Consumer - Blogs
- New Study On Diet And Heart Disease Makes Important Point About Epidemiology
Readers may have heard the response by the person warned by a family member that what he or she was eating was bad for their heart. "Wait a month and there will be a different study showing it is good for me." What we know for sure about diet and the heart is actually a surprisingly short list. This week comes the study, A Systematic Review of the Evidence Supporting a Causal Link Between Dietary Factors and Coronary Heart Disease, by Drs. Mente, de Koning, et al. , 2009 Arch Intern Med....
(April 23, 2009) - MPAA-RealDVD Trial Portends Legality of DVD Copying
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Motion Picture Association of America and RealNetworks square off in a federal courtroom here Friday to determine the legitimacy of the Seattle-based tech company's DVD copying software. The MPAA, which fears losing complete oversight of the DVD as the music industry lost control of the CD, is challenging RealNetworks' $30 software allowing users to make backup copies of DVDs on their hard drives. Hollywood claims the RealDVD software, which a judge ordered removed from the...
(April 22, 2009) - New Article On Why Using Certified Mail Is So Important When Dealing With Debt Collectors Or ...
We sometimes face the question of "Do I really have to spend five bucks on certified mail with the green card coming back" when our clients are mailing dispute letters to credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union, etc) or to debt buyers (Midland, LVNV, Unifund, etc) or collection agencies (AmSher, NCO, etc). The answer is YES! We explain this in more detail in our new article on this subject but the basic reason is proof. Proof the person or company you are sending the letter to...
(April 22, 2009) - Macon Georgia lawyers win appeal in case involving ante-litem notice requirements for lawsuits ...
The Georgia Court of Appeals recently determined that a plaintiff's failure to originally identify the correct governmental agencies in a personal injury suit against the state does not necessarily constitute grounds for dismissing the suit. The court held that the correct standard is to determine if the plaintiffs adequately investigated their claims or if the state had suffered prejudice. In Young v. Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources, the plaintiff, Young, was injured at the Georgia National...
(April 22, 2009) - Copyright Infringement Letter - What to Do Now? by Brian A. Hall
Although known by several different names, such as a cease and desist letter, a notice letter, and a threat letter, any letter that notes ownership of a copyright and your infringement of that copyright must be taken seriously. A copyright infringement threat letter is a letter or email from an alleged copyright owner threatening to take legal action against you if you do not stop using a work to which it claims copyright ownership. The letter typically starts out by noting who the sender is...
(April 22, 2009) - Ashland, Inc Sues Oppenheimer for Mismarketing Auction-Rate Securities
Ashland Inc., the maker of Valvoline motor oil, has filed sit against Oppenheimer & Co. for selling the company $194 million of illiquid auction-rate securities after lying about the nature of auction-rate securities and the stability of the auction-rate securities market. So reported Morgan Bettax in an April 17, 2009 article entitled "Valvoline Maker Lodges ARS Suit Against Oppenheimer" posted on Law360.com. The complaint, filed in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of...
(April 22, 2009) - Pirate Bay Judge Exposed as Member of Pro-Copyright Groups
Kerstin Sjoden reports. One of the four men convicted in The Pirate Bay trial is seeking to have his guilty verdict thrown out after learning that the judge in the trial is a member of two pro-copyright groups, including one whose membership includes entertainment industry representatives who argued in the case. Stockholm district court judge, Tomas Norström told a Swedish newspaper that his previously-undisclosed entanglements with the copyright groups did not constitute a conflict of...
(April 22, 2009) - Credit Card Perks and Default
A large portion of existing credit cards carry some sort of perk for borrowers, like cashback or frequent flier miles. Did you notice that those are often taken away if you go into default? If you are getting close to defaulting on your credit cards, you have bigger problems then worrying ...
(April 22, 2009) - Identity Theft via Caller ID - Spoofing
Denise Richardson of Give Me Back My Credit.com has posted an article in which she discusses "caller ID spoofing." Caller ID Spoofing is when the number displayed on your caller ID isn't the number actually calling. Scammers can use this method of spoofing to pose as hospitals or banks (or any other place), and then trick you into telling them personal information. This can be as simple as a prank, or lead to identity theft . Still, precautions should be taken. Richardson advises never giving...
(April 22, 2009) - Finally, Some White House Interest in Credit Card Abuses
The Obama Administration today turned its attention toward abusive credit card practices. After years of presidencies that were at best indifferent or at worst supportive of the credit card industry abuses, to finally have the White House give some attention to these issues is an incredibly welcome development. Specifically, the Obama Administration has indicated it will support H.R. 627, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009. Representatives Carol Maloney and Barney Frank have...
