Feds Reveal Oil Price Manipulation Probe
May 29th, 2008Federal regulators said Thursday they are six months into a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. oil markets, focusing on possible price manipulation.
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California’s Gay Marriage to Begin June 17
May 29th, 2008SAN FRANCISCO (May 28) - Barring a stay of a historic California Supreme Court ruling, same-sex couples will be able to wed in the state beginning June 17, according to a state directive issued Wednesday.
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Top U.S. civil rights enforcer under fire steps down
May 29th, 2008The Justice Department’s top civil rights enforcer resigned Thursday following more than a year of criticism that his office filled its ranks with conservative loyalists instead of experienced attorneys.
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Studies Show Online Video Can Help Law Firms Snag Clients
May 29th, 2008The results of recent research by FindLaw suggest that adding an online video to a law firm Web site can help lure clients. FindLaw’s studies show that when choosing a lawyer online, consumers visit an average of 4.8 sites before making a decision, as compared to just 1.8 sites when a Web page contains a video. Moreover, an increasing number of Internet users — 74 percent — watch videos online every day, proof of this visual medium’s online appeal.
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Disability Benefit Programs in California
May 29th, 2008Knowing the available disability programs before you need them is an advantage to reap the benefits right away. For instance, disability benefits might commence on the date you file your claim, not on the date your disability began. Further, waiting period may be taken into consideration before disability benefits begin.
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What is a Hate Crime
May 28th, 2008Our society is truly a melting pot of various people with different ideas, religions, cultures, races and many unique attributes that makes for a very dynamic society. Some believe that this very diversity is what makes the U.S. great, some believe the opposite. What is true is that this diversity creates many challenges and often great conflict. As result over time laws have been enacted to discourage unreasonable behaviors. California has enacted not only anti discrimination laws, but also hate crime laws. Other others states have done likewise.
During the last few years there has also been a very strong anti immigrant sentiment that often leads to not only discrimination against individuals because of their perceived ethnicity or nationality, but often the strong anti-immigrant sentiment leads to crimes perpetrated against these individuals. These types of crimes are considered to be of a greater magnitude and the punishment is much more severe than punishment for other crimes. Essentially a crime becomes more severe when the victim is a member of protected class. These types of crimes are classified as hate crimes.
A hate crime is defined as a criminal act that is committed because of the perpetrators perceived characteristics in the victim, when the perceived characteristics are from one of the following categories: (1) disability, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) race or ethnicity, (5) religion, (6) sexual orientation or association with any person or group that any one of these characteristics. It is also a hate crime when the act involves damaging property or using force or threats of violence to interfere with someone else’s rights because of the perceived characteristics. It does not matter if the victim actually has the perceived characteristics or not. After 911 for example anyone that dressed in an unusual manner was a target for acts of violence. This included not only Arabs, but also Indians and just about anyone that wears religious attire commonly associated with Muslims. An act of violence perpetrated against someone that is a Muslim is not a hate crime in itself, but perpetrating a crime against a Muslim on the grounds that the person is a Muslim would be a hate crime.
Hate crimes include physical assault, attempted physical assault, and the threat of assault. Crimes motivated by the bias towards a member of the protected class are also considered hate crimes.
Threatening violence and including specific terms that identify the person as a member of the protected class would be sufficient to constitute a hate crime.
The civil penalty for hate crimes may be as much as $25,000 in addition to other personal injury remedies. The perpetrator of a hate crime can be jailed and fined. If the crime is a felony the judge has the discretion to add an additional 2 year sentence to the jail term. The court also has the power to order restitution for actual damages and losses including medical bills.
The victim does not have to let the acts escalate to the point of actual physical harm and has the right to request a restraining order, once there have been threats of injury or property damage that is motivated by the perpetrators bias. The victim does not have to be a member of the protected class for the crime to occur. The perpetrator only has to perceive that the victim is a member of the protected class. If the perpetrator yells slurs of homosexuality to the victim because the perpetrator perceives the victim to be homosexual, but in fact the victim is not homosexual the crime has taken place.
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Five Reasons To Hire An Attorney To Fight Your Las Vegas Traffic Ticket
May 28th, 2008Every day in the Las Vegas valley, hundreds upon hundreds of traffic citations are issued by various law enforcement agencies such as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Nevada Highway Patrol, the Henderson Police Department, and many others. Traffic citations are issued for every kind of imaginable offense, for speeding, for failure to yield, for inattentive driving, for failure to maintain a travel lane, for not having proof of current registration, for having windows that are “too” tinted, and myriad other reasons. Police have even been known to issue traffic citations even to bicyclists and pedestrians (ie., jaywalking).
When a person is issued such a ticket, it will not be long before they begin to wonder whether it would be “worth it” to hire an attorney. Some local law firms even aggressively advertise that they are “ticket-busters” etc. Many people decide not to hire an attorney because they erroneously believe that the expense of hiring a lawyer is not justified since they believe they can handle the ticket themselves.
