| Volume 81 Number 8 |
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Happy Holidays! Have a safe holiday season and a very happy new year! See you in 2013!
The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Writing a post-dated check is a good idea when you don't have the money in the bank but will soon, right? Wrong! As a general rule a post-dated check may be paid by your bank at anytime. My advice: do not write a post-dated check if you don't have the money in the bank.
For more general information about the law, check out my website. Click here for more.
Study: 55% of Americans Have Received Government Aid Over Lifetime
Over the course of their lifetimes, 55% of Americans have received government aid through welfare benefits, medicaid, medicare, food stamps, social security, and/or unemployment benefits. 27% of Americans received unemployment during their lifetimes, making it the most popular of the government aid programs. Social Security was a close second at 26%.
The programs did not extend entirely to the poor. 39% of Americans making at least $100,000 received some kind of government assistance during their lifetimes.
For a breakdown of the percentages of Americans who received government aid, Click here for more.
FCC Offers Free Smartphone Security Check
Did you know that your smartphone could be vulnerable to malware, virus', and phishing just like your home computer?
Nearly 20% of smartphone owners have already been victim to mobile cybercrime!
In order to help consumers protect their personal information (and usage of their smartphones in general), the Federal Communications Commission has set up a Smartphone Security Checker for smartphones running on Apple's iOS, Google Android, BlackBerry or Windows.
Is your smartphone vulnerable? Click here for more.
Your Money
What's the fastest and cheapest way to pay-down your debts? Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Non-signatory cannot enforce arbitration agreement. The Fifth Circuit held that an accounting firm could not compel its clients to arbitrate their claims that the accountants had fraudulently convinced them to invest in particular securities. The accounting firm held up an arbitration agreement between its clients and a third party, a securities broker, which said any dispute between the clients and the broker were arbitrable, including those between the clients and the broker’s “officers, directors, employees or agents.” The accounting firm argued that although it was not a party to that agreement, it was an agent of the broker, and could therefore enforce the arbitration agreement. The court concluded that the accountants could not compel arbitration because the actions of which their clients complained were not performed as agents of the securities broker. The court also concluded that the accountants could not rely on equitable estoppel principles to compel arbitration, primarily because the clients’ claims did not rely on the agreement between the clients and the broker. Click here for more.