legal

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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Can My Child Decide Who He/She Wants to Live With?

Child Custody is one of the most important issues to be decide in a martial dissolution matters.  Indeed, parents going through divorce may end up spending tens of thousands of dollars and countless sleepless nights fighting over child custody and visitation.  The issue of child custody has two components: (1) legal custody; and (2) physical…

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Protecting Jewelry Designs

Sales of Jewelry have been soaring over the past decade, with worldwide sales in 2016 totaling over US$300 billion dollars.  Helped by instant world-wide access provided by Social Media, many jewelry designers have found themselves on the short end of the stick when their designs are pilfered.  This article addresses various intellectual property tools that…

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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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Litigation vs. Arbitration vs. Mediation vs. Negotiation

You are about to engage in a legal dispute with an adversary. You know that legal disputes are typically resolved at a court trial before a judge or jury. But you remember glancing over the contract for the last appliance you purchased, and it included an arbitration clause, according to which legal disputes relating to…

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How Much Is A Patent Worth?

You are an inventor and are thinking about obtaining patent protection for your invention.  You understand that patents are a form of legally recognized property, known as intellectual property, and that they can be very valuable.  But you are also well aware that obtaining patent protection will cost money.  How do you determine the potential…

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General Contractors: What to Include in a Home Improvement Contract

You have agreed to do some remodeling work for a homeowner.  They seem really nice and innocent.  So, you decide not to waste time with a written contract.  Worse yet, you don’t even have a basic home improvement contract.  You think, these are nice people, what can go wrong?  Short answer is, a lot can…

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