Recent Articles

The California Legislature loves to pass new laws. When in doubt, draft a new law. When L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling wrote off $2.5 million dollars in NBA fines, the Legislature got to work and added a law barring sports team owners from writing off league penalties on their taxes. Overall Governor Jerry signed 930 [...]

The North Tahoe-Truckee region is a sporting mecca. We have some of the best mountain biking and better-than-average road biking as well as superb hunting, fishing, kayaking and unbelievable hiking trails leading in all directions. Every once in a while someone gets hurt while having fun on public or private land. Today’s Law Review is [...]

Our overcrowded and costly prison system in California and nationally, is the subject of many a study and court order. The growing number of elderly inmates makes the problem all the more difficult. Between 2007 and 2010, the number of prisoners over the age of 65 grew 94 times faster than the general prison population. [...]

“Would you know my name If I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same If I saw you in heaven?”  “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton Those lyrics are from the song written and sung by Eric Clapton after the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a window of a [...]

Three weeks ago I drafted a Law Review analyzing a new Idaho case that I was prepared to write would put the nail in the coffin for states attempting to ban same-sex marriages. Alas, on the way to the printer, the law changed. Same-Sex Bans Overturned In June 2013 the United States Supreme Court decided [...]

Having grown up in Sacramento, we had our Sacramento Bee delivered to our home every day by “delivery boys.” In fact, although it’s fuzzy, I think I did a short stint as a Bee carrier. Independent Contractors In the old days, delivery of newspapers was usually done by boys, and sometimes girls, on bicycles. In [...]

Automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) save lives and should be in every large place of public assembly including big box stores.Sudden Cardiac Arrest in TargetMary Ann Verdugo was shopping in a Target store in Pico Rivera, California when she experienced sudden cardiac arrest. Even though Target sold AEDs on its website, the Pico Rivera store did [...]

A driver in Mendocino County called on her cell phone (hopefully hands-free) reporting that “a Silver Ford 150 pickup license plate number 8-David94925 had run me off the road” and was last seen on southbound Highway 1 at mile marker 88. Question of the Day Is that anonymous cell phone tip legally adequate “reasonable suspicion” [...]

Across the Line © 2014 Published in the Washoe County Bar Association’s The Writ By: Jim Porter of Porter Simon As everyone knows, at least anyone in the sports world, star Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was recently suspended by the Vikings for spanking his 4-year-old son with a tree branch. Peterson was charged [...]