| Volume 21 Number 13 |
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1-713-743-2168
Texas Consumer Complaint Center: Get law students on your case. This TV story highlights the work attorneys and law students at the University of Houston Law School are doing to help consumers.Click here for more.
The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Look out for another scam. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you say you never received a summons for jury duty, he will ask you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen. As I have said many times before, don't give anyone you don't know your social security number.
Taxable vs. Nontaxable Income
There's not much the Internal Revenue Service doesn't consider taxable income. Of course, there are the standbys: salaries, wages, tips, commissions, interest and dividends, rent on property you lease, and all the money you make from that photography business on the side. Click here for more.
How Safe Is Your Rental Car?
It's an all too familiar experience for millions of Americans: rolling their suitcase up to a rental-car counter and puzzling over that laminated list of vehicle options. Compact or convertible? Economy or hybrid? But while it's easy enough to find out which cars include satellite radio or GPS systems, safety (or at least information on safety) takes a definite backseat at most firms. Click here for more.
Your Tax Rebate: Don't Blow It
The economists and the politicians hope you'll buy something with this all-but-certain windfall. We've got better ideas. Click here for more.
How Do You Stay on a Budget?
There are those for whom budgeting is easy. Nothing gets past their steely reserve, and their balancing skills are sophisticated enough to put an acrobat to shame. But anyone who has ever come up short on the rent, or bought a pair of shoes only to wonder what happened to the grocery money, may consider budget a dirty word. Take heart ,whether you're a novice or a pro, these tips will keep you on track. Click here for more.
Your Money
How much should you put down to purchase a car? Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Med-mal claim against doctor is dischargeable. The 9th Circuit has held that a medical malpractice judgment against a doctor based on his failure to obtain the patient's informed consent is dischargeable in the doctor's subsequent bankruptcy proceeding. Click here for more.