Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 10/1/18: California Reforms Bail System

Earlier this year California became the first state to eliminate cash bail, replacing it with a system based on assessment of a defendant’s risk to public safety. Critics of the cash bail system had long argued that cash bail perpetuates economic inequality. … Continue reading

Legal Fact of the Week 9/24/18: Graffiti as Visual Art

Graffiti artists whose work on the 5Pointz building in Queens NY was destroyed by the owner’s painting over them some ten months before the building was demolished, were deemed by the U.S. District Court in 2018 to be protected by the … Continue reading

Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 9/10/18: Filial Responsibility Laws

Filial responsibility laws, otherwise known as ‘filial support laws’,  exist in about 30 states by statute, including CA and MA. These laws impose legal requirement for children to help support indigent parents or other relatives by providing or paying for … Continue reading

Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 9/4/18: Walking and Texting

A growing number of municipalities are outlawing texting and walking. Honolulu was the first to do so in 2017 under the “Distracted Walking Law”, which bans texting while crossing an intersection. Other cities have followed suit, although some laws ban even … Continue reading