On January 5, 2011 California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno announced his planned resignation to Governor Jerry Brown, who must now appoint a replacement justice after Moreno leaves his post on February 28. As reported in a story in SF Gate, Moreno stated that the Governor’s victory gave him some comfort about who his replacement might be. He also stated that he may work in alternative dispute resolution or perhaps at a private law firm.
Text messages are becoming an increasingly common form of communication, even in remote areas like Humboldt County, and this can have a profound effect on both civil and criminal lawsuits. “Smart” phones and overall increases in phones’ data capacity are creating both headaches and treasure troves for litigation attorneys. As a cell phone user, you should know that if you are thinking of filing a lawsuit, or may have to defend against one, your text messages could be available to the opposing party and/or the court. This may even include messages you have deleted from the phone.
In late May, the Internal Revenue Service adopted a new position regarding taxation of registered domestic partners in its Private Letter Ruling 201021048 (the “PLR”). See Pender, Kathleen, “IRS adopts state domestic-partner property law,” San Francisco Chronicle (June 3, 2010) available at SFGate.com. Previously, the IRS did not apply California community property principles to registered domestic partnerships in terms of federal tax law since “[t]he relationship between registered domestic partners under the California Act is not marriage under California law.” See IRS Chief Counsel Advice 200608038.
However, now the IRS will treat the income earned by California registered domestic partners as community property income for federal income tax purposes. This means that each partner must report to the IRS one half of the total income earned between the two partners, not just his or her separate income. While this does not change the format in which the domestic partners must file their California state taxes, it may have significant federal tax benefits for partners with very disparate incomes.
Owners of real estate, as well as renters and managers of real estate, should be aware of their duties to maintain safe conditions on the property that they control because if someone is injured on the property, they could be sued and held liable for significant damages. With the exception of the greater Eureka-Arcata area, Humboldt County has remained largely undeveloped over the years. As a result, there are many buildings that were originally built in complete disregard of the County’s applicable codes. Owners and occupiers should know the legal status of their buildings before it is too late and someone is injured as a result of failing to maintain appropriate living conditions.
In the face of rising credit and debit card use nationwide, the Janssen Law Firm hopes to inform small businesses in Humboldt County and elsewhere to make the best decisions for their growth. Whether or not to accept plastic forms of payment involves knowing the parameters of what can and cannot be done in compliance with the law and merchant contracts. Since small businesses have little to no bargaining power in the contracts they must sign to accept cards, they should at least familiarize themselves with the rules (for an illustration of the rising use of credit and debit cards, see New York Times .
There are a variety of reasons that it may be better to wait before suing, often having to do with determining the amount of damages to demand in the lawsuit. However, waiting too long to sue may legally prohibit you from being able to do so.
Almost every law provides a window of time after the facts of a case arise during which a suit may be filed. This window of time is called the Statute of Limitations (“SOL”). The size of the window will depend on the law which provides the right. After the time period has ended, the SOL is said to have “tolled.” California Code Civ. Proc. (“CCP”) § 312. The rules for how a SOL tolls are complicated. However, if you are thinking of filing suit, you should be aware of a few basic rules.
The Janssen Law Firm is pleased to announce that Shanti Michaels has joined the firm as an associate. Ms. Michaels is a 2009 graduate of the University of California Hastings College of Law and a member of the California and Humboldt County Bar Associations. She served as an Executive Editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly and was a member of the Hastings International and Comparative Law Journal staff. Ms. Michaels’ undergraduate work was at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA with study abroad at the University of Salamanca, Spain. Ms. Michaels is fluent in Spanish.