Monthly Archives: July 2006
Why You Should Like “Like-Kind” Exchanges
Like the adage goes, death and taxes are two things you cannot escape. But just as medical science strives to postpone death as long as possible, tax lawyers and accountants work just as hard to defer the payment of taxes. One of the more effective… Continue reading
What Is Garnishment?
Garnishment does not always involve adding thin orange slices or radishes shaped like roses to your favorite dish. Garnishment is also a mechanism under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure where a judgment creditor (the person who holds the judgment) can have his debt paid… Continue reading
Pennsylvania’s Bad Check Statute
It is a crime in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to pass a check for the payment of money, knowing that it will not be honored by the underlying bank. For purposes of Pennsylvania’s bad check statute, a person tendering a check is presumed to know… Continue reading
An Overview of Trademark Registration
A trademark can be a word, symbol, phrase or design which identifies the source of the goods signified by the mark. Service marks are those which identify services. The range of types of marks which may be registered and protected is quite broad. In fact,… Continue reading
Equity and the Law
Most people think of our courts as courts of law – places where we go to enforce legal rights and to seek remedies when our rights are violated. Historically, however, our court system is actually a combination of law courts and courts of equity. Courts… Continue reading
The Queen’s English
Adverbs and adjectives have a way of undoing us grammatically. People commonly say good when they mean well, real when they mean really, and (today’s subject, class) hopefully when they mean hopeful.Simple rule: abandon hopefully!How common is: “Hopefully, Mary will come to our meeting on… Continue reading
Latin Lovers V
What would lawyers do if they couldn’t argue? Indeed, argument is a critical part of many court proceedings, and done properly, serves to bring competing legal theories or factual disputes into sharp relief.Perhaps the most persuasive form of argument is the one known as reductio… Continue reading
The Attorney-Client Privilege
The law recognizes certain communications as being so important as to warrant legal protection from forced disclosure in judicial proceedings. We have all heard of the doctor-patient privilege, and perhaps the priest-penitent privilege (more modernly, the clergy-penitent privilege), but the law also recognizes a privilege… Continue reading
Perjury (Would We Lie?)
In recent months, the media tracking the Clinton-Lewinsky saga have been tossing around allegations of possible “perjury.” What the media have not done is provide a clear explanation of what perjury is. Pennsylvania’s perjury statute, 18 Pa.C.S. 4902, is typical of perjury laws throughout the… Continue reading
Retirement Plans: An Overview
When Congress created the Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”), the “401K Plan”, the tax-qualified pension plan, and similar types of accounts which anticipate retirement, it obviously touched a major nerve in our collective psyche. The response has been overwhelming, and if the Congressional intent was to… Continue reading