Immigration Lawyers

If you are faced with having to go through a child custody dispute, you should be familiar with the basic aspects of child custody law and have an understanding of how the process works. Unless you are fully knowledgeable, always hire a qualified child custody attorney who is good in family law.

First, there are two basic aspects relating to the custody of a child – legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody covers the responsibility and decision making regarding the child's basic needs like for health, education and welfare. If only one parent has been given sole legal custody, then that parent can make all decisions relating to the children without consulting the other parent. Sometimes parents will be given joint legal custody and decisions will then have to be made jointly. There may be various degrees of custody depending on the individual case. For example, a parent may have legal custody, but they may also have a duty of consultation with the other parent to inform them prior to any decision being made. However, it is quite common that one parent will have the decision making authority to avoid a situation where the parties will become deadlocked and can't reach a decision.

The other aspect of child custody law is the physical custody. This determines where the child will physically be living. Sole physical custody means the child will be primarily with one parent and will have visitation with the other parent. On the other end is true joint physical custody where the parents have equal time with the children. There may be other possibilities for physical custody.

Physical Custody is always open to disputes as each parent will want to fight for their own right first and foremost. However, the law will need to look at the best interest of the child first. However, the best interest of the child may not be easily defined in real life and what seems best to one party may not appear so to be to another party. .

The court will try to be fair to both parents but more often than not, equal time between parents is usually not possible or practical and one parent will have to make the sacrifice. I believe that parents should also accept that the needs of the child come first and not to focus only on what they themselves want. Too often parents focus only on why the other parent should not have custody and they fail to see their own shortcomings.

Emotions can run high in child custody disputes but in the end, the actual decision on each case must be based only on the facts of that case itself. Parents should avoid comparing custody cases of other people that they deem similar.

When there is an inevitable divorce, it is most important that parents work out a custody arrangement first, setting out how the parties will approach custody and visitation time with their children. Although the Courts can order a custodial arrangement, agreements reached directly between the parents will have the best chance of working out than those enforced by the Court in the event of legal disputes.

Even if you have hired an attorney, it is wise to read up regarding child custody law yourself. There are many very good books written solely for mothers and fathers in child custody cases and they are written in very easy and readable format. Check out this site.

The primary sources of South Africa law were Roman-Dutch mercantile law and personal law with English Common law, as imports of Dutch settlements and British colonialism. The first European based law in South Africa was brought by the Dutch East India Company and is called Roman-Dutch law. It was imported before the codification of European law into the Napoleonic Code and is comparable in many ways to Scottish law. This was followed in the 19th Century by British law both common and statutory. Starting in 1910 with unification, South Africa had its own parliament which passed laws specific for South Africa, building on those previously passed for the individual member colonies.

Roman Dutch law is a legal system based on Roman law as applied in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th century. As such, it is a variety of the European continental Civil law or Ius commune. While Roman Dutch law ceased to be applied in the Netherlands themselves already at the beginning of the 19th century, Roman Dutch law is still being applied today by the courts of South Africa and Sri Lanka.

While Roman law was mostly forgotten in the early middle ages, interest in the doctrines of Roman jurists returned when —around the year 1070— a copy of the digest of Emperor Justinian I was found in Italy. Scholars in the emerging university of Bologna started to study the Roman texts and to teach law based on these texts. Courts gradually started to apply Roman law —as taught in the university of Bologna (and soon elsewhere) because the judges felt that the refined legal concepts of Roman law were more apt to solve complex cases than the Germanic laws, which had been in use before Roman law was revived. This process (the reception of Roman law) took place in Italy and then in the rest of continental Europe.

In 15th century, the process reached the Netherlands. While Italian jurists were the first to contribute to the new science of law based on the Roman texts, in the 16th century, French lawyers were most influential. In the 17th and 18th century, the leading rôle was passed on to the legal science in the Netherlands. Members of the so-called school of elegant jurisprudence included Hugo Grotius, Johannes Voet, Ulrich Huber and many others. These scholars managed to merge Roman law with some legal concepts taken from the traditional Germanic customary law of the Netherlands, especially of the province of Holland. Thre resulting mixture was predominantly Roman, but it contained some features which were characteristically Dutch. This mixture is known as Roman Dutch law. The Dutch introduced the legal system of their state to their colonies. In this way, the Dutch variety of the European Ius commune came to be applied in South Africa and Sri Lanka.

In the Netherlands, the history of Roman Dutch law ended, when the kingdom of the Netherlands adopted the French Code civil in 1809. However, Roman Dutch law was not replaced by French law in the former Dutch colonies. In this way, Roman Dutch law survived to this day.

