Monday, August 30, 2010

Legal Help Live Show Notes

Legal Help Live offers legal suggestions each Wednesday at 4 PM. During the show the Hosts take calls from viewers with legal situations from parking tickets to personal injury. Viewers can catch the show on LA cable channel 36 or 16 in Santa Monica. Online the show can be viewed on LA36.org.

If you'd like to ask the Hosts a question call 1(800)405-4222

Legal Help Live Show Notes 9-1-10

-HERE COMES THE JUDGE- Manhattan Judge James Gibbons quits after massive porn cache is found on work computer- porn on court computer linked system-employers can moniter
-HEALTH DEPARTMENT-Berlin 'cannibal' restaurant calls for diners to donate body parts for menu. A website advertising a new restaurant in Germany has called for humans to donate body parts for the menu causing outrage.
-Bikini-clad strippers protest church in rural Ohio-WARSAW, Ohio (AP) - Strippers dressed in bikinis sunbathe in lawn chairs, their backs turned toward the gray clapboard church where men in ties and women in full-length skirts flock to Sunday morning services. The strippers, fueled by Cheetos and nicotine, are protesting a fundamentalist Christian church whose Bible-brandishing congregants have picketed the club where they work. The dancers roll up with signs carrying messages adapted from Scripture, such as "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," to counter church members who for four years have photographed license plates of patrons and asked them if their mothers and wives know their whereabouts. The dueling demonstrations play out in central Ohio, where nine miles of cornfields and Amish-buggy crossing signs separate The Fox Hole strip clu
-BRAIN DAMAGES AND LAWSUIT
-PARIS HILTON ARRESTED FOR POSSESSION OF COCAINE
-LA POT ORDINACE- THERE ARE 169 TRYING TO CLOSE 128 FOR CHANGE IN OWENERSHIP OR MANAGEMENT
-Lindsay Lohan Is Licensed To Drive . . . Again-TV.com - ‎Now that Lindsay Lohan is a free woman again, after serving 14 days in jail and 22 days in rehab to satisfy her probation violation for her 2007 DUI
-Self-checkout alcohol ban-In politics, things often are not as they seem. A case in point is Assembly Bill 1060, now awaiting action by the governor, a bill touted by proponents as necessary to prevent teens from obtaining alcohol and lessen incidences of drunken driving. Neither could be farther from the truth, and proponents should be ashamed for lending their names to a blatant union attack on California businesses having the audacity to innovate and improve
-Paralyzed high school player sues helmet maker Riddell-A Los Angeles attorney has filed suit against football-helmet manufacturer Riddell on behalf of an 18-year-old Pomona athlete who suffered permanent brain damage last season. Playing defensive tackle for Garey High School in an October game against Montclair High, Edward Acuna took a hit to the front of his helmet in the fourth quarter and quickly lost consciousness. He suffered a left subdural hematoma and was left partially paralyzed.
His attorney, Ilyas Akbari, claims there is a defect with the padding in the front of the helmet. "Our information is that Riddell Sports has known about this particular defect in their helmets for at least a decade," Akbari said. "It is a parent's worst nightmare to see their child suffer a catastrophic injury while playing the sport they love, especially when that injury could have been avoided by a known and simple fix." Riddell officials were not immediately available for comment. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages.
-E-Cigarettes Spark New Smoking War-While the federal case is pending, sellers of e-cigarettes and "juice"—the nicotine-laced liquid that goes into the devices—continue to pop up online and in malls. 7-Eleven Inc. stores in California, New York, Texas and a handful of other states recently began selling an e-cigarette brand. Costco Wholesale Corp. in April stopped selling a version on its website because of concerns about the FDA's stance. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. also briefly offered a product on its website this year but discontinued it because it didn't attract much demand and the company was concerned about the FDA's position, a spokesman said.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Show Notes 8-18-2010

Legal Help Live offers legal suggestions each Wednesday at 4 PM. During the show the Hosts take calls from viewers with legal situations from parking tickets to personal injury. Viewers can catch the show on LA cable channel 36 or 16 in Santa Monica. Online the show can be viewed on LA36.org.

