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: Herbicide drifting re-emerges as practical and legal issue

Herbicides have helped farmers control weeds for decades. Twenty years ago Monsanto created genetically modified seed that would grow into plants that wouldn’t die if they were sprayed with glyphosate, which is a chemical that will kill all living plants. This technology is referred to as “Roundup Ready,” and it created some of America’s first weed-free farms. 

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.

Legal-Ease: Avoiding probate one asset at a time

While this hasn’t always been the perception about probate, the probate process has improved significantly as a result of simplification of federal estate law calculation formulas as well as administrative efficiencies that have been implemented by our local probate judges.

Legal-Ease: Different states, different laws

It should be apparent to anyone who travels or follows the news that different states have different laws. Participants in a transaction or contract can actually outline which state’s law will apply to disputes that arise over their agreement.