Sure, you can physically hand your ID or driver’s license to your friend. And your friend may hold it in her hands momentarily, while pointing and laughing at the goofy look you’re sporting in the picture. That friend can even pass it to another friend, while pointing and laughing and saying, “Look!” All of that is perfectly legal. It’s normally what happens after you give a friend your ID that matters....
Do you know the Burberry checks in fashion? How about the rapper Burberry Perry? Well, the British makers of fine plaid products are suing the Atlanta-based rapper for using their branded checks in association with his personal brand, and in the process the internationally renowned designers are creating press for the not-that-well-known musician. Maybe Burberry Perry was just taking a page from the Gucci Mane book even if Burberry would have been the really clever choice for Perry Moise’s adopted moniker....
These days many people fear the theft of credit card data during online purchases or through malicious software on their personal computers. However, the biggest risk to your credit card number probably isn’t someone stealing it from you, but rather someone stealing it from one of the merchants you pay everyday or from the payment processor a merchant uses. In the wake of the largest credit card data heist yet recorded, many are wondering how a twenty-something in Miami (plus his partners) can rob one of the nation’s largest card payment processors blind for more than a year....
There may be Listeria in your cantaloupe, the CDC warns. A recent outbreak of the potentially deadly bacteria has caused at least 15 hospitalizations in four states. In Colorado alone, there have been 11 cases. Nebraska and Oklahoma each have had one case, and Texas has had two, reports WebMD. The CDC believes the outbreak is being caused by contaminated cantaloupe fruit from the Rocky Ford region of Colorado. The agency is warning consumers to avoid fruit marketed as being from that region, according to WebMD....
Facing a conviction for drunk driving can be really scary. You may have felt compelled to take a plea bargain, especially if it meant you avoided all jail time. Depending on your situation, usually any deal that avoids time behind bars is preferable to facing the unknown of a criminal trial. However, even if you avoid jail, you are likely going to be on probation for some time. When a person charged with a DUI is sentenced to probation, they usually have lots of questions about probation....
They walked down the red carpet together hand in hand, glowing, glamorous, and gorgeous. But just watch, there will be a few celebrity divorces filed soon, now that the Oscars are over, or so says attorney to the stars Laura Wasser, according to US Magazine. Wasser has handled many famous ladies’ divorces – three Kardashians, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, and Maria Shriver – and she told Bloomberg Businessweek that she expects to file a bunch more divorces in March....
For some of us, fortune tellers might be a bemusing attraction or a whimsical way to spend a few minutes and (hopefully) just a few bucks. For others, like New Yorker Ali Beck, they can lead to financial ruin. Beck says she gave a fortune teller almost $56,000 over seven months, destroying her credit and forcing her to sell her house. So is there a legal line between telling someone’s fortune and theft?...
Is it a drug deal if there’s no cash involved? Let’s just say your friend has the same prescription medication as you, but just forgot her pills at home. Or your colleague is suffering from allergies, and your prescription-grade antihistamines can help. You’re not trying to make money off the transaction – you’re just trying to help. Or someone is trying to help you. Unfortunately, when it comes to prescription drugs, that might not matter....
James Brady, President Ronald Reagan’s former press secretary, died last week at a Virginia retirement community. However, the medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide, from a shooting that occurred more than 30 years prior. Brady was shot in 1981 during an assassination attempt on President Reagan by John W. Hinckley Jr. The Washington Post reports that Hinckley, now 59, was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the shooting, and has been housed at St....
Kanye West is going to be doing community service as part of his probation for attacking a paparazzo, and he’ll be serving his time teaching at fashion school. Confused? You may recall that Kanye cut a plea deal in March, pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery in exchange for two years of probation and 250 hours of community service. And as TMZ reports, those community service hours are going to be spent teaching classes at the L....
Despite nearly four years having passed since the suit was initially filed, the case against Maine West High School has finally settled. While the school district admitted no liability in the settlement, they paid 5 students a total of $1,000,000 to settle their case. Each student will receive $200,000. Since the case took so long, the students are now all adults. The 2012 case started after high school athletics hazing went too far....
Leaving a child inside a hot car is a crime in most states. Mollie Shouse may be the first person in Kentucky convicted of murder for doing it. Last year Shouse’s son, Kenton Brown, died when he was left in a car for several hours during the summer. He was two years old. His mom was inside the house at the time, passed out on Xanax and marijuana. Given her actions, it’s hard to argue that Shouse wasn’t negligent towards her son....
Homeowners often get annoyed and frustrated when neighbor’s pets use their lawn as a toilet. But they don’t usually shoot their neighbors over it. So there was a considerable amount of outcry when Charles Clements, a Chicago man, shot and killed Joshua Funches, a neighbor, after his dog urinated on his lawn. There was even more outcry when Clements was sentenced to four years of probation for the shooting. He had faced up to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of second-degree murder, the New York Daily News reports....
Death Row inmate Marcus Reymond Robinson was convicted of murder in after he robbed and killed a teenager, who was Caucasian, in 1991. Now, under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act, the convicted inmate will have a chance to convert his death sentence to life in prison. Robinson will now have a hearing, set for late in the summer, on the matter under the controversial Racial Justice Act. Robinson’s hearing will be the first of its kind....
A Scranton couple has been arrested and charged after police found evidence of a 7-year-old boy locked in a coffin. Neighbors found the child crying in a basement doorway clad only in a shirt and diaper. When police were called to the scene, the boy explained that his mother, Lori Gardner, and step-father, Brian Sleboda, had confined him in the family’s basement. He accused them of locking him in a coffin and taping him to a chair on multiple occasions....
In a blow to freedom of information advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that state public-records access can be limited to residents of that state. The unanimous decision upheld laws in Virginia and a handful of other states that release some public records only to in-state residents, reports the Los Angeles Times. At the core of the decision are the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Constitution’s privileges and immunities clause....
The Supreme Court this week ruled that California DirecTV customers cannot sue the company in a class action but must resolve disputes in arbitration. The ruling is considered a blow to consumers by some, including two of the Justices on the bench, reports The New York Times. The case arose from a 2008 lawsuit brought by two customers who objected to DirecTV’s early termination fees and sought to represent a class of similar customers....
Ignorantia juris non excusat or Ignorantia legis neminem excusat. One case decided by the Supreme Court this week had a decidedly everyman theme to it. First there is the maxim the majority, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, uses to define its opinion: “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Justice Sotomayor puts it in slightly more formal terms, but that is the basis for the majority holding that debt collectors may be sued for wrongly pursuing debt collection, even if their case is based on a bona fide legal error....
Former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was acquitted today on first-degree murder charges stemming from the fatal shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith. Stockley shot Smith five times in his car following a three-minute chase during which Stockley allegedly said “We’re killing this motherf*,” ordered his partner to crash their patrol car into Smith’s vehicle, and planted a gun in Smith’s car after the fact. Beyond the questions about yet another unpunished police shooting, there come questions about what police can legally do during a high speed pursuit: Are there any legal limits to police force once a chase has started?...
By just about any metric, Drake is one of the biggest rappers in the game. One of those metrics would be money, and Drake was in the top five of Forbes list of highest paid hip hop artists in 2016. But the label that claims to have signed Drake back in 2008 also claims it hasn’t seen the profits from one of the most profitable acts in the business. Aspire Music Group sued Cash Money Records in a Manhattan, New York court, claiming breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference over alleged unpaid profits and copyright royalties under the recording agreement between the two....
