Does your employer allow you to take time off from work to go to the polls and vote? Is your company legally required to provide such time off, according to your state’s laws? And if so, is time off to vote considered paid time off? Just in time for November 4th, get up-to-date information on voters’ rights to time off on Election Day, with FindLaw’s State-by-State Employee Time Off to Vote Laws, compiled in partnership with JustVote....
The video that follows, depicting a clear-cut head-butt in a Texas Walmart, has been making the social media rounds lately. So we decided to give it the legal blow-by-vicious-blow breakdown it so richly deserves. Please come along… The Head-Butt After some initial verbal sparring, Jessica Albitz escalates the confrontation with a stunningly executed head-butt on Alice Keener. Albitz appears to rear back before delivering the brow blow, so there seems to be little question of intent....
Rumors of pills, alcohol, and a bathtub drowning are circulating in the wake of Whitney Houston’s unexpected death. But the coroner’s office is awaiting toxicology tests to determine how the singer died. “We won’t make that final determination until all the tests are in,” a coroner’s spokesman said at a news conference, the Los Angeles Times reports. Results of Whitney Houston’s toxicology tests could take up to eight weeks, KNBC-TV reports....
The WWE has clotheslined bootleggers in a recent appellate ruling which will allow the wrestling empire to seize counterfeit merchandise pursuant to federal trademark law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while it was unclear exactly which parties were hocking the knockoff wrestling merch, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) could expect that non-WWE parties selling merchandise were likely counterfeiters. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the case isn’t over just yet, as the issue has been remanded to the district court....
“The Shield” actor Michael Jace has been arrested on suspicion of shooting and killing his wife April Jace. Jace, who played a police officer on the popular FX television series, allegedly called police Monday night and told law enforcement that he had “pulled the trigger” and that “I shot my wife,” reports TMZ. What remains for this TV cop-turned-murder suspect? Jace, 50, allegedly called 911 around 8:30 p.m. to tell the operator that his wife had been shot in their Los Angeles home… by him....
Christmas is quickly upon us and after years of gift giving it gets hard to be creative. Although family, friends and co-workers certainly appreciate out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to presents, there are times when one needs to consider potential legal repercussions of a unique Christmas present. With that, we present the gifts most likely to lead to lawsuits. Take the razor blade soap. Yes, that’s oh-so-useful hand soap with a razor blade in the middle....
You can be charged with criminal trespassing when you enter someone else’s land or use someone else’s chattel without permission or authorization. Police officers, sheriffs, and even park rangers typically enforce criminal trespass law. But there are a few situations in which trespassing charges may be dropped against a defendant. Here are a few common defenses to trespassing: If you’ve been charged with trespassing, you’ll want to consult an experienced criminal defense lawyer to explore any defenses that may apply to your situation....
It looks like BP will be opening its wallet once again. The energy company agreed to pay $15 million to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act in a Texas refinery case. The violations came at a refinery in Texas City, Texas, which had been hit by a number of scandals over the past few years. The Clean Air Act is a law outlines the responsibilities for the EPA with regard to maintaining the environment....
After a protracted legal battle, the maker of Buckyballs and Buckycubes have agreed to fund a recall of the controversial desk magnets. Many major retailers previously agreed to independently recall Buckyballs after the Consumer Products Safety Commission sued Maxfield & Oberton, the company that manufactures the magnets, in 2012. However, the now-dissolved Maxfield & Oberton and its former CEO Craig Zucker had previously refused to recall the products, despite multiple reports of serious injuries to children caused by swallowing the magnets....
The worst way to celebrate the Fourth of July is with a DUI, and yet many Americans will make poor drinking and driving choices over the Independence Day holiday weekend. For those in the know this Fourth of July, and those who may need some educating, we present these four sobering facts every driver should know: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 10,322 fatalities involving drunken driving in all of 2012, accounting for almost one-third of the total motor vehicle traffic deaths that year....
