“FORUM SHOPPING” PICKING THE COURT THAT’S “RIGHT” FOR YOU CHOICE  OF  “VENUE” As any experienced litigation attorney will explain, more often than not there will be a choice of courts in which to bring a lawsuit you may be contemplating.  Among attorneys, this is known as choosing a “venue.” Often the venue choice will be [...]

“CITIZEN’S   ARREST” While virtually everyone has heard the term “citizen’s arrest” used at some point in time, rarely do people realize that the term has specific legal meaning and potentially serious legal implications. The definition is simple enough: a “citizen’s arrest” is an arrest by any civilian (not necessarily a “citizen” in some states) who [...]

FALSE  IMPRISONMENT One should keep in mind that the “civil” tort (a wrongful act) of “FALSE IMPRISONMENT” is much broader than the act involved in a “false arrest” under the criminal law.   While a “false arrest” committed by a police officer will fall under the civil concept of “false imprisonment”, there are any number of [...]

SEXUAL  ABUSE: PEDOPHILE  PEDIATRICIANS It would be hard to imagine something as repugnant as members of the clergy participating in, and countenancing, the sexual abuse of those they counsel and to whom they provide spiritual guidance.   If exceed that we must, we only have to look at the cases of sexual abuse coming to light [...]

STAGED ACCIDENTS: INSURANCE FRAUD The police chief of Hackensack, NJ was recently striped of his 15 year position after being charged with insurance fraud–he filed a false insurance report. An upstate New York man was recently also charged with the same crime: all he did (!) was take out an automobile insurance policy AFTER the [...]

SLIP AND FALL CASES: “TRIVIAL DEFECTS” vs. “OPEN AND OBVIOUS DEFECTS“ It would seem that the Defendants in slip and fall cases have options open to them that can make Plaintiffs’ heads spin. A claim that a defect that was the alleged cause of a “slip and fall” injury was too trivial to actually constitute [...]

THE “GOOD  SAMARITAN” LIABILITY FOR VOLUNTARY ACTS ? A recent news item in New York City showed portions of video from a surveillance camera.   Twenty or more people simply passed by a man that was lying on the street.   It happened that that man had just saved a woman from a knife wielding attacker and [...]