Law

California Appellate Court Clarifies the Standard Necessary for Modification of Parenting Or Visitation Arrangement

On October 30, 2017m the 2nd District Court of Appeal in the case of In re Marriage of Furie 2017 Cal.Ap.. LEXIS 946 held that a “change of circumstances” is not necessary to modify a parenting or visitation arrangement not amount to a change of custody. Although the requested modification in that case involved was…

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Deduction Denied – The Two-Way Effect of a New Tax Provision for Payments Related to Sexual Harassment and Sexual Abuse

The year 2017 saw a significant amount of attention paid to allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace, and the recently passed U.S. tax bill attempts to address some of those issues.  But the bill itself is not without controversy.  One provision in the bill, for example, will make sexual harassment settlements non-deductible for employers…

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Dispute Resolution Strategies

There are four common approaches to settling legal disputes:  Direct Negotiation; Mediation; Arbitration and Litigation.  Which one is right for you? Direct Negotiation:  Works best in instances where the dispute is of fairly minor character and small in dollar amount, or where the disputing parties have an ongoing relationship that they don’t want to disrupt. …

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Robots Have Been Buying Your Hamilton Tickets!

On October 2, 2017, Ticketmaster, LLC with headquarters located in West Hollywood, filed a federal lawsuit against Prestige Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.   In the action, Ticketmaster claims that Prestige Entertainment used computer programs (robots) to scoop up large amounts of the tickets available for hot events such as…

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Who Gets the Dog in the Divorce?

In a time when more families own dogs, the question of who gets the family pet is a real question for some parties going through divorce.  Last year, the Washington Post reported that three-fourths of Americans in their 30’s have dogs.  Apparently, Millennials are more likely to have a pet than own a home, a car…

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Importance of “Boilerplate” Terms in Contracts

The term “boilerplate” in contracts is often used to refer to miscellaneous terms and provisions, which don’t concern the main terms and conditions of the agreement.  For that reason, boilerplate provisions are often ignored or given short shrift by parties to contracts.  This is a mistake because boilerplate terms can be critical to resolution of…

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What Contractors Need to Know Under the California Right to Repair Act

The California Right to Repair Act, commonly known as SB800 is a bill that became effective as of January 1, 2003 establishing a mandatory procedure that must be used by homeowners who have construction defect claims against the builder, subcontractor, product manufacturer or design professional of a new construction (for the purpose of this article,…

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Think Before You Post on Facebook

 We have all had that moment where we have used Facebook to vent about our frustrations with someone. Besides the occasional post about our children’s accomplishments, what we had for dinner or political posts, many of us use Facebook as an outlet for our complaints. What could go wrong, right? Well, it seems that the…

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Solar Contractor Do's and Don'ts!

In recent years, installation of solar panels has become a lucrative and growing business. Many contractors have chosen to forego their conventional construction projects and get into the business of selling, financing and installing solar panels. As solar panel installations on homes have increased, so have complaints to the Contractor’s State License Board (CSLB). In…

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Is Margiela Purposely Playing with Burberry’s Fire?

Burberry is well known for fiercely protecting its Brand. No later than last year, the company filed a lawsuit against the rapper and producer Perry Noise, Aka “Burberry Perry.” Noise was not only using the protected word mark “Burberry”, but also the federally registered check pattern and equestrian trademark in connection with his album, online marketing…

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