| Volume 111 Number 6 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Even if you don’t pay rent, a landlord may not lock you out. A landlord may change the locks but must make a key available to the tenant to come and go 24-hours a day.
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Starbucks App Users Targeted by Hackers
Users of the Starbucks mobile app have been targeted by hackers who have used the payment information in their Starbucks account to drain money from their credit cards and Paypal and bank accounts. Starbucks is claiming that the problem is not a security flaw in its app, but instead the tendency of users to use the same password for multiple sites. Starbucks said that the hackers probably founds the user’s passwords by hacking another site, and then applied the same passwords to the user’s Starbucks accounts.
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Your Money
Once upon a time, tax fraud meant that a person was deliberately misleading the IRS about their income. In modern times, identity theft allows criminals to file fake returns upon behalf of taxpayers, and then claim the refunds leaving innocent taxpayers holding the bag with the IRS. Just one more reason to protect your personal information. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Is arbitration a “darling of federal policy”? Writing for the Seventh Circuit, Judge Richard Posner enforced an arbitration clause, while questioning the often stated position that arbitration should be the favored method of dispute resolution or arbitration. “And it's not clear why, so far as eliciting the meaning of a given arbitration clause is concerned, such a clause should be distinguished from any other clause in a contract.” Judge Posner also hits the nail on the head when he questions why the defendant even wants arbitration, when it would easily prevail in court. “But doubtless it wants arbitration because the arbitration clause disallows class action arbitration. If the Andermanns' claims have to be arbitrated all by themselves, they probably won't be brought at all, because the Andermanns if they prevail will be entitled only to modest statutory damages.” Andermann v. Sprint Click here for more.