Mirror of Justice

Many Personal Injuries Occur While at the Local Market

July 18th, 2009 at 07:08pm Under Personal Injury Law

Grocery stores are often considered safe and making a run to the grocery store is a common, everyday occurrence for most families and individuals. But grocery stores are actually one of the riskiest places to be and many customers commonly find themselves in a sticky situation after being involved in an accident that leaves them with slip and fall injuries. A report, conducted by the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), even found that $450 million in legal settlements and expenses is paid out annually to victims of these accidents. Learning how to protect yourself whether you are a customer or employee is important, even in a place you’d think could never harm you.

Victims Over 60 At Higher Risk

Given the preponderance of spilled liquids, loose items and runaway carts at grocery stores and supermarkets, it is not surprising that slip and fall injuries are a danger to customers and employees. One of the most interesting finds of the NFSI report was that women, specifically 60 years or older, are more likely to endure a serious slip and fall injury. Grocery store falls take place most often in crowded entry areas, where water is often tracked into the store and not cleaned up as easily or quickly as promotes optimal safety. In addition, the high polish on most supermarket floors means that it is hard to detect stray liquids. Liquid-related risks can occur often in refrigerated areas where equipment may leak or in the produce area, where produce is kept fresh with water continually spraying the products available for purchase.

Victims’ Rights in Slip and Fall Injuries

It is a grocery store or supermarket’s obligation to provide a safe space for customers to walk and to prevent slip and fall injuries to the best of their ability. Grocery stores should always have unsafe areas marked and designated with caution signs as well as have employees nearby to continually scan the store for areas of potential danger. If the unavoidable does occur, you still have rights, whether you are a customer or an employee.

Customers

If you are a customer, inform the store manager as soon as possible, and get that person’s contact information. Contact the appropriate medical personnel and have your injuries checked out. Speak with a personal injury law firm for consultation if a supermarket or grocery store does not cooperate in compensating you for your injuries. Your personal injury attorney can help you recover the damages and compensation you deserve after a slip and fall injury. This can include, but is not limited to, attorney’s fees, medical bills, lost wages, and other benefits.

Employees

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident on the job, inform a supervisor as soon as possible. Fill out the proper paperwork and consult with your employer’s doctor. A workers’ compensation claim may become relevant to employees who are not thoroughly examined by the company’s medical personnel, or if an employee’s wages decrease or lost because of missed work and low mobility because of a slip and fall injury. An employer will typically try to resolve a workers’ compensation claim through its insurer, but you may wish to have legal representation to make sure your rights are upheld and you are given the care and compensation you deserve.

Difference between Common Law and Civil Law in Canada

July 14th, 2009 at 11:37pm Under Administrative Law

The Canadian legal system in every province except for Quebec is based on the British common law system. The Quebec province retains a civil system for issues of private law, however both of these legal systems are subject to the Constitution of Canada. Inside the commonwealth system everything is divided into areas like criminal law or civil law. It this article we will examine the Civil Law area and the Common Law area in Canada.

Common law

Canada belongs to a group of common law countries, so Canadian law adheres to the doctrine of stare decisis. In this system all the lower courts are bound by the decisions of higher courts and must follow it. But this works only inside one province, lower courts from two different provinces are not bound by each others decisions. The decisions made by a province’s highest court like the Court of Appeal, nevertheless are considered as “persuasive” even though they are not binding on other provinces. There is also the Supreme Court of Canada that authority to bind all courts in the country with a single ruling. If a there is a little or no existing Canadian decision on a legal issue it is possible that the court will look to a non-Canadian legal authority for reference. Most often the decisions on other commonwealth countries like the U.S. and England are utilized. While the decisions of English higher courts like the English Court of Appeal are respected and these courts are considered the be persuasive authority, many of the constitution or privacy related issues are solved basing on the decisions of United States courts, because the there is a much greater body of jurisprudence in U.S. law than English law in these areas. Canadian courts are also particularly bind with the decisions of the House of Lords made before 1867, but practice shows that most of these decisions were overturned by the Canadian Supreme Court or simply not considered serious by any of the Canadian lower courts.

Civil law

Civil Law in Canada involves numerous areas of law that contain disputes between parties (individuals, corporations and government). In such disputes parties seek remedies from the court in contractual matters, tort disputes, and property law cases. Civil Law is opposed to Criminal law that is typically enforced by the government, while the civil law, may be enforced by private parties. In Canada Civil Law also includes a growing sphere called Administrative Law, which deals with things like federal and provincial administrative tribunals, including labour boards, human rights tribunals, and workers’ compensation appeal tribunals. These decisions still can be reviewed by superior courts like the Federal Court Trial Division or the Federal Court of Appeal. Also Civil Law contains the Municipal Law area that covers jurisdiction of the provincial legislatures (that naturally varies from province to province). Established by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to the activities of municipal governments.

