Monthly Archives: October 2006
Damage to Your Car in Automobile Collision Cases
When you are involved in an automobile collision, your primary concern is your health. This article deals with a “fender bender” situation where no personal injuries are sustained. This article will also focus upon damages to your own vehicle – leaving to another time the… Continue reading
Let’s Clear the Air (and It Better Be Alcohol-Free!)
Things, they are a-changing. It appears as though we are headed toward virtually a zero-tolerance level with people who have been convicted more than one time of operating under the influence of alcohol (usually referred to as “DUI”). Over the past couple of decades we… Continue reading
Napster: No Free Lunch?
In May of 1999 a 19-year-old Boston college student, Shawn Fanning, founded Napster, Inc., which, as many of you may know, operates a popular Internet site that allows personal computer users to download digitally recorded music for free in the MP3 format, a compression format… Continue reading
Latin Lovers
The term quid pro quo is often used in business negotiations, but few stop to think what the words really mean. Literally, the phrase means “what for what” or “something for something.” Used in legal matters, the term means the giving of one valuable thing… Continue reading
The Mortgage Satisfaction Law
If you are devoted and diligent enough to make all of your mortgage payments over 30 years, you will eventually pay off your mortgage. A more likely scenario, however, involves refinancing your mortgage with a new loan, which also results in the prior mortgage being… Continue reading
Queen’s English – Contractions and Apostrophes
In oral conversation we use contracted words routinely (and properly): isn’t for “is not” it’s for “it is” aren’t for “are not” it’s for “it has” couldn’t for “could not” who’s for “who is” you’re for “you are” let’s for “let us” they’d for… Continue reading
What is Expungement?
Suppose that when you were a teenager you suffered a lapse in judgment and decided to walk out of the music store with a Beatles cassette without paying for it. The storekeeper caught you and prosecuted you for retail theft. As a result, you were… Continue reading
Clown Hats: Final Comment — (at Least for Now!)
By the time you read this it may be history, but at the moment of this writing the election has us all in anticipation (or bored stiff?), awaiting the outcome. In reflection, about the biggest surprise was not Al Gore’s selection of Joe Lieberman as… Continue reading
Can Non-Union Employee Have Co-Worker Present for Investigatory Interview?
On July 20, 2000, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the right of union-represented employees to have a representative present at disciplinary interviews also extends to non-union employees. Under this ruling, an employee in a non-unionized workplace may request a co-worker’s presence at… Continue reading
Trade Secrets
Think about what gives one business the advantage over another: unique business concepts, technological innovations, customer lists, etc. These are also examples of information which the courts have found to constitute trade secrets. In fact, practically anything that gives one business an edge over its… Continue reading