Last month Tilting pondered an owner’s liability to customers from violence at the midnight showing of “Paladin – the Gentleman Black Knight” – the remake. Patrons and employees alike were ambushed at the Orpheum Theater. According to news reports the Paladin look-alike bought a ticket. After the movie started he slipped out through an emergency… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Constitutional Rights & Issues
Subscribe to Constitutional Rights & Issues RSS FeedLEGISLATIVE UPDATE: HB 700 Seeks to Allow Handguns to be Carried Openly
Posted in *2013 Legislative Updates, Constitutional Rights & Issues, Criminal Law, Sports & The OutdoorsWill this Legislative Session impact business owners? With the assistance of our own LRM Freshman State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, Tilting the Scales will periodically post updates on bills that might affect your business, along with an occasional humorous twist. As an example and keeping in the tone of this month’s postings on gun control, as the… Continue Reading
Have Gun, Will Travel: Owner’s Liability to Patrons for Violent Acts
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Criminal Law, Legal Risk Management, Property IssuesAttendees at the midnight showing of the remake of the movie “Paladin – the Gentleman Black Knight” were ambushed at the Orpheum Theater. According to news reports the accused bought a ticket and sat in the audience. He waited until after the movie started and then stepped out where he donned riot gear and re-entered… Continue Reading
Glock on Board: Can you Keep a Handgun in Your Car if you Don’t have a Concealed Handgun License?
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Criminal Law, Sports & The OutdoorsSam Colt lives in Dallas and is a gun enthusiast. As a result of a rash of car jackings in his neighborhood, Colt regularly carries a Glock 9mm in his vehicle for self-protection, although he does not have a concealed handgun license. Driving to his local bank last week, Colt tosses his gun into the… Continue Reading
Most Likely to Secede: Does Texas have the Constitutional Right to Secede
Posted in Constitutional Rights & IssuesHank Hill, a resident of Arlen, Texas, works as a salesman selling propane and propane accessories. Extremely unhappy with the results of the recent presidential election, Hill initiates a petition for Texas to secede from the United States. Hill claims that Texas was a sovereign nation when it joined the Union in 1845 and that… Continue Reading
You Have the Right to Vote MY WAY: Can Companies Influence their Employee’s Vote?
Posted in Around the Holidays, Constitutional Rights & Issues, Employment & LaborBarack Romney owns a timber and building products business. Earlier this month he mailed his employees a packet suggesting that many of the company’s more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer consequences of higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills if we elect a candidate who want to “spend money on subsidies,… Continue Reading
Affirmative Action In College Admissions
Posted in Constitutional Rights & IssuesJim Locher is a graduating Texas high school senior who finished just outside the top ten percent of his class. Although his top college choice was the University of Texas at Austin, he wasn’t admitted. Soon thereafter, Locher, who is white, became quite upset when he learned that, although faring better academically in high school,… Continue Reading
Keeping a Good Name: Protecting Yourself From Internet Defamation
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Legal Risk Management, Social Media & The InternetLocal dermatologist Dr. Nomo Ackney’s former patient Idgy Skinn is posting derogatory comments and inferior ratings on HealthGrades.com, Rate MDs.com, Vitals.com, AngiesList.com, TopIx.com and Ackney’s Google Places. He is even calling out and speaking ill of Ackney’s family members and posting Ackney’s home address on Facebook. The complaints detail Ackney’s treatment and allege she is… Continue Reading
Immigration – In or Out?
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Employment & LaborSean D’Leer and Patty O’Door are the proud owners of STD Contractors, a heavy construction business in Texas. They are starting to see more large commercial development activity and are considering hiring more laborers to staff up for what they hope to be a sustained economic recovery. However, all of the recent news about immigration… Continue Reading
ObamaCare: Is it Really Out of the Woods?
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Employment & LaborDan Driver’s rapidly growing computer IT business Byte Back is busier than ever and needs help. Not forgetting his cash flow crunches of 2007, Dan is watching labor costs steadily rise. Healthcare insurance is his #2 greatest expense behind wages. All of this talk about employee healthcare insurance has left Byte Back paralyzed as an… Continue Reading
Do TSA “Pat Downs” Violate the 4th Amendment?
Posted in Constitutional Rights & IssuesPat McCann, a famous 26-year-old super model, was traveling to New York for a lingerie catalogue photo shoot. While standing in line at airport security, Pat overheard a TSA employee tell another passenger that their new full-body scanner was one of 400 recently deployed around the country. Affectionately dubbed a “virtual strip search,” the new… Continue Reading
Music Copyright Infringement
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Criminal Law, Legal Risk ManagementRapper Chocolate Ice’s new release Golfin’ Wit My Glock is a smash hit with nearly 400,000 digital downloads in its first week. The success of the song has not escaped the notice of recording artist Bill Board, who believes that Ice has ripped off five notes from his 1980’s country hit single, “Now That We’re… Continue Reading
Explanation of bills that did, and did not, get passed
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Employment & Labor, Legal Risk Management, Property IssuesThe 81st Texas Legislature that began in January ended with an exhausting five-day filibuster of the voter identification bill, a legislative logjam of other major legislation left for debate until late in the session, a frantic last ditch attempt to save much of that legislation, and a final-day meltdown in the Senate. The 2009 session… Continue Reading
Are School Lockers Subject to Search?
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Family IssuesOn Monday morning, at Uptown High School, Buffy reported to the school Principal that her Chanel sunglasses and iPod nano were missing from her locker. After lunch, Suzy Snitch told Uptown’s Principal that she saw Kandi Klepto trying to sell a pair of sunglasses to another student during lunch. The Principal decided to search Kandi’s… Continue Reading
Recording a Telephone Conversation in Texas
Posted in Constitutional Rights & Issues, Employment & LaborMichael is the owner of Phelps Sports & Outdoors, which carries a full range of sporting goods and apparel. Michael is anticipating a surge in interest in swimming after the widely televised and viewed Democracy Games, and wants to have the latest and most sought after swimming merchandise available. The Speezo LZB Speedster swimsuit is… Continue Reading