Divorce Law

July 14th, 2009 at 03:02am Under Divorce Law

Divorce refers to the legal dissolution of a marriage. Divorce law refers to the numerous rules and litigation that are related to terminating a marriage. Most states in the U.S. have different laws regarding divorce and when it could be granted. Some variables in these laws include residency requirements or reasons for the divorce.There are a number of different types of divorce, including fault based, no-fault based, outline, uncontested, collaborative, and mediated. Just about any situation that ends in a pair needing a divorce will fall under one of these categories.A fault based divorce used to be the only way to cancel a marriage. In this situation, a divorce is only granted if one member of the couple qualifies as at fault. If neither person can be shown to be at fault, the divorce is not granted, stopping the couple from legally remarrying. With the support of a court system, a non-initiating better half could be divorced against their will in this case.When the couple can present the case to the courts with a fair and equitable agreement, approval of the divorce is practically guaranteed . If an agreement is not reached, the court could be asked to split the marital property.Collaborative divorce is a technique that divorcing couples use to come to an understanding on divorce issues. In this situation, the couple negotiates and concluded resolution with the help of a lawyer trained in the collaborative divorce process. Each party is ready to make their own calls primarily based on wants and interests, but with complete information and profession support. Many lawyers claim that the collaborative law can be less costly than other techniques if a contract isn’t reached, any information used during the process can’t be employed in later legal proceedings.Divorce mediation is an alternative to traditional divorce proceedings. At the end of the mediation process, the parties should have formed a divorce agreement than can then be submitted to the court. Mediation can be a lot less dear than traditional litigation, and parties seem to stick more to mediated agreements rather than court orders.Although there are a number of different reasons for a divorce to happen, a standard factor that all settlements should have is a divorce counsel. A layer will help folks concerned make monetary and emotional calls that are highly vital, like working with kid custody and property divisions. A barrister with experience in the related field of Family Law would be a great asset. In addition, it is important to chat with a barrister about their experience, the steps concerned in the divorce process and what should be expected from it, and the costs associated with the divorce process.With all the laws and complicated feelings and situations that can occur, finding a divorce counsel who can offer organization and understanding can be a really valuable asset.The information you get from this article is it planned to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.

Human Rights Law in Canada

July 12th, 2009 at 08:54am Under Civil Rights Law

Worldwide Canada is considered to be one of the leading countries that support the global human rights movement. The history of Human Rights Law in Canada begins in the advent of the Canadian Bill of Rights, before that the human rights issues were usually regulated with single court cases and the verdicts of such cases were used to regulate similar situations. In 1938 by the decision of Reference re Alberta Statutes, the Supreme Court of Canada first recognized an implied bill of rights. The case revolved around an Albertan law that prohibited the press from criticizing the government. Another major step in the Human Rights Law was done in 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed and from that moment the Canadian Government attempted to make universal human rights a part of Canadian law. While even before that the Government has done lot of thing to solve various racial discrimination problems, with the signing of the Declaration the country turned to equality and problems of homosexual people. Canada by the way was the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with an amendment of the Civil Marriage Act. Despite all these achievements there are still some problems left today. Some Canadian provinces still have religiously segregated schools, there is a certain lack of anti-discrimination laws to protect the disabled and the treatment of Canada’s First Nations people or Aboriginal Canadians attract criticism form the United Nations and other countries. But still the main areas of the Human Rights like the freedom of speech or the workers rights are heavily protected by the appropriate parts of the Canadian Law.

Today there are four key mechanisms in Canada to protect human rights: the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and provincial human rights laws and legislation. The cornerstone of human rights in Canada is the Canadian Human Rights Act. This Act was passed by the Canadian Government in 1977 and the goal of extending the law with this act was to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on various grounds such as gender, disability, or religion. The Canadian Human Rights Act applies throughout Canada, but only to federally regulated activities. Each province has its own anti-discrimination law that applies to activities that are not federally regulated. The Act triggered the creation of a Canadian Human Rights Commission that investigates claims of discrimination and also the creation of a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to judge the cases. Another practice that is used in discrimination cases is the “Meiorin test”, it occurs if a complainant can show a valid case of discrimination and the defendant can rebut it by showing that their practice was for a justified reason. Also every case of discrimination in Canada undergoes several stages of investigation and remediation and only if the parties are not satisfied with the result the case will go to Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

