This week’s legal resources you might have missed: Sept. 26 – 30

At Smith Coonrod Mohlman, LLC. we enjoy keeping up with the latest legal news and sharing it with you. We firmly believe that is important to keep up with industry happenings because it is just one more way that we can help you. This week’s stories touch on legal news on both local and national levels. Deadly cantaloupe, wrongful birth lawsuits, the Dead Red law in Kansas, and BP execs (we’re not finished with them yet) were some of the topics gracing legal headlines this week. We welcome your opinions and discussion!

1. Cantaloupe death toll continues to rise. On Monday the death toll from a contaminated crop of cantaloup was at eight people. As of Thursday, the CDC has reported at least 16 deaths from the listeria traced to Colorado fruits and expects it will continue to rise. Until this is resolved, do not eat cantaloupe  if you do not know where it came from.

2. Wrongful birth malpractice lawsuit results in a $4.5 million settlement. A Florida recently awarded $4.5 million to the parents of a baby born with no arms and only one leg. The couple alleged that it was medical negligence that prevented from them learning of the debilitation early enough to terminate the pregnancy.

3. The color red generally means stop, unless you’re on a bike in Kansas.  The Dead Red law in Kansas allows bicycles and motorcycles to continue through a red light if the light does not turn green in a “reasonable” amount of time. This wording is vague- what is reasonable? Will cyclists and bikers obey a “reasonable” amount of time?

4. Lawsuits filed against top English BP executives have been dismissed in favor of an English forum. Waves of litigation spilled in (no pun intended here) after the Deepwater Horizon incident in April 2010. However, these suits primarily involving English execs at an English corporation will not go forward in US courts. An English forum will be more appropriate for litigation.

This week’s legal resources you might have missed: Sept. 19 – 23

At Smith Coonrod Mohlman, LLC. we enjoy keeping up with the latest legal news and sharing it with you. We firmly believe that is important to keep up with industry happenings because it is just one more way that we can help you. This week’s stories touch on legal news on both local and national levels. Office chatter via social media, Kansas Voter ID laws and small business: read on, share your thoughts and opinions. We welcome the discussion!

This week’s legal news stories:

1. Social media emerges as a battleground for protected speech at work. With online reputations being as important as they are these days, it’s easy to see why businesses don’t want employees complaining about their day-to-day troubles brought on by their jobs and the workplace in the online environment. But employees are doing it, and employers are getting in trouble for attempting to regulate it. Would you take the office chatter online?

2. Do new voter ID laws actually work to suppress fraud?  Or just Democrats? There have been 221 incidents of voter fraud in Kansas since 1997. Thirty of the these cases were tried and seven fraudulent voters were convicted. Furthermore, Kris Kobach says this is not a “Republican conspiracy,” because two-thirds of Kansas Democrats are in support of his voter ID bill. Are you in support of this legislation?

3. The American Invents Act of 2011- does it shut out small businesses? Most agree the change in patent legislation was necessary and will actually spur innovation in the United States by streamlining the old system and better aligning US policies with those of the rest of the world. However, entrepreneurs, small businesses and small-scale inventors worry that this new system will give larger corporations a leg up.

This week’s legal resources you might have missed: Sept. 12 – 16

At Smith Coonrod Mohlman, LLC. we enjoy keeping up with the latest legal news and sharing it with you. We firmly believe that is important to keep up with industry happenings because it is just one more way that we can help you. This week’s stories touch on legal news on both local and national levels. Human trafficking laws that fall flat in Kansas, courtroom dogs, pharmaceutical law: read on, share your thoughts and opinions. We welcome the discussion!

This week’s legal news stories:

1. Kansas falls short in combatting human trafficking. Kansas laws aimed at combatting human trafficking fall short comparable to the laws in Missouri, says a national anti-trafficking organization. What’s the deal?

2. More bullying cases have parents turning to courts.  The number of bullying-related lawsuits is on the rise nationwide. The number of lawsuits are increasing for a number of reasons, one being awareness. People are aware about the seriousness of these situations in a way they didn’t used to be, and feel the need to report it.

3. US courtroom dog spark legal debate. Dogs have played a comforting role in the courtroom for more than 20 years, mostly for children. However, their presence is being protested of late. A New York lawyer recently appealed his client’s conviction on the grounds that the courtroom dog affected the opposing testimony.

4. A legal doctrine that worries pharma defense lawyers. A new legal doctrine allows prosecutors to go after executives, holding them accountable for violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Here’s the catch- the executives can still be prosecuted even if they weren’t aware of violations.

That’s what we have for you this week, be sure to check back next Friday!

This week’s legal resources you might have missed: Sept. 5 – 9

At Smith Coonrod Mohlman, LLC. we enjoy keeping up with the latest legal news and sharing it with you. We firmly believe that is important to keep up with industry happenings because it is just one more way that we can help you. This week’s stories are all across the board- Proposition 8, Walmart and AT&T to name a few.

This week’s legal news stories:

1. Indiana lawmakers say $5 million is not enough for the damage caused by the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair. The August 13th storm that led to the collapse of the main stage left seven dead and more than 40 injured. The state can dole out $5 million, but many think this is inadequate.

2. The California high court listens to key legal dispute over Proposition 8.  Voters approve Proposition 8, or same sex marriage law, but state officials still refuse to back the legislation. The key question at hand is if that state continues to not intervene, can private groups and individuals defend these citizen initiatives?

3. Legal responses to 9/11 terrorist attacks are still in flux. Ten years after the worst attack on American soil, the trauma suffered still haunts us, especially as images of the burning towers splash across television screens as the 10th anniversary approaches. The attacks resulted in a dilemma for the American legal system- security or liberty?

4. Walmart has a guide to come out of of lawsuits on the winning end, even when it technically lost. Six years ago, Walmart agreed to stop renting DVDs online and Blockbuster planned to take the movie rental industry by storm. Today, Blockbuster is bankrupt and Walmart owns the fastest growing movie download site, Vudu. How did that happen?

5. Proposed At&T and T-Mobile merger is both legal and political.  At&T must prove that it would not create an anti-competitive market in a merger with T-Mobile. The actual market needs to be defined, and a benefit to consumers needs to be proven.

This week’s legal resources you might have missed: Aug. 29 – Sept. 2

Attorneys at the Law Offices of Smith Coonrod Mohlman, LLC. help people. We help those who have been injured in accidents or who own small businesses. We help people dealing with issues related to injuries and people dealing with difficult family situations. We work hard for those people who are working hard to make their small business or franchise successful. After all that, we keep you up date with the latest news in the legal sphere. Be sure to check back each Friday for our week in review!

Some important resources you might have missed:

1. Senate Bill No. 62. New law in Missouri changes how much medical providers can charge for electronic copies of medical records. Many seriously injured patients have hundreds, even thousands, of pages of medical records. With providers charging 50 cents a page, this gets costly. Enter electronic records, and savings.

2. A number of states have recently passed voter-ID legislation, Kansas among them. This has quite a few people unhappy; people from former president Bill Clinton to NAACP head Benjamin Jealous claim this new legislation echoes Jim Crow.

3. Kansas has signed a $135 million contract for a new statewide computer system. The new system will centralize applications for Medicaid and other joint state-federal assistance insurance plans. It’s formally known as the Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System, or KEES.

4. As Hurricane Irene recedes, legal disputes over damages are expected to pour in. Experts say the biggest disputes will be over whether or not certain damages to property are the result of wind or water. Property owners face soggy basements, shattered windows and tree-battered roofs.