(April 22, 2009) - Another Securities Fraud Lawsuit Filed Against UBS International
Another securities fraud lawsuit has been filed against UBS International, which is a division of UBS. This latest claim brings forth allegations similar to those filed earlier in the year against UBSI. Both claims revolve around the use of loans to buy securities, such as stocks, and UBS created products. Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, and Kantas, LLP is the stockbroker fraud law firm to file this latest case. According to the securities fraud claim, a UBSI broker working out of the Coral Cables...
(April 22, 2009) - Large law firm rates $450 per hour for associate with no experience
I recently turned down a complex but interesting case that had been handled by a much larger firm. In hearing about the case, I asked the potential client how he had decided to have this firm handle his case. He explained that he felt like he needed a big firm to take on his former [...]
(April 21, 2009) - Credit-Rating Firms Assert First Amendment Protection For Ratings of Mortgage-Backed Securities
Credit-rating firms, such as Moody's Corp., McGraw-Hill Cos.' Standard and Poor's and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings, are facing a multitude of lawsuits regarding their ratings of mortgage-backed securities, according to the Wall Street Journal. These lawsuits stem from investors' losses in the securities due to homeowner defaults. In response to the litigation, these credit-rating firms hope to be protected by the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment right to free speech. However,...
(April 21, 2009) - FDA To Hold Meeting on Risk Communication Strategies
The Food and Drug Administration's Risk Communication Advisory Committee will be holding a public meeting on April 30, 2009, and May 1, 2009, at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Advisory Committee Conference Room, in Rockville, MD. On both days the Committee will discuss the Agency's draft risk communication strategic plan and will be asked for comment and further advice on strategic priorities for research on effective risk communication. That draft plan describes FDA's strategy for...
(April 21, 2009) - Los Angeles Crash Causation Study by Motorcycle Safety Foundation
According to a December 2008 article in the Associated Press, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (a.k.a the "MSF") in conjunction with the Los Angles Police Department will be summarizing and statistically analyzing bike crash data in the southern California area. This comprehensive study has been designed to advance the science of motorcycle safety. The last study of this kind was conducted - believe in or not - back in 1981. Much has changed in the nearly 30 years since the "Hurt Study." Back...
(April 21, 2009) - Swedish Pirate Party Doubles in Size After Bay Verdict
Kerstin Sjoden reports. Membership in the Swedish Pirate Party has more than doubled in the wake of last Friday's verdict against The Pirate Bay, dramatically increasing the copyright-reform party's chances of winning a seat in the European Parliament. Over 22,000 new party members have joined the Pirate Party since a panel of judges sentenced a financier and three administrators of the torrent-tracking site to a year in prison. The explosion of support has swelled the party's membership from...
(April 21, 2009) - Congresswoman Harman Becomes New Civil Liberties Defender
Suddenly it makes sense for Congresswoman Jane Harman to be fighting on behalf of innocent Americans against secret government wiretaps of all kinds -- even ones approved by a judge. That's because confidential information that was leaked to the press (something the California Democrat also deplores) indicates she was caught on a national security wiretap, allegedly talking quid pro quo to a suspected Israeli spy. That's on a FISA wiretap that seems to have been approved by a judge as part of...
(April 21, 2009) - House Financial Services Committee Passes Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act on to House
The House Financial Services Committee is reporting here that it has passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act and reported it to the full House. UPDATE: Here's the Committee press release: The House Financial Services Committee today approved legislation that would provide credit card customers crucial protections against unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive credit card practices, which include double-cycle billing, due-date gimmicks, and retroactive interest rate hikes. The bill...
(April 21, 2009) - Cyber Criminals Industrialize to Increase Effectiveness
SAN FRANCISCO -- Cybercriminals have become industrialized to increase their effectiveness. They are increasingly using encryption to cover their tracks and prevent forensic investigators from recovering evidence, according to Joe Stewart, security researcher for SecureWorks. Stewart, speaking at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco Wednesday, said the criminals are using virtual private networks to siphon stolen information from hacked companies so the stream of exiting data often goes...
(April 21, 2009) - News America Whistleblower Files for Bankruptcy; Moves for a Stay
Robert Emmel, a former News America Marketing employee and a key witness in litigation against News America, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection today, likely in response to News America's attempts to recover damages and $1.5 million in attorneys fees from him in a breach of contract action related to disclosure of confidential News America information. As discussed in an earlier post, News America won summary judgment against Mr. Emmel in federal district court on a breach of contract...
(April 21, 2009)