George D asked:


http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/25/Tampabay/Special_school_progra.shtml

For decades, school districts have organized around a simple idea: Whatever you give to white students, give it to black students, too.

Put both groups of students in the same schools. Expose them to the same teaching. If they struggle, give them the same help.

In the Tampa Bay area and across the nation, this was how educators atoned for the long-ago sin of relegating black children to inferior schools.

Now, in a class-action lawsuit that has Pinellas County’s top educators on the defensive, the plaintiffs say the policy of equal access has failed the school district’s 20,000 black students.

Black kids, they contend, will need uniquely tailored programs if the district ever hopes to erase an education gap that has them lagging behind every other ethnic group in school performance.

Make up your mind, do you want to intergrate or not!

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

Kevin asked:


For the past 4 months, I have been trying to collect on invoices for work performed for a general contractor doing business in my state. He resides in the same state, but out of town. My business partner and I have been hired by the contractor on three separate jobs and in each case, collecting is next to impossible. He refused to sign a work contract with us and would not give us the down payment we normally require. Unfortunately, we did the work anyway. My sister is an employee of the company and that is probably the reason we continued with the work.

I recently performed a online court records search on this man and was amazed at my findings. He has no less than 60 judgments against him and in one case he was convicted of Theft in the 1st Degree, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $142,000. That was approximately 10 years ago. He served a few days of his sentence on two separate occasions and was bailed out with $43,000 in bonds. A partial restitution was made. Of the remaining cases, he still owes in excess of $200,000. It is my understanding that he has filed bankruptcy, but have not confirmed that yet.

His pattern continues. On the jobs I worked on recently, he still owes subcontractors. On the first job for which he was paid in full in September, he still owes approximately $15,000. Yesterday, we collected from the homeowner on the 2nd job. On the final job, we ceased work on December 23, 2008 and filed a mechanics lien. We spoke with the homeowner and explained our concerns. The owner had already paid the general $35,000 with a balance due of approximately $23,000 based on the building permit information filed with the city. The job was started the end of September and to date, we have received nothing. The general contractor has promised payment by the 10th and 25th of each month if we provide invoices by the 25th and 10th, respectively. He has promised payment but neglected to write the checks.

I visited with the owner of his last business operation. He had convinced her to let him put the business in her name and make him an employee. Most of his clients and vendors are unaware of this. He has the same arrangement with the bookkeeper of his current business. It appears that he then collects money from the clients and then either spends it or diverts it elsewhere, thus leaving the unsuspecting owner with a series of bounced checks, lawsuits and irate vendors. He is eventually brought to court, a judgment is ruled against him and he walks away. The plaintiff, in most cases, receives little or nothing in restitution. It also appears that he may have forged signatures on credit applications and possibly be involved in a check kiting. Again, he is not the owner of the business, but it appears that he is directly involved in its financial operations.

The previous owner has contacted the local authorities, but they basically say they can’t do anything. One vendor has contacted the Attorney General of the State and is awaiting a response.

My question is this: With his 20 year legal track record of nonpayment and theft, what can be done to stop him from continuing his practice/scam? He is brilliant in the execution of this “scam”, but needs to be stopped for the protection of unsuspecting clients, vendors and subcontractors. What can be done? Does a class action against him apply?

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JR4NOTAXES asked:


The saga of tort reform bills in the U.S. Senate continued Monday and Tuesday, as Majority Leader Bill Frist took a U-turn, first intending to bring the Class Action Fairness Act to the floor for a vote, then backing off as Democrat supporters of the bill balked at Frist’s intention to move the bill forward. The Act is intended to address the phenomenon of large national class action cases being shopped to the most permissive jurisdiction in the country — inevitably a “magnet court” favorable to plaintiffs — by allowing for such cases’ removal to federal court.