The Changes In Toronto Drunk Driving Laws and Its Implications

July 12th, 2009 at 03:02am Under Drunk Driving Law

When the first cars and most important the mass production of cars were invented, no one could even imagine how big this industry will be. It took about hundred years and the cars rapidly multiplied in numbers, becoming an important element of our everyday life. Unfortunately they became not only a useful thing, but also made their own death toll and turned even the smallest road a pretty dangerous place. The worst part of the accidents is definitely driving under the influence of better to say drunk driving, as you will see in this article even the smallest changes in laws on drunk driving can lead to heated debates.The first rules regulating the driving under the influence were set with the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, also known as Bill C-150. The bill made it a “per se” offence to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) in excess of milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood. Also the Bill stated that a refusal of a police officer’s demand to provide a breath sample is an offence too. Still the drivers managed to handle small over the norm alcohol level with “two-beer” defense. The idea of this defense is following, people accused of driving with more than the norm set by the law (.08 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood) would often argue they had consumed just two beers. Also a popular statement is that the last beer was consumed not long before the breath test, so there is more alcohol in their breath than in their blood.An often used driver “two-beer” defense has been virtually abolished by a new federal legislation. The new changes, that are part of the federal government’s Tackling Violent Crime Act, kept the right to question the breathalyzer results, but only if the person provides the court with technical evidence proving the equipment was malfunctioning or wasn’t operated properly.Some lawyers stated that the new legislation is unconstitutional and they will appear before the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto to present their arguments. They try to resolve thing quickly, before the government can get on with the business of prosecuting impaired drivers. The main argument is that with this change divers will be unable to protect themselves if the equipment is really damaged or malfunctioning. Usually drivers don’t know much about breathalyzers and they won’t be able to present valid evidence to the court. Also the information of the breath machines, including maintenance records, specs and the manufacturers’ manual are kept secret and not available to casual driver who is stopped on the street. This turns a useful tool into a one-way guilty ticket, in case of malfunctioning.On the other side this change is positive for the police officers. Usually they are in a difficult situation. Some of the officers stated that they rely more on temporary license suspensions and not on the charges against drivers slightly over the limit, because the “two-beer” defense can easily beat these charges.

Special Education in Connecticut

July 11th, 2009 at 04:09pm Under Education Law

TerminologyThe federal law governing special education is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.  It is codified in Title 20, United States Code, starting at section 1400.  It was initially passed in 1975.  A number of major reauthorizations have taken place.  The two most recent were in 1997 and in December 2004.  The December 2004 changes took effect, for the most part, on July 1, 2005. The changes made in the 2004 Act are numerous and varied, but perhaps not revolutionary.In early 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) which is intended to ensure quality education and a high level of accountability.  Many of the provisions of NCLB had an uncertain impact on IDEA 1997.  Hence, IDEA 2004 attempts to clarify the impact of NCLB.The IDEA speaks in terms of a State Education Authority (SEA) and a Local Education Authority (LEA).  In Connecticut, the SEA is the State Department of Education.  The LEA is generally the local school district, which is referred to as the district or the Board.  In this context, the Board refers to the district’s administration, not to the actual Board of Education and its elected members.State and Federal LawConnecticut passed its special education law in 1967.  The federal Education of All Handicapped Children Act initially passed in 1975.  Hence, the Connecticut act predates the federal.  The federal law did not pre-empt the field.  Rather, federal courts can enforce both federal and relevant state law.  “Relevant state law” is law which is not inconsistent with federally mandated requirements, both substantive and procedural, of the Act, and includes, inter alia, procedural safeguards which are more stringent than required procedures set forth in the federal law.  Burlington v. Department of Education, 736 F.2d 773 (1st Cir. 1984), aff’d 471 U.S. 359 (1985).  For the most part, Connecticut and federal requirements have converged.  Yet, most of the detailed procedures for eligibility and due process stem from Connecticut law, as does the nomenclature.  In Connecticut, there is a Planning and Placement Team (PPT) meeting.  In New York, it is called a Committee on Special Education (CSE) meeting.  In the federal law, it is called an Individualized Education Plan Team (IEP Team) meeting. The Connecticut ApproachThe Connecticut State Department of Education (SDE) takes a hand-off approach to local school boards.  This compares to New York, where the state department closely regulates most aspects of special education.  The Connecticut SDE advises local school boards on questions, when raised.  Indeed, SDE also provides advice to parents.  The state approves private special education schools, but the approval is largely a matter of seeing if the right boxes are checked, rather than looking at the quality of the education provided.  The state, pursuant to federal law, receives and processes complaints, but appears to be interested only in procedural requirements, avoiding making any comments on the substance of the claim.  And, the state runs the due process and mediation systems.  This is all done by a tiny group of people in Hartford.  The SDE also runs the Special Education Resource Center (SERC), which serves as an information clearinghouse, library, and training center.  As a general rule, the State Department of Education sees itself as a consultant, rather than as a regulator. The Special Education Universe in ConnecticutFor the 2007-2008 school year, there were 68,989 children in Connecticut who were designated as eligible for special education services.  This number is a drop of 5,000 from five years earlier.  Special education students represent about 12% of the total student population of 574,287.  Districts vary widely in percentages designated as eligible for special education, with some districts near 5% and others over 18%. Among disabilities, the largest group, comprising 32% of the special education population, consists of students with learning disabilities (LD).  Five years ago, learning disabled students represented 38% of the special education population.  The next largest group, accounting for 21% of the special education population, contains students with speech or language impairments.  Other health impairment (OHI) accounts for 17%, severe emotional disturbance (SED) is 8.5% and intellectual disabilities (ID) are 4%.  Some 6.4% of special education students in Connecticut carry the Autism label.  The racial differences are, however, significant.  The following chart shows the 2007-2008 percentage of each racial/ethnic grouping that has a particular special education designation.

