Legal Help Live Show Topics - 11.11

Legal Help Live is back today and do we have an interesting show for you.

To speak to a host regarding fighting parking tickets to more serious personal injury matters, discrimination, malpractice, drug issues, corruption and marijuana dispensaries and any other legal question you may have call us at 1-800-405-4222. The show starts at 4 PM, and if you want to talk to a host plan to call in a couple minutes before. Legal Help Live can be watched on cable Channel 36 in Los Angeles / 16 in Santa Monica or online at LA36.

Legal Help Live Show Topics (11.11.09)

McCourt/Dodgers Divorce
Clippers Owner Settles Bias Claims
Alleged Extortion from David Letterman
Vatican Looks to Heavens for Signs of Alien Life
Artificial Penis Tissue Proves Promising in Lab Tests
US Supreme Court Considers Limiting Life Prison Terms for Youths
For Equestrians, a Buyer's Market in Horses
Preshrunk Prices - Jeans
Alligator Bites off Golfer's Arm
Report of Shark Sighting off Sunset Beach Causes Buzz Among Surfers
2 Women in Sudan Sentenced to 20 Lashes and $110 Fine for Wearing Pants

If you've got topics you'd like Legal Help Live to cover, leave us a comment in the comment section or tweet us @legalhelplive.

Signing our Dancing Feet Away

As the times change, so must school policies. One of the newest policies to change in recent years is the way schools approach dances. Recently schools have begun to utilize "dance contracts" to cut down on bad behavior and sexually suggestive dancing. The contract requires a student to abide by certain behaviors while at the dance, for example both feet must be on the ground at all time. If found to be dancing in violation of the dance contract they face expulsion from the dance or worse penalties. There are many local schools that employ these contracts including Downey High School, Aliso Niguel High School, and Biola University.

Legal Help Live is curious, do you think dance contracts are necessary for our kids?

Should you report a robbery?

Is it worth reporting a robbery if you fear retribution from those involved?

Robberies aren't supposed to happen, but when they do should you report it? Many don't report small robberies thinking nothing will be done and just move, while others are afraid but do so anyways. The problem is, citizens who do report crimes shouldn't have to worry about the robber retaliating against them.

Legal Help Live wants to know, have you been robbed and did you report it, or have you been the threatened for reporting a crime? Take a look at the unbelievable story of Khristina Henry and leave a comment below.

"After midnight on a cool September morning three years ago, Khristina Henry and her boyfriend stepped out of the El Dorado Bowling Alley near LAX. Nearby, a group of about 20 young men stared hard as the pair of 17-year-olds walked to their car."

Full LA Times article.

HS Football, too dangerous for kids?

In the wake of a recent passing of a high school freshman while playing football, Legal Help Live wants to know: Is high school football too dangerous for our children?

Take look at the article and post your response in the comment section below.

"Spencer Juarez collapsed on the sidelines after carrying the football in the final minutes of Friday's game. The straight-A student ran the L.A. marathon and was a 'curious' observer of the world."

Full LA Times article.

Protecting Yourself from Illegal Contractors

With any natural disaster comes rebuilding, unfortunately many out there seek to capitalize on that at the expense of those who already can't afford it. In an LA Times article titled "Authorities Seek to Warn Station Fire Victims about Illegal Contractors" the question of how to protect you, the home owner, from unscrupulous contractors is raised.

Here's what Legal Help Lives Stephen Jamieson had to say:

It irks me (legal phrase, given I am lawyer) that people are out there to victimize the victimized in these times of great strife and tragedy. this is especially true when it occurs during a horrible recession and people are likely at their most vulnerable position even before the fires. Contractors always need to be licensed. If they are not licensed they are not entitled to be paid. That is the law. Don't pay them in advance and don't hire them unless and until they are confirmed to be licensed and insured. No exceptions!

LAUSD and the Private Enterprise Model

In response to the LA Times article "Votes could open 250 L.A. schools to outside operators" Legal Help Lives Stephen Jamieson had this to say:

There is no reason that public school should be struggling, yet it is. There is no reason that with the resources of the government and the requirements imposed on public school teachers and administrators that they should be under-performing, yet in many cases they are under-performing. While there should never be change for change's sake alone, operating outside one's comfort zone can be beneficial to expose inefficiencies and complacency - which are never good qualities. The LAUSD should try using a private enterprise model. There are enough good, caring teachers and administrators that it will temper a for profit type system that is otherwise judged solely on competitive edge so that students will reap the benefits rather than the corporate structure itself. And, isn't that what we all want, better student performance?


For the full LA Times article click here.

Do we need another law on alcohol sales to minors?

In response to an LA Times article from 7/8 titled "Alcohol sales to minors a problem with self-service checkout" Ralph Saltsman of Legal Help Live had this to say:

As to AB 1060 which would disallow self-checking of alcoholic beverages at retail stores, according to Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control statistics, programs implemented in the mid-1990’s have diminished sales of alcohol to minors significantly. That may be why the ABC does not support the pending legislation. Existing law strictly prohibits sales to minors. The seller is faced with misdemeanor prosecution. The licensee is faced with a substantial fine and if the offense is repeated twice within 36 months of the date of the first violation, the license will be revoked. Revocation means forever.

Since the ABC began its program of funding local police departments to set up decoy programs throughout the state in 1995, sales to minors have dropped. Can a kid outwit a self-checkout system? Of course. Can that kid also outwit a trained clerk who is armed with electronic scanning devices? The answer is still yes.

As the law firm which represents ABC retail licenses statewide and which litigates disciplinary proceedings brought by the ABC against licensees, I believe we have some insight which may contribute to the analysis of the controversy between self-checking and clerical checking. Our observation is that there are no systems which cannot be circumvented, but the legislature’s, the state agency’s and retailers’ mutual obligation is to minimize sales to minors without destroying a significant part of the state’s economy at the same time. Statutes on the books now and the diligent oversight by the ABC with local police together with in-store systems and training seem to be addressing the age-old problem of the under-aged obtaining alcohol. Why interfere with a system that seems to now be making things better?