Lawyers are trained to help clients rather than hurt others, so lawyers are best used to help. The legal profession began to help people navigate society’s laws, and lawyers are poorly equipped to exact revenge.
Category Archives: General Law
Legal-Ease: Leaves, trees and branches
Every fall we can look forward to raking leaves, and often you might find that once you’ve finished cleaning up your own leaves, a neighbor’s leaves have blown into your yard. While some communities may have rules on leaf collection, most leaf and tree law is governed by Ohio law.
Generally, leaves, acorns, small twigs and other items that naturally fall from trees do not need to be raked or removed. If the items blow over to a neighbor’s house, the neighbor may not force the tree owner to remove the leaves.
What may cause issues, though, is if a tree falls on a neighbor’s property. Ohio has a handful of laws that sort out liability when a tree causes damage to a neighbor’s property.
Legal-Ease: Can I get out of this deal?
Sometimes circumstances change, and you want to know if you can get out of a contract. Maybe you found a better price or higher quality option. Four principles should be considered when contemplating ending a contract.
Legal-Ease: Keeping money safe
The question often comes up of what will happen to money in a bank if the bank closes. Typically, there’s no cause for concern when a bank closes, as your money should be safe. When money is deposited in banks, it’s protected in several different ways.
First, money deposited in banks is protected by the government’s bank auditing and examination laws. Second, when banks loan money, it’s not always the bank’s own money. Finally, money in certain bank accounts is protected through FDIC insurance.
Legal-Ease: Capitalism or price gouging?
Of all the devastation that we’ve seen on the media in the wake of Harvey in Texas, some of the more widely shared photos were of price gouging. One picture that was especially widely shared on social media was of bottled water that was marked up to more than twice its value before a storm. So the question is, is this just capitalism, or is it price gouging?
Price gouging typically means spiking the prices of services or commodities to a level that’s considered to be unfair and that it’s exploiting customers. Price gouging is frequently discussed in the wake of natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey. There is no federal law that governs price gouging, although some people in congress have introduced legislations to try to limit price gouging.
Legal-Ease: School bus traffic laws
It’s almost time for students to head back to school, which means it’s time for drivers to encounter school buses on the road. Drivers must stop at least 10 feet from the part of the school bus that’s closest to the driver. So if a school bus is stopped on a one-, two- or three-lane road, all traffic going in both directions must stop at least 10 feet from the bus. The bus driver should not move the bus until the students are no longer in the roadway. Other drivers can move again once the school bus begins moving again.
Legal-Ease: Guilt by association and felony murder
In the legal world, the question of whether everyone involved in a crime is as guilty as the “trigger man” involves a careful analysis. In the state of Ohio, guilt by association is addressed by a legal concept referred to as “felony murder.”
To be guilty of murder in the state of Ohio, a person must have acted intentionally. Murder requires that someone was killed on purpose, which is different from the requirements for other homicides.
Legal-Ease: Hot weather and electricity
During the hot summer months, electric companies request that we cut down on the usage of electricity in our homes and businesses. This request may seem odd, but utility companies such as electric, water and sewage companies are heavily regulated. The laws and regulations on utility companies help ensure that electric service and other utility service is always available without the concern for rolling blackouts and brownouts.
Legal-Ease: Signing the Declaration of Independence then and signing receipts now
We sign various documents all the time, and what our signature means changes depending upon what’s being signed. Sometimes signing a document confirms certain facts, other times a signature is a commitment, and sometimes signatures mean absolutely nothing.
For example, signing for the delivery of an item that’s already paid for just confirms the receipt of an item. But signing a credit card slip represents a promise to pay for goods.
Legal-Ease: Grains, trains and automobiles
In some areas, the local government doesn’t own the land adjacent to the road and instead will have an easement with the landowner. This easement is commonly called a right-of-way, and often the owner of the land gave the government the right to use the land more than a century ago for a road. If the government owns or has an easement over any area of land, the government has the right to use that area for roadway traffic, which includes ensuring clear vision near curves and at intersections.