| Volume 84 Number 6 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Never give someone "change" for a cashier's check. If someone offers to pay for something with a larger cashier's check and asks you for the difference in cash, it probably is a scam and the cashier's check is counterfeit. Remember, until a check is actually paid by the bank, it is nothing more than a worthless piece of paper.
For more general information about the law, check out my website.
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Update Your iPhone Now to Fix Flaw
If you have an iPhone, take a moment to update the device software. The latest update patch fixes a vulnerability with the phone's lock screen. For the past 34 days, someone could bypass the password lock screen and access the phone with little trouble, leaving emails, text messages, and pictures all vulnerable.
Update your iPhone now!
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Supreme Court Rules for Book Reseller
Can you legally sell a book once you're done with it?
The first-sale doctrine allows for the distribution of copyrighted products beyond the initial point of purchase. For example, the first-sale doctrine would allow an individual to sell legally purchased books in a secondary market.
When a student moved from Thailand to the United States, he was shocked at the outlandish price of his academic textbooks. In Thailand, he could legally purchase the exact same textbooks at a fraction of the price. So, he had his family in Thailand find, purchase, and send cheap textbooks to the United States. The man then sold the books on eBay at a deep discount. In response, the publishing company sued him in federal court and won a $600,000 judgement.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the United States
ruled in a 6-3 vote that the first-sale doctrine applies to books lawfully made abroad. According to Justice Breyer, "reliance upon the 'first sale' doctrine is deeply embedded in the practices of those, such as booksellers, libraries, museums, and retailers, who have long relied upon its protection." As a result, the judgement of the lower court was reversed.
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US Gets D+ On Infrastructure Report Card
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States gets a D+ on its latest infrastructure
report card. Although the 2013 grade marks a slight improvement over 2012, the ASCE estimates that the United States needs to spend $3.6 billion on infrastructure over the next seven years.
According to ASCE President Gregory E. DiLoreto, the country must "commit today to investing in modern, efficient infrastructure systems to position the U.S. for economic prosperity."
To read the infrastructure report,
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Your Money
Taxable vs. tax-advantaged savings? Calculate the future value of your investment!
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For the Lawyers
Fraud claim is subject to arbitration provision. The Florida Supreme Court held that an action for fraud was within the scope of an arbitration provision in a contract for the purchase of real property. “We hold that the action here based on fraud is within the scope of the arbitration provision because it has a clear contractual nexus with, and thus a significant relationship to, the contract. This relationship exists because: (1) the fraud claim is inextricably intertwined with both the circumstances that surrounded the transaction from which the contract emanated and the contract itself; and (2) resolution of the fraud claim requires the construction and consideration of duties arising under the contract.”
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