Call it the case of the Renegade Expert. A federal judge's 78-page order enjoining an expert involved in Zyprexa mass-tort litigation from releasing documents serves as a cautionary tale for any lawyer operating under a judicial gag order.

U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein issued the injunction February 13th after an expert retained by plaintiffs in the litigation against drug manufacturer Eli Lilly & Company leaked documents concerning the anti-psychotic drug to the news media and others.

Despite having agreed in writing to be bound by the protective order, the expert conspired with a lawyer unconnected to the litigation to come up with a scheme for providing the documents to a New York Times reporter and others, Weinstein found.

The expert and the lawyer "deliberately thwarted a federal court's power to effectively conduct civil litigation under the rule of law," the judge said, and therefore "should be enjoined to deter further violations of this and other courts' orders."

The Alaska Connection

The complex series of events leading up to the order began in October 2006, when the Houston-based Lanier Law Firm, which represents plaintiffs in the litigation, retained Dr. David Egilman to serve as a medical expert.

Earlier, Judge Weinstein, with the consent of the parties, ordered internal Lilly documents sealed in what was designated Case Management Order No. 3, or CMO-3. The order permitted parties to share confidential materials with their expert witnesses, provided the experts agreed in writing to adhere to the order.

At the Lanier firm's request, Egilman signed the written agreement to adhere to the protective order. Almost immediately, however, he began speaking with New York Times reporter Alex Berenson about how he could provide him with certain protected documents.

At Berenson's suggestion, Weinstein found, Egilman contacted James Gottstein, a lawyer in Alaska unconnected to the Zyprexa litigation. Agreeing to help Egilman release the documents, Gottstein intervened in an unrelated Alaska case and immediately subpoenaed Egilman to appear for a telephonic deposition and to bring with him all documents in his possession relating to 15 drugs, including Zyprexa.

Egilman notified Lilly of the subpoena but not the Lanier lawyers who retained him. Before Lilly could respond, however, the Alaska lawyer obtained an ex parte order amending the subpoena to direct Egilman to provide the documents in advance of the deposition. Egilman informed neither Lilly nor Lanier of this amended order. (Upon learning of these events, the Lanier firm immediately discharged the expert.)

Plugging the Leak

On December 13th, Egilman began sending the documents to Gottstein electronically. Lilly learned of this two days later, but by then the lawyer had already started to forward them to Berenson and others. Lilly immediately informed the special master overseeing discovery in the Zyprexa litigation. He ordered Gottstein to return the documents. Gottstein replied that he had voluntarily stopped disseminating the documents after having been contacted by Lilly.

On December 17th, a series of articles based on the documents began to appear in the New York Times. Lilly and the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee jointly petitioned the court for an injunction. After a preliminary injunction was issued on Dec. 29th, Judge Weinstein initiated a hearing on a permanent injunction.

In his order following that hearing, Weinstein made the injunction permanent against Egilman and Gottstein. He declined to enjoin any media outlet or Web site.

Weinstein was particularly harsh in his discussion of the expert. "Here, an expert hired by plaintiffs agreed in writing not to distribute documents sealed by court order," he wrote. "He was given access to those documents so that he could assist plaintiffs – people suffering from serious disabilities, mental and physical – in pressing their civil suit against defendant, a major pharmaceutical company."

In violation of his legal obligations, Weinstein wrote, the expert "deliberately violated this court's protective order and published sealed documents, intending that they be widely distributed." The judge noted that the expert "took particular pains to deny Lilly an opportunity to prevent the breach" by making the documents public before Lilly could act.

"Even if one believes, as apparently did the conspirators, that their ends justified their means, courts may not ignore such illegal conduct without dangerously attenuating their power to conduct necessary litigation effectively on behalf of all the people," Weinstein wrote. "Such unprincipled revelation of sealed documents seriously compromises the ability of litigants to speak and reveal information candidly to each other; these illegalities impede private and peaceful resolution of disputes."

In certain types of car collisions there's what is called 'predetermined' fault. This means that the nature of the car collision strongly suggests that one driver caused the accident through negligence. If this is the case in your insurance claim, winning will be much easier.

The two main situations with predetermined fault are rear-end collisions and left-turn collisions. In both of these circumstances there's a driver who's definitely at fault.

There's a ton of precedent due to these types of car collisions being so common. When these accidents happen, a definite traffic rule has been broken.

In a rear-end collision, the person at the rear is at fault. Period. There's almost no way for that driver to get out of it. In every state, and pretty much anywhere you drive in the world, the rules of driving say that you must maintain a safe distance behind other motorists.

