopping block. According to a study conducted at the University of Dundee in Scotland, kids who have a gene linked to an increased risk of obesity often display a tendency to eat more fattening foods....

Stories about scammers asking for payment in gift cards, a relatively new trend, seem to be increasing in frequency. Gift cards, believe it or not, are a relatively untraceable method for scammers to steal money from victims. Generally, if a person is asking you to provide them with payment via a gift card over the phone, you are being scammed (that is unless you’re legitimately shopping by phone using a gift card)....

Erin Brockovich is facing a misdemeanor DUI charge after being busted on a boat. Not Julia Roberts, the real Erin Brockovich. The environmental activist, who famously helped to uncover a drinking water contamination case, seems to have borrowed the Middle Ages’ solution to dirty drinking water. Brockovich-Ellis is accused of operating a boat while intoxicated at Lake Mead in Nevada, Los Angeles’ KNBC-TV reports. All states have laws against boating under the influence (BUI), which make it a crime to operate a boat or personal watercraft while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs....

General Motors has issued a recall for 92,000 SUVs and trucks over a potential defect in the vehicle’s ignition systems. The new recall includes nearly 84,000 vehicles in the United States, Reuters reports. An additional 9,000 vehicles were recalled in other countries. The recall is the latest GM recall involving defective ignition switches; previous ignition switch problems in GM vehicles have been linked to at least 42 deaths and thousands of injuries...

Last year more than 151 people were exonerated after spending an average of 15 years in prison, despite being innocent. Some were sentenced to death and pardoned before the ultimate punishment. This reveals something about the criminal justice system. That is why, according to the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan Law School, increasingly even prosecuting offices are focusing on innocence to regain public trust. What does that mean for all of us or you individually if you’ve been falsely convicted?...

You’ve pleaded guilty to a crime, and are now looking to withdraw that plea. How do you go about doing that? You may assume that you (or your lawyer) can simply walk up to the prosecutor or judge and say, “Oops, I made a mistake. I’d like to change my mind.” But it’s not that easy. Entering a plea has legal ramifications, and you can’t just change your mind whenever you feel like it....

Just when you thought it was safe to eat again after the recent romaine lettuce E. Coli outbreak, Jimmy Dean has recalled nearly 30,000 pounds of its sausage meat after at least five customers found ribbons of metal laced through their links. Though no one has been injured to date, the metal does pose choking, laceration, and even poisoning dangers. Reports of the laced links started hitting the U.S. Department of Agriculture on December 10th, and appear to be in the 23....

A federal judge in Brooklyn ordered New York City to provide to provide or build at least 1,500 integrated residential housing units each year for mentally ill residents receiving services in the city, “until there is sufficient capacity for all [of the city’s mentally ill patients] who desire such housing, and no fewer than 4,500 units in” all. Last September, the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn ruled that New York City violated the rights of mentally ill patients under the Americans with Disabilities Act by keeping them in group homes, thereby failing to help deliver mental health services in appropriate settings to New York City residents with mental illness....

After the controversial Travyon Martin homicide case ended Saturday with a not-guilty verdict, the nation was left wondering how each juror came to acquit George Zimmerman. For Juror B37, who spoke openly with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday, the decision rested with her belief that Zimmerman “had a right to defend himself.” How might Florida’s self-defense law, which includes a “Stand Your Ground” provision, have affected B37 and her fellow jurors in reaching their decision?...

When Megan Fox was fired from her role in the “Transformers” movie franchise, many thought that the command was issued by director Michael Bay over some disparaging remarks she made in an interview with the British magazine Wonderland. But, as it turns out, there may have been another Hollywood bigwig behind Fox’s firing. According to Bay, it was Steven Spielberg, who is the executive producer of the films, who demanded that Fox be fired from the third installment, reports the Guardian....

Guns will always be a hot issue, especially since it involves trying to balance citizens’ Second Amendment rights and prevent gun violence. One step legislators are taking to stop gun violence is limiting the gun ownership of domestic violence convicts. Why This Law May Help Under previous laws, police could confiscate guns if the offender was married to the victim. The new law permits the police to confiscate guns from anyone convicted of stalking or domestic violence, regardless of the offender’s relationship to the victim....

Two-year-old Shaianna Hare of Florida was killed by a pet python. Her death resulted in the trial of her mother, Jaren Hare, and her mother’s boyfriend, Charles “Jason” Darnell. The killer python, an 8.5-foot Burmese python, had strangled the little girl to death. The snake, named “Gypsy,” was kept in a glass aquarium that was secured by a safety-pinned quilt that acted as a lid, reports the Orlando Sentinel. A jury found Hare and Darnell guilty of manslaughter, third-degree murder and child neglect, the Orlando Sentinel reports....

Six federal trademark registrations owned by the Washington Redskins were cancelled by an appeal board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The board ruled the term “Redskins” is disparaging to a “substantial composite” of Native Americans. The immediate legal impact of the ruling, which can be appealed to federal court, could be limited, however. The Washington Redskins football team is not required to stop using the name. But Wednesday’s 2-1 board ruling (attached below) could give critics of the term another shot to urge Redskins owner Daniel M....

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court halted both realtime and delayed broadcasts of oral arguments in the California Prop 8 Same same-sex marriage litigation. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer filed a dissenting from the court’s short one-paragraph order, contending that the legal arguments filed in support of halting the broadcast did not meet the requisite legal standard of showing that ‘irreparable harm’ was likely if broadcast wasn’t stopped. Breyer argued that any decision should have been made without granting a temporary restraining order to stop transmission of the legal proceedings in court....