If you'd like to ask the Hosts a question call 1(800)405-4222

Show Notes 8-18-2010

-HEALTH DEPARTMENT CLOSES 7 YEAR OLD LEMONADE STAND-PORTLAND, Ore. — A county official in Oregon has apologized after health inspectors soured a 7-year-old's business venture by shutting down her lemonade stand.
Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen, the county's top elected official, said the inspectors were "following the rule book," The Oregonian reported, but that regulators should take into consideration the intent of the food safety rules: To govern adults running professional food businesses.
-SECOND-CLASS AT THIRD BASE -The News In Major League Baseball, a racial disparity between the proportion of minority coaches at first base and those in the more prestigious third-base spot has been growing, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Behind the News The gap is meaningful because third-base coaches earn more and often use the job as a springboard to a managerial position. Despite baseball’s commitments to diversity, only 23 percent of third-base coaches are members of minorities, compared with 67 percent of first-base coaches. As a whole, 40percent of major-leaguers are black, Hispanic or Asian.
-$5.5M settlement reached in Redondo Beach cheerleader's injury-County officials are expected to finalize a $5.5 million settlement Tuesday in a medical malpractice case brought by the family of a Redondo Beach girl who suffered permanent brain damage after a cheerleading accident three years ago. The payment is one of the largest in county history for medical malpractice, due largely to the high cost of the girl's ongoing medical needs, county officials said. "This is obviously a very terrible situation," said Rich Mason, an attorney for the county. "We are pleased to have come to a mutual agreement and put this matter behind us." Elizabeth Nicks, now 15, was taken to County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance after toppling to the ground during a pyramid-style cheerleading stunt at Aviation Park on Aug. 30, 2007.
She was diagnosed with a relatively small subdural hematoma, or bleeding of the brain, and was initially released after five days of observation, said William Karns, an attorney representing the family. "Over the course of her stay from Aug. 30to Sept. 4, she developed signs that indicated her subdural hematoma had increased in size throughout her hospitalization," Karns said. "Harbor-UCLA chose not to perform a CT scan upon discharge. If they had, they would have seen that the hematoma had grown in size and would have operated."
-Paris Hilton sued for $35M for wearing wrong hair -By ANTHONY McCARTNEY
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Paris Hilton was sued Wednesday for allegedly wearing someone else's hair. A company that manufactures hair extensions claimed the 29-year-old socialite breached her contract to wear and promote their product when she sported the fake locks of a competitor in 2008. Hairtech International Inc. is seeking $35 million in damages - 10 times what she was apparently paid under the contract. The fraud and breach-of-contract suit cites the heiress' partying as contrary to Hairtech's marketing campaign.
-Suit Sees Lead Risk in Bounce Houses -SAN FRANCISCO — It may be one of the most beloved activities of hyperactive children and the parents who love them: bouncing in a bounce house. But, according to Attorney General Jerry Brown of California, it may also be toxic.
-Death row inmate dies of natural causes-San Francisco Chronicle - A former nurse sentenced to death for the killing of 12 patients at two hospitals in Riverside County in 1981 has died. Officials at San Quentin State
-Democrats may pay political price for Obama's words on NYC mosque -Obama Beer: Cop and Professor Gates at White House, Open Talk ...The Great Obama beer fest, with cop and professor is on at the White ... a lifetime of racial oppression while attending Yale Law School
-Church holds fate of nearby store's alcohol licenseJetBlue flight attendant »
The Price of Steven Slater's JetBlue Flight
CBS News - ‎Harry Smith spoke with legal analyst Jack Ford about the charges against Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater. CBS News Legal Analyst Jack Ford said the charges brought against him for his behavior are criminal mischief, reckless endangerment

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Legal Help Live Show Notes

Legal Help Live offers free legal advice each Wednesday at 4 PM. During the show the Hosts take calls from viewers with legal situations from parking tickets to personal injury. Viewers can catch the show on LA cable channel 36 or 16 in Santa Monica. Online the show can be viewed on LA36.org.