Canadian Criminal Law Amendments Act – How Justified is It Actually?

July 11th, 2009 at 02:58pm Under Criminal Law

The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69 was introduced as Bill C-150 by then Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau in the second session of the 27th Canadian Parliament on December 21, 1967. It passed third reading in the House of Commons after heated debates by a vote of 149 (119 Liberals, 18 New Democrats, 12 Progressive Conservatives) to 55 (43 Progressive Conservatives, 11 Créditistes, 1 Liberal) on May 14, 1969. It introduced major changes to the Criminal Code of Canada and it was literally a cornerstone of modern Canadian law. The bill decriminalized homosexuality, allowed abortion and contraception, and regulated lotteries, gun possession, drinking and driving offences, harassing phone calls, misleading advertising and cruelty to animals. This year it will be the 40th anniversary of the bill’s passage.Homosexuality was one of the biggest problems of the Bill-150. This change was influenced in the late 1960s by the British Parliament’s adoption of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalized homosexual acts in England and Wales. Naturally Canada wanted to follow this democratic decision. The biggest opposition was from the religious people, the Catholic Créditistes of Quebec held up debate for three weeks supported by the far-right Edmund Burke Society and the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada. Still at the end homosexuality was legalized with age of consent at 21; although it was later lowered to 18.Contraception and therapeutic abortion under certain conditions were legalized by the bill. This was a step away form the influence of the Catholic Church’s moral positions on these issues, basically one more separation of the Church and State. Bill C-150 made it legal for women to get an abortion if a committee of three doctors felt the pregnancy endangered the mental, emotional or physical well-being of the mother. These changes were very important and became a stepping stone for many other freedoms and options that have altered women’s place in Canadian society. In 1988 the R. v. Morgentaler ruling, left Canada without any laws regulating abortion.A number of minor but important changes were made to gambling, gun control and driving under the influence. Before the bill small scale gambling on behalf of charities was permitted, but only Bill C-150 gave the provincial and federal governments the opportunity to use lotteries to fund worthwhile activities, the best example were the 1976 Montreal Olympics. For the first time the bill made it illegal to provide firearms to persons of “unsound mind” or criminals under prohibition orders. The term “firearm” was also expanded; non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited firearm categories were also introduced. Bill C-150 made it a “per se” offence to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) in excess of 80 mg/100 ml of blood. The refusal of a police officer’s demand to provide a breath sample was made an offence too. These are the basic rules against drunk driving now.The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1968-69 basically changed almost all the complicated and important spheres (except for maybe immigration) and solved many ethical problems, creating laws suitable for modern society.

