Happy Thanksgiving

From all of us at the Radoslovich Law Corporation… Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Federal Judge Buys Drugs for a Stripper; Plans to Plead Guilty

If nothing else, this blog title should help generate web-traffic to the Radlaw website.

Unfortunately, the title of this post has more truth to it than we would all hope. CNN is reporting that a federal judge in Georgia was arrested for purchasing drugs for a stripper friend. You can view CNN’s article at http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/18/georgia.judge.arrested/index.html. Apparently, the federal judge plans to plead guilty to: (1) a felony charge of aiding and abetting a felon’s possession of marijuana and cocaine; (2) a misdemeanor charge of conversion of government property; and (3) a misdemeanor charge possession of roxycodone.

We post about this issue, not because we handle a large amount of criminal matters, but due to the fact we place a substantial amount of trust into our judges. As lawyers, we expect our judges to listen to the arguments, sift through facts and follow the law. Clients, often want judges to do “what is fair” (the “what is fair” idea will be the subject of an entirely different blog post).

Around the greater Sacramento area, most of the judges that we come across are very conscientious and dedicated people. However, this judge’s actions show us that judges can make mistakes, exercise poor judgment and be convicted of felonies. Sadly, there are stories of judges who exhibited worse behavior.

Ultimately, every litigant controls their own case. And at some point during the course of the litigation, they are going to have to ask themselves, regardless of how strong their case is, can they trust the judge and jury to do the right thing. It needs to be part of the cost-benefit analysis that goes into any settlement discussion.

Feel free to contact us regarding any litigation questions.

Facebook Firing

It is popular for employers to check the Facebook and MySpace pages of current employees and/or potential employees. However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken action to limit an employer’s ability to make decisions based on an employee’s social network site posts. Recently, the NLRB charged a company for illegally firing an employee for criticizing her supervisor on her Facebook page. The company, American Medical Response of Connecticut, maintained a policy prohibiting employees from depicting the company “in any way” on social networking sites in which the employee posts pictures of themselves. As a result of the employee’s criticisms of her supervisor on Facebook, her employer terminated her employment.

The NLRB is taking the position that the employee’s criticisms constitute “protected activity.” The NLRB argues that employees have a right to discuss working conditions and form unions under the National Labor Relations Act. Thus, the employee should not have been terminated for discussing her boss on a social networking site. The NLRB argues that her post on Facebook was no different than having a discussion with other employees around the water cooler… if employees can discuss these items in person, why should they be prohibited from doing so on a social networking site.

Ultimately, this matter is far from resolved. It pits the employers’ right to set guidelines and standards for employees against an employee’s right to organize. This matter should be near and dear to the hearts of both employers and employees as it effects the rights of both. Until this matter is decided by the court, employees will need to be careful what they post on social networking sites and employers will need to be careful with the information that they obtain about their employees (and potential employees) from social networking sites.

If you would like to find out more about this case, you can go to www.nlrb.gov.

Feel free to ask us if you have any legal questions regarding Employment Law.

R&D Tax Credits for Your Company

I recently came across an article written by Robert Celaschi for Comstock Magazine that may interest many tax conscious business owners. He writes that many business owners do not seek research and development tax credits due to the fact that the former tax laws made it too difficult to obtain the credit. However, the law changed and eased the requirements for obtaining R&D tax credits. According to Celashi’s article, “as long as a company sets out to improve the performance, reliability or quality of a product or process, it has a good shot at the tax credit.” The limitation… the research and development must be technology based, relying on physical, biological, engineering or computer sciences.

I urge you to check out Celaschi’s article and discuss these items with your tax accountant. You can find Celaschi’s article at http://www.comstocksmag.com/Articles/1110_F_Return-to-Sender.aspx. You never know, you may be missing out on a tax savings.

Feel free to contact us if you would like any legal advice for your business.

Radlaw Completes Two Separate Trials

Our firm just completed a three week fraud trial in the Sacramento Superior Court. Frank Radoslovich and Jason Smith presented our clients’ case before Judge Judy Holzer Hersher. The case involved many aspects of the law, including construction, commercial leases, issues of fiduciary duty and accounting matters. Like many cases, the trial did not necessarily end when the testimony finished. Once the oral testimony was completed, we submitted written briefs to the court arguing our contentions. We expect the court to issue a decision within the next 90 days. We will keep you posted.

Also, during the month of October, Shawn Krogh and John Whidden participated in an unlawful detainer matter trial. In this matter, we represented a landlord who was seeking to evict a tenant from a commercial property. The matter was not just a simple eviction, as it presented property tax issues as well. Ultimately, our clients prevailed and received a decision that will allow them to evict the tenants. What is more, the court awarded our clients $41,132.00 in damages.

Let us know if we can help with your legal issues.