| Volume 142 Number 94 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
What’s on your holiday wish list? Perhaps a smart speaker for your kids’ bedroom, or a cuddly cool internet-connected smart toy to help them learn? Before you give one of these connected toys, read this handy list of questions. They can help you know what to look out for with an internet-connected smart toy, and how to protect your kids’ data. Click here for more.
This year’s flu season has arrived early
Health officials say the 2019-20 flu season is off to an unusually early start. For three consecutive weeks, flu-like illnesses have accounted for a significant percentage of doctor visits, signaling the official start of flu season. CDC officials said Friday that there have already been 1.7 million flu illnesses, 16,000 hospitalizations, and 900 flu-related deaths across the U.S. The highest levels of flu activity have been reported in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina, and Texas. Click here for more.
Your Money
While you don't have much choice when it comes to paying taxes, you can benefit from significant deductions that reduce the amount you owe Uncle Sam. Deductions are especially important now that personal exemptions have been eliminated. In the past, taxpayers could claim an exemption of $4,050 for themselves and each of their dependents. However, those exemptions were eliminated for the 2018 tax year under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, making deductions now the prime way to reduce taxable income. Taxpayers have two deduction options: a standard deduction or itemized deductions. While the standard deduction is the government's built-in subtraction that you can take while preparing your taxes, itemizing is composed of individual deductions that, together, can help lower the amount of taxable income you pay. Read on to discover the pros and cons of a standard deduction vs. itemized deduction to decide which approach is best for you. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Contractual forum-selection and class-action-waiver clauses struck down as contrary to public policy. A class of borrowers sued lenders, claiming that their loan agreements violated Georgia usury laws. The lenders sought to defend the case on the basis of contractual forum-selection and class-action-waiver clauses. The court of appeals began its opinion this way: American courts have long refused to enforce contractual provisions that contravene public policy. See, e.g., Marshall v. Baltimore and Ohio R.R., 57 U.S. 314, 334 (1853) (“It is an undoubted principle of the common law that it will not lend its aid to enforce a contract to do an act that is illegal, or which is inconsistent with sound morals or public policy. . . .”). In Georgia, “[n]o principle of jurisprudence is better settled than this.” Glass v. Childs, 71 S.E. 920, 921 (Ga. Ct. App. 1911). The court then went on to hold that the forum-selection clause and class-action waiver violated public policy, specifically "Georgia’s Payday Lending Act and Industrial Loan Act, [which] articulate a clear public policy against enforcing forum selection clauses in payday loan agreements and in favor of preserving class actions as a remedy for those aggrieved by predatory lenders." Note that there was not an arbitration clause that would have been protected by the FAA. Davis v. Oasis Legal Finance Operating Company (11th Cir 2019) Click here for more.