If you'd like to ask the Hosts a question call 1(800)405-4222

SHOW TOPICS 8-4-2010

-CITY OF BELL PENSION-CM $ 600,000 A YEAR PENSION-POLICE CHIEF 411,300
PENSION -Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona, convicted of
witness tampering, receives a pension of about $215,000 a year. Robert
Citron, who led Orange County into bankruptcy in 1994, collects
$142,000. And Former Vernon City Manager Bruce Malkenhorst Sr.,
indicted for misappropriating public funds, collects the highest
public pension in California, $509,664.
-Does this make my butt look big? Good. -You know you're not on the cutting edge of fashion when you learn about a new trend from the Wall Street Journal, as I did this week in reading a front-page story about the growing market for padded
undergarments to enhance a woman's rear end. Talk about being behind
the curve; there I was still trying to slim down at the gym while JLo,
Beyoncé and maybe even "Mad Men's" uber-curvaceous Joan Holloway were
moving tastes in the other directio
-PERSONAL INJURY & TORTS Adults Who Serve Minors Liable-By Ciaran McEvoy -Daily Journal Staff Writer -A bill that seeks to dismantle California's barrier preventing
lawsuits against adults who knowingly provide alcohol to minors in the
home passed the State Assembly and awaits the signature of Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger. AB 2486 the Teen Alcohol Safety Act of 2010 passed by
a 67-1 vote. The bill was inspired by the December 2008 death of
17-year-old Shelby Allen of Redding, who died from alcohol poisoning
at a friend's home with the parents present. California is one of only
three states that prohibit civil liability against adults in cases of
alcohol-related injury or death.
-VA ALLOWS MED MARAJUANA IN 14 STATES CA IS INCLUDED
Long Beach City Council votes to pursue medical marijuana tax -8 to 1 on Tuesday night to hold a%The Long Beach City Council voted public hearing next month on whether to place a measure on the November ballot that would levy a 5% tax on medical marijuana
collectives.
-Man falls off surgical table; St. Joseph's Hospital sued-When straps holding a 300-pound, 61-year-old St. Paul man to a surgical table failed, he hit his head on the floor and later died.
-22,700 died since 2007 in Mexican drug war-la times
-Some customers heated over indoor ‘tan tax,' which was part of health-care law-10 percent
-Goldman's $550 million SEC settlement: Who gets the money? -Of the $550 million that Goldman Sachs Group on Thursday agreed to pay to settle the government’s securities fraud suit against the company,$300 million will go to the Treasury as a penalty.
Your share as one of 310 million Americans: about 97 cents. The other $250 million will reimburse two sophisticated investors that were among Europe’s biggest casualties of the global financial-system crash. They were the ones Goldman allegedly duped -- although the Wall Street titan had insisted to the SEC that the investors knew exactly
what they were getting into, or should have known. The German bank IKB in 2007 bought $150 million of the subprime-mortgage-related securities that Goldman concocted and sold.
The SEC alleges that Goldman failed to disclose in its marketing materials that the securities were chosen in part by a hedge fund thatwas betting on their failure.
IKB lost its entire $150 million as the securities crumbled in value with the housing bust. It will get all of that back from Goldman. Interestingly enough, IKB had its own struggle with accurate disclosure: The bank’s former CEO on Wednesday was convicted in
Germany of misleading IKB’s investors about the extent of the bank’s investments in U.S. subprime loans in 2007. IKB required a series of German government bailouts in 2007 and 2008. It was sold later in 2008 to Lone Star Funds, a Dallas-based private
equity firm. Goldman also will pay $100 million to Royal Bank of Scotland, which
bought the Dutch bank ABN AMRO in late 2007. Via credit default swaps, ABN AMRO in 2007 had agreed to insure the highest-quality portions of the Goldman securities. It was a bad move: The collapse of the securities left ABN AMRO on the hook for $841 million. That’s what Royal Bank of Scotland paid to Goldman in August 2008 to unwind the insurance deal. Most of that sum was subsequently paid by Goldman to Paulson & Co., the hedge fund that had helped design the deal. Royal Bank of Scotland had to be rescued by the British government in late 2008 as the bank’s credit losses deepened. Goldman shouldn't have much trouble writing those reimbursement checks: The $550 million amounts to just 16% of the $3.46 billion the firm earned in the first quarter alone, and 4% of its $13.4-billion in full-year 2009 profit
-PERSONAL INJURY & TORTS-Adults Who Serve Minors Liable-By Ciaran McEvoy-Daily Journal
A bill that seeks to dismantle California's barrier preventing lawsuits against adults who knowingly provide alcohol to minors in the home passed the State Assembly and awaits the signature of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. AB 2486 the Teen Alcohol Safety Act of 2010 passed by a 67-1 vote. The bill was inspired by the December 2008 death of 17-year-old Shelby Allen of Redding, who died from alcohol poisoning at a friend's home with the parents present. California is one of only three states that prohibit civil liability against adults in cases of alcohol-related injury or death.
-Ex-NFL Player Sues Electronic Arts-By Jean-Luc Renault-Daily Journal Staff Writer
A former professional football player has claimed in a federal class action that a major video game publisher improperly used his and other retired athletes' likenesses in a popular game without permission. The complaint, filed in San Francisco last week, is the latest round in an ongoing fight over the use of professional and college athletes'
images in video games. Athletes have filed several lawsuits against publisher Electronic Arts in recent years, claiming right-of-publicity and trademark violations under both California and federal law.
-Are Medical Marijuana Dispensaries on the Chopping Block?-By Ellin Davtyan
Local governments throughout California are anxiously awaiting the ruling in Qualified Patients Association v. City of Anaheim (G040077). The issue before the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division Three, is one of first impression on whether local governments can enact regulations entirely prohibiting the operation of medical marijuana
dispensaries.