http://www.legallawhelp.com/news Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:45:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en CAMPBELLTON, TX – A Mexican tour bus carrying an estimated 35 people was involved in a rollover accident Tuesday near Campbellton, Texas, killing two people and injuring at least eighteen according to Tommy Cavazos, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The bus, which was headed to Matamoros, Mexico, ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/tour-bus-crash-near-san-antonio-tx-kills-2-injures-18/ PORT CLINTON, OH – An early morning tanker truck accident last Friday caused a fuel fire in Ottawa County, Ohio. The truck accident happened on Ohio State Route 2, a half mile west of Tettau Road near Port Clinton in Lake Erie Township on March 12. The accident area is ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/ohio-tanker-truck-accident-causes-fuel-fire/ JACKSON, MS – Morning commuter traffic was stalled for hours last Thursday after a jackknife truck accident in the state capital of Mississippi. The single truck accident happened on Interstate 55, between Woodrow Wilson Avenue and Lakeland Drive in Jackson, MS. The area is in the central section of the ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/jackknifed-tractor-trailer-stalls-traffic-in-mississippi-truck-accident/ HENRICO COUNTY, VA – A truck driver had to be rescued Wednesday morning after his truck overturned and dangled off a bridge in Henrico County, Virginia. The semi truck accident happened in the Richmond metropolitan region in the eastern part of the county, on Interstate 64 near the exit for ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/tractor-trailer-dangles-off-bridge-after-truck-accident-in-va/ NEWINGTON, VA – Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid’s wife and daughter were involved in a semi-truck accident in Fairfax County Virginia on northbound Interstate 95 near Exit 166 on Thursday, March 11, about 1:10 p.m. about 14 miles south of Washington D.C. The two were injured when their 2005 Honda ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/sen-harry-reid%e2%80%99s-wife-daughter-injured-in-semi-truck-accident/ STRATFORD, CT – A truck driver died last Saturday after his tractor trailer truck was hit by a car on a Connecticut Highway in Fairfield County, CT. The truck accident happened on Interstate 95 in the town of Stratford, CT. The area is in the south central section of the ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/truck-driver-dies-after-collision-with-car-on-ct-highway/ LAKE DELTON, WI – A tractor trailer truck rolled over and lost its load last Thursday on a Wisconsin Dells Highway. The truck accident happened on Interstate 90-94 and Highway 12 in Lake Delton, Sauk County, Wisconsin. The area is north of the state capital of Madison in the central ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/tractor-trailer-truck-rolls-over-on-wisconsin-dells-highway/ OAKRIDGE, OR – A truck driver died last Thursday from injuries sustained in an early morning hit and run truck accident in Lane County, Oregon. The truck accident happened on Highway 58 about seven miles west of Oakridge, and southeast of Eugene, OR. The area is in the central west ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/truck-driver-dies-in-oregon-hit-and-run-truck-accident/ STAMFORD, CT – A man died last Tuesday morning after a truck accident on a Connecticut highway. The collision between the van and tractor trailer happened on Interstate 95 in Stamford, Fairfield County, CT. The accident area is in the far southwest corner of the state near the New York ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/truck-accident-on-connecticut-i-95-leaves-1-man-dead/ PHOENIX, AZ — A commercial bus carrying 21 passengers crashed claiming the lives of six people early Friday morning when the bus rolled over after hitting a vehicle. The crash occurred at 5:27 a.m. on Interstate 10 about 25 miles south of Phoenix when the bus rear-ended a pickup truck, ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/phoenix-bus-accident-kills-6-injures-15/ Contrary to popular understanding, in most cases credit card debts are still dischargeable in bankruptcy without a repayment plan (in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case).  In many cases, tax debts can also be discharged.   This is not new information, so why am I writing this?   Because not a week goes ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/you-can-still-eliminate-credit-card-debts-and-taxes-in-chapter-7/ A while back I wrote an article about the importance of keeping records and receipts, as they are necessary in a bankruptcy case (see http://bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/2008/11/receipts-and-documentation/). This requirement was recently revisited by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Caneva, 550 F.3d 206 (9th Cir. 2008). In ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/how-to-lose-a-chapter-7-discharge-failure-to-keep-adequate-records/ My question of the week comes from a client who wanted to know if private student loans he owed on were discharged in a bankruptcy case he filed in 2002. For bankruptcy cases filed PRIOR TO October 17, 2005, if the PROGRAM under which a student loan was issued, insured, administered ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/private-student-loans-in-bankruptcy-dischargeable/ Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted against legislation that would have allowed homeowners to modify their loans on a principal residence in a bankruptcy case (Chapter 13).    This is at least the second time this amendment has come up for vote, and this time only 50 democrats voted in ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/congress-votes-against-bankruptcy-modification/ A major source of confusion among people who file for bankruptcy is whether debts on which there is a judgment or lien can be removed (discharged) in a bankruptcy case. Whether a debt is dischargeable or not depends on the type of debt it is, and how it was incurred.  ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/removing-judgment-liens-in-bankruptcy/ What happens if a debtor forgets to list one or more creditors on their bankruptcy papers?   The answer varies depending on where your case is filed and what chapter of bankruptcy was filed, as well as some other factors. In the 9th Circuit (which includes California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/what-if-you-forget-to-list-a-creditor-in-your-bankruptcy/ Our question of the week comes from a user who asks: I have been unemployed for nearly a year now and will be running out of unemployment benefits in about 3 months which will leave me with no income at all and I am single. The prospects of finding ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/does-filing-ch-13-bypass-the-means-test/ An individual can file a Chapter 13 case if they have noncontingent, liquidated unsecured debts LESS than $336,900 and noncontingent, liquidate secured debts of LESS than $1,010,650. (these amounts are adjusted every few years) Student loan debt, as with ANY debt, factors into the debt limits for Chapter 13 under 11 ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/are-student-loans-counted-as-part-of-chapter-13-debt-limits/ I don’t normally blog as an advertisement to other sites, but since this could potentially assist those who have filed bankruptcy in southern california, I pass this along without any specific recommendations or representations, as a potential point of assistance for children of those who have filed bankruptcy. The Suite Solutions ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/scholarship-opportunity-for-children-of-so-cal-bankruptcy-filers/ That’s right. Thanks to federally enacted law, one can no longer be sent to prison for failure to pay their debts.  When did this become effective? In 1833.  Yes, I said 1833.   Andrew Jackson was president of the United States.  Why do ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/bankruptcy-debtor%e2%80%99s-prison-abolished/ Are we back in the 70’s? As a child of the 70’s myself, I have not so fond memories of the economy and the politics of that era. I am experiencing a sort of deja vu right now as I consider the possibility of immigration reform happening during this Congress. Now, ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/the-immigration-malaise%e2%80%93is-the-mojo-gone/ The Vancouver Games has been a showcase of cross national representation. Many athletes such as ski crosser Chris Del Bosco have had a choice in deciding which country to represent. Although Chris was born March 30, 1982 in Colorado Springs, CO, he skis for Canada. His father ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/cross-national-representation-in-the-2010-winter-olympics/ Another bad decision issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals, February 19, 2010 — more often in recent months the Department of Homeland Security is trying (successfully sometimes) to go behind a state court’s conviction records to sustain removability charges against an individual in immigration proceedings. Obviously the line ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/03/17/bia-on-application-of-the-modified-categorical-approach-to-conviction-assessment/ The U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a Federal Ban on Texting for Commercial Truck Drivers.  This should help cut down on the number of potential truck accidents. U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced federal guidance to expressly prohibit texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2010/01/26/federal-ban-on-texting-for-commercial-truck-drivers/ Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today halted a Ponzi scheme involving a New York firm that solicited investments involving personal injury lawsuit settlements but instead shipped the money overseas. The SEC obtained a court order freezing the assets of the firm, its president, and ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2009/12/09/sec-blocks-early-stage-ponzi-scheme-involving-purported-investments-in-personal-injury-settlements/ The CPSC has released findings from studies done on the Chinese Drywall problems. The Studies The 51 home study contracted by CPSC was done by Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E), an internationally known environmental testing firm based in Massachusetts. In addition, today two preliminary reports on corrosion safety issues are being released. The Sandia National Laboratories’ ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2009/11/24/new-chinese-drywall-findings-from-cpsc-studies/ My official source for news, TMZ, is reporting that Balloon Boy’s mom, Mayumi, is not a U.S. citizen, and could possibly face deportation depending on the crime she is eventually convicted of. Mayumi’s attorney purportedly explained that she is a “Japanese citizen” and could force deportation if convicted of ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2009/11/20/balloon-boy%e2%80%99s-mom%e2%80%99s-immigration-bubble-about-to-burst/ Citizens of Gwinnett County (with skin that is not white)…brace yourself for a barrage of racial profiling at its best. Prepare to be pulled over for trumped up traffic violations so under-trained police officers can inquire into your immigration status in an attempt to bring another prized “illegal” back ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2009/11/20/brace-yourself-gwinnett/ This last weekend, for the first time since 1982, an AMERICAN won the NYC Marathon. As someone who has run several marathons and who would have been lapped by this winner, I greatly admire these fleet footed men and women. Why is this an immigration issue? Well, it turns out a ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2009/11/20/who-is-an-%e2%80%9camerican%e2%80%9d/ An asbestos lawyer and a doctor have been accused of creating false asbestos exposure diagnoses for the employees of a specific company. From the Southeast Texas Record: A Pittsburgh-based law firm and a West Virginia physician were part of an intricate web of deceit that reached as far as Texas and led ... http://www.legallawhelp.com/news/2009/07/29/alleged-asbestos-fraud-scheme/