Regardless of any factors leading up to it, in a rear-end collision, the driver in the rear must have been unable to stop in time to avoid the accident. Therefore, they were driving too close.

They can argue that you slammed on your brakes too fast and that there was no reason for you to do so, but that really doesn't matter. They should've been able to avoid you.

Now, don't get too excited. While there is undebatable liability on the part of that driver, there are still ways they can reduce the compensation you receive. A common example is if your brake lights were out. The other driver is still at fault, but your own negligence in having broken brake lights will likely lower the claim.

In a car collision involving a left turn, the driver turning left is the one who's negligent and the cause of the accident. A driver simply can't turn left when the oncoming lane isn't clear. That's a strict rule that can't be broken. The car damage sustained in these types of auto collisions make it obvious that a left turn was being made. So your case is pretty much open and shut.

Again, there's a couple of exceptions that can reduce the claim in a left-hand turn collision. If one driver was clearly speeding, then the driver turning left can argue they couldn't fairly judge the time they had to turn. Or perhaps the driver turning left saw something unexpected, causing them to stop mid-intersection. Because no driver is supposed to attempt a left turn until they're certain they can complete it, this argument rarely works.

A final note on the left-turn car collision: if the car that was driving straight actually ran a red light, then the left turning vehicle may get off the hook. In this case, the person running the red light is likely the more negligent. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to prove without witnesses.

New York City, Nassau County and Suffolk County have vehicle forfeiture laws. These laws allow the municipality to seize a motorist's car if it is used as part of a criminal offense. Typically, this law is used for driving while intoxicated or driving while impaired. However, it can also be invoked for such offenses as reckless driving, driving while under the influence of drugs and driving with a suspended license. The standard is generally whether the vehicle was used as a means of committing a crime or employed to aid in a crime.

In New York City and Nassau County, the law is routinely used even for a first offense. The Suffolk law is discretionary on the first offense but requires the police to impound the vehicle for second offenses.

If you are not convicted of the charge, then you have grounds for getting your car back. If you enter into a plea bargain, then you will generally have to make a deal with the municipality. Of course, if you are not the owner of the vehicle, then often the municipality will release the vehicle to the owner with upon submitting proof of ownership. However, if the owner knew or should have known that it was reasonably likely that the vehicle was going to be used to commit a crime, the municipality may be able to obtain forfeiture of the vehicle any way.

So what do you do if you car is seized? The first thing you must do file a demand for it. This puts the municipality on notice that you will be seeking its return. Then, a case number is assigned. You can then negotiate with the assigned representative in an attempt to get it back. If the negotiations do not lead to a resolution, then the municipality has to sue and prove its case (a relatively easy proposition). Of course, you probably will want to retain an attorney to assist with this matter if your negotiations are not fruitful (if not sooner).

Even if the vehicle is not seized, the municipality may go to court to seek the return of the vehicle. We had one client whose criminal case was resolved favorable and then months later received court papers seeking the vehicle. There is time limit, however, within which the municipality must act to obtain forfeiture. For instance, in Nassau County, the forfeiture action must be commenced within 120 days of the arrest date.

As an aside, no car will be returned unless and until the District Attorney has issued a release. Generally, the District Attorney will issue this document after the criminal case is resolved. Similarly, if you receive a notice that your car is subject to possible forfeiture, it is a violation of some forfeiture laws to sell or transfer ownership. A violation of such a provision carries substantial monetary penalties.

Finally, the New York City law has been upheld as constitutional. However, the former forfeiture law in Nassau County was declared unconstitutional and has since been replaced with a new law. Therefore, keep in mind, that there may be valid constitutional grounds upon which to attack the forfeiture.

Recently, I've had several calls to my office about Garnishment of Wages, so perhaps a short article is in order. Wage Garnishment is a legal procedure in which a person's earnings are required by court order to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt. The key to the preceding statement is the term "court order". A garnishment of wages cannot occur without a judge agreeing to the garnishment. This means that some type of court action must occur. The creditor cannot merely attach or garnish your account without due process of law.

In Pennsylvania, where I practice law, a Garnishment of Wages can occur only under limited circumstances. The most prevalent circumstance is for an obligation of child or spousal support. Garnishment is usually very easy to procure under those types of matters. Other circumstances where garnishment of wages can occur include repayment of PHEAA student loans, room and board for four weeks or less and obligations relating to a final divorce distribution. In PA, these are just about the only instances when your wages can be garnished while they are in the hands of your employer.