The “magnet court” phenomenon is certainly real, as admitted by plaintiffs’ lawyer extraordinaire Dickie Scruggs: “[W]hat I call the ‘magic jurisdiction,’ . . . [is] where the judiciary is elected with verdict money. The trial lawyers have established relationships with the judges that are elected; they’re State Court judges; they’re popul[ists].
They’ve got large populations of voters who are in on the deal, they’re getting their [piece] in many cases. And so, it’s a political force in their jurisdiction, and it’s almost impossible to get a fair trial if you’re a defendant in some of these places. The plaintiff lawyer walks in there and writes the number on the blackboard, and the first juror meets the last one coming out the door with that amount of money. . . . The cases are not won in the courtroom. They’re won on the back roads long before the case goes to trial. Any lawyer fresh out of law school can walk in there and win the case, so it doesn’t matter what the evidence or the law is.”

http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/000134.php

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wonder woman asked:


This was a class action suit tried in California and Florida. I have two $25,000 promissary notes that were to pay 10% per annum. The case was tried in 2001-2003 or 4. I inheritated the estate of the holders of these notes. She was 92 when she died,had no living relatives,and was living with me at her death. Her estate was settled 2years ago.I recently found these documents in her papers and I am wondering how to claim the money. She was unable to take care of her business when she came to live with me. There was such an accumulation of papers that I just got to these. Any suggestions on how to check on it. I do know the supreme court heard in favor of the plaintiffs and much money was awarded to them. It was a ponzi scheme involving SunTrust Bank,Bank One,1st Trust indemnity. Please advise.Thank you.

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

Suwa asked:


I bet very few people know this- its been wonderfully hidden by the media. Just read on.

There is/was a court lawsuit going on against Hill’s Science Diet (owned by Colgate-Palmolive Company), Iams (owned by Procter & Gamble), Purina or Beneful (Nestle), as well as various other brands for the inclusion of ‘inedible garbage’.

This inedible garbage goes under the name of ‘meat’, ‘meat meal’, or ‘meat by-products’ on the pet food’s ingredient list.
Generally, this ‘meat’ is unnamed, and can be called mystery meat, or by the Plaintiffs, ‘inedible garbage’. These food companies are being filed against for these ingredients, which may include the following:
“wholly or partially [made] of
inedible garbage unfit for human consumption, including, but not limited to, restaurant grease,
roadkill, hair, blood, pus, esophagi, chicken heads, feet and intestines, cow brains, excrement,
fetal tissue, moldy grains, hulls, styrofoam packaging from discarded supermarket meat,
euthanized animals, including cats and dogs, and/or diseased, dying, disabled and dead animals.”.

How do the pet food companies get away with not having to list this on their labels?
A Rendering Plant pretty much gather all that delicious, nutritious ‘meat’ and blends it together, labelling it as ‘meat’, ‘meat meal’ or ‘meat by-products’. It is sold to pet food companies as ‘meat/meal/by-product’, and when included into the ingredients list, it can be legally listed as ‘meat’ and whatever.

Read more on the lawsuit here: http://www.mflegal.com/petfoodlawsuit . Look under the ‘Download Third Amended Class Action Complaint ‘ link.

And if you don’t believe this, give me a reason as to why there’s nothing wrong with companies not being able to tell you the actual type of meat in their foods.

For your own education:
www.dogfoodanalysis.com
www.catinfo.org

And there are many, many more sites.

I will be reposting this question once a week so that it can be viewed by as many people as possible, edited with new information (if that is allowed!)
As to the person who feeds their dog Science Diet.. It is not necessary for vets to take a nutrition course, and it is often taught by a person from Purina, Hill’s Science Diet, or Iams or whatever, so just imagine how the propaganda spreads. These ‘teachers’ also give the students free bags of pet food and merchandise, and as these students become vets, they are usually paid by the companies to sponsor and sell these brands in their offices. And its true that they don’t have to take nutrition courses- this was admitted to me by Dr. Helaine Haltrecht, vice-president of the Association of Veterinarian Accupuncturists of Canada, a holistic vet who gives courses and advises home cooking for pets.
And think of who is telling you this. Do you think those people have ever seen a dog or cat fed anything other than Science Diet or Iams or whatever? They have nothing to compare to.
Is it really apprpriate to feed our carnivores bread injected with viatmins?
And yeah, its pretty hard to believe the roadkill part.. But there’s no denying the rest.
One person who worked at a shelter for a year said everyone knew where the euthanized animals went… to the rendering plants. They would watch them go by the truckload, and actually even had to pay for the plants to take them away, because they couldn’t afford a crematorium.
Yes, they would have to scrape a lot of roadkill to feed all of America’s dogs- but remember, its not just roadkill, its cows with cancer and chickens with brain diseases, not to mention the euthanized pets. Did you know that they tested those pet foods for the chemical used to euthanize dogs and cats and it came out POSITIVE? It is also included in the file as EVIDENCE.

