Assault as Personal Injury Claims
Most personal injury lawsuits are filed over accidents — like a slip and fall or a car crash. But, in some cases, the action that caused the harm was intentional rather than accidental. In the context of personal injury law, "assault" and "battery" are intentional torts (wrongs) that can form the basis of a lawsuit in civil court. In a typical case, the victim of an assault and/or battery sues the offender, seeking compensation for injuries and other damages stemming from the incident.
What kind of conduct amounts to "assault" in a personal injury case, and what exactly is a "battery"? This article defines the intentional torts of assault and battery, highlights key issues in lawsuits involving the two, and explains the differences between criminal and civil cases involving assault and battery.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Who is responsible for an injury resulting from a slip and fall accident? Many thousands of people are injured each year — some very seriously — when they slip or trip and fall on a dangerous floor, a flight of stairs, or a rough patch of ground. Sometimes the property owner is responsible for the accident, and sometimes he or she is not.
If you have been injured in this way, first consider that it is a normal part of living for things to fall on or to drip onto a floor or the ground, and for smooth surfaces to become uneven. Also, some things put in the ground — drainage grates, for example — serve a useful purpose there. So a property owner (or occupier) cannot always be held responsible for immediately picking up or cleaning every slippery substance on a floor. Nor is a property owner always responsible for someone slipping or tripping on something that an ordinary person should expect to find there or should see and avoid. We all have an obligation to watch where we're going.
Useful Lesson About Money
Many good lessons in life are learned as a child. Reading, writing, arithmetic are on the list that a child should learn, and personal finance isn’t included.
As an adult, you know that money is a part of your daily life. You use money to buy things that you and your family need and want, such as foods, paying rents or mortgage, clothes, taking vacation, or paying for any health care you and your children take. Teaching your kids about how to use money wisely and budgeting and making sound fiscal decisions are important and helpful in their future life.
You can start talking about money with your children as early as age 3. When you take them to the store and buy something, you can explain to them that you earn money so that you can buy things you want. You can also show them that while you are handing money to the sales (or to the machine sometimes), you’ll get something in return.
Who Is Eligible for Asylum or Refugee Status
Asylum and refugee status are special legal protections available to people who have left their home country for their own safety and are afraid to return.
What's the difference between the asylum and refugee status under U.S. immigration laws — that is, who should seek asylum status, and who should seek refugee status? It's simply a matter of where you are when you apply. People outside of the United States must apply for refugee status. People who have already made it to the United States border or the interior (perhaps by using a visa or by entering illegally) can apply for asylum status.
Once granted, both statuses allow you to stay in the United States indefinitely. Asylees and refugees are given permission to work and are allowed to apply for a green card (within one year of either entering the United States as a refugee or being approved for asylum).
Green Card Application Filing, How to
You can apply for a green card after a visa petition filed for you by a relative, fiancé, or employer has been approved and you've waited until a green card ("immigrant visa") is available. (Exception: Refugees and political asylees don't need visa petitions; they can apply for a green card after one year of gaining their status.) If you're not sure what a visa petition is or whether you needed one, see the article The Visa Petition: First Step for Family and Employment Green Cards.
Now it's time to figure out where to apply for your green card. While most green card applications must be made at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, many people would prefer to file paperwork while inside the United States, with the agency known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). That's often because they are either already living in the U.S. or they want to join their family or start their new job there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the choice is not always the immigrant's to make.
Must Visa or Green Card Holders Pay U.S. Taxes?
Even if you are not a U.S. citizen, you may be required to pay taxes in the United States. Whether or not you must file a U.S. tax return depends upon whether the U.S. government considers you a "tax resident." All permanent residents (green card holders) are tax residents, but only some holders of nonimmigrant visas are tax residents (see below). Still, filing a tax return can be a good thing if you've been working for an employer who's been withholding taxes from your paycheck — you may get a refund!
Tax residents must report their entire worldwide income to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It doesn't matter if a portion or all of that income was earned from investments or business activities carried on outside the United States; a tax resident must report it all. But becoming a tax resident does not necessarily mean that the U.S. government will tax all of your worldwide income. International treaties control whether or not you must pay U.S. taxes on income earned elsewhere.
How to Apply for U.S. Citizenship
U.S. citizenship gives a person as many rights as the U.S. has to offer; for example, the right to vote, petition for family members to immigrate, and live abroad without losing your right to return. For these reasons, citizenship is not easily obtained.
To become a U.S. citizen, you must first have a green card (permanent residence) and then meet other requirements, listed below. There are only a few rare exceptions in which a person goes straight from having no U.S. status to getting U.S. citizenship; some are discussed in Nolo's article U.S. Citizenship by Birth or Through Parents.
Business Disputes at the Small Claims Court
Because small claims court dollar limits are rising, small claims court is an increasingly attractive arena in which to resolve business disputes quickly and cheaply.
The very people that business owners rely upon — their subcontractors, suppliers, and customers — can also be the source of all kinds of disputes. Subcontractors may leave work unfinished, suppliers may deliver subpar goods, and customers may not pay their bills.
Business owners typically can use small claims court in two main ways: to collect overdue bills or to resolve disputes with customers or other businesses.
Modern and Traditional Ethics
Surprisingly, both modern and traditional ethics are the faces of the same coin. So one should not try to antagonize them, but see them as they are – not two contrasting values, but values linked and intertwined since the dawn of modern ethics (good point). Modern ethics could very well be perceived as a logical, natural development spurred by traditional ethics. Since times change and there is nothing we can do about it, so do our ethical ideas and notions. What was wrong yesterday is right now, and what was right yesterday is wrong today. This happens because our thinking evolves, and even if we are living in a post-modernist era (some might argue with that), it does not mean that ethics has lost its meaning. So always, keep in mind changing times when you think about ethical dilemmas.
Surviving Martial Law
Martial law is defined as: military rule or authority imposed on a civilian population when the civil authorities cannot maintain law and order, as in a time of war or during an emergency.
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