A federal appeals court dealt a blow to ‘Net Neutrality’ supporters today by concluding that the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) lacks the legal authority to manage the network practices of internet service providers (ISPs). The lawsuit between Comcast and the F.C.C. was triggered by customer discoveries that their ISP “was interfering with their use of peer-to-peer networking applications.” Comcast argued that, as a private company, it had an obligation “to manage scarce network capacity” for its customers, blocking peer-to-peer (a/k/a P2P) file sharing programs that consume large amounts of telecommunications network traffic....
A stingray, or cell site simulator, is a device that mimics the activity of a cell phone tower and provides authorities with location data. This week, a federal judge in New York ruled that such evidence requires a search warrant. Cell phones may not be secretly turned into tracking devices, US District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ruled, finding this violates the constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment....
September 18 is National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day. One thing many people aren’t aware of is how many ways being HIV positive is criminalized, or how it can lead to increased charges or more severe criminal penalties. From state disclosure requirements to decades in prison for spitting, HIV criminalization is varied and may include some laws you’ve never heard of. Spitting and Biting Convictions The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) highlighted two recent cases: one of an HIV-positive Texas man sentenced to 35 years in prison for spitting at a police officer; and another involving an HIV-positive Michigan man charged with using a “biological weapon” under the state’s anti-terrorism statutes for biting a neighbor....
[5/18/2012 Update: Mississippi police arrested the suspected highway shooter, 28-year-old James D. Willie, after ballistic tests allegedly matched his handgun to bullet casings found near the two murder victims. Fears of a police impersonator were unfounded, the Associated Press reports. Investigators are now trying to determine a motive for the murders.] Authorities in Mississippi are warning drivers about a possible fake police officer who may be pulling drivers over and then shooting them dead....
Chicago police are taking it easy, or so it seems from the spike in murders and violent crime the city’s experiencing. But they are not having a good time. If anything, officer morale is falling to new depths as murder rates rise, according to NPR. Police Department officials attribute this to fear. Specifically, says Interim Superintendent John Escalante, fear of being at the center of the next national brutality scandal. Escalante stepped in as chief following release of a video showing police shooting black teen, Laquan McDonald, 16 times as he backed away, a video which rocked the Chicago Police Department and led to a US Justice Department investigation....
Jenny Lyons’ divorce from her husband Vincent Mazeau has probably captured the attention of budding fashionistas everywhere. For those not familiar with the exec, Jenna Lyons is the millionaire head of J. Crew. She’s also known for her chic style. She once even gave Oprah a tour of her closet, which contained many goodies that most girls would only dare dream of owning. As it turns out, the drama in the fashion biz isn’t just contained to the catwalk....
The acting couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are getting divorced after only 15 months. She reportedly filed papers only a few days after Depp’s mother died, spurring rumors that the Depp family hated Heard, his newer younger wife, according to the Daily Mail. While some media outlets are focusing on the family – most notably the fact that Depp’s sister and production company manager has spoken out about the divorce — others are focused on the divorce lawyers....
[UPDATE 10:50 ET: Deputies swarmed the Texas farmhouse and found no evidence of even a single homicide, a sheriff’s official told the AP. A person claiming to be a psychic told officials multiple bodies were buried there. A Liberty County Sheriff’s spokesman says cadaver dogs did not detect any bodies on the rural property about 70 miles northeast of Houston.] A psychic tip had led authorities to the home, according to media reports....
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police need a valid reason if they want to detain a criminal suspect far away from the site of a search. In a case out of New York, the High Court ruled that police needed a better reason than making it safer and easier to conduct a search if they wanted to hold a man 1 mile away from his home as officers searched the man’s home....
If any law professors are looking for an entertaining way to explain the law of right of publicity to their students, have we got an idea for them. Movie actor Ashton Kutcher has sent a cease and desist letter to the always well-behaved porn company, Vivid Entertainment, to attempt to stop them from using his name to sell a sex tape. Unlike many other celebrity sex tape scandals, this one has a nice bright line:...