And you would be surprised by how much roadkill there actually is. In the US and Canada, we have workers that clean it up so we don’t see it.
In Greece, they don’t have those workers, so I got to see how much road kill there really is. In about one hour of driving, I saw 15 dead animals. I actually counted. And I also got to see the same dead cat on the same road for over a week- and I bet you it was dragged away by a stray dog.

So maybe you’re right, the roadkill can’t feed everyone’s dog. But everything else can. :)

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

ridingnchicago asked:


Long story short I joined a class action suite a little over two years ago. I was interviewed by the lawyer and told I could join the suite. I was then sent documents to sign and was told I was part of the suite.

I didn’t hear much so about six months later I followed up for an update, they gave me the runaround about how cases take a while they’ll keep us updated. Anyhow, in January and again today I recieved letters saying the judge was appealing the addition of plaintiffs to the lawsuite. For the past almost three years I’ve been under the impression I was part of this suite and I wasn’t. The letter today asked if I would like to stay with them and see if they could add me or if I would like to try to find another lawyer on my own. The communication from this attourney has been horrible but I am especially angry now that for the past three years I’ve been thinking I was a part of the suite and come to find out today I was never part of it.

What recourse do I have agianst this law firm? I don’t even know where to begin, I was going to file a complaint with the better business burea and was going to find a website for the Texas Bar association and see if I can file a complaint through them.

I guess my question is has this lawyer done something wrong? What recourse do I have? WHo do I contact?
I know class action suites are garbage alot of the time and you get a check for $5. This isn’t a thing agianst a cell phone, I was in a boot camp type school and was beaten, denied foot, and medical attention, its a legit case and it sohuld have been handled properly

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

oxysmartass asked:


I know that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act US Code Title 17, Chapter 5, limits an ISP’s liability for copyright infringement based on the actions of users and etc…does this protection also extend to possible trademark infringement? I am briefing a case for my business law class where the plaintiff is suing another company for trademark infringement, and is including the defendants web hosting company for what I guess is contributing to trademark infringement. From what I can tell, it’s not trademark infringement because the mark is descriptive and has attained no secondary meaning. However, I want to be thorough and include why the Web Hosting company could or could not be held liable even in the event of actual infringement.

BTW, this is a fake scenario and not a real case, so I cannot link to the case. I only need to know if the Digital Millennium Copyright Act extends limitation of liability to trademarks as well as copyrights.

Thanks!

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

Kim Oanh B asked:


A childless married couple (the Does), the wife not being pregnant, separately attacked the laws, basing alleged injury on the future possibilities of contraceptive failure, pregnancy, unpreparedness for parenthood, and impairment of the wife’s health. A three-judge District Court, which consolidated the actions, held that Roe and Hallford, and members of their classes, had standing to sue and presented justiciable controversies. Ruling that declaratory, though not injunctive, relief was warranted, the court declared the abortion statutes void as vague and overbroadly infringing those plaintiffs’ Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The court ruled the Does’ complaint not justiciable. Appellants directly appealed to this Court on the injunctive rulings, and appellee cross-appealed from the District Court’s grant of declaratory relief to Roe and Hallford.

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

Rashelle asked:


“The Complaint is a putative class action, with the Plaintiff seeking to represent all other students who have been defrauded.”

Does this mean people who did not initiate the lawsuit may join and receive damages if they were legally affected???

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs

0421 asked:


I have some True/False questions from Business Law class that are tricky for me. Could anyone help me answer these questions?
Thank you so much.

True/False:
1. The jury, being the sole finder of fact in a civil case, is free in the course of its deliberations, in arriving at the verdict, to disregard the judge’s instructions and pronouncements as to the law.

2. As part of the checks and balances of our federal system, the President has inherent powers to determine the constitutionality of actions of the executive branch of government and, thus, can refuse to abide by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court questioning the President’s authority, particularly if the President believes such actions are in the best interests of the American people.

3. In a diversity case brought in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington, wherein it is alleged that the defendent has breached plaintiff’s contract for consulting services, the court will apply the federal common law.
sorry, 2 more questions.
Thank you so so much.

4. If the parties have written into their contract that any disputes arising under the contract shall be submitted to arbitration, the parties must in the event of a dispute submit it to arbitration before the American Arbitration Association, but the decision of the arbitrator will be advisory only and not legally binding on the parties.

5. The pre-trial motion for summary judgment will be granted if, as to the legal issue presented to the court for decision, there is no genuine issue of a material fact that could be brought before a jury and, therefore, it is pointless to go to trial on that issue.

Lawyers Attorneys FAQs