| Volume 134 Number 8 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Do you haggle? The price of almost everything you buy, including medical services, is usually negotiable. When it comes to any larger purchase, don’t be afraid to ask if the price is “the best they can do”? Click here for more.
FDA Warns of 14 ‘Fraudulent’ Cancer Cure Companies
The FDA has listed the 14 companies on its website and detailed the false claims they have made about their products, which include herbs, tinctures, supplements, teas and salves. The claims range from curing cancer to "detoxifying" the liver. It's illegal to make such claims without proving they are true and going through the FDA's process for verifying them. Just putting a little disclaimer at the bottom of an ad saying the FDA has not verified the claims doesn't cut it, the agency said. The companies are taking advantage of frightened cancer patients and their loved ones, said consumer safety officer Nicole Kornspan.
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Your Money
The three biggest myths about how Social Security works: (1) 65 percent of people close to retirement didn't know that you have to apply to the Social Security Administration three months before you receive your first benefits check. And 9 percent believed that the agency would contact them when it was time to receive benefits. (2) Fidelity found only 26 percent of older workers actually knew their full retirement age, or the age at which you can claim your benefits unreduced. Your full retirement age is based on the year you were born. For those born before 1955, the age they can claim unreduced benefits is 66. For people born in 1955 and later, the age slowly creeps up to 67. (3) Your ex may be entitled to benefits based on your earnings, but it doesn't affect your payouts. Half of older workers surveyed by Fidelity thought their benefits could be reduced if an ex made a claim. That's not true. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Non-English speaker held to terms of contract written in English. The A Florida appellate court reversed a trial court’s denial of a car dealership’s motion to compel arbitration, holding that because there was no evidence that the buyers, who did not read or speak English, attempted to learn or have explained to them what they were signing, or that the dealer’s representatives prevented them from doing so or misrepresented the terms, the trial court erred by finding there was no valid agreement to arbitrate. Kendall Imports, LLC v. Diaz, et al. (Fla. Ct. App. 2017). Click here for more.