Changes in chapter 7 & 13 in the New Bankruptcy Law

July 11th, 2009 at 08:53am Under Bankruptcy Law

Bankruptcy is provided by Federal Law and all the cases related to bankruptcy are handled in Federal Court. Basically it is a legally declared by the court in which any individual or the organization is unable to pay their debts, expenses, bills to their creditors. Those who are bankrupt can file bankruptcy in a way to stop their creditor to collect debt from them. Chapter 7: Liquidation Bankruptcy & the changes under the new lawIt would be very harder for some people to file bankruptcy now. Especially with higher income level category they are now no longer allowed to use chapter 7. They need to pay partial amount of their debt under chapter 13. Before filing a bankruptcy case all the debtors have to undergo for the credit counseling, budgeting and the debt management.  This law imposes on the lawyers too so it is very difficult to find an attorney to represent the bankruptcy case. Following are the changes in the Bankruptcy Law – •    Under the old law many filers can choose the type of bankruptcy. Most of them were choosing Liquidation (Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy) over Repayment (Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy) because they proved beneficial for most of them. But under the new law, it would not be the case for the higher income group filers, the new law has prohibited from using chapter 7 bankruptcy for them. •    Now the question arises about how you will define your income is high for filing under the bankruptcy. Under the new rules, the first step is to figure out your monthly income against the median income for a household for your size in your state to file in the chapter 7 bankruptcies. If it is less than that then you can file under chapter 7 and if it is not then you have to pass the means test. Another clause or the law in order to file for chapter 7. •    The means test is to be done to calculate your disposable income and to see whether you have enough disposable income after deducting your expenses, debts, payments under chapter 13. If your income is high up to a certain limit  after deducting your expenses, debts and all then you are not eligible for chapter 7 and if it is less than the certain amount then you can file under chapter 7 bankruptcy. •    Now the next step is the counseling from the approved agencies by the United States Trustee’s Office about the credit & debt counseling. Purpose behind this counseling is to see and give an idea about your need to file for bankruptcy. Counseling is required even if it’s a repayment plan or for the debts that you are facing and you do not want to pay. If the agency come up with a repayment plan the agency proposes and you agree on that propose then you can submit it to the court along with the papers that you have completed the counseling process. Towards the end of your bankruptcy case, you will have to attend the last counseling session to learn about the personal financial management. After submitting the proof to the court you fulfilled this requirement. These are the new changes in the bankruptcy law. There are other changes that can affect bankruptcy filers negatively. In short, debtors are at more risk of having their property taken and sold by the trustee or the authenticated person.

Maritime Disasters and law

July 10th, 2009 at 05:38pm Under Admiralty Law

While the Titanic is definitely the most famous maritime disaster it is actually not the largest one in the sad history of maritime disasters. Canada also holds a sad record in this history. The infamous Halifax explosion that devastated the city of Halifax, is currently the largest non-nuclear man-made accidental explosion in the history of mankind with the highest death doll of about 2,000 people killed and estimated over 9,000 people were injured. While many people say that maritime disasters are one of the most dangerous, the Halifax Explosion is the one that shows how dangerous they can really be. The tragedy occurred on December 6, 1917 at the time of the First World War. The SS Mont-Blanc, a cargo ship that was chartered by the government to carry munitions to Europe collided with unloaded Norwegian ship Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to carry relief supplies. While Imo was unloaded at the moment, the SS Mont-Blanc was fully loaded with wartime explosives. The collision itself occurred at 8.40, at 8.50 Mont-Blanc caught fire, drifted toward the peers and exploded fifteen minutes later. The explosion was equivalent to roughly 3 kilotons of TNT, which is actually one fifth of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which had estimated power of 15 kilotons. The fireball rose over 1.2 miles into the air and the explosion obliterated all the buildings and structures within 2 square kilometers including buildings in the communities of Richmond and Dartmouth. The explosion also caused an 18 meter high tsunami that covered the harbor. It is impossible to tell what the reason of the explosion was, most probably it was criminal negligence be the crew members of one of the ships. Like many other disasters this one has a very good ground for investigation and even trial, but the devastating power of the explosion was so huge that there is literally no one left to sue.

As for the legal side of such navigation problems as the Halifax explosion, it would be regulated by the Canadian criminal code, because it occurred in the Canadian waters. As for the Maritime Laws in general there are two types of law – Admiralty Law (Maritime Law) and Law of the Sea. The Admiralty Law is a distinct body of law which governs maritime questions and offenses. Because the ships that roam the oceans and seas can belong to various companies and countries this law is a body of both domestic law governing maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between private entities which operate vessels on the oceans. The main matters that it deals with are: marine commerce, marine navigation, shipping, sailors, the transportation of passengers and goods by sea and also a number of land based commercial activities that are maritime in character. The Law of the Sea is a body of public international law and has another scope of problems. It is dealing with navigational rights, mineral rights, and jurisdiction over coastal waters and international law governing relationships between nations.