It is is true that an individual can represent him or herself for a traffic citation. In fact, before I became a lawyer, I represented myself on a citation as a pro se litigant and managed to get my traffic ticket reduced to a parking ticket. But I had to go traffic school, which took time and cost money. Now that I am a lawyer - and just observed an attorney session at the Las Vegas Justice Court yesterday afternoon, I am aware that the system is set up such that a lawyer can nearly always get a better overall result than an unrepresented person.
For example, the Las Vegas Justice conducts periodic “attorney sessions” wherein local lawyers and a judicial officer meet to resolve a massive amount of traffic citations all at once. This allows the attorney to charge a smaller fee to the client since the attorney can potentially handle multiple client’s traffic tickets at the same session; and it allows the court to more efficiently process a large amount of citations in a shorter period of time than would otherwise be possible. At these sessions, the general outcome for most traffic citations is that the ticket is “reduced” to a parking ticket with NO NEED FOR THE CLIENT TO GO TO TRAFFIC SCHOOL.
Thus, there are five reasons why it is a good idea to hire a lawyer to fight your Las Vegas traffic ticket:
(1) If you hire a lawyer, you probably will not have to go to traffic school. Traffic school eats up your time and costs you money. Saving you from the time, hassle, and expense of traffic school alone may be worth the $100 or so charged by a lawyer.
(2) If you hire a lawyer, you have an even better chance of getting your ticket dismissed completely (not just reduced to a parking ticket, but dismissed entirely). This is because the lawyer may be able to find an error or other issue regarding your ticket that you may not have recognized. Of course, most of the time the ticket is well-written, and the lawyer will not be able to get it dismissed entirely, but the lawyer will still most likely be able to get it reduced to a parking ticket without the need for traffic school.
(3) If you hire a lawyer, you won’t need to go to court. Going to court yourself can eat up your whole day. If you don’t get paid time off work to do so, don’t forget to consider missed income when evaluating the fee charged by the lawyer. Even if your court day is not one of your work days, aren’t the better ways you could spend your time then being a defendant in court? Especially if you are a tourist, the fee charged by the lawyer is likely less than what it would cost you to travel to town just to fight your ticket.
(4) If you or a lawyer don’t fight your ticket, you will have to pay the whole fine. Getting a ticket reduced to a parking violation generally results in a lower fine.
(5) If you just mail in the whole fine to the court and thus effectively plead guilty without bothering to fight it yourself or through a lawyer, you will have this “conviction” for the traffic violation on your record. Such a conviction may result in higher insurance premiums, and the denial of some employment opportunities.
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This article was written by Daniel J. Reed, Esq., for more information, please visit this website: http://www.accidentawardslasvegas.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Reed,_Esq. |
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Finding a quality Attorney search online Posted By : Jonathan Blocker
May 28th, 2008Perform An Online Attorney Search When You Need To Find A Lawyer
Here is a common scenario: You are driving to work, when all of a sudden your automobile is hit by another car. You receive an injury, and spend some time in the hospital. If the other driver was at fault in the accident, then you might be looking for a personal injury lawyer to recoup your expenses. But if you currently do not have a lawyer, it can be challenging in the face of a major problem such as a personal injury case to find a lawyer to handle your legal matters in an appropriate manner.
Going Online
By using your home or work computer to conduct an online attorney search, the result will be a list of law firms that have a personal injury lawyer on staff, thus making your life much easier. When you have your list of potential lawyers, you will have a simpler time of making a good choice when you look for a lawyer referral online to see how other clients were treated by the lawyer you are considering. Armed with this type of critical information, you will be able to find an outstanding lawyer in the specific area of practice you need and located near where you live.
All About Torts
Not all personal injury cases (or torts) are due to automobile accident injuries. Any sort of physical injury resulting in permanent damage to the brain or spinal cord, injuries to children, cases of medical malpractice or cases of disability also would benefit from the help given by a personal injury lawyer. You can also find a lawyer through an online search who can help with a contested will or can bring together a product liability case for you.
Justice For All?
Paying for legal assistance can be a challenge for working people. However, many personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee system, where if they win your case, then they take their fee out of the monetary award that the court grants to their client.
The Right Attorney For Your Case
There are several law firms that specialize in personal injury claims. Knowing where to start when you need one can be daunting, but the Internet takes a lot of the work out of it for you. You can search in your hometown in any state in the union for the law firms that practice in the area of law you require. That way you are working with local people who are familiar with your community and courts, and are prepared to offer you the best service for your specialized case. Getting an online lawyer referral makes a lot of sense when you need outside opinions of the work particular lawyers have done in the past for their clients. You can find a lawyer through an Internet attorney search so that you will be properly represented and protected in your personal injury case.
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American Lung Association Sues Over Smog
May 28th, 2008Health and environmental organizations filed a lawsuit Tuesday arguing that the Bush administration failed to protect public health and the environment when it issued new smog requirements.
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Apple, Microsoft cheer big win in Congress
May 28th, 2008Technology and financial services firms won a key patent reform victory Friday when the House approved legislation the industries have pushed for years by a vote of 220-175.
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