Many of the inquiries that I receive at my office are regarding credit card collections and garnishment of wages. Except under very limited or special circumstances, in Pennsylvania, an ordinary creditor cannot garnish your wages on a Pennsylvania case. This does not mean that the money that you earn cannot ever be garnished. There is a distinction here that must be made. Once the money is earned and deposited into your bank account, the monies are no longer wages. Those funds become part of the corpus of your bank account and are subject to garnishment. If a creditor is privy to your banking information AND if they have obtained a judgment against you, they will be able to garnish the funds in your bank account, even if those funds were at one time wages. This type of "regular" garnishment does not require a court order, but instead requires the creditor to obtain a judgment against you in a court of law. After a judgment is obtained, a creditor can commence garnishment proceedings by applying for a Writ of Execution. The Writ of Execution is delivered to your bank and your accounts are then frozen.

This article explains pleas and sentencing in Rhode Island (RI) for criminal misdemeanors. A misdemeanor is any offense punishable by up to one year in Jail. Typical misdemeanors are: driving under the influence of alcohol (dui / dwi), shoplifting, domestic assault, domestic vandalism, assault and battery, domestic disorderly, reckless driving, disorderly conduct, etc. It is a very bad idea for a person to represent themselves in a criminal case. Please call Rhode Island criminal law lawyer David Slepkow if you need help in your rhode Island misdemeanor case (401-437-1100) Please note that this article only applies to Rhode Island misdemeanor offenses and does not apply to any other states!

In Rhode Island, a defendant can enter one of four pleas: guilty, not guilty, nolo contendere or an "alfred plea".

Guilty and Not Guilty Pleas

The pleas of guilty and not guilty are obvious. If the plea is not guilty then the matter will be scheduled for a trial on the merits in which the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is guilty of the alleged offense. The person will be presumed innocent and it is the prosecutions burden to prove that the person is guilty. Usually, it is a very very bad idea to take a guilty plea! guilty pleas or a finding of guilt after a trial is always a criminal conviction in Rhode Island.

Nolo Contedere Plea

Nolo contendere means a person is not contesting the charges. When a defendant takes a nolo contendere plea the defendant is indicting that he does not want to contest the charges but is also essentially admitting to the charges.

What is the difference between a guilty plea and a nolo contendere plea? There is a huge difference! A guilty plea is always a criminal conviction under Rhode Island law. A criminal conviction has major negative implications especially when a person applies for employment. A plea of nolo contendere may not constitute a criminal conviction in Rhode Island. A plea of nolo contedere is only a conviction in Rhode Island if there is a sentence of confinement such as the ACI, home confinement a suspended sentence or a fine imposed.

For example, A plea of nolo contendere with a sentence of probation and a contribution to the victims fund or court costs will not constitute a conviction under Rhode Island law. For example, A plea of nolo contendere with a sentence of a filing and a contribution tothe victims indemnity fund (vcif) will not constitute a conviction under Rhode Island law.

However, anything with a fine attached to it will be a conviction under Rhode Island law. Therefore, it is important that the defendant gets either no fine or a contribution to the victims fund rather then a fine.

All misdeameanor plea agreements in Rhode lsland should be nolo contendere with court costs or a contribution towards the victims indemnity fund rather then guilty pleas!

Alfred Pleas

Alfred Pleas are strongly disfavored by judges in Rhode Island (RI) and are difficult to get. Alfred pleas derive from a United States Supreme Court case. In an Alfred plea, a defendant will admit that the state has sufficient evidence to convict him or her if the case went to trial but will not admit to anything.

DUI / Drunk Driving charges

In Rhode Island, any plea to drunk driving, driving under the influence, DUI/ DWI is a conviction under Rhode Island law. A breathalyzer refusal plea of guilty is not a criminal conviction because a breathalyzer refusal is a civil case. For more information concerning Rhode Island drunk driving / dui and breathalyzer refusal law please see the following article written by Rhode Island DUI lawyer David Slepkow: http://ezinearticles.com/?Rhode-Island-DUI---DWI-Law-Should-I-Refuse-The-Breathalyzer?&id=486659

Guilty Finding after Trial

If the defendant is found guilty after trial the sentence will constitute a conviction. Obviously the defendants best result is either a dismissal by the prosecution or an acquittal.

What is a filing in Rhode Island?

If the defendant takes a not guilty plea or a nolo contendere plea then the case will be "filed" for a year. This is commonly called a "filing". If the defendant does not get arrested or get in other trouble and complies with the conditions of the filing during the one year period then the case is dismissed and can be easily expunged from a person's record after the year. The case is essentially shelved for a year to see if the person stays out of trouble.

