Monthly Archives: November 2009

A news story out of Canada is getting a lot of attention these days. A 29-year-old woman from Quebec lost her medical leave benefits after posting photos of herself on vacation and out with friends. The woman, Nathalie Blanchard, had been off from work for about a year after her doctor diagnosed her with major depression. While on leave she received benefits from her employer’s insurance company, but those benefits came to a stop after the insurance company decided that …

If you want to learn more about a legal issue, need a lawyer or want to share your legal knowledge with others, we hope that Lawyers.com is the first place you turn. But other great legal resources are available, and chief among them are bar associations. A bar association is a professional organization for attorneys. There are several types of bar associations: National associations, such as the American Bar Association, which represent the interests of attorneys nationwide State associations, such …

Remember the woman who sued McDonald’s because their coffee is hot? She didn’t have the common sense to put her hot coffee somewhere other than between her legs while riding in a car, then blamed McDonald’s when she was burned. It would be a classic example of a frivolous lawsuit–except for the fact that the woman actually won her case. By definition, a frivolous lawsuit is one that is based on a legal claim that has no merit. In other …

If you’ve turned on the TV in the last week, you’ve probably seen Charla Nash–the woman who was savagely attacked by a chimpanzee–being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and The Today Show’s Meredith Vieira. Last February, Nash’s friend and employer Sandra Herold called to ask for Nash’s help in containing Herold’s pet chimpanzee Travis. When Nash arrived at Herold’s home, Travis attacked her. Nash lost both hands, both eyes, her nose and her lips in the mauling, and remains hospitalized. She …

November is National Adoption Month. According to several surveys, more than one-third of Americans have considered adopting a child, but only about 2 percent of Americans have actually adopted a child. There are a number of reasons why people consider adoption, but don’t follow through on it. These include the cost of adoption, the lack of adoptable children or children who fit specific age/gender/racial parameters, the time is takes to complete an adoption, and administrative hurdles that must be completed …