What types of filing are there in Rhode Island

There are two types of filings, not guilty filings and nolo contendere filings. A not Guilty filing is when the defendant maintains his innocence and the case if filed for a year. A not guilty filing is not usually allowed by Judges in the District Court. Not Guilty filings are extremely rare in the District Court. Some judges will not allow not guilty filings as a matter of policy. A nolo contedere filing is when the defendant admits to guilt and the case is filed for a year. A major difference between a not guilty filing an a nolo contendere filing is when a person is violated for a not guilty filing then the state must prove guilt at that time. Whereas, if a person is violated for a nolo contendere filing the judge simply must impose a sentence becuase the person has already admitted guilt.

If the person violates his filing by not complying with the conditions of the filing then the persons filing can be revoked. If a person takes a nolo contendere filing and gets into further trouble, violates the conditions of the filing or is arrested on a new offense then the person will be hailed back into court to be sentenced on the filing. (unless the filing was a not guilty filing which means the prosecution must prove the defendants guilt) There are various conditions that can be put on a filing inluding alcohol and drug counseling, domestic violence counseling or classes, restitution, no contact with the victim and community service.

What implications are there for domestic violence offenses in Rhode Island?

If the underlying charge is for a domestic offense such as domestic assault / domestic vandalism or domestic disorderly conduct then the defendant will be ordered to have no contact with his wife girlfriend or the victim as the case may be. If the person violates the no contact order the person will be charged with a separate offense of violating a no contact order as well as violating the conditions of the filing or probation, as a result of the communication.

No Contact Orders in Rhode Island explained

A "no contact order" means that the defendant is precluded from having any contact and or communication with the victim or the person under the protection of the no contact order. This includes but is not limited to letters, emails, text messages or messages delivered through a third party.

In other words if a person is under a no contact order and sees the victim in public they must leave the area immediately and not acknowledge the victims existence. A person cannot even say "hi" if they walk by the victim by chance on the street.

Be very careful! A person can be arrested for violating a no contact order even if the victim initiates the contact and calls the defedant. A person can be charged with breaking a no contact order even if invited by his wife to come back to the marital home.

Even if the victim tells you that the no contact order has been dropped, do not take the victims word for it. You must see the piece of paper signed by the judge dismissing the no contact order before any contact or communication is initiated

A person who has probation or a suspended sentence must be even more vigilante in order to not violate the no contact order. For example a single phone call made by the defendant to a victim under the protection of a no contact order probably means a minimum of ten 10 days at the in jail at the ACI. We are not talking about the local town jail but the ACI.

Violation of conditions of filing

Please note, that a person who has a filing can be held for up to ten days at the ACI if arrested for a new charge. A person who is on a filing must be very careful that he / she stays out of trouble.

If the person is violated from the terms and conditions of the filing then hypothetically the filing could become a conviction because that person has already admitted to the charges by pleading nolo contendere and giving up his right to contest the charges. Court costs will be imposed if there is a nolo contendere filing.

Probation in Rhode Island

If a person recieves probation then they will need to abide by the conditions of the probation and agree to keep the peace and be of good behavior. If a person violates his probation by being arrested for a new crime then the person may be held in Jail at the ACI as a probation violater. After ten days a person has the right to a hearing. At the probation violation hearing the prosecutor must only convince the judge so that the judge is "reasonably satisfied" that the person violated the probation by committing the new offense. Also the person will be prosecuted for the new offense as a separate charge from violating the probation. There is a good chance that if a person is violated for his probation that the probation which was originally not a conviction will now ripen into a conviction. A probationary period is a time of great risk for a defendant and a defendant must be careful to stay out of trouble.

A person can also be violated for their probation for various infractions that violate the conditions of probation such as not keeping probation informed of new adresses, leaving the state without permission, not paying court costs or restitution, not properly reporting to the probation officer, etc.

If the charges are serious or the person has a lengthy criminal record of has already been placed on probation before then in addition to probation, the judge may attach a suspended sentence. A person who has a suspended sentence is in a period of extreme risk because a new offense could lead to substantial jail time!

A supended sentence is always a conviction under Rhode Island law. A person with probation and a suspended sentenc attached will not spend anytime in prison unless the person violates the conditions of his probation as set forth above. The period of suspended snetence is the most time that a person could spend in prison if the person violates the conditions of the probation or commits a ew offense. If the person violates the probation, the judge could sentence the person up to the amount of time that is suspended. Please note that the person could get additional sentence and or penalties as a result of the new charge. It is in the defendants best interest to get the suspended time period to be as short as possible. The suspended sentence typically is for the same amount of time as the period of probation.

Please note that if the offense is driving on a suspended license there are special rules that apply that are set forth in the statutes.

Most prosecutors and judges believe that each sentence should be more severe then the last. A person's first minor offense is likely to lead to only a filing which is the lowest form of penalty in Rhode Island.

One attorney wants a $2,500 retainer, while another attorney will handle the matter for 40% of your recovery. Why the difference? For the most part, it depends upon which type of case that you have as to how the attorney will charge you.

Almost all Personal Injury Attorneys charge a percentage of recovery. Some charge 40%, others charge 33%, it all depends upon the Attorney and the specific type of case. In some minor's claims, the fee may be only 25%. This type of fee is called a contingency fee. A contingency fee means that the Attorney's compensation is contingent upon obtaining a favorable settlement offer or prevailing at trial. Personal Injury Attorneys typically handle injury claims on this basis because it benefits both the Attorney and the Client. The benefit to the Attorney is obvious, in that he will be receiving up to 40% of the total recovery on a given claim. The larger the claim, the larger the recovery. There are benefits to the Client as well. The Client has an Attorney representing his/her interests essentially for free, at least in terms of out-of-pocket expenditures. On a given injury claim, the Attorney will usually front the monies (if this is permitted in your state) that are required to commence and continue with your claim. This may include obtaining medical records, witness statements, expert witnesses, the court filing fees and so forth. These expenses can add up rather quickly, and the Client will not have to pay for them, at least initially. The other benefit to the Client is that if the claim does not produce anything, the Client does not have to pay the Attorney a fee. You can see that the Attorney is facing a risk here, in that he may produce an enormous amount of work on a given case, and he may end up with nothing. Others types of Attorney also follow the contingency fee model. Social Security Disability, Workmen's Compensation, Collections and Wrongful Death are other types of cases that are usually handled on a contingency fee basis.

Other Attorneys charge an hourly fee for their services. The hourly fee is exactly how it sounds, the Attorney charges a certain fee for each hour that he/she spends working on a certain matter. The hourly fee can vary enormous amounts based upon the skill level of the Attorney and the type of work being performed. A partner at a large tax firm might be charging up to $750 per hour for each hour spent on a given matter, while a junior associate at a small suburban firm may be charging $100 per hour. Many types of cases are handled on an hourly basis, including most Family Law matters such as Divorce, Custody, Support and Equitable Distribution, Criminal Law, Real Estate, Contracts and Civil Defense.

There is a third type of fee that an Attorney might charge for his services - the Flat Fee. A Flat Fee is a one time charge for a specific undertaking, no matter the amount of time expended. You might be charged $50 or $100 for a simple letter. A Last Will and Testament may cost $100 to $400. An appearance in Traffic Court might cost $250 to $1000. These are all examples of flat fee services, and there are many others as well.

When consulting with an Attorney, ask specific questions as to how you will be charged for the legal services to ensure that there are no surprises when you get the bill.

So you have just purchased that new vehicle and the new car smell hasn't worn off yet. Out of nowhere, the unexpected occurs as the engine light comes on, the vehicle stalls or the transmission doesn't shift properly. How can his happen to your new vehicle? In reality, this happens all the time. Different statistics show that between 1% and 10% of all new vehicles may be lemons.

If your new car has a problem, schedule a service appointment with the dealer right away. Make sure that the service department is made aware of each and every problem that the vehicle is having. Explain the problems in as much detail as possible, and make sure that the dealer uses your words to describe the problem and not theirs. When meeting with the service advisor, be sure to ask about Technical Service Bulletins (TSB's) on your vehicle. A Technical Service Bulletin is an acknowledgment by the manufacturer that there is a known problem with your vehicle. The manufacturer is required to prepare a TSB for a vehicle after a problem or defect has exhibited itself on a number of occasions.

When you return to the dealer to pick up your vehicle after the repair attempt, be sure to get a copy of the repair order or invoice that indicates your chief complaint and the efforts that the dealer made to remedy the problem. Do not leave the dealer without this documentation. In Pennsylvania, the dealer is required to give you a copy of the documentation under established state law. When you get in your vehicle, check right away to see if the problem has been properly repaired or if there is a reoccurrence. If the vehicle has not been properly repaired or has a reoccurrence of the problem, schedule another appointment with the dealer. You must realize that you paid for the warranty that came with your vehicle, it was part of the purchase price. Do not be afraid to use it. You must also give the dealer/manufacturer a reasonable number of attempts to make the repair before you pursue lemon law assistance.

What I have found is that many times the dealer will state that they "could not duplicate the customer's concern". Do not allow this to stop you from attempting to get your vehicle repaired. Many problems that are found vehicles occur on an intermittent basis. Just because a problem doesn't show up while the vehicle is at the dealer does not mean that it doesn't exist, and further, does not relieve the dealer/manufacturer from the burden of finding the problem and fixing it.

If the problems with your vehicle are not repaired after a reasonable number of attempts (three in Pennsylvania, other states differ) then you may be able to pursue a Lemon Law claim. A valid Lemon Law claim will force the manufacturer to either repurchase your vehicle at a full refund, or will entitle you to a new replacement vehicle free of cost. In Pennsylvania, as well as many other states, you will also be entitled to free legal representation and recovery of all other collateral charges associated with your lemon, like tax, title charges, interest and the like.

PATENT PROTECTION FOR SOFTWARE IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

Patentability of the software- related inventions are very controversial in these days. In early 1960s and 1970s uniform response was that software was not patentable subject matter. But in subsequent years United States and Japan expanded the scope of patent protection. But several countries including Europe and India are reluctant to grant patents for computer program for the fear that technological progress in this volatile industry will be impeded. Proponents for the software patenting argue that patent protection will encourage, and would have encouraged, more innovation in the software industry. Opponents maintain that software patenting will stifle innovation, because the characteristics of software are basically different from those of the innovations of old Industrial, e.g. mechanical and civil engineering.

PROTECTION FOR SOFTWARE –RELATED INNOVATIONS

WIPO defined the term computer program as: "A set of instructions capable, when incorporated in a machine readable medium, of causing a machine having information processing capabilities to indicate, perform or achieve a particular function, task or result". Software can be protected either by copyright or patent or both. Patent protection for software has advantages and disadvantages in comparison with copyright protection. There have been many debates concerning patent protection for software as information technology has developed and more software has been developed. This caused mainly due to the characteristics of software, which is intangible and also has a great value. It needs huge amount of resources to develop new and useful programs, but they are easily copied and easily transmitted through the internet all over the world. Also due to the development of e-commerce, there is urge for patenting of business methods.

Computer programs remain intangible even after they have actually come into use. This intangibility causes difficulties in understanding how a computer program can be a patentable subject-matter. The questions of whether and what extent computer programs are patentable remain unresolved.

More than half of the 176 countries in the world that grant patents permit the patenting of software-related inventions, at least to some degree. There is a worldwide trend in favor of adopting patent protection for software-related inventions. This trend accelerated following the adoption in 1994 of the TRIPS Agreement, which mandates member countries to provide patent protection for inventions in all fields of technology, but which stops short of mandatory patent protection for software per se. Developing countries that did not provide such protection when the TRIPS agreement came into force (January 1, 1995) have until January 1, 2005, to amend their laws, if necessary, to meet this requirement.

EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION

The European Patent Convention is the treaty that established the European Patent Organization (EPO). The EPO grants patents that are valid in those member countries designated in the EPO application and subsequently perfected in those countries. Enforcement of the EPO patent is obtained through the national courts of the various countries.

The software has been protected by copyright and excluded from patent protection in Europe. According to Article 52(1) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), European Patents shall be granted for any inventions which are susceptible of industrial application, which are new and which involve an inventive step. Article 52(2) excludes schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programming computers from patentability. Article 52(3) says that prohibition relates only to software 'as such'.

For Some years following implementation of the EPC, software in isolation was not patentable. To be patentable the invention in such a combination had to lie in the hardware. Then came a test case, EPO T26/86, a question of patentability of a hardware-software combination where hardware itself was not novel. It concerned patent for a computer control X-ray machine programmed to optimize the machine's operating characteristics for X-ray procedures of different types. The patent office refused to patent the invention. Technical Board of Appeal (TBoA) disagreed and upheld the patent, saying that a patent invention could consist of technical and non-technical features ( i.e. hardware and software). It was not necessary to apply relative weights to these different types of feature.

RECENT CASES

1.VICOM CASE

The VICOM case has authority on what does mean "computer Program as such" and what constitutes a "mathematical method". The patent application related to a method and apparatus for digital image processing which involved a mathematical calculation on numbers representing points of an image. Algorithms were used for smoothing or sharpening the contrast between neighboring data elements in the array. The Board of Appeal held that a computer utilizing a program to carry out a technical process is not claim to a computer program as such.

2. IBM cases

Subsequent major development occurred in 1999, when cases T935/97 and T1173/97 were decided on appeal to TBOA. In these cases the TBOA decided that software was not "software as such" if it had a technical effect, and that claims to software per se could be acceptable if these criterion was met. A technical effect can arise from an improvement in computer performance or properties or use of facilities such as a computer system with limited memories access stimulating better access by virtue of the computer programming. Decisions T935/97 and T1173/97 were followed elsewhere in Europe.

The European Technical Board of Appeals of the EPO rendered two important decisions on the patentability of Business Methods Inventions (BMIs). Business Methods Inventions can be defined as inventions which are concerned with methods or system of doing business which are using computers or internets.

3. The Queuing System/Petterson case

In this case a system for determining the queue sequence for serving customers at plural service points was held to be patentable. The Technical Board held that the problem to be solved was the means of interaction of the components of the system, and that this was a technical problem, its solution was patentable.

SOHEI CASE

The Sohei case opened a way for a business method to be patentable. The patent was a computer system for plural types of independent management including financial and inventory management, and a method for operating the said system. The court said it was patentable because "technical considerations were applied" and "technical problems were solved". Thus, the Technical Board considered the invention to be patentable; it was dealing with a method of doing business.

The most widely followed doctrine governing the scope of patent protection for software-related inventions is the "technical effects" doctrine that was first promulgated by the European Patent Office (EPO). This doctrine generally holds that software is patentable if the application of the software has a "technical effect". The EPO law regarding patentability of software tends to be somewhat more liberal than the individual laws of some of the EPO member countries. Thus, one desiring to patent a software-related invention in Europe should generally file an EPO application.

INDIAN PATENT ACT

Like in Europe, in India also the doctrine of "technical effects" governs the scope of patent protection for software-related inventions. The patent Act of 1970, as amended by the Act of 38 of 2002, excludes patentability of software per se. Section 3(k) of the Patent Act states "a mathematical or business method or a computer program per se or algorithm" is not patentable invention. The computer program products claimed as "A computer program product in computer readable medium", "A computer-readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon", etc are not held patentable for the claims are treated as relating to software per se, irrespective of the medium of its storage .On the other hand "a contents display method for displaying contents on a screen", "a method for controlling an information processing apparatus, for communicating via the Internet with an external apparatus", "a method for transmitting data across an open communication channel on a wireless device that selectively opens and closes a communication channel to a wireless network, and each wireless device including a computer platform and including a plurality of device resources that selectively utilizes a communication channel to communicate with other devices across the network" are held patentable though all above methods utilize computer programs for its operation. But computer program solely intellectual in context are not patentable.

CONCLUSION

In India software per se is not patentable. The inventions relating to the application of the computer program or software is held patentable under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 when claimed in combination of hardware and software components of a computer which provides a "technical advancement" over the prior art. It is necessary for the applicant to describe the "technical contribution" to the prior art when the invention involves software. The technical problem, which needs to be solved by the invention, should be sufficiently described as to how the hardware is controlled by the software to overcome the previously described problem. The "technical character" of the invention should be brought out clearly in the claims.

Greetings to all,

This article is primarily addressed to females, but males can certainly benefit from the advice if they have female children or grand daughters. First, all females must realized that they are vulnerable no matter where they are. Your best chances to avoid a rape crime is to be in the company of friends and family when going places. But in today's world, you could be raped while at home in your bed.

I will deal with venturing outside first. It's impractical to be with some other person all day. At some point you will ba alone when going to the local market, getting fuel for your vehicle, etc.

Here's the first tip. ALWAYS be aware of your surrounding. Even if you're shopping in a neighborhood you know well, watch yourself. Many females are raped and violated by someone they know in the community.

Second tip: Don't become predictable. Vary your routes, habits, and regular chores. Don't ever do the same thing the same way every time.

Never take short cuts through alleys, woods, or dark and lonely places. Many predators lurks in spots like this, waiting on a victim.

If approached by a stranger, make noise. Scream. Even if you mistake a harmless person as a predator, you can deal with this shame later. Protect yourself first.

If a predator grabs you, fight with all your power. Especially use your nails to his face. Hit him in the groin area. Believe me, a properly placed kick or hit to a man's groin will make him stop instantly.

Use your keys to poke him in the eye. Don't wear high heels to go shopping to local stores. You might need to run. If you do wear high heels, keep in mind that the pointed heel can be used as a weapon.

Here's the point, use any defense you can to protect yourself.

While inside your home: keep doors and windows locked. Never leave a window open after dark, no matter what.

And here's my favorite. Consider putting a dead bolt lock on your bedroom door. Believe me, the time it takes to get through a dead bolt on the front door, then your bedroom door, he'll be gone